Atlanta Braves: Takeaways from a recent interview with Alex Anthopoulos

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Recently, Braves reporter Grant McAuley posted an article that detailed an interview he had with Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos.

Many fans have been wishing that the Atlanta Braves GM would go ahead and make a trade. Some people feel that the current lack of trading by Anthopoulos means that he is a bad GM, or that he has little to no interest in improving the team, which that is not the case whatsoever.

Here are some things Alex Anthopoulos said in this interview, and my takes on what Anthopoulos had to say. I think many of these will prove as good reminders of Anthopoulos’ trade deadline intentions, and the plan he has for the future of the Atlanta Braves organization.

Addressing the success of Atlanta’s young players:

“… [They] haven’t come out of nowhere to do what they’re doing. We just didn’t know when it would all come together. It’s been great to see.”

After Alex Anthopoulos was hired, it was said that Atlanta’s window for contending was going to be in 2019. Actions speak louder than words, and we could see front office setting up a window for 2019 by the Matt Kemp trade.

The reason Kemp was traded was to create a large amount of salary availability for the 2018-2019 free agent market. The plan before the 2018 season began was to build the Atlanta Braves as a contending team NEXT year, not this year.

No one expected the Braves to be where they are right now, and obviously the front office shared this belief before the season began. Do you blame them?

This great season the Atlanta Braves are having has been a pleasant surprise. This is not to take away from the fact that the success the Braves are having right now was completely unexpected.

The purpose of the 2018 season was to see how the young-uns performed to get an idea of what the team needs would be for 2019. I assume the front office did not expect they would have to address team needs at the All Star break in 2018, but here we are…

This is a good thing because it shows just how talented this Atlanta team is, and it shows just how great they can be with a few roster additions not only before the end of the trade deadline, but during the 2018-2019 off season. This success is bad in a way because it forces the front office to go a bit off-course with their original plan.

I doubt I am alone, but before the season began, I was under the impression that the Braves would be sellers at the All Star break, not buyers… This sudden reversal of plan the front office has to make must be difficult to deal with, but it appears they’re doing a good job with it.

The lack of trades made by the front office is not telling of a lack of desire to improve the team. It shows the fine tooth comb that the front office is using in preparation to make decisions that will affect the long term sustainability of the team.

TORONTO, ON – JUNE 19: Charlie Culberson #16 of the Atlanta Braves is helped up by Ender Inciarte #11 after making a catch and crashing into the wall in the first inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on June 19, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Addressing the performance and struggles of players:

”You know, we weren’t going to have the number one starters’ ERA probably the entire year. Certainly not going to necessarily have the best offense the entire year.”

Many players have been exceeding expectations, and the recent slumps are to be expected. The big question is: “Can these players get out of their slumps?”

You’re not going to have the exact same performance day in and day out from players even though this is ideal. Players are going to strike out, players are going to make errors, get bad jumps on stolen base attempts, walk batters, etc. Sure, it sucks seeing the same problems like the consistent walk issues with the bullpen and the rotation, however…

This team was supposed to have many problems this year, but the amount of problems that arose were minimal!

1) Don’t walk too many people. 2) Upgrade bullpen. 3) Upgrade rotation. 4) Upgrade 3rd base.

Now I don’t personally think 3rd base should be tampered with; Johan Camargo is doing just fine. But these are the 4 main areas of concern that I think most Braves fans have right now. There may be a 5th component I am not aware of, but that’s it. Four problems! Just four!

I don’t think many people realize just how much of a blessing it is to only have this small amount of things that need to be addressed. There was a chance that Nick Markakis was not going to have this type of year, there was a chance Ozzie Albies was going to have a bad year as it was going to be his first full year in the majors, there was a chance the catcher duo would not retain its stature, there was a chance the bullpen was going to be horrendous, and SO many other things that could have happened.

There were a lot of problems that could have arisen, but many of them didn’t! More fans should be proud and excited that the Braves don’t have as many issues as they should have.

Not only are the Braves over the .500 mark, but they are 10 games ABOVE the .500 mark while only 0.5 games behind the 1st place Phillies in the NL East.

Who saw the Phillies being atop the NL at the All Star break? NO ONE.
Who saw the Braves being atop the NL East for most of the 1st half? NO ONE.

This is a friendly reminder of how unpredictable baseball can be in Every. Single. Aspect.

Addressing the current trade deadline market:

”So, we’re active. We’re not close. We certainly have the players to get things done. We just haven’t found deals that we thought made sense for us. Right now, in our minds, for what we’d have to give up it’d be too expensive…” ”At some point there’ll be a sweet spot and it likely comes the last week before the end of the month, where the prices start to come in line a little bit more. That’s why you’re not seeing a ton of trades.” ”We owe it to the players. We owe it to the fan base. We owe it to the organization.”

It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “when” in regard to making a trade before the deadline. Do you know how players will say “trust the process”? Well, fans need to trust Alex Anthopoulos and his process. He didn’t want to make trades early because he could have make a regrettable trade. Anthopoulos was not going to allow himself to be played by other teams and GM’s in trades by giving away a high level prospect due to his unfamiliarity with the Atlanta farm system.

Anthopoulos is smart. He doesn’t need to make a trade RIGHT NOW, but he needs to in the near future which he is aware of for all of the right reasons. The only major trade that’s been made was the Kelvin Herrera trade which was viewed as extremely premature to many people throughout the baseball world. Trades usually don’t happen until the last week or two before the break, as Anthopoulos mentioned.

Here’s a good example why: The Orioles said they wanted one of the Yankees Top 10 prospects for Machado, then the Yankees came out and said they’re not trading a Top 10 prospect for Machado, who is a rental player.

The prices are extremely high right now; not just for Machado, but for many players. Trades will happen when prices come down and become reasonable, which explains Anthopoulos’ reluctancy to make a trade. Another smart move.

FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY – JULY 22: A traveller walks in front of car rental counters at Frankfurt airport on July 22, 2008 in Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images) /

Addressing trading for rental players:

”That’s where it gets a little complicated to have to trade multiple young assets for players that could walk out the door two months for now. We’ll be much more willing to do that on players we have beyond 2018.”

This is telling of Anthopoulos not wanting to buy in on ‘rentals’. He is invested in the future of the team. This is not to say he isn’t invested in the current team, but he’s looking to the future which is extremely beneficial. He had said that he has his eyes on players that are controllable, which proves that he wants to invest into the future of the Atlanta Braves.

More from Tomahawk Take

Anthopoulos doesn’t want Atlanta to be a one-and-done team. He’s not trying to drop every prospect to make a World Series run this year, in 2018, and he shouldn’t.

Anthopoulos is sticking to his original plan which was to build a contending team for 2019. Since the team is ahead of schedule, he’s going to help as best as he can – without turning the farm system upside down.

That’s a wrap.

In short, Anthopoulos is taking a slow, careful, and methodical approach to improving the team. Fans that are impatient can take this the wrong way, and I hope I shed light on some things.

This season has been full of surprises, and in short should make everyone excited for the 2019 season despite the success of this current Braves team. Changes will be made and things will get better in the future, much better.

Next: Atlanta Braves lefty reliever search: 5 names to know

Go follow McAuley on Twitter, and check out his articles over at 92.9 The Game.

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Atlanta Braves: Main takeaways from a recently published Alex Anthopoulos interview