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

By Dalton Skaggs

ATLANTA, GA - JULY 15: Charlie Culberson #16 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with Ozzie Albies #1 at the conclusion of an MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at SunTrust Park on July 15, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Braves won the game 5-1. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JULY 15: Charlie Culberson #16 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with Ozzie Albies #1 at the conclusion of an MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at SunTrust Park on July 15, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Braves won the game 5-1. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /
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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)
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.

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