With the offseason drawing to a close, we look back to see what the Atlanta Braves could look like if the front office chose to spend big.
It’s always fun to play the ‘what if’ game when you look back at an offseason. And that’s especially true for the Atlanta Braves this offseason as they passed on some chances to make big moves.
I’m not saying that passing on those moves was a bad decision, but you have to wonder just how differently this team would be viewed going into the 2019 season had they made another big move or two.
Going into this offseason the Braves primary needs were finding another catcher, a right fielder, a top of the rotation pitcher, and a closer.
Those are the positions we’re going to focus on in this exercise and see what this team would look like had the Atlanta Braves gone after the big fish at each of those spots.
That means I will be acting as if the Braves didn’t sign Josh Donaldson, as third base was not a need going into the offseason.
And to be fair, there are still two pretty big names out there who could fill two of these holes. So there is still a chance for the Braves to spend big this offseason, but it seems highly unlikely at this point.
We’ll take a look at what the lineup and rotation could look like, and then we’ll get into what the payroll would look like for 2019 and beyond.