Atlanta Braves keep adding to bullpen, but what about the other needs?

The morning after… and Atlanta Braves Country is still wondering just how many tricks are left up the sleeves of Alex Anthopoulos.

What are the Atlanta Braves doing?

One answer is quite obvious:  they have struck early and often in this off-season and assembled the best bullpen in the National League… arguably the best in all of baseball.  First Will Smith.  Now Chris Martin.

Now you do have to actually win games for a bullpen to be effective, but imagine this…

• You’re a free agent hitter or pitcher out there.
• You want to be on a ‘winning’ team
• You know – just like everybody else – that lockdown bullpens are important, especially in the post-season.
• You may not have thought so before, but suddenly Atlanta is looking like a really interesting destination.

Ah, but can these better free agents get paid if they come knocking on the door?

The Atlanta Braves clearly still have needs – catching, third base, starting pitching.  The real question is whether they can afford these positions after this strong pair of relief moves.

We’ve been tracking the payroll progress as we’ve marched along over the past month and now that Chris Martin in on the books, it’s time for another look.

This time, I’ll forgo the detailed math and just call upon the work of a local expert – Braves Options Guy – who hangs out on over at Knockahoma Nation:

So it’s that bottom line that’s still the question:  Is the limit $140 million?  $145 million?  $150 million?  Is there any way to tell?

One point right away:  the Braves clearly know that these holes exist.  This isn’t a mystery – to them or to their fans.  You just don’t head off in an odd direction without know that you have a plan to get back to the direction you must go.

In a vacuum, these bullpen upgrade constitute an ‘odd’ direction.  There must be a plan to get the Garmin unit back onto the path.

Let’s explore some guesses that can help us toward the answer on payroll.