As good as the Atlanta Braves' front office has been since Alex Anthopoulos took over, that doesn't mean that every decision they have made has been popular or even correct. Just last offseason, the Braves let Max Fried leave in free agency which led to a bit of an uproar from fans and the high profile exits of Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman certainly come to mind. Like every single front office out there, good players end up leaving and some moves end up not working out the way the Braves hoped.
For many, when Atlanta makes mistakes, they do their best to just turn the page and focus on the roster and schedule that the Braves do have. Unfortunately, the 2025 playoffs has been a particularly prominent display of both moves that the Braves may wish they could take back as well as former Atlanta stars doing their thing in the postseason for other teams.
The 2025 playoffs are a history lesson on moves the Braves shouldn't have made and players that fans wish had stayed
Once the playoffs started, it was a mortal lock that some former Braves players would stand out simply because of the names involved. Freddie Freeman already has one home run in the NLCS this year after basically carrying the Dodgers to the World Series title last year. Max Fried flamed out in his start in the postseason, but that start was the exception to an otherwise great season yet again. Dansby Swanson didn't play particularly well with the Cubs, but his defense did help Chicago come within a game of making it to the NLCS.
However, the list does not end there. One of the wildest plays in postseason series happened between the Dodgers and Brewers on Monday night and William Contreras, who the Braves famously dealt to Milwaukee in the three team trade for Sean Murphy, was responsible for both of the outs on that play. Trading Caleb Durbin has proven to be a colossal mistake and the guy keeps producing for the Brewers in the postseason. Hell, Atlanta gave up on Kevin Gausman and not only did he turn into one the best pitchers in the league, but he is still pitching in the ALCS as we speak.
Unfortunately, nearly every team in baseball has stories like these, although the Braves sure do seem to have more than others in 2025. Sometimes negotiations don't work out or a player doesn't show what they are capable of with one organization only to go wild with his new team. However, just because this is just part of the game of baseball doesn't mean it is fun to watch for Braves fans.