Braves News: Two front office hires, Fried qualifying offer, Acuña and Strider update
The offseason continues churn out plenty of newsworthy items for Atlanta.
It has already been a busy offseason for the Atlanta Braves despite free agency just opening up 48 hours ago. In order to navigate this busy time of year the Braves decided to bring in some help for Alex Anthopoulos.
Braves announce two hires for the front office
The two new names entering the Braves front office come from the same organization, the San Francisco Giants. First, Atlanta announced the hiring of Pete Putila the former GM for San Francisco. Putila will serve the Braves as an assistant GM of international scouting.
This is a welcome sight as the Braves have struggled to produce talent out of their crop of international free agent signings. Of course the quantity simply wasn't there for a long time because of the penalties placed on the team from the John Coppolella era. Hopefully some of the big signings they've made in recent years and Putila's help with future signings can make an impact in Atlanta.
Atlanta also hired Michael Schwartze (former director of analytics for San Francisco) as vice president of player personnel.
Max Fried unsurprisingly receives qualifying offer
Free agent to be Max Fried was one of 13 players to receive the qualifying offer from their respective team. The exact figure comes out to a one-year $21.05 million contract which Fried is certain to decline before the November 19 deadline. The compensation for Fried signing elsewhere is lessened to a fourth round pick for Atlanta because they exceeded the Competitive Balance Tax last year.
Braves stars not expected to be ready for Opening Day
Finally we arrive to a bit of somber (yet expected) news surrounding two of Atlanta's best players. Alex Anthopoulos told reporters that ace Spencer Strider and former MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. are not expected to be on the Opening Day roster.
#Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. & Spencer Strider won't be ready Opening Day, Alex Anthopoulos told our@MattGelb at GM meetings. First time he's said they won't be ready, though indicated previously it could be a month or 2 into season before Acuna ready. They'll evaluate as go along.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) November 5, 2024
While this confirmation hurts to hear for Braves fans, this was always going to be the case as the team eases back two of their most important pieces for 2025. Thankfully, there has been no reported instance of setback for either Strider or Acuña.
Of course Anthopoulos isn't going to put a specific date in place for either of these superstars return, but he did state that the team will continue to evaluate as the offseason continues.
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