In a sport with 30 teams and 30 different owners, not every organization is going to carry the same philosophy on team building. You have outliers like the Dodgers and the Mets, who are willing to spend whatever it takes to acquire the best talent in the sport. Then you have organizations like the Marlins and Pirates who have frugal owners and are totally fine with trotting out lesser talented teams so that they can profit themselves.
In the middle ground you have the Atlanta Braves, who have ranked amongst the next tier of top teams in spending over the past few seasons. Unfortunately, the team went in the opposite direction of fans desires in 2025. It's truly upsetting considering the talent this team has on the roster, and we need to be more vocal in our displeasure.
#Braves bullpen blew a 4-3 lead and lose 7-4 on Opening Day, the loss going to Neris in his first game with Atlanta.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) March 27, 2025
Braves are in championship window and payroll had no business going down
The nightmare scenario for fans to get mad after one game happened on Opening Day when the clear weak-link on Atlanta's roster cost them a victory in San Diego. The lack of depth in Atlanta's bullpen feels like a cold soar on this otherwise beautifully constructed roster.
Last season Atlanta's payroll finished around $232 million according to Fangraphs, while they enter the 2025 season carrying a payroll estimated at $212 million. Of course it's true Alex Anthopoulos can make some in-season moves that bring that number up before seasons end, but the chance to fully capitalize in free agency this winter is one that the team let them pass them by.
One can completely understand Alex Anthopoulos' style of "right player, right price." It's what allowed them to strike a good deal on their lone big signing Jurickson Profar. Sadly, fans never got the follow-up moves we were hoping for afterwards. And it's more frustrating when the team has glaring holes on their pitching staff.
The benefit of the doubt goes out to Anthopoulos because he is so good at his job, and he did try to bring in a couple different pitchers this winter. However, when a deal with Jeff Hoffman fell through because of medicals, and Tanner Scott chose to join the Dodgers super team, Anthopoulos needed to pivot...and instead we entered minor league signing city.
What makes it all worse is that Anthopoulos said himself that payroll would go up in 2025. Then not even a month into the season we see reports about the Braves possibly wanting to reset the luxury tax penalties. While I don't believe those to necessarily be the sole reason for cutting costs in 2025, it's hard to ignore the look of the process.
In the end, the Braves begin the season the same way their 2024 season ended...with two losses at PetCo Park. Atlanta isn't going to go 0-162 this year. In fact it's very likely their are still going to be quite good in 2025. Yet, we still deserve to be upset because another real pitcher or two and this team COULD have had the makings of a truly special team that even streaky batted ball bad luck and injuries couldn't derail.
Instead we'll be forced to watch some baseball games where the bullpen is best viewed with one eye closed. Then we will hold out hope that reinforcements are on the way. Hopefully, by season's end, the Braves' front office has done enough to make this article look very silly.
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