The Atlanta Braves certainly shook things up over the last couple days and that is putting it mildly. After trading away a gaggle of players that weren't in their future to the White Sox, the Braves took things further on Friday when they not only traded Kyle Wright away to the Royals for Jackson Kowar, but they let go seven players at the non-tender deadline and also traded Nick Anderson for cash.
For those counting at home, that means that Atlanta now has a whopping 10 spots open on their 40 man roster which is quite the difference given that they had a roster crunch just 48 hours ago. The real questions right now are why did the Braves do such a drastic roster purge and what are they planning for the rest of the offseason?
Here are some potential big moves that the Braves could be planning this offseason
For all the roster movement, the Braves haven't actually saved all that much money. Reliever Aaron Bummer, the return in the deal with Chicago, is going to be making $5.5 million next season which eats up some of the financial savings from that move and most of the rest of the guys that got non-tendered or traded just weren't set to make a lot of money. These moves were (mostly) about the roster spots and while it could be as simple as the Braves feel like they have better internal options to fill those spots and some of these guys could return to the organization on minor league deals, it certainly feels like they have big plans for the rest of the offseason.
Let's take a look at what the Braves could be planning for the rest of the offseason.