4 front office mistakes that cost the Atlanta Braves dearly in 2023

The Braves' made some critical errors over the last year or so that proved to be quite painful this season.

Atlanta Braves v Miami Marlins
Atlanta Braves v Miami Marlins | Megan Briggs/GettyImages
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The Braves' "starting rotation shuffle" didn't help anyone, including the team

This is a tough one because in fairness to the Braves, they got dealt a pretty bad hand when it comes to their pitching situation in 2023. Michael Soroka, Ian Anderson, and Kyle Wright were all hurt before spring training ended and Max Fried's elbow started giving him problems not long after that. Charlie Morton's finger injury right at the end of the regular season was the cherry on top. Losing that many pitchers that were being counted on is tough for any team and the Braves were just trying to make do with what they had available.

However, the constant tinkering and shuffling and new faces didn't do anyone any favors in 2023. AJ Smith-Shawver was rushed through the minor leagues and while he still has a very bright future, throwing him into the fire so soon didn't seem to help his development. Dylan Dodd's command wasn't there this season and constantly bouncing him back and forth from Gwinnett to the big leagues likely didn't do him any favors. Jared Shuster's struggles were largely his doing, but he also never really got the chance to settle in and make the changes he needed to make in the minors.

Again, the Braves were in a tough situation this season and sometimes you do what you have to do. However, they cycled through a lot of arms in search of a solution and along the way, they never really gave guys a chance to figure things out after a rough start or to stay down and make adjustments. The Gwinnett Shuttle was particularly real in 2023 and after the dust settled, the Braves aren't really any closer to figuring out which of these young arms they can trust going forward nor did they really get much out of them in 2023.

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