Braves fans will be excited to hear that the team will indeed have more money to spend in the offseason. One of the most beloved GMs in all of baseball, Alex Anthopoulos, said today that payroll will be going up in the 2024 season.
Alex Anthopoulos said payroll will be going up.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) November 8, 2023
This is great news for Braves fans, as the team already set payroll records in 2023. At the end of the season Atlanta's payroll sat at an estimated $208 million, and they entered the first luxury tax threshold for the first time in franchise history. The first threshold in 2024 is set at $237 million, if the Braves were to enter that in the second consecutive year the penalties go up to 30% on all overages.
According to spotrac, Atlanta's current projected payroll for 2024 is just over $207 million. This is before adding a starting left fielder, another starting pitcher (probably), and more bullpen/depth players. So, the thought of Atlanta competing for Shohei Ohtani's services next year can probably be thrown out the window.
However, with payroll going up that does mean Atlanta will be very much be in play for some of the better starting pitching and left field options available. Anthopoulos had a few interesting quotes from the during the General Managers meetings on Wednesday that may indicate which direction the organization want to go in the offseason.
Anthopoulos didn't want to show his hand this early, but he said the disappointment from the playoffs is on their minds. He said you can't put too much weight on the four game sample size, but at the same time you can't ignore it. The big statement making headlines was AA stating that the postseason will likely influence what Atlanta does in the offseason.
With that statement on record along with the one of payroll going up, Braves fans will be locked in on all the Braves rumors to come this winter in hopes that one holds true and Anthopoulos is able to land that difference making move he has become famous for. We will get into exactly how Atlanta may spend that extra money as we progress through this offseason.