Atlanta Braves: Ranking the National League East's front offices by competence

The Braves' front office has gotten plenty of praise in recent years. How do they stack up against the rest of the division?

Nov 9, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos answers questions
Nov 9, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos answers questions | Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
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5.) Washington Nationals

In fairness to the Nationals and general manager Mike Rizzo, being in a rebuilding stage as an organization isn't being held against them too much. All teams have to endure an aging and increasingly more expensive core and need time to regroup. The Nationals were a very good baseball team for a while and the closing of their competitive window was, in many ways, cyclical.

However, there is no denying that the decisions of the front office hastened their decline into irrelevance. They have two of the worst contracts in baseball in Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg which gives credence to the idea that you shouldn't ever give big, long-term money to pitchers. In giving those guys that kind of money, they also couldn't find a way to keep Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, or Juan Soto which is almost criminal. Washington had all the pieces to be a true dynasty and couldn't figure out how to sustain it.

Not all the news is bad here. They did correctly decide not to pay Anthony Rendon who can't stay healthy and looks like a shadow of his former self these days. Their farm system is also stacked thanks to drafting well and getting some pretty nice players back in some of the trades of superstars they have made in recent years.

In a few years, the Nationals are likely to look like an exciting young team with James Wood and Dylan Crews in the fold. However, it may be a while before they are truly competitive as the organization unwinds all of the damage done before the team decided to rebuild and it is entirely possible that Rizzo won't be the guy to see those plans come to fruition.

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