You are what your record says you are. Through the first month and a half of the MLB regular season, the 2025 Atlanta Braves have not lived up to the hype. It is a direct result of a disastrous 0-7 start to the season, one that the Braves have finally almost dug themselves out from. Some of the issues that have plagued this .500 team were out of their control, while others were quite obvious from the start.
The good news is there is still plenty of baseball left to be played. The bad news is I do not think this will be a season ending in a World Series parade. In the years since their unexpected 2021 championship run, the Braves have lost piece by piece the fabric that made it special. While they are no longer merely sad boys, they have some growing up to do. Will they grow up a lot after dinner?
At some point, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos needs to realize what noted NBA front office executive Daryl Morey never could: People matter, and so do their personalities. You cannot put 25 different ingredients into a microwave and expect for it to always taste amazing. Atlanta may also have to come to grips with this likely being the final season Brian Snitker works for the organization.
So without further ado, here are the three moves the Braves did or did not make that are killing them so far this season.
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3. Signing Jurickson Profar to be the Ronald Acuña Jr. placeholder
For the better part of the offseason, the only real signing of note Anthopoulos made on the Braves' behalf outside of the organization was to bring in free-agent outfielder Jurickson Profar. Atlanta had a miserable time with the San Diego Padres last year, this year and, frankly, most years. It is why the idea of injecting him into this lineup to keep the Braves afloat before Ronald Acuña Jr. returned was so appealing.
The only problem with that is Profar was the one doing the injecting. Not even a week into the regular season, he was popped with an 80-game PED suspension. This threw a wrench in the Braves' entire outfield plans. Michael Harris II struggled out of the gate. Jarred Kelenic proved to be worthless. While Eli White has been solid, the returns Atlanta is getting from Alex Verdugo are diminishing.
Had Profar been able to play for this team, we have to wonder how much better the lineup would be.
2. Alex Anthopoulos playing with his food and not addressing the bullpen
This was dumb, and I hated every second of it. What do you mean you are good? Give me a break! All offseason long, I argued that the Braves were not good enough in the bullpen entering spring training. The pieces that made the Night Shift so special from four years ago are all gone. Instead, we are left with a washed Raisel Iglesias, the idea of something called Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee to save us.
Atlanta may not end up being a championship-caliber team, but it will not even make the NL postseason until the leaky bullpen gets rectified. Admittedly, it has pitched better in recent weeks, but it continues to be the bottleneck holding this team back. Anthopoulos has manager in his title. The same goes for Snitker. Have they ever spent a second in an operations management class before?
1. Alex Anthopoulos not being willing to pay Max Fried his money
I do not care how big you claim your ego is, or the type of constraints ownership puts on you, do not be this dumb! Max Fried may not have been a Braves draft pick, but he spent his whole big-league career in Atlanta prior to this season. Like fellow southpaw great Tom Glavine, Fried was the winning pitcher of record in Atlanta's Game 6 victory to win the World Series. Why could they not pay him?!
I understand that the New York Yankees were willing to give him one of the five boroughs of his choice, but Atlanta never seemed all that interested in bringing him back to begin with. To see Fried pitch like his idol Sandy Koufax in pinstripes should sicken you. This is about on par with watching Glavine pitch for the New York Mets. All the while, the Braves have gotten one game out of Spencer Strider in a year.
Fried was always going to walk, mostly because Atlanta did not show him the respect he deserved.