There may not have been a general manager across MLB that received more criticism this past offseason than Alex Anthopoulos of the Atlanta Braves. The only major outside signing he made was to bring in outfielder Jurickson Profar, who is in the midst of serving an 80-game PED suspension. Anthopoulos let a few big games walk, none more so than Max Fried going to the New York Yankees.
So when Anthpoulos made a recent appearance on 680 The Fan in Atlanta last week, he seems to have let it be known that the Braves potentially had a big deal on the table but could not pull the trigger. Really? Anthopoulos mentioned that it would have put the Braves into the luxury tax, but for whatever reason, the deal of note in free agency did not manifest. Now, who could it have been?
Anthopoulos would not give a date to avoid making it obvious, but there was a timeline in all of this.
“It was documented, but we did pursue some things in November around Thanksgiving that we couldn’t get across the line for various reasons."
He then followed up with the same old, convenient of excuse of it not being about money, but length.
“We explored a deal, I don’t want to say when cause the timing will make it very obvious who the player was, but we were right there and ultimately, we could’ve said yes and we would’ve blown way past the tax and it wouldn’t have been an issue… And what stopped was ultimately the length of the deal. It had nothing to do with money.”
Alex Lord of Sports Talk ATL mentioned a few names. The biggest one was obviously Fried, who is kicking so much tail right now in New York that it is borderline unbelievable. Lord mentioned by name left-hander Blake Snell, shortstop Willy Adames, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi and right-hander Corbin Burnes. Including Fried, I would argue Eovaldi is the other most likely candidate, followed by Adames.
What if Atlanta was able to re-sign Fried or potentially bring in the likes of either Adames of Eovaldi?
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Alex Anthopoulos admits defeat over length of deal for prospective FA
For as much as I wanted to believe Atlanta could be a play for former Cy Young winners like Burnes and Snell, I know what the Braves are about under Anthopoulos' watch. They are simply too pricey for him to pursue. There was a time when former Braves general manager John Schuerholz had the stones to sign Greg Maddux away from the Chicago Cubs after a Cy Young season way back in 1993.
I would then probably cross off Adames, only because there was still too much unknown about him. He may have buoyed the the Milwaukee Brewers last year, but has been awful since going to Snell's former team in the San Francisco Giants. Maybe the Braves dodged one there? Yes, the idea to upgrade over Orlando Arcia was always there, but for the money, they just like Nick Allen a bit more.
While I am of the belief that it probably is Fried, as length of contract has always been the bugaboo of Atlanta getting its stars extended at or approaching 30 under Anthopoulos, it might be Eovaldi. Although nothing leaks out of Anthopoulos' war room, Eovaldi felt like the type of free-agent pitcher Atlanta could have swiped from the Texas Rangers. The fact he is close with Chris Sale only adds to it.
Truth be told, the Braves' starting rotation is still this year's team's strength. Sale has returned to form after a slow start. Spencer Schwellenbach has cooled off a bit since an amazing start. AJ Smith-Shawver could win NL Rookie of the Year with how well he has pitched of late. At some point, the Braves will get Spencer Strider back to being Spencer Strider, maybe when Ronald Acuña Jr. returns?
Based on Anthopoulos' comments, it could be Adames, it might be Eovaldi, but is probably ... Fried...