Braves waste no time making Alex Anthopoulos masterclass even better

The Atlanta Braves are looking to bounce back in 2025 after a season from hell. Do we need to "pour one out" for the recent World Series champs and arguably baseball's best-run organization? Probably not, but the Braves do deserve our sympathy after a brutal 2024 campaign.

Injuries were an unrelenting inhibitor for the Braves this season, headlined by season-long absences for Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider. These folks also missed extended time: Austin Riley, Michael Harris, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy. Oh, and Chris Sale pitched a Cy Young season, only to get hurt right when Atlanta eked into the postseason. There wasn't a single break in the Braves' favor.

That is bound to change in 2025. The law of averages and whatnot. Equal and opposite reaction? Baseball isn't a science, but the Braves should be right back in the National League's upper echelon when the summer rolls around. Key pieces will get healthy and Alex Anthopoulos will do what he normally does — unearth valuable contributors on bargain contracts.

Perhaps the best example of Anthopoulos' savvy free agent maneuvering last winter was the signing of Reynaldo Lopez. The journeyman reliever turned into a top-shelf ace overnight, making his first All-Star appearance and propping up a Braves rotation kneecapped just days into the season after Strider's elbow surgery.

Now, Anthopoulos is doubling down on his latest gem with a nifty extension for Lopez. The 30-year-old will make $8 million in 2025, $14 million in 2026, and $8 million in 2027.

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Braves extend surprise ace Reynaldo Lopez in early no-brainer for Alex Anthopoulos

Atlanta also re-upped Aaron Bummer to keep the bullpen on track. Just a day removed from trading Jorge Soler to the Angels, Anthopoulos is wasting zero time setting his offseason plans into motion. Lopez for three years and $30 million is an absolute steal. He has dealt with injuries in his career, and it's fair to wonder if last season's production was a bit fluky, but 25 starts and 135.2 innings with a 1.99 ERA is difficult to argue with.

The Braves couldn't afford to mess around with Lopez. Sale's health is an even more alarming question mark, while the looming offseason departures of Max Fried and Charlie Morton could leave multiple voids in the starting rotation. Few three-man groups can touch Strider, Sale, and Lopez at full strength, but pitching depth has been a nagging issue for the Braves. Fumbling Lopez's future would've just opened the door for more unnecessary chaos in Atlanta.

This is the Alex Anthopoulos special. There isn't a better GM in baseball when it comes to locking up key contributors for well below market value. Lopez was originally slated to make $11 million in 2025, so this reworked contract actually keeps Lopez around longer and decreases his cap hit ahead of a critical offseason. That is pure wizardry from the Braves' front-office frontman.

If Lopez can match last season's production in 2025 and the rest of Atlanta's rotation doesn't crater, he could get the chance to showcase his repertoire properly in October.