One week after the Braves were knocked out by the Dodgers in the NL Division Series, the offseason conversation in Atlanta is already circling back to the same familiar question: what would have made this team better, and what has to change by 2027?
A few issues rise to the top immediately. Jurickson Profar should not be back, even if the Braves have to absorb the $15 million still owed to him. After the PED suspensions that affected the club over the last two years, the price of restoring him to that clubhouse would be higher than the money on the contract.
The reaction to William Contreras’ postseason success has also brought fresh anger from Braves fans over the Dec. 2022 three-team trade that sent Contreras to Milwaukee and brought Sean Murphy to Atlanta. Nobody could have predicted Murphy’s Braves tenure would be hit so hard by injuries, and there was no easy way to know Contreras would become such a reliable catcher defensively.
He might still have been a liability behind the plate if he had stayed in Atlanta. Sal Fasano’s time as Atlanta’s catching coach ended after Contreras broke out with both the bat and glove during his first two seasons in Milwaukee.
Atlanta would have loved to have Contreras and Drake Baldwin together in a catcher/designated hitter setup. But if the Braves had to pick one, Baldwin is the guy.
He was slightly better defensively this season by Fielding Run Value, at -1 compared with Contreras’ -3. Over the last two seasons, Baldwin has the edge offensively too, with more home runs, a higher batting average and a better OPS.
Austin Riley is another major part of the picture, and his 2025 season made the outlook harder, not easier. It looked reasonable to expect a rebound after he was finally healthy again following season-ending injuries in 2024 and ‘25.
Instead, he turned in the worst season of his career. That leaves a lot of uncertainty around a player owed $22 million annually through 2032.
Riley turns 30 on April 2, and he still has a chance to get back to the level he reached in 2023, when he put together a third straight 30-homer season. If he doesn’t, that contract is going to look worse and worse, even alongside Spencer Strider’s deal, which pays him $22 million each of the next three seasons.
The Braves can at least pencil Riley in as their third baseman next year. Strider’s elbow does not offer that same certainty.
The larger pitching picture is even more unsettled because Atlanta cannot map out the winter without knowing what Strider or Spencer Schwellenbach can physically provide next season. Reynaldo López belongs in that same conversation.
He is entering the third year of a three-year, $30 million extension, but his recent health history is a mess. López dealt with arm discomfort over the final six weeks of the 2024 season, made only one start in 2025 before shoulder surgery and then spent most of the final two months of this past season on the injured list.
Schwellenbach has a screw in his previously fractured elbow, Strider has undergone two UCL elbow surgeries and López’s velocity inconsistency makes him risky even when he is available. With that kind of uncertainty hanging over the rotation, the Braves should be chasing at least two starting pitchers this winter.
And then there is the man on the bench. Brewers manager Pat Murphy may be the best skipper in the National League right now, but when it comes to this season, no manager did a better job than Walt Weiss.
Atlanta lost four starting pitchers, a left fielder in Profar and a catcher in Murphy during Spring Training, and still found ways to stay afloat through May, recover after a rough June and push the right buttons in September. Weiss managed the clubhouse, the media and the front office with skill, and he was the right fit for the job.
In Other News...
Braves May Be Eyeing Another Classic Alex Anthopoulos Rotation Bet
As the Braves map out their rotation for next season, the search appears likely to lean toward the kind of bet Alex Anthopoulos has often favored: useful, durable arms that can stabilize the back end without forcing a long commitment. Atlanta has been linked to the market for starting pitching, and the profile that fits best is the one that can take the ball, miss enough bats and give the club some innings while the rest of the staff sorts itself out.
Matthew Boyd sits right in that lane. The left-handers five-pitch mix and age make him more of a short-term free-agent fit than a centerpiece addition, which is why he has surfaced as a plausible Braves target after a mixed season with the Cubs. If Atlanta does move in that direction, it would be another classic Anthopoulos rotation play, one aimed at shoring up the staff now while keeping the long-term books clean later. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Prospect Diego Tornes Faces Pressure Atlanta Cant Ignore
Diego Tornes arrived with the kind of international pedigree the Braves hoped would help restock the system, and Atlantas track record with recent signings gives his development a little extra weight. Signed before the 2025 season, Tornes enters 2027 as one of the organizations most closely watched young players, especially after a rookie-ball debut that offered more questions than answers and kept the Braves waiting for signs that the investment is trending in the right direction.
The challenge for Tornes is bigger than one prospect making a personal leap. Atlanta has had too many recent international signings stall out because of disappointment or health problems, so every step he takes this season will be viewed through that lens. If he can start to look like a real success story, it would mean more than just progress for one player and give the Braves a needed lift in an area where they cannot afford many more misses. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Fans May Finally See What Fueled The Contreras-Acua Tension
William Contreras has kept showing why Milwaukee was eager to make him part of its future, and his postseason work has only added to the buzz around what he became after leaving Atlanta. The former Braves catcher has thrived with the Brewers, turning himself into a more complete player and giving Milwaukee reason to believe it has one of the sharper backstops in October.
For Braves followers, the intrigue is less about what Contreras has done elsewhere than what his success may have meant back home. Mark Bowman raised the possibility that the firing of catching coach Sal Fasano after the 2024 season could have had something to do with the way Contreras developed in Milwaukee, but there has been no official confirmation of that line of thinking. The result is one of those baseball subplots that lingers because the performance is real, the aftermath is visible, and the full explanation still has not been put on the record. [Read more 🡒]