ATLANTA -- The Braves’ offseason already has a clear theme: there are a lot of moving parts, and Alex Anthopoulos isn’t pretending otherwise.
After Atlanta pushed through an injury-riddled regular season to win the National League East for the seventh time in nine years, the run still ended in the NL Division Series against the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers. With the season now turned over to roster building, the Braves president of baseball operations laid out the main areas the club will have to sort through.
Start with the rotation. Spencer Schwellenbach recently had a screw placed in his pitching elbow, while Spencer Strider has been throwing bullpen sessions at the club’s Spring Training complex. Anthopoulos made clear that Atlanta can’t simply pencil either pitcher into a full workload and move on.
“I think from a planning standpoint, I don't think it'd be responsible to sit here and say, ‘OK, those guys are going to start 30 games and throw 180 innings.’ So that's something we're definitely going to have to account for and talk about where we're going to get our innings for next season.
"I remember telling Grant Holmes last offseason at the beginning, how he progressed was going to tell us what his potential role would be and how we would bank him and so on in terms of anything. So, if you sit here today, I don't think you're going to see us come in and say that we expect [Strider and Schwellenbach] to be locks in the rotation with [Chris] Sale.”
That uncertainty also stretches to Didier Fuentes, who could fit either in the rotation or out of the bullpen next season. Anthopoulos pointed to both the upside and the question of how much workload the young arm can handle.
“It’s nice to know you've got an impact arm out of the ‘pen, but you also know there's tremendous upside if he can put it together as a starter, because he's still so young. The development of both the changeup and the slider are pretty encouraging.
What you don't know is the workload, right? Can you handle 25-plus starts and 150-180 innings?
Then, can you do that in 2027? Are you going to go from 70-plus innings and jump to whatever it is?
Those are all things we need to talk about.”
The Braves also have decisions to make on several familiar names. Tyler Mahle, who was excellent after being acquired from the Giants on Aug. 2, is one of them. Anthopoulos said Atlanta will use its exclusive negotiating window, which runs through the end of the World Series, before anything else happens.
“We'll take advantage for all of our [free agents] of the exclusive negotiating window we have [through the end of the World Series]. I couldn't be more pleased with what he did, and he deserves all the credit.”
Jurickson Profar is another complicated case after performance-enhancing drug suspensions in each of the past two seasons disrupted the Braves’ plans. Anthopoulos did not shut the door, but he also made it clear the team needs time to sort through it.
“There isn't anything that prevents me from talking about it. What I can tell you is, we're going to have to sit and talk internally just across the board about the whole thing.”
Then there’s Austin Riley, whose third straight rough season came without the injury issues that affected him in 2024 and 2025. Anthopoulos said the organization will spend plenty of time trying to get him back on track, while stressing that Riley still brings value on the other side of the ball.
“That's something we're going to spend a lot of time having conversations about, trying to get him back on track. He’s still a great defender and a great teammate.
It was nice to get the health part put aside after back-to-back years of being hurt. From an offensive standpoint, he's still a young player and is capable of so much more.
He's shown that, and we're going to continue to work at it.”
Mauricio Dubón, heading into free agency, gave the Braves a flexible option and, in Anthopoulos’ view, handled himself well even if he spent less time at shortstop than usual because of injuries to Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr.
“You know, a lot of times, he didn't play as much short, because guys like [Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr.] were hurt and we needed him in the outfield. He had a really good year for us.
He was a great teammate. I can’t say enough good things about him and I’m very comfortable with him at short.”
Anthopoulos also said he values continuity when it comes to the coaching staff. He plans to talk with manager Walt Weiss, but he came away from the season pleased with the group as a whole.
“I think continuity is important. Those are conversations I'll have with [manager] Walt [Weiss].
But I would say the entire staff, I think everybody did a really good job. I'm pleased with all of them.”
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