The Braves won’t ever be one of the most active teams in the offseason because Alex Anthopoulos has already locked up much of the roster to long term contracts. Every position on the diamond is signed through at least 2027, except for left field, shortstop, and the DH spot.
There will always be tweaks to the bullpen and rotation, but the days of blockbuster acquisitions for position players will be few and far between. However, this offseason, the Braves have a big decision to make on Eddie Rosario. The veteran has a $9 million club option for 2024, and your guess is as good as mine to what Atlanta is going to do.
Rosario is one of the streakiest hitters in all of baseball but has been very bad as of late. He’s an average defender at best and is being overpaid for his current production. However, his impact in the postseason will trump his lack of production in the regular season. I don’t even think the Braves know what they’ll do this winter, but Bleacher Report thinks Rosario is the most likely player on the team to be traded this offseason.
Atlanta could just let Rosario walk after this season, as his club option has no buyout. But the savvier move would be to keep him—particularly since there aren’t many quality outfielders hitting free agency—before putting him on the trade block. He has already hit more home runs than he did in any of the previous three seasons and could be of value to one of the many teams in need of a serviceable corner outfielder.
There aren’t going to be many lefty outfielders available on the market in this upcoming free agent class, so Bleacher Report is right about that, but picking up a player’s option and then trading him doesn’t happen often. I’m not sure what the front office is going to do this offseason. Running it back with an eerily similar lineup is certainly on the table, but left field is the obvious position that can be upgraded.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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