The Atlanta Braves came into the offseason with a lot of work to do, but with a unclear outlook when it came to exactly how aggressive they would be.

 They need a shortstop after Ha-Seong Kim opted out, but the shortstop market stinks and the Braves’ willingness to spend big in free agency or trade to address has been questionable.

Same goes for the rotation and bullpen: the needs certainly exist, but Atlanta’s front office led by Alex Anthopoulos has generally avoided the top of the markets given the cost involved and there was no guarantee that would change this offseason.

As it turns out, it sounds like the Braves could indeed be much busier than most thought they would be.

While the GM meetings were relatively tame when it came to actual transactions, the conversations at those meetings often lay the groundwork for deals in the weeks leading up to the Winter Meetings in December.

If the reporting from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal is accurate, not only are the Braves looking for a shortstop, but they’re shopping at the top of the rotation and bullpen markets as well.

Braves appear poised to be very aggressive in both pitching markets this offseason

It is important to remember that it is still early and it is entirely possible that the Braves are just doing their due diligence here.

With Raisel Iglesias potentially leaving in free agency and Atlanta’s injury issues with their rotation, it would honestly be pretty stupid to just ignore the top names on the market without first knowing exactly what would be needed to sign or trade for them.

However, that Rosenthal went out of his way to name the Braves as particularly active both in the closer market as well as the starting pitching market is pretty telling.

Generally speaking, teams don’t get mentioned in this way unless they are already connecting to some of the bigger names on the market which is a good sign at the start of the offseason. All of a sudden, guys like Robert Suarez and Dylan Cease don’t seem all that farfetched.

Will that lead to the Braves making some big splashes this offseason?

That has yet to be determined. We have heard Atlanta connected to top targets in the past (remember the Aaron Nola rumors?) only for those rumors to fizzle out pretty quickly.

However, all signs right now are that the Braves are not afraid to spend a bit this offseason and that could lead to some much needed fireworks this offseason….