It has been an odd offseason so far for the Atlanta Braves. The front office got busy right out of the gate trimming their roster via trade, declining options, and non-tendering players. By all accounts, it seemed like they were purging their roster of excess fat so they could make some real upgrades heading into 2025.
However, the Winter Meetings have come and gone and the Braves have remained quiet on the roster addition front beyond adding a number of players in the Rule 5 Draft which isn’t exactly what fans had in mind.
After missing on signing Willy Adames and trading for Garrett Crochet, time will tell what Alex Anthopoulos and co. have up their sleeves for next season. That said, here is who the Braves have already lost or at least poised to lose this offseason.
Braves players who are definitely gone
- Max Fried
- Travis d’Arnaud
- Jorge Soler
- Huascar Ynoa
The offseason got started with the Braves trading Soler after the Angels emerged as a surprisingly willing suitor. He would later be joined in LA by TdA who had his option declined by the Braves. Moving Soler was certainly a move many thought Atlanta could pursue this offseason given his dropoff in 2024, but losing d’Arnaud as a team leader both was surprising and also could have some resonating effects next season especially with the pitching staff.
Sadly, the biggest loss for Atlanta this offseason was an expected one. The Braves would have loved to bring Max Fried back, but his price was always a hurdle that would be difficult to overcome and unfortunately the Yankees signed Fried to a massive deal because apparently they hate money. Ynoa has dealt with injuries the last couple of years and ended up returning to the Twins who Atlanta originally traded with to acquire him.
I asked Alex Anthopoulos about the challenge of replacing the innings they got from Max Fried & Charlie Morton. He said #Braves will look at internal options, but they’d like to add a SP. Grant Holmes will get a shot, but that won’t stop them from trading for or signing a SP.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) December 8, 2024
Braves players who are free agents, but could technically still return
- Charlie Morton
- AJ Minter
- Jesse Chavez
- Luke Jackson
- Ramon Laureano
- Griffin Canning
Canning was a Brave for like 5 minutes after coming over in the Soler trade and unsurprisingly got non-tendered to continue to free up cash. Jesse Chavez is a free agent, but if we are being honest with ourselves, he is in his secret basement apartment at Truist waiting for Atlanta to need him in case of emergency. There was a time where Jackson was a really viable bullpen arm, but he looked really bad after the Braves brought him back and doesn’t seem likely to get another reunion.
With Laureano getting non-tendered and the Braves exploring other outfield options this offseason, the two most likely guys on this list to actually come back are Morton and Minter. There has been precious little in terms of progress towards bringing Morton back, but that still feels like a possibility assuming his asking price is $10 million or less. Minter is getting interest in free agency from the Braves and others, but how much he ends up getting is going to be determined a lot by how his medicals look after having hip surgery.
