ATLANTA — A few minutes after the Atlanta Braves announced Monday that catcher Sean Murphy would have hip surgery and require four months of rehab, general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos met with Atlanta reporters and answered questions about a range of topics, including Murphy, the team’s disappointing season and future managerial plans (well, sort of).

Here are some of his answers to pertinent questions. In some cases, there has been some editing for brevity.

On claiming shortstop Ha-Seong Kim off waivers last week from the Tampa Bay Rays (Kim has a $16 million player option for 2026):

With Ozzie (Albies) being here and (Austin) Riley and so on, short was the one place we had an opening, but it wasn’t the cleanest fit to start the year. We talked to Tampa at the trade deadline about him. We’re glad that we were able to put in a claim on him and be the team to get him. But our goal in getting him was to have him for 2026. So that certainly is going to be the plan. He’ll have a decision to make at the end of the year, but we’re excited to have him. Excited for the player he’s been in the past, and I think you’ll see a much better player in ’26.

On whether he thinks having Kim here this month improves the chances of his opting in for 2026:

I want to be fair to him and to the process. That’s a contract he negotiated with Tampa. He earned the right to have that opt-out. In our view, this is a player that’s been a productive player, who’s rehabbed, come off of (shoulder) surgery, had multiple (injured list) stints for (back issues this year), and he’s had a lost season, being candid. I mean, he’s obviously been a better player than this. But getting him in our clubhouse, him getting to know us, us getting to know him — whether he doesn’t opt out or does, we’re both in a better position. We know more about each other. Had he been in Tampa and opted out (of the option), and now we’re coming to the table to talk to him, I can’t tell you we separate ourselves from any other team that he hasn’t played for.

I always believe comfort and familiarity can only help, especially having been here and lived here and had multiple players tell me how much they love playing here and being here. I feel this is an asset. Truist (Park) is an asset, the fan base is an asset, our clubhouse culture is an asset. Our manager, coaches, ownership group, management is an asset. So I think whatever exposure they get to that, maybe it can break a tie. That was the same thought process when we pursued some guys (at the trade deadline) that were going to be free agents. We thought, let’s get them here for two months, we’ll get to know them. It might give us greater comfort (in) how aggressively we want to pursue them in the winter. My hope is that he enjoys it here, he thinks this is a place that he can perform and play well, and that we have him beyond 2025.

On manager Brian Snitker’s future, since it’s generally assumed he will step down at the end of the season, his 49th in the Braves organization. It’s the last year of his contract, and Snitker will be 70 in October.

I mean, look, Snit’s going to be in this organization forever. I’m not the owner, obviously; Terry McGuirk is in that role as chairman. Snit will be part of this organization no matter what, well past when I’m here. He’s Braves for life. So those are things we always address at the end of the year. We sit down, we talk about staff, we talk about all those things. So our focus the entire year has been on the year, get through the season. All those things are things that we always address in the offseason.

On whether he’s begun background work on Snitker’s potential replacement:

Absolutely not. Would never do that. I think it’s a completely disrespectful thing to do or even consider. He’s the manager of the team.

On when it’s appropriate to have those discussions:

Just like anything else, we’ve never sat down and said, “OK, on Aug. 5 or on Oct. 5” … . We’ve always had a very strong, organic working relationship about everything. Roster, staffing, all those things. So he’s going to be part of this organization. Snit has had an incredible amount of success here, that goes without saying — second most to a Hall of Famer (Bobby Cox). And those things happen organically when the time comes.

If Snitker is retiring, would you like it to be announced ahead of time so he can get some acknowledgment from home fans and others around baseball?

That’s none of my business. He’s worked a lot more years in baseball than I’ve had, and had a way more successful career than I’ve had. And that’s an individual thing. That’s not for me to answer.

You didn’t add a proven starter last offseason because you said there’d be a logjam if you did and all other projected starters and returners stayed healthy. They didn’t stay healthy, so will the situation this winter be different?

That one was challenging because we did not foresee Reynaldo López (having shoulder surgery after one start). He got through that first year (with Atlanta), and came in telling us (this spring), “I’m ready to go 200 innings.” He had never had significant arm injuries at all, and he felt good, ready to go, and we felt he had that base and foundation. Obviously, (the injury) happened. We were excited about Grant Holmes starting. I think we were proven right in terms of his ability to do it and be a good, effective starter. He’d never had any arm issues, either (Holmes now has a UCL tear) and had logged innings and (was) older, wasn’t a 20-, 21-year-old kid. But some of the other issues — (Spencer) Strider not being able to return to form immediately; there’s been times he’s showed it, but is now trying to work through some things.

And a guy like (AJ) Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery in June), and obviously (Spencer) Schwellenbach (fractured elbow in June), who got through a full season last year, threw great and was starting to peak, really, when you think about how well he was throwing … . I think he was leading the NL in innings pitched when he got hurt. I think him and Chris Sale (missed 10 weeks with fractured ribs) had to have been top three, top five in Cy Young. So we had two frontline starters at the time. So we had that depth. But look, you can never have enough. And it definitely will be a point of emphasis for us this winter.

Will you consider moving Lopez back to the bullpen, or is he a starter?

That’s not a consideration right now. Now, I have no idea how the offseason goes, but this was an All-Star starter with a sub-2 ERA (in 2025). That’s not what I’m projecting for him going forward, but even if you think there’s a regression into the 3s, that’s still an outstanding starter, who’s proven — as a young starter with the (Chicago) White Sox, back-to-back years of 33 and 34 starts, logging innings over 180 twice. So, he’s shown the ability to do that.

When we signed him, we loved the fact that he had the ability to do both — could be a late-inning reliever, and we could find out about him as a starter. He exceeded those expectations, so our thought is definitely him as (a) starter. But what if we have a bunch of starter trades that present themselves and so on? It would be a great problem to have.

Assuming Murphy returns healthy, how nice is it to have two catchers and be able to use one as DH if you want to?

I think it’s huge. I think Sean is Gold Glove behind the plate. That doesn’t say, “Yeah, I don’t think Drake (Baldwin) can’t ultimately get there in time, but Sean’s already won a Gold Glove.” His throwing’s as good as it’s (ever) been. His receiving’s been phenomenal. I know it’s impossible to quantify, (but) his game-calling is spectacular. And again, Drake, I believe, will get there. He’s a young guy behind the plate; it takes time. That’s not to diminish what Drake has done. Obviously, Drake’s bat has been special. That goes without saying.

However people want to look at that, we haven’t made any determinations in terms of catcher, DH, all those things. It’s a great problem — we have two premium-at-the-position guys, middle of the diamond. It’s not a 162-game position; it’s a two-man position no matter what. We do have an opening in terms (of) free agency with (Marcell) Ozuna at DH; we still haven’t made a decision there (Ozuna will be a free agent).

We expect Sean to come back and be much better than he’s been, and he’s already been a pretty good player. Just going off things like WAR and things like that, the defensive value is so big, and he’s capable of more from an offensive standpoint. We know we need depth. But again, we’ll go into the offseason with (catcher as) a position of strength, and we’re going to look to make the team better.

On Baldwin’s case for NL Rookie of the Year:

I know there (are) a lot (of) great young players that have a chance to win that award. I think when you factor into the mix that this guy’s playing a premium position, a demanding position, from Opening Day on … at that spot, at that position, at his age, and what he’s done — I’m gonna be biased, of course, but I think he’s the guy that should win that award. He deserves it. I think players would say that as well.

On Ozzie Albies and $7 million team option for 2026 with $4 million buyout:

With all these options (on players), we always make the decision at the end of the year — you have five days after the World Series, and that’s when you make the decision. It’s just, things can happen, things change. You always wait.

He had a very rough first half. Him and (Michael Harris II) were top 10 in worst OPS (in the majors at the break). That’s just stating the facts. Harris was worst, I think Ozzie was 10th. You look at the track record of both players, they’ve been much better than that. Harris was arguably our best hitter the last two months of ’24 into the postseason …

Guys regressing, having down years, sure, but top 10 worst? Could not have foreseen that. Both young players. Ozzie Albies has been streaky at times, but his floor has still been pretty good. His ceilings have been All-Star, but his floors have still been an OPS that starts with a 7. And it was surprising (how he struggled in the first half). At the end of the day, their numbers are starting to come around (late this season), I think in total, they’re not going to be where they’ve been in the past, but they’ve bounced back to who they’ve been, more so than not. Which would bode well for both guys. But the conversation is going to be, how do we avoid this from ever occurring again? And how do we get consistency for six months?

On how he’d describe this season:

From my standpoint, being selfish, I’ve been fortunate to be part of 10 postseasons in a row. So this is Year 11, and not that you forget, but I know how important it is — in this market, with this fan base, with this organization, with the tradition — to be a perennial contender, to play meaningful games in September. The whole organization does, from Terry McGuirk on down. That’s the standard that we’ve set here. That’s what we expect. And you’ll never hear me say, “We’re more disappointed than anybody, or the fans are this and that.” Trust me, I meet fans, I talk to fans, I see how much they care. And you guys know I’m a big Atlanta sports fan, too. So, we want to deliver for them as much as anybody else. Our players do, too. We’re motivated anyway, of course, about being a great team, but our expectation is year in and year out to make sure we’re contending. We don’t want to have windows and rebuilds and things like that. We want to be a team that year in and year out, you know that the Braves, when you show up to spring training, you feel like that roster has a chance to win a World Series. We’ve been able to get to the postseason seven years in a row, which we’re proud of, but we wanted it to be eight. And obviously that’s certainly not in the cards today.

(Top photo of Ozzie Albies and Ha-Seong Kim: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)