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Atlanta Braves: 3 possible ways to structure for 2019

By Benjamin Chase

ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 15: Members of the Atlanta Braves stand during the national anthem wearing number 42 for the game against the San Diego Padres at SunTrust Park on April 15, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. All MLB players are wearing number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 15: Members of the Atlanta Braves stand during the national anthem wearing number 42 for the game against the San Diego Padres at SunTrust Park on April 15, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. All MLB players are wearing number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
BALTIMORE, MD – JULY 10: Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals and Manny Machado #13 of the Baltimore Orioles talk during their game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 10, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

The 2018 season for the Atlanta Braves is going quite well and will not be done, hopefully, for quite some time, but it’s never too early to consider the offseason

The Atlanta Braves are coming off of a big weekend series with the Arizona Diamondbacks that has moved the Braves to 4 1/2 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League East. With the postseason becoming more of reality, the 2018-2019 offseason is not in the forefront of Braves fans minds the way it has been recently in mid-September, but it is still an interesting thought experiment to look forward.

We will examine first the players who will be under contract for 2019 then explore 3 different angles on how to construct the team for 2019, each with a different focus and different result that each should be competitive, but each in different ways.

First, the money

The myth is still out there that Liberty is cheap. The truth is that Liberty has, for the most part, given the Atlanta Braves front office money to utilize based on revenue coming in from baseball operations. However, Atlanta Braves fans no longer have the backing of the best television revenue in the game with TBS as was the case in the 1990s. In fact, it can be argued that the Atlanta Braves have the worst television deal in all of baseball, and there’s still nearly a decade left, not expiring until 2027.

That will mean that the Atlanta Braves will have no new television revenue while Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies are in arbitration. It will also mean that a $200 million payroll is not coming anytime soon.

The team can certainly support a payroll in the $130-150 million range for sure, however, as the total payroll cost this season with payments to Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Kazmir will end up clearing $140 million and likely end up near $145 million.

We will be using a base number just under that for this exercise, working at $140 million to construct your 2019 Atlanta Braves. We’ll start by seeing who will be leaving the team after 2018:

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