After Markakis, what’s next for the Braves?

MOST Atlanta Braves fans were left unimpressed and flat-out disappointed by the resigning of Nick Markakis and felt like the front office settled. But something else has to be brewing, right?

One of the things that Atlanta Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos said after signing Markakis to a 1-year, 4 million dollar deal was the amount of flexibility it gives his team going forward this offseason to address other needs or wants.

As many have said on social media recently and what Alan wrote yesterday morning, this is not it for Anthopoulos.

It can’t be.

At the end of last season, the Braves payroll sat at 136 million and after bringing Markakis back, that brought the current payroll to $110 million.

Anthopoulos has stated many times the payroll is going to increase. So even it only jumps to around $140 million, that still gives the Braves $20 million-ish to spend (A.A. likes to keep some money around at the trade deadline).

Also, there has long been speculation that Julio Teheran could be moved due to his performance and perhaps more importantly, the wave of young pitchers on the precipice of being in the big-league rotation.

So if Teheran is traded that adds $11 million more to the available funds, which would make it somewhere around 30 million.

Where do the Braves go from here? Where can that money go? There are several options.

Let’s take a look.