Is the Atlanta Braves Front Office Being Cheap or Smart?

The front office of the Atlanta Braves has been pretty conservative this offseason. We look at if they’re being cheap or smart.

It certainly has not been easy to watch other teams in the NL East spend tons of money, while the Atlanta Braves sit back and seemingly — and actually — do nothing.

According to Spotrac, the Atlanta Braves have the 20th lowest payroll in all of baseball entering the 2019 season. The Mets rank seventh, the Nationals eighth, and the Phillies 13th.

This was an offseason when fans expected the payroll for the Braves to increase significantly nwo that we are two years into the new stadium.

The Braves did go out and give Josh Donaldson $23 million for one year, but other than that there hasn’t been much spending this offseason.

Right now the payroll sits at around $110 million. Last season the Braves ended the year with a payroll of over $130 million.

Alex Anthopoulos has made the point — or excuse — that he would like to save $6-8 million for in-season acquisitions, which I guess I can understand.

Even if that’s the case, there should still be around $10-15 million to spend for 2019. And that’s if the payroll isn’t going to increase for 2019.

You can understand why a lot of Braves fans are frustrated with the lack of spending this offseason. We expected to be in the top half of the league in terms of payroll, but we’re still in the bottom half.

Not only that, but coming off a year when we went to the playoffs, you want to see that momentum continue into the offseason.

But let me play Devil’s advocate for a minute and make the case for AA and the Braves’ front office being smart.

First of all, if you thought the Braves were going to sign Manny Machado for 10 years and $300 million, or Bryce Harper for 13 years and $330 million, you might have fallen off your rocker.

Not only can the Atlanta Braves not afford to swim at the end of the pool, but those are also going to be terrible contracts in a few seasons. We don’t need that type of dead money when all these young players are ready to get paid.

Had one of those players been willing to take a short-term deal with a high AAV, kind of like what the Dodgers offered Harper, then maybe I could have seen the Braves getting involved.

But signing a player for that many years can cripple a franchise — see Albert Pujols/Anaheim Angels.

Also, AA knows that the Braves aren’t just playing for 2019, they’re playing for the next decade. While the Nats and Mets might be reloading to make a run for 2019, the Braves are set up to compete for the division for years to come.

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That is why AA is hesitant to trade any top prospects. That, and he knows they are limited in the international market for a couple more years.

I understand AA looking at the long-term picture here, and I support that decision.

However, it does not excuse him for failing to land players like Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel who seem to have no market.

If it turns out those players sign two or three-year deals for an AAV of $15 million or less, then Braves fans have reason to riot.

We entered this offseason needing a right fielder, top of the rotation starter, and a closer. So far all we’ve done is resigned our right fielder.

Next. Two Low-Budget Signings the Atlanta Braves Need to Make. dark

I certainly believe that the front office thinks they are being smart and not cheap, but from a fan perspective, this looks like a cheap move by the Atlanta Braves.

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