Atlanta Braves: Offseason grades for every signing

With pitchers and catchers having already reported to Spring Training, let’s take a look back at what the Atlanta Braves did this offseason and determine if it was a success.

The moves that were made by the Atlanta Braves in the offseason were a mixed bag of brilliance and reliance that ultimately led to a decent but not great grade.

Addressing the bullpen was the primary need for the Braves over the winter and they certainly addressed that adding over $50 million to Will Smith, Chris Martin, and Darren O’Day.

Maintaining or adding a middle of the order bat to protect Freddie Freeman was a lesser, yet important need and the jury is still out on this one.

Josh Donaldson signed with the Twins, which left the Braves scrambling to find a thumper in the cleanup spot. They added Marcell Ozuna on a one-year deal to replace Donaldson and it is too be determined how this will play out.

With the emergence of Mike Soroka and Max Fried and counting on a full healthy season of Mike Foltynewicz, the rotation wasn’t as glaring a need as the other two, but the Braves did want a veteran stabilizer and they thought they got that with the signing of Cole Hamels.

But now Hamels is out three weeks and likely won’t make his debut until late April, per Mark Bowman.

Figuring out who is going to play third base, as well as who fills out the remaining spots in the rotation, are the only glaring question marks as the season gets closer.

Let’s take a look at the individual moves the Braves made over the winter and hand out grades.