Braves GM Talks Starting Pitching, Third Base, and Bullpen

During the Atlanta Braves recent “At Home” Opener they talked with general manager Alex Anthopoulos and got his thoughts on several aspects of the team.

With the Atlanta Braves home opener obviously postponed last Friday, they decided to do an “At Home” Opener and talked to several players.

But what interested me the most was the conversation with general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

If you didn’t get a chance to see the interview live, you can watch it here. The Anthopoulos interview starts around the 19-minute mark.

There were several takeaways from his comments that caught my attention.

First, when talking about the starting rotation he mentioned that Sean Newcomb and Kyle Wright were throwing the ball well in spring training and were battling for those last two spots.

That’s no surprise to those who kept up with their spring training starts, but it was interesting that he didn’t throw Felix Hernandez into that group initially.

He did kind of catch himself and went back and said Felix was the throwing the ball well, too, but this strengthens my suspicion that Felix may not be part of the Braves much longer.

And that leads to the second point Alex talked about, and that’s the fact that Cole Hamels is pain free.

It still might take him longer than most to get into playing shape once the season does start, but I wouldn’t expect him to miss much time when play does resume.

And that leads back to King Felix.

With a healthy Hamels there is only one rotation spot left, and I’d imagine Newcomb gets the first crack at the fifth spot, while Wright continues to get work in at the Minor League level.

That is unless there is no Minor League season this year and rosters are expanded. Then you could possibly carry Wright and Felix on the roster, but I would imagine Felix wants a spot in a starting rotation somewhere.

Don’t be shocked if we see a trade happen quickly after baseball resumes. Felix showed he’s capable of pitching at the big league level in spring training, and some team will have a spot for him in their rotation — I just don’t think it will be the Braves.

Something that really caught my attention was that AA said they were thinking about starting the season with both Austin Riley and Johan Camargo on the roster.

I had written previously that I thought that was the best way to go with both hitting the ball well. But AA made a good point that with the MLB season set to start on March 26 and the MiLB season not starting till April 9, you could have carried them both for two weeks and then sent one down when the MiLB season started.

Obviously, with a shortened season and expanded rosters possibly coming, I think it’s pretty much a guarantee both are on the roster when play resumes.

And finally, AA talked about being aggressive this past offseason in building a strong bullpen after blowing two late leads in the NLDS last year.

The Braves had leads in the final innings of the first four games of that series and only won two of them. Chris Martin getting hurt in Game 1 was obviously a big blow, but they still didn’t have enough depth to get it done.

That’s why he was so aggressive in free agency this past offseason in signing free-agent relievers like Will Smith.

That certainly makes a lot of sense, and I know most people (me included) will say he’s a year late on that — and he does mentioned why he wasn’t as aggressive the offseason before signing relievers — but better late than never, I guess.

Two other quick notes.

I had no idea Tyler Flowers was the team’s player rep for the MLBPA. That’s very interesting as I would cut him from this team in a heartbeat. But choosing him as the player rep shows how much the team likes him and trusts him.

And also, AA said they aren’t at a point where they’re ready to talk strategy for when the season does start. That’s not a huge surprise, but a little depressing as it’s just another reminder we are still a ways away from baseball picking back up.

I hope you all enjoyed the Braves “At Home” Opener and hearing from some of the guys. Let us know in the comments what you thought about these comments and others from the event.