How Good are the Atlanta Braves as Currently Constructed

We take a look at how good this Atlanta Braves team can be as it’s currently constructed if there are no more moves made this offseason.

It’s almost Christmas and the baseball offseason has been silent other than the few big signings by the Atlanta Braves earlier.

And while I still think there will be plenty of moves made this offseason, including several by Alex Anthopoulos and the Braves, I wanted to see just how good this team is as currently put together.

What really got me thinking about this is a comment from AA the other day saying that he’d love to get a big bat this offseason but understands that might not happen.

My immediate response to that was — you can’t let that happen, the Braves have to get at least one more big bat this offseason.

And to be clear, I think they will.

But if they don’t, and they go into the 2021 season with mostly what they already have on the roster and no other key additions, can they win the NL East again and compete for a World Series.

Here is what the Braves lineup might look like: 

Acuna – RF

Ozzie – 2B

Freeman – 1B

TDA – C

Dansby – SS

Riley – LF

Camargo – 3B

Pache – CF

There are only four outfielders listed on the 40-man roster (and Riley), so there is a strong likelihood the Braves get at least one outfielder this offfseason.

But as it stands now I think this would be the best lineup for the Braves going into 2021.

That leaves Alex Jackson as the back-up catcher, Abraham Almonte and Ender Inciarte as back-up outfielders, and Jack Mayfield as your back-up infielder.

It’s certainly not the worst lineup in the world, but that bottom three leaves a lot to be desired.

Maybe Riley puts it together on a more consistent basis and becomes the right-handed power bat we need, but he’s still an unknown to me.

I have very little faith that Camargo or Pache will hit much. And that’s fine for Pache if you beef up the rest of the lineup because he’s going to give you Gold Glove defense in center.

But I certainly still think this lineup needs one big bat if there is no DH and two big bats if there is a DH.

And they definitely have to do some work on the bench/depth finding an upgrade over Mayfield and Almonte.

Here is your possible Braves pitching staff: 

Soroka

Fried

Morton

Anderson

Smyly

Smith

Minter

Martin

Matzek

Webb

Tomlin

Jackson

Dayton

It seems crazy to say after how good the Braves’ offense was in 2020, but the pitching staff is the clear strength right now.

You could certainly win a division and probably a World Series with that starting pitching and those top four or five arms in the bullpen.

I’d certainly love to see them add a couple more proven relievers this offseason because I think there are several out there you can get pretty cheap.

And this list doesn’t even take into account the depth at starting pitcher with guys like Kyle Wright, Touki Toussaint, Huascar Ynoa, and Tucker Davidson.

This team as constructed is still good enough to win the division, in my opinion. But the lack of depth would make it difficult because you know injuries will happen.

That lack of depth and length in the lineup is also why I don’t think this team as currently put together is good enough to win a World Seires. I think they need at least one big bat, a couple of veteran bench players who could start if needed, and two more veteran bullpen arms.