Atlanta Braves 2022 Roster: lots of work to be done

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Atlanta Braves players and team pose with the Commissioner’s Trophy during the World Series championship rally. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /

A week of partying and euphoria is done: the World Champion Atlanta Braves now have to figure out how to get a 2022 roster formed.

It’s hard to win a World Series. It’s even harder to defend that title — no one has done that since 2000. So our overachieving Atlanta Braves will have their work cut out for them in 2022.

The chief aspect of this is simple (in principle): keep this group together. Sure, the team expects Ronald Acuña back in 2022, but they still will need to build another bridge to get to him.

There are a host of factors that will impact their ability to keep this team together… both pro and con. We’re going to check on a few of those… and note why we might need to be patient fans as this is brought together for the next year.

PRO. Players still under Braves control

Much of the core of this club is still within the confines of ‘team control’ — somewhere between the pre-arbitration and arbitration years. They include:

Dansby Swanson
Austin Riley
Adam Duvall (his player option has been declined, but he remains arbitration-eligible)
Max Fried
Ian Anderson
Luke Jackson
AJ Minter
Tyler Matzek
Mike Soroka
Richard Rodriguez

Several others would be on this list (e.g., Johan Camargo), but for now we’re looking only at the ‘key contributors’.

Five players are under contract for 2022 (at least):

Ronald Acuña Jr.
Ozzie Albies
Charlie Morton
Travis d’Arnaud
Will Smith

CON. Rules uncertainty going forward

You’re going to hear a lot about the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) this month, as it expires on December 1st.

Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen Alex Anthopoulos make a “quick strike” in the market for players that he was specifically targeting for his next club. That may have already happened in his signings of Morton and d’Arnaud.

While there could still be a deal to be had to continue this habit (think: “center field”), the odds are that Anthopoulos and most other General Managers may be forced to sit on the sidelines with their hands folded until a new CBA can be hammered out.

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