AA didn’t just talk about Jurickson Profar during his period of media availability following the deal.
When Alex Anthopoulos spoke with the media following the Atlanta Braves signing Jurickson Profar to a three-year deal, he didn’t just discuss the Profar signing. He also talked about their other offseason dealings. If you were expecting an inside scoop, prepare to be disappointed because he wasn’t exactly forthcoming with specifics — as you can expect. “We discussed both outfielders and pitching. We’ve engaged with both. The conversations ended with discussion and engagement with no deals,” said AA. “We’ve got room to add both. We might sign someone. We might trade someone. We’re not locked into any one area — if there’s a good starter deal, we’ll do it. If there’s a trade or free agency signing or a bullpen deal, same thing. We’re not close to anything but we’re still having conversations about both.”
We did get an update on Spencer Strider, though there was also nothing particularly groundbreaking here as well. “I think Spencer Strider threw his fourth bullpen either yesterday, today or tomorrow. He’s doing well. He’ll come into spring having a normal spring training (barring no changes from here to that time),” stated Anthopoulos once he was asked about the young fireballer. “I can’t tell you innings in games or that type of stuff. I can tell you that we’ve made the decision ahead of time with both him and Ronald Acuña Jr. that they won’t be on the Opening Day roster. We’re still a couple of weeks away from reporting to camp and another month away from games.”
Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Alex Anthopoulos also pointed out that we’ll be hearing from manager Brian Snitker soon, even though he did so in a tongue-in-cheek manner. “The beauty of spring training is that Snit does media every day so you’ll have a chance to ask him. But with Strider, he’s doing well,” AA reiterated. “We’ll continue to take it day-by-day but he will not be on the Opening Day roster with Ronald. We’ve decided that it wouldn’t be the best course of action and we’ll monitor it over the course of spring.”
AA also made note of the fact that there was starting to be a lot of chatter concerning Atlanta’s relative inaction during the offseason. As you’d expect from the person at the top of the organization, AA made sure to keep things in perspective when it came to offseason dealings. “I’ve been through the splashy offseasons and I’ve been through the quiet ones. At the end of the day, what matters is once the season starts and you get into actual wins and losses,” said Anthopoulos.
“You can’t get caught up in trying to win the offseason. I get it, it’s a long offseason. People want to see activity, especially with our competitors doing stuff. We have a lot of players under contract and we’ve made a lot of signings. We have a lot of positions already spoken for. You’d love to build the perfect team and fill every hole but again, you start forcing a long-term deal and six months from now, you’re looking to get out of it. You want to make the team better but you just really can’t let outside factors influence your decision-making because once the games start — I’ve been part of years where you win the offseason and everyone’s excited but the team doesn’t play well and nobody remembers the offseason.”
Anthopoulos brought his thoughts home by giving us a subtle reminder that he’s been around the block before when it comes to making things happen in the offseason. “It’s all about results at the end of the day. I remember when people were very concerned about the Chris Sale trade. Once the season started, everyone was pleased with it. You just can’t react to the offseason, it’s not productive.”