You want takes? We’ve got takes. Plenty of ‘em, actually.
It’s certainly been a while since we did one of these, right? Well, with Opening Day happening in just a few days time, I figured that this was as good of a time as any to bring it back and give y’all a taste of what’s on our minds as the season gets set to start. We’ve got a handful of our staff writers here to answer some questions about our general feelings concerning the Atlanta Braves here in 2025. So settle in, get comfortable and also let us know what you think in the comments below! Enjoy.
What grade would you give the Braves for their offseason? Also how did you feel about how the offseason went in general?
Matt: I’d have to say a D. As much as I love Jurickson Profar for the much needed high on-base guy and switch hitter, it’s hard to say it’s not one of the toughest offseasons for contenders. Not only did the Braves see more talent walk out of the building than what was imported, but they struck out on their big targets on the pitching side. Whether it was due to years, dollars, or even issues arising from the physical the Braves just didn’t do enough when the Mets added Juan Soto, the Phillies added another high quality starter, and once again the Dodgers spent big. It would have been a C- if not for the decision to move Jorge Soler in a pure salary dump move when it would have been nice to have another good bat around – especially when the money wasn’t really spent elsewhere this winter.
Gaurav: I would give it a C-. Jurickson fills a massive hole in the lineup and allows for Arcia to be pushed down to the bottom of the lineup while providing solid defense in left. I would have liked to have seen at least another reliever being signed but the quality of the NRI guys is higher than your typical NRI signings. It’s no surprise that they struck out on starting pitcher as they want to give some of their younger arms like Holmes/AJSS a shot, and see if Ian can rebound into a solid back of the rotation arm. There wasn’t TOO MUCH to do, but it also was not the most successful offseason.
Ivan: First, we need to figure out what grading scheme makes sense. I think there’s a temptation to grade teams on moves made and not made in a vacuum, but given that teams aren’t starting at the same place, this seems kind of weird. If a rebuilding team with a bad farm system gave out a huge free agent deal to a 30-year-old, that would be bad – but the same move for a midrange contender in a tough division could have made a lot of sense. The Braves didn’t really do anything one way or another short of the Profar deal, and that deal is one of the rare ones for this Front Office that wasn’t a wait-out-the-market slam dunk. So, in terms of moves made or made not made, I guess a C, because it was kind of… nothing? But in terms of shepherding the team onward to further success, the roster still rates as one of the top rosters in MLB, so hard to give anything less than an A or A- grade just in terms of where the Braves are right now.
Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
DJourn: This offseason was all about the money. Was it there? Did that change? Is it still there and the organization is being coy, looking to make a big splash between now and the trade deadline? That is the whole-and-sum of the offseason to me. Yes, the Profar addition was a solid one but the lack of an above-average right-handed, high-leverage reliever was a need two months ago and it is still a need late in Spring Training. The Braves still have one of the best rosters in all of baseball, so some of this is picking nits, but so far the offseason gets a C-.
Daniel: I’m gonna say a D+. Profar is a real addition with real upside and makes the team better, but I think that the messaging from Alex Anthopoulos about the options being picked up and the payroll increasing (which it still theoretically could) really made this a disappointment. I am more comfortable with the pitching staff than it seems like many are, but they certainly could have made a couple of additions on that side of things, and Orlando Arcia doesn’t have shortstop locked down to the point where it isn’t worth improving. The roster is still really good, but the team really primed the fans for a much bigger offseason, with the messaging and the actions early in the offseason.
Cassidy: The off-season was certainly underwhelming. I’ll give it a C-, I love the Profar addition. It checks all the boxes on the field and off – especially the on base percentage, the clubhouse fit, and the edge just fits with what the Braves lost this off-season. I’m very concerned that we didn’t address the loss of Joe Jimenez adequately enough. I think the starting rotation will be better than it feels because Spencer Strider is returning in late April. Obviously we had a plan and it didn’t work with Jeff Hoffman and Tanner Scott for different reasons but it really hurts because there are a lot more questions than we are used to.
Demetrius: I’d give it a C-. The Profar signing was perfect for them and defensive concerns aside, the Braves will be better for having him. With that being said, even with the late moves like bringing in Craig Kimbrel and hilariously bringing back Jesse Chavez, I can’t say that I was thrilled with how the offseason went. I would’ve liked a starter and maybe the Jose Suarez trade might end up panning out. But yeah, I can’t give it anything past a C-. I don’t think they necessarily needed anything past a C- – it’s kind of like that one last class you need to pass before you graduate and the class is “Nose Picking 101” or something like that where you just show up every day, don’t do anything stupid but don’t really put your energy into it, take your C and take your degree. The Braves believe in that old saying that “C’s get degrees,” I guess.
Mark: I definitely wouldn’t give it a *good* grade. The most impactful move was Jurickson Profar, and after all the waiting and trying to leverage the end of the offseason, they didn’t even get him at a bargain. Outside of that, the team had significant holes at the back of the rotation and in the bullpen, and they just … did nothing. After offseasons where the team has made bold moves to compete, this seemed like the organization settling for a playoff spot, given what the Mets and Dodgers were able to do.
What are your expectations for Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider as they return from their respective season-ending injuries? Which one do you think is most likely to hit the ground running? Conversely, which one do you think might have a tougher return?
Matt: I think Acuña is going to quickly get going once he starts playing. Maybe not quite at his insanely good 2023 level with the stolen bases as he comes back from the knee injury, but still a superstar bat. I’m a little more hesitant to feel as confident with Strider just because it takes pitchers some time to really get back to 100% with all three of their velocity, movement, and command. I have confidence Strider gets back to where he was, just a little less than Acuña in terms of getting back there immediately.
Gaurav: They are both two of the most elite athletes on the planet at what they do so I have high hopes for both, relatively fast. While I expect the control for Strider to come back a little later, along with his velocity I still expect him to hit the ground running pretty quickly. As it comes to Ronald, I expect a couple of weeks where he’s adjusting to major league pitching and then he’s off and running to normal Ronald standards.
Ivan: The only thing I really expect is that the Braves take it real easy with both guys. Mentally, I’ve moved my debut date back at least a few weeks from whatever the team says it’s targeting at any point. Rather than 520-550 PAs, I expect Acuña to get about 440; for Strider, rather than 110-130 innings, I wouldn’t be surprised if he logs only around 60 (but then again, I also thought there was a decent chance that Chris Sale would miss the entire season last year based on his history, and didn’t see a high chance of him topping 100 innings, much less a full season). Performance-wise, I think a central expectation of around 3.5 WAR for Acuña and 1.5 WAR for Strider makes sense – I don’t expect them to be worse than a regressed-to-the-mean version of their recent production, just less available because the current MLB system gives so little incentive for teams to push for anything (other than off-field revenue generation, anyway).
Demetrius: The last time that Acuña suffered a torn ACL, I was adamant that once he was cleared to play, he’d be the same and he’d pick up like it never even happened. That wasn’t the case and it took him until the 2023 season to really start looking like himself again. This time around, I think all parties involved will do better about bringing him back into the fold so that things aren’t as awkward as they were back in 2022. So I think that thanks to the experience of 2021 and 2022, Acuña’s return should go more smoothly than it did the first time around.
With that being said, I think Strider will more than likely be better earlier on because baby, have you seen him in spring training? He’s still got to work on his control/command a bit but once that comes back, I’m very fired up about seeing what he’ll have upon returning to the bigs.
DJourn: I think Strider starts faster than Acuńa, Jr., but by the end of June they are both in All-Star form. Speaking of All-Stars, with the game in Atlanta this year, if Acuńa, Jr. is able to return by early May – and if he starts off at something near his 2023 form – it will be hard for him to not be voted into the game, assuming he is on the ballot. With Strider already seeing action in Spring Training, he could easily be back in place atop the team’s rotations by his third start.
Daniel: I think Ronald gets going at the plate and puts together a strong season. I think the extra recovery time relative to last ACL tear and the additional experience of recovering will allow him to hit the ground running, even if he runs a little less. I think Spencer could take a bit of time to find his optimal self again.
Cassidy- I think I’m a little biased because we all just watched Stiders spring debut where he dominated and it wasn’t a full Tommy John’s surgery so I feel like he has the easier path to his level. For Ronald, I think he’s gonna be fine but it’s gonna take him a minute to trust his knees interest that everything is good to be able to play the game at his incredible level without thinking about anything but playing the game.
Mark: I think it’ll be easier for Strider to come back, but my guess is that Acuña is more valuable. Strider is likely to be pretty inconsistent for a bit, especially with his command, but his stuff should be fine. Acuña will have to work his way out into the field and games played, but he should be fine.
Sean Murphy is once again going to miss the early portion of the season due to injury. Are you worried that this could potentially turn into another rough season for him?
Matt: I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any concerns. Between another health issue, the rough season last year, and catcher being a very demanding position physically, he’s just not starting out the season the way you’d like for your top catcher. That said he does have talent and a prior track record for success, so he also can’t be written off. I’ve had mixed feelings on Murphy all along because I was a big believer in the bat of William Contreras, and my belief in Drake Baldwin’s bat, so that plays a part in my answer as he will always be compared to Contreras and fighting off Baldwin going forward.
Gaurav: Until injuries aren’t an issue for him, absolutely. Last year he struggled, then pressed to get back and was obviously still agitated with the oblique. Then to come into spring, needing in game reps only to get drilled in the ribs and have to sit even more – that’s brutal. Now he will need time during the regular season to get comfortable at the plate and potentially push back added production. Would be nice for Murphy just to get a prolonged stretch of healthy games.
Ivan: Here’s my not-so-random Sean Murphy anecdote. I talk to various people employed at various positions in Front Offices across the league on a not-that-frequent basis. Every conversation I’ve had that’s even passingly touched on Sean Murphy has gone like this:
- FO staffer: Huh, I didn’t really expect this and wasn’t aware of it, but Murphy seems like he’s transitioning to a “really good at defense” backup-ish guy as of the second half of 2023.
- Me: What? He had a .400+ xwOBA in August 2023 and may have been/was highly likely to be hurt for much of the year last year.
- Them: Eh, I don’t have a response to that, but it still seems that way.
So, yeah, I don’t know. I’m not worried that getting pelted in the ribs is specifically going to lead to a rough season, but if he’s still having trouble getting his bat speed to where it was in 2023, a rib injury probably won’t help matters in that regard. And those conversations will linger in my head.
DJourn: Bias. It is tough to overcome some biases, and I was – and still am – bitter with the team for opting for Murphy over William Contreras. With that said, Murphy’s rib injury was a fluke and thankfully isn’t muscle-related. Will he be as good as he was, offensively, in the first three months of 2023? No, I don’t think so. But with this line-up, he doesn’t need to be anything more than an average offensive performer with elite defensive metrics. That’s where last year comes into play. Was his dip in pop time and framing due to the lingering oblique injury or were they symptomatic of decline for a player entering his 30s? With Drake Baldwin knocking on the door, Murphy’s long-term future in Atlanta may ride on how much he bounces back from last season.
Demetrius: I think he’ll be okay but like everybody else has said, it’s starting to turn into a bit of a concern when it comes to his injury issues. Obviously we’re all hoping that he’ll eventually shake off this broken rib (easy for me to say) and return to the player who fit in with the Braves like a glove during his initial season. As long as he continues to play good-to-great defense behind the plate then I think it’ll be all good for him but like Matt said, at a certain point Drake Baldwin might hit his way into becoming the top catcher around here. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how that situation develops going forward.
Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
Daniel: I tend to think he’ll be fine and I’m not worried about him being injury prone – getting hit in the ribs with a fastball isn’t a particularly chronic condition – that said, last year was pretty rough and a step back in almost every facet of his game. I think the hope is that he gets plenty of time to ramp back up for the season before being tossed back into the lineup. Of course, one problem with that is if Drake Baldwin plays well enough that Sean isn’t rushed back, that also might cut into Sean’s playing time and make it harder for him to get his timing back. Ultimately, I would think that he should be able to at least get back to being a good player.
Cassidy: i’ve had to defend Murphy so much and I’m not gonna stop now. You’re always concerned about injuries, but these just feel really unlucky. I think the emergence of Drake Baldwin will actually help Murphy realizing he doesn’t have to rush back and remember that he is a very valuable piece of the puzzle and that’s not gonna change. Sounds simple, but Murphy is still a really good baseball player.
Mark: Woof. My hope is that he learned a lot from how last season went. He has his money, so the main thing is just to come back and be productive. It might also depend on Baldwin. If Murphy comes back and gets to play every day, I think he’ll be fine. But if he gets Tom Brady’d, it might be more difficult.
Speaking of underperformance, plenty of Braves regulars didn’t live up to their lofty standards in 2024. Which player do you think is most likely to bounce back? Also, if you’re concerned about a player potentially continuing to struggle, why do you think so?
Demetrius: Matt Olson probably isn’t the guy who hit out of his mind during the 2023 season but I also don’t think he’s the guy who showed up for most of the 162 games he played last season. I think he’ll land right in the middle here in 2025 and that’ll be a 4-win player, maybe even close to five. If he’s doing that then he’ll probably have a wRC+ in the 130s with a HR count in the high-30s, low-40s. If he can hit that sweet spot, I think we’ll all be having a good time watching him bounce back this year.
Matt: I think we see multiple players bounce back because the presence of a healthy Ronald Acuña Jr. immediately helps out the rest of the lineup. However if I had to pick one guy it would be Matt Olson, with the reasoning being that it’s an odd year and those are the years he really mashed, while his even years just aren’t up to par. I could have easily gone with Michael Harris, Ozzie Albies, or Acuña himself – though passed up Acuña because I believe his shortened season didn’t give us an accurate read of his 2024. My pick about who I’m concerned about struggling again is Bryce Elder. I feel confident that the bats who slumped last year turn it around for the most part, but Elder’s 2024 was just not good and while you can’t read into spring training stats, he hasn’t looked much better this spring either.
Gaurav: I’m going to go with Austin Riley. Austin’s “down year” saw his batting average drop to the .250 area and without an elite walk rate his OBP hovered in the low .300s. That’s not who he is – he’s a power hitting third baseman that has great bat to ball skills. I expect him to come back and put up his normal well above average numbers at a premium spot in the lineup and compete for MVP votes.
Ivan: Harris was the guy most screwed in terms of wOBA-xwOBA on the team last year, and that’s probably driving a lot of the projections that see him as arguably the Braves’ best position player at this point, and one of the such guys in the majors. That said, I think I’ll go with Acuña, whose 2024, even before he got hurt, had a bunch of really weird issues beyond the also-very-large xwOBA underperformance that he probably would’ve evened out eventually. For the second question, Orlando Arcia basically bamboozled himself into some really dumb stuff after the first few months of play in 2023, and has shown little ability to un-bamboozle himself. He needs to pick an approach and stick with it (so does Jarred Kelenic), and him attempting to do a Matt Olson imitation has utterly failed at this point. Either sit on fastballs or sit on secondary stuff, but Arcia has shown no ability to make PA-to-PA or pitch-to-pitch adjustments at this point.
DJourn: I will skip over the player who lost time due to injury. Riley, Acuńa, Jr., Strider, etc., are all good candidates, but I’ll go with Matt Olson. He has been doing that weird good one season, great the next, going back to 2018 and seems prime for another great season in 2024. He was much better after the All-Star break in 2024 – reducing his strikeouts while increasing both his walks and home runs. He’s played in more than 600 games-in-a-row and he’ll turn 31 soon, but he should have several more elite-level seasons left in him and 2025 will be one of them.
Daniel: I’m not really worried about any of the star guys on the offensive side who took a step back in 2024. Orlando Arcia is a hard guy to have a ton of faith in, given his history at the plate, so his step back could absolutely be his new normal. I do also think that Matt is right to be concerned about Bryce Elder. His strikeouts did take a step forward last year and xFIP actually was fairly optimistic on his 2024 season, but his profile of his stuff and his K/BB is just not a very inspiring one.
Cassidy: I feel like everyone will bounce back one way or another because I believe everybody placed so much pressure on themselves with every passing injury. It wasn’t fun and I think everyone wants to get back to what it was before the injury bug hit. Ultimately, I think this entire team has a chip on its shoulder to erase the past and embrace the future.
Mark: I think most players will bounce back. A lot of it seemed variance-based instead of actual decline, especially given their ages. If I was concerned about someone, it would be Albies. I think in general he seems pretty cooked (relative to how he was) – Statcast metrics didn’t like him and injuries seem to be actually piling up.
Which team in the NL East are you most concerned about?
Matt: Easily Philly. Juan Soto is a special player, but I just don’t think the Mets did enough to solidify their roster overall. That leaves the Phillies, who now have a scary rotation with the addition of Jesus Luzardo to their collection of impact players in the lineup and on the mound.
Gaurav: Phillies. They still have Wheeler and a dynamic lineup with solid bullpen.
Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Ivan: A lot of people are gonna say “easily the Phillies here” but honestly I don’t really see that big of a difference between the Phillies and the Mets. They both seem more different than the Braves than they are from one another in terms of combined talent. The Phillies are probably better because their rotation lets them squeeze out marginal wins more easily if they push it (and honestly those guys don’t seem to have issues being pushed, as a contrast to the Braves’ strategy of acting like their starters are held together by pipe cleaners and maple syrup), but eh.
DJourn: Going into the season, the Phillies. The injuries the Mets have had don’t help their cause but they can spend money with anyone. By August, it might be the Mets. The Phillies have a number of players aging out of their prime. Next season, we may need to start talking about the Nationals.
Demetrius: If the Phillies weren’t a divisional rival, I’d love watching them so much. They’re a rival though, so I absolutely despise the fact that if that lineup is clicking, you can make one mistake and you’ll get 4 or more runs dumped on your head before you even realize that it’s all gone wrong. Combine that with a pitching staff that can just get downright filthy at times – there’s a reason they basically waltzed to the division last season. The Mets are going to have a great lineup but I don’t know if they’ve got the pitching. The Nationals are going to be tough to deal with (again) but they’re not quite here yet. The Marlins are the Marlins. So yeah, I think the Phillies will be the toughest team to deal with this season. Again.
Daniel: Easily the Phillies. The Mets have splashy talent, but their pitching staff is extremely uninspiring. The Phillies have the much more well-rounded team.
Cassidy: The Phillies for sure, but if the Mets didn’t have so many injuries, I think it would be more of a tie. It’s gonna be a dog fight. The Nats are going to live up to their name and be super pesky in my mind, though.