Offseason In Review: Atlanta Braves

The Braves scaled back spending this offseason, but still brought in an All-Star outfielder and a lot of depth options to bolster the roster.

Major League Signings

• Jurickson Profar, OF: Three years, $42MM
• Alex Verdugo, OF: One year, $1.5MM
• Bryan De La Cruz, OF: One year split contract, $860K prorated salary for time on active roster
• Carlos Rodriguez, OF: One year split contract
• Connor Gillispie, RHP: One year split contract (later lost on waivers to Marlins)

2025 spending: $13.5MM
Total spending: $43.5MM

Option Decisions

• Exercised $16MM club option on DH Marcell Ozuna
• Declined $8MM club option on C Travis d’Arnaud
• Declined $7MM club option on RP Luke Jackson ($2MM buyout)

Trades & Claims

• Acquired RHP Griffin Canning from Angels for OF/DH Jorge Soler (Canning was later non-tendered)
• Acquired SS Nick Allen from Athletics for minor league RP Jared Johnson
• Acquired RHP Davis Daniel from Angels for minor league LHP Mitch Farris
• Acquired cash considerations or a player to be named later from Angels for RP Angel Perdomo
• Claimed RHP Amos Willingham off waivers from Nationals
• Claimed RHP Royber Salinas off waivers from Athletics (Salinas later non-tendered but re-signed on a new minors contract)
• Claimed RHP Anderson Pilar from Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft (later returned to Miami)
• Claimed SS Christian Cairo from Guardians in the Rule 5 Draft (later returned to Cleveland)

Notable Minor League Signings

• Craig Kimbrel, Hector Neris, James McCann, Buck Farmer, Jake Marisnick, Chasen Shreve, Garrett Cooper, Chad Kuhl, Dylan Covey, Jordan Weems, Dany Jimenez, Ray Kerr, Enyel De Los Santos, Matthew Batten, Conner Capel, Wander Suero, Enoli Paredes, Eddy Alvarez, Charles Leblanc, Jose Devers, Zach Thompson, Brian Moran, Kolton Ingram, Chandler Seagle, Jake Diekman (released), Curt Casali (released)

Extensions

• Reynaldo Lopez, SP: Three years, $30MM (overwrote Lopez’s previous contract, adding a guaranteed 2027 season and $4MM more in guaranteed money)
• Aaron Bummer, RP: Two years, $13MM

Notable Losses

• Soler, d’Arnaud, Jackson, Canning, Max Fried, Charlie Morton, A.J. Minter, Jesse Chavez, Ramon Laureano, Gio Urshela, Tyler Matzek, Allan Winans, John Brebbia, Cavan Biggio, Eddie Rosario, Huascar Ynoa

President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos traditionally makes several moves early in the offseason, and he got a particularly quick jump on things this winter by trading Jorge Soler to the Angels less than 24 hours after the World Series ended.  Since exercising Marcell Ozuna’s club option was a no-brainer, Soler became redundant in Atlanta’s lineup, and an obvious trade candidate.  Because return piece Griffin Canning was eventually non-tendered, the deal became a pure salary dump, as the Halos took the remaining $26MM of Soler’s contract off the Braves’ hands.

The Braves also moved quickly in signing Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer to contract extensions, though since the players were already controlled (Lopez via a previous extension and Bummer via club options), the new deals were more about reshuffling some money and creating some space under the luxury tax.  More payroll space was freed up when the Braves declined club options on Travis d’Arnaud and Luke Jackson, and when arbitration-eligibles Ramon Laureano, Cavan Biggio, and Huascar Ynoa were all let go.

All of these moves indicated that Anthopoulos was preparing for another transaction that would cost his team a significant chunk of money.  It took a couple of months for that next step to happen, but Atlanta finally struck in signing Jurickson Profar to a three-year, $42MM deal.  Profar will now line up as the Braves’ everyday left fielder, bringing some stability to an outfield that will still be without Ronald Acuna Jr. until likely sometime in May, as Acuna recovers from his torn ACL.