re: The ATL Thread: 2021 World Champion Atlanta Braves Offseason Thread

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Justin Toscano

@JustinCToscano

Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos is signing for fans at CoolToday Park. They’re very excited to see him. “Thank you for all you’ve done!” one yelled. “You’re a genius!” another shouts.

11:42 AM · Mar 20, 2022

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I don’t know what the offers were prior, but you have the imagine Freddie lost some leverage with the Olsen trade.

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Was very stressed out by the compressed schedule. Hates to feel rushed. He "didn't enjoy any of it" and never wants to do something like that again.

After the lockout was lifted his wife told him "Well, see you in six months."

Is happy to be in Florida now so he can just watch some baseball. Wasn't able to watch any of the workouts like he does in typical springs.

His staff is empowered to negotiate and make the minor league free agent deals. That frees him up to concentrate on major league deals and trades.

Payroll will be up "good amount", but won't get to the CBT threshold.

First base was #1 priority -- that had to be resolved before they could move anywhere else so they knew how much left they had to spend.

As attractive options were coming "off the board", they resolved to go ahead and make the Olson trade (speculation: they missed out on Nelson Cruz, didn't want to miss out on others because first base uncertainty was freezing them out).

Anthopoulos first felt like Freeman "wasn't going to happen" Saturday night (12th). Started talking to Billy Beane Sunday night, asked for a firm offer. They had previously "checked in" before the lockout, but no names were discussed. Late Monday morning Beane responded with the Pache/Langeliers/Cusick/Estes package. Says on all major deals like this he brings to his staff to talk through -- "it's a committee". It was painful to give up that much talent, but it was agreed that it was OK. Terry McQuirk then signed off on it. Deal was announced early Monday afternoon. 

Regarding choking up at the press conference -- it was culmination of the shock of the previous 48 hours. Recognition that "our clubhouse is in shock, our fanbase is in shock. I'm in shock". Reality crashing in. 

Freddie "was good to me. Really good to me. I've had the greatest run of my GM career with him, and largely because of him... four divisions in a row, an NLCS, a World Series, with this guy playing every day, with a bad elbow in 2019, being an advocate for the front office, being my assistant GM when we were trying to sign Craig Kimbrel... being supportive when we had different trade deadlines. I remember 2018, 2019, I relied on him... there's a relationship there. I'm not going to apologize for... it's a sad day. Freddie Freeman is no longer a Brave -- and that's not taking anything away from Matt Olson, a fantastic player and we're excited to have him -- but Freddie Freeman is no longer a Brave and anyone who knows him loves the guy. You can't help to. You should get emotional no matter who you are, if you are a fan, or a friend, because you get to know him. And you aren't human if you don't. I wish I had been a little more collected, but I'm human."

On the challenges of re-signing great legacy players. "It's not supposed to be easy when you have great players. Because those are the best-of-the-best players and they're going to be in high demand. And that's the way it's supposed to be. The player has put himself in that position, and he's earned that position."

Freddie was "one of the greatest Braves of all time. And he will always be one of the greatest Braves of all time. This doesn't change a thing, no matter where he is. Twenty, thirty, forty years from now he's still be one of the greatest Braves of all time."

On why it was important to him to be able to announce Olson's extension at his introductory press conference: "Obviously the circumstances of him coming here were challenging for everybody. That's not fair to Matt, that's not his issue. But it's similar to last summer when we got Charlie Morton done. We could have given him a qualifying offer at the end of the year. We gave him $20 million instead because I thought it was important to make a statement to the clubhouse, and if that meant we spent an extra $1.6 million, to me that's money well-spent... at the All-Star break I thought it was vitally important to have Joc Pederson show up the next day after the All-Star break, even if we had to pay a little bit more, to send a message to the clubhouse. Maybe I overweigh this stuff... because I'm very big on clubhouse chemistry and mix and putting that team together. Then following up getting Stephen Vogt, trying to keep that momentum going... Matt Olson comes in, everyone knows he's not just going to be here two years, he's going to be 'one of us', and he's part of the core. and there's no ambiguity. I believe -- and the players may agree or not agree -- there's something to that. We need these guys to gel, we need these guys to come together, and when he knows he's here to stay and he doesn't have to worry about 'I have to have a good season because I'm playing year-to-year'... if that meant we had to give up a little more in the trade or give up a little more in the extension, I don't know how to quantify it, but I do believe having it in place at that moment in time, with how emotional it was with the signaling that Freddie wasn't coming back, and the clubhouse was rattled -- I think that's fair to say -- I thought that was important because we have a short period of time to get ready. I think the NL East will be exceptionally challenging with all five teams getting better and trying to win. I think every single win will count, I think it will come down to a game or two, and we need to be as ready as we can, we need to be together, we need to gel, and the sooner we can do that the better."

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