How Alex Anthopoulos attempted to justify Braves’ disappointing trade deadline

Recently, the Atlanta Braves concluded their trade deadline strategy with a whimper, settling for a couple of moves on the margins of the pitching department as opposed to any big splashes. The Braves acquired Tyler Mahle from the San Francisco Giants and Brent Suter from the Los Angeles Angels, but it was still overall a quiet deadline relative to expectations for the team.

Now, general manager Alex Anthopoulos has spoken out with a PR-savvy answer about the team’s moves, or lack thereof.

“We did not go into the deadline with ‘hey we have to get this.’ We’re just trying to make the team better,” he said, per Reggie Chatman Jr. of 11 Alive News on X, formerly Twitter.

The Braves got off to a hot start this year despite several key injuries to the pitching department, with Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach both starting the year on the injured list and remaining there currently. In the early part of the season, the Braves’ remaining pitching staff performed well over expectations and allowed the team to surge to the best record in the league.

However, that unit has started to fall back to Earth in recent months, and the Braves have not gotten any healthier, causing some to wonder if the team might look to make a splash at the trade deadline in order to give Chris Sale and company more help.

Unfortunately, fans hoping that the team would land a big name like Tarik Skubal were left mightily disappointed and can now only hope that Atlanta’s helter-skelter pitching unit can hold up in a playoff setting.

The Braves will next hit the field on Tuesday evening vs the Miami Marlins.

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