The Braves are poking round the marketplace for outfield assist after non-tendering Ramon Laureano and like so as to add a left-handed bat if potential, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reviews.

It doesn’t appear as if Atlanta is intent on purchasing on the prime of the market. They’ve not been urged as something greater than a speculative darkish horse for prime free agent Juan Soto. Veterans like Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernandez, Jurickson Profar and Tyler O’Neill all appear prone to command multi-year offers of observe. The Braves are searching for some depth to assist cowl early within the season, within the doubtless occasion that Ronald Acuna Jr. is unavailable to start the yr; president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos stated at this month’s GM Conferences that they’re planning as if Acuna will open the season on the injured checklist.

With no Acuna, the Braves’ outfield would come with Jarred Kelenic, Michael Harris II and a few mixture of Eli White, Luke Williams and lately signed Carlos D. Rodriguez. It’s logical that Atlanta would pursue some extra solidity on that entrance. Some might really feel Laureano might have offered simply that, however his stable exhibiting with Atlanta was buoyed by a .380 common on balls in play and got here despite a 3.5% stroll charge and 28.3% strikeout charge. Regression appears extremely doubtless. Laureano hit simply .218/.296/.373 in 2022-23 with the same strikeout charge, twice the stroll charge, and a BABIP about 100 factors decrease. Plus, he’s a right-handed bat.

Most of Atlanta’s strikes in free company and on the commerce market so far have been modest in scope. Anthopoulos not often spends on long-term offers in free company, preferring as a substitute to function on the commerce market and to depend on a robust monitor file of in-house improvement. Atlanta has solely given out three free-agent contracts larger than two years below Anthopoulos (hyperlink through MLBTR’s Contract Tracker): left-hander Will Smith (three years, $40MM), right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (three years, $30MM) and outfielder/DH Marcell Ozuna (4 years, $65MM). None of that essentially precludes a larger-scale deal, however historical past suggests it to be unlikely.

Thankfully for the Braves, there’s a reasonably deep pool of cheap left-handed-hitting bats on this offseason’s market. Max Kepler, Michael Conforto, Alex Verdugo, Jesse Winker, David Peralta, Mike Tauchman and switch-hitting former prime prospect Dylan Carlson are among the many lefty bats out there this winter. (Kepler and Conforto, specifically, may require multi-year offers.) The commerce and waiver markets supply additional prospects.

Anthopoulos has already urged this offseason that he expects his payroll to rise in 2025. The Braves spent about $232MM on final yr’s roster and at the moment have a projected $202MM payroll in 2025, per RosterResource. That actually leaves room for some additions, however Atlanta’s luxury-tax ledger is a little more crowded.

The Braves have greater than $217MM in projected luxurious obligations, leaving them $24MM or so from hitting this yr’s $241MM barrier. They’d be paying the tax for a 3rd straight season in the event that they cross that line and, as such, could be topic to the steepest tier of penalties. They’d begin at a 50% tax on the primary $20MM by which they exceed the road, adopted by 62% for the following $20MM, 95% for the following $20MM (plus their prime draft choose in 2026 dropping by ten locations) and 110% for any {dollars} thereafter. With wants at shortstop, within the beginning rotation and within the bullpen as effectively, Anthopoulos could have a tough time piecing every little thing collectively with out crossing that line.