Alex Anthopoulos met with Atlanta reporters on Sunday and laid out the Braves’ winter. The headline is what he would not commit to.
Atlanta’s president of baseball operations said the club will not assume that Spencer Strider or Spencer Schwellenbach will be a locked-in starter alongside Chris Sale next season, or that either will reach a full workload. Per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, Schwellenbach had a screw placed in his pitching elbow and Strider has been throwing bullpen sessions.
Read that again. The two pitchers Atlanta has spent two years waiting on are explicitly not being counted on by their own front office.
Why That Sentence Decides Everything
If Strider and Schwellenbach were healthy, Atlanta’s offseason would be simple. Add a bat, fix the bullpen, run it back with a rotation fronted by three high-end arms.
Instead the Braves have to build a rotation that works whether or not those two pitch, which means buying innings they would rather spend money elsewhere on. That is a meaningfully more expensive winter.
Anthopoulos pointed to reliever Didier Fuentes as a pitcher with upside as a starter, while naming the obvious catches: workload, and the size of the innings jump required. That is a hope, not a plan.
Tyler Mahle Is the First Real Decision
Atlanta acquired Mahle from San Francisco on Aug. 2 and he is now a free agent. Anthopoulos credited his performance and said the club will use its exclusive negotiating window, which runs through the end of the World Series, with all of its free agents.
Given the uncertainty behind Sale, re-signing Mahle stops being a nice-to-have and becomes close to necessary. Atlanta knows that, and so will Mahle’s agent.
The Position Players Got Vouched For
Anthopoulos defended Austin Riley, who is coming off a third consecutive down season, calling him a strong defender and teammate who is no longer dealing with injuries.
He also said he is comfortable with Mauricio Dubon at shortstop. Dubon played mostly outfield in 2026 because Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuna Jr. were hurt, which is its own summary of Atlanta’s season.
On the coaching staff, Anthopoulos said he values continuity and will discuss the staff internally. No decisions were announced.
A Division Title Is Not Enough Anymore
Atlanta won the NL East and lost the division series to the Dodgers. That is a good season by most standards and a disappointing one by this franchise’s.
The Braves have the lineup to win the East again. Whether they have the rotation depends on two elbows nobody in the building is willing to guarantee, which is why the honest version of Anthopoulos’ Sunday was a front office telling you it has work to do.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.