Here's What the Atlanta Braves Need to Figure Out This Offseason
The Atlanta Braves have a series of decisions to work through this winter.
A disappointing 2025 season has ended with the Atlanta Braves finishing 76-86, their worst record since going 72-90 in 2017, manager Brian Snitker’s first full season as manager.
But while the season may be over, the work is just beginning.
The front office of the Atlanta Braves has a long path ahead of them on the road to getting this team back to contention in 2026. Here’s what they need to figure out this winter (and when they need to do it.)
Decide on their 2026 options
First order of business for the Atlanta Braves will be resolving five decisions on 2026 salaries - four made by the team, one by the player.
Several Braves players have club options in their deals that, if picked up, will have them with a tomahawk across their chest for another season:
Chris Sale: $18M (no buyout)
Ozzie Albies: $7M ($4M buyout)
Pierce Johnson: $7M (no buyout)
Tyler Kinley: $5.5M ($750k buyout)
I expect all four to be retained, although if the Braves wanted to save some cash, then one or both relievers could be on the chopping block. Sale’s $18M is a bargain over this season’s $22M salary (look for an extension here to up his 2026 salary in exchange for adding a club option on the back), while the difference in Ozzie’s salary and buyout figures is a paltry $3M.
Both relievers are likely to be coming back at those salaries next year, although I wouldn’t be shocked to see one of their deals get ripped up and re-done to lower the 2026 cost in exchange for another guaranteed year.
There’s another option here to be discussed, but Atlanta has no say here: Ha-Seong Kim. The shortstop has a $16M player option for 2026, one that he likely would be able to beat on a sparse free agent market that doesn’t possess any respectable “two-way” options at shortstop. The best hitter at the position, Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays, is both dealing with yet another lower-body injury and a terrible defender, while everyone else in the market is a respectable (at best) defender with a light bat.
Kim’s hit .253/.316/.368 with the Braves, a 95 wRC+ that is slightly below average but still roughly in line with his career numbers. I honestly think it’s a toss-up on his option - there are arguments either way - but having hired the most aggressive agent in baseball in Scott Boras last year, I’m leaning towards him electing to try and beat $16M on the open market, which should be doable.
The deadline for each of these decisions to be made is five days after the conclusion of the World Series at 5PM Eastern.1
The 40-man roster is a mess
Even more so than when we talked about it two weeks ago!
Atlanta currently has a whopping 51 players on their 40-man roster, owing to aggressive placement of injured players on the 60-day injured list late in the season.
Now, there will be some natural attrition, with several pending free agents in closer Raisel Iglesias, designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, starter Charlie Morton, and catcher Sandy León, but there are still quite a few spots to clear.
The reason the moves need to be made is that every player on the 60-day injured list must be fully reinstated to the 40-man roster at the start of the offseason. Last year, this was done on November 4th, a few days after players officially became free agents (October 31st).
Most of the injured players will likely be kept, such as Spencer Schwellenbach and Reynaldo López, so cuts will need to be made elsewhere.
Counting injured players, here’s the current composition of the 40-man roster:
Pitchers: 30
Aaron Bummer (IL-60)
Austin Cox (minors)
Alexis Díaz (minors)
Dylan Dodd
Dane Dunning (minors)
Bryce Elder
Hayden Harris
Daysbel Hernández (IL-60)
Grant Holmes (IL-60)
Raisel Iglesias
Joe Jiménez (IL-60)
Pierce Johnson
Tyler Kinley
Jhancarlos Lara (minors)
Dylan Lee
Reynaldo López (IL-60)
Alek Manoah (minors)
Charlie Morton
Rolddy Muñoz (minors)
Joel Payamps
Chris Sale
Spencer Schwellenbach (IL-60)
AJ Smith-Shawver (IL-60)
Hunter Stratton
Spencer Strider
José Suarez
Hurston Waldrep (minors)
Joey Wentz
Nathan Wiles (minors)
Catchers (4)
Drake Baldwin
Sandy León
Sean Murphy (IL-60)
Chuckie Robinson (minors)
Infielders (9)
Ozzie Albies (IL-10)
Nick Allen
Nacho Alvarez Jr.
Vidal Bruján
Ha-seong Kim
Matt Olson
Austin Riley (IL-60)
Luke Williams
Brett Wisely
Outfielders (7)
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Jake Fraley (IL-60)
Michael Harris II
Jarred Kelenic (minors)
Jurickson Profar
Carlos Rodríguez (minors)
Eli White
Designated Hitter (1)
Marcell Ozuna
My guess is that every position group sees a few subtractions (Kelenic and possibly Fraley from the outfielders, Wisely and Williams from the infielders, etc), but no position ends up being decimated more than the pitching. I can see the Braves trying to sneak several of those arms (Hunter Stratton, Austin Cox, etc) through waivers and keep them in the system, but not devoting a major league spot to them to kick off the offseason.
I also wouldn’t be shocked to see a few fringe roster guys packaged in a trade this offseason. The Braves set the example for this after 2023, packaging four back-end major leaguers and a minor leaguer for the Chicago White Sox in return for Aaron Bummer…who coincidentally might be part of an outgoing package, thanks to the $9.5M salary he has coming in 2026.
Given the four pending free agencies we listed above, Atlanta’s required to make seven more spots just to bring back all of their injured players. Any additional moves, like incoming trades or free agent signings, will require another spot to be made.
Players that will be on the 60-day injured list to start 2026, like Smith-Shawver, can be added in spring training but the 60-day ‘clock’ does not officially start until Opening Day.
Protect their prospects from the Rule 5 draft
The Braves have fifteen prospects scheduled to become Rule 5 eligible this winter, all of which require a decision: If you want to guarantee they remain in the organization, adding them to the 40-man roster is required to be done by late November in advance of the Winter Meetings, which typically happen in mid-December.
Player eligibility is determined by their age at which they signed their professional contracts: if the player was 18 or younger at signing, it’s five seasons before they become Rule 5 eligible. If they signed at 19 or older, it’s four seasons.
Atlanta’s already gotten a head start on these protection decisions with their call-ups of Hayden Harris and Jhancarlos Lara; both prospects would have been newly Rule 5 eligible this winter and likely would have been selected by another organization for a $100,000 fee. If that organization failed to keep them on the Major League roster all season, with limited allowances for time on the injured list, the selecting team would have been required to offer the player back to Atlanta for a $50,000 payment.
One virtual lock to receive a 40-man spot this winter, which comes with additional pay, is prospect starter Blake Burkhalter. A 2022 2nd-round draft pick out of nearby Auburn, “Burky” went 4-7 with a 3.32 ERA across time in both Double-A Columbus and Triple-A Gwinnett. Although he moved to relief in late July to manage his innings, the organization views him as a starter and he put up a 3.18 ERA with only two homers allowed in 82 innings out of the rotation last season.
Other questionable prospect fates include corner infielder David McCabe and RHP Ian Mejia, while several first-time eligibles like OF Ambioris Tavarez and INF EJ Exposito look as of now like they’ll be unprotected this winter.
BONUS: Decide on their manager
Brian Snitker has widely been expected to retire after this season. But after Sunday’s season finale, a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Snitker sure didn’t sound like he was retiring. A lot of his comments recently have been ‘what ifs’ - what if the rotation didn’t have all five Opening Day starters on the 60-day injured list, or what if Atlanta had their full lineup all season instead of for a brief stretch in July and August.
Alex Anthopoulos, President of Baseball Operations, has long insisted that the decision is Snitker’s alone to make - the organization wasn’t going to force him out if he wasn’t ready to hang them up. Snit’s sounded conflicted at best about his decision in recent weeks.
“I’ve teetered on the fence,” he told reporters on Sunday after the season finale, but the final conversation with the team has yet to happen. “I haven’t approached them. We’re (going to) talk this week. That’s kind of where I wanted it to go. That’s on me.”
If Snitker returns, the fate of the rest of his coaching staff is currently unknown. As Snit indicated above, those decisions typically happen after the season ends and the organization comes together for meetings. Last fall, Anthopoulos famously declared no staff changes were forthcoming immediately after the Braves were eliminated in the NL Wild Card and then Atlanta ended up firing hitting coach Kevin Seitzer and his assistants, as well as catching coach Sal Fasano, after those year-end meetings.
There Is an Obvious Choice for Atlanta's Next Manager
If this is Brian Snitker's last season as manager of the Atlanta Braves, there's one potential candidate that checks all the boxes
If the Fall Classic ends on a Sunday, they have until 5PM on Thursday to submit these moves to the league.
Excellent detailed review of the franchise roster status. More complex than I had realized. I hope AA brings substantial improvement over the winter. Why do I have these nightmares of McGuirk standing behind AA and whispering in his ear, "Careful, now - don't spend a lot of money - we can always turn to the DFA'd list to fill roster vacancies".