Truck Day Marks the End of Planning — and the Start of Evaluation

Atlanta’s roster looks deep, but spring will decide how it actually fits together.

It’s 2026; of course the team has an official mover.

Baseball is (almost) back.

The Atlanta Braves are loading up their moving trucks to begin transporting equipment to North Port for spring training. Pitchers and catchers will report on February 9th, with their first workout scheduled for February 10th. The slightly earlier start is due to the World Baseball Classic, which begins play in early March and runs through the March 17th final at Miami’s loanDepot Park.

While Atlanta’s roster is largely set, the questions remain. The Braves still need to sort out playing time at several positions and define how this group is actually going to function once the games start to matter. Spring training is where planning ends and real evaluation begins. Let’s talk about it.

Any final roster additions?

The Braves will undoubtedly continue to add players as they approach the start of Grapefruit League play, since this is the time of year that players who previously had a salary or contract asking price outside of Atlanta’s comfort zone will come off those numbers.

But will any of those additions be impactful? It’s possible the Braves add a starter - recent reporting has them still interested in Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt - but it’s unlikely that they make a major addition to the rotation, given the roster crunch already plaguing the pitching staff. While I wouldn’t entirely rule out a reliever addition, given the uncertain health of Joe Jiménez, the same roster issues come up in the Braves bullpen as well.

An addition to the position player group feels more likely, although where they add remains to be seen. I could see another option brought in at catcher, now that MLB.com’s Mark Bowman confirmed my initial speculation from September that catcher Sean Murphy would not be ready for Opening Day.

Let’s look at the possible routes the Braves would go for a position player add between now and Opening Day.

Defensively versatile utility glove

With top utility option Mauricio Dubón now the starting shortstop until Ha-Seong Kim returns from his finger surgery, Atlanta’s ability to swap in a high-level defender late in games took a hit.

Presumed backup shortstop Jorge Mateo has graded out well at times in his career, while top backup outfielder Eli White has “Gold Glove talent”, per the team, but limited recent experience in the infield. Neither offers the same level of versatility as Dubón, a two-time winner of the American League’s utility Gold Glove.

But with options for both the infield and outfield, an addition here feels a bit superfluous.

Backup catcher option

With Murphy expected to miss at least a month plus of the regular season, Atlanta might want to add a higher-caliber backup catcher to the roster. The duo of Chadwick Tromp and Sandy León are currently battling for the bench job behind reigning NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin, but the Braves would be perilously close to needing to start a career .221 average/63 wRC+ (Tromp) or .207 BA/56 wRC+ (León) hitter on a daily basis were Baldwin to suffer an injury.

While my preferred signing would have been switch-hitter Victor Caratini, a perfectly cromulent, league-average (100 OPS+) hitter across his nine MLB seasons, he received $7M from the Minnesota Twins two weeks ago. Elias Dìaz and Christian Vàzquez are the best defensive options, while Jonah Heim and Gary Sanchez are more accomplished offensive threats. Sanchez has multiple 30-homer seasons under his belt, while Heim has handled lefties to the tune of a .258 average/105 wRC+ in his career.

Lefty-hitting platoon bat

On the note of Heim, losing Dubón’s platoon ability with righty-mashing Mike Yastrzemski (.246/120 wRC+) could create some early-season problems for the Braves. Is it possible that final roster spot goes to someone who hits lefties well? We broke down the options late last week and of that list, only Austin Hays (1/$6M) has been signed.

Heim could fill that role while providing higher-level backup to Baldwin, or the Braves could pursue a lefty-mashing specialist whether or not he can play the outfield with Yastrzemski, as Jurickson Profar can either play the field or man designated hitter.

How does the rotation shake out?

I’ve gone on the record as saying that Atlanta’s best course forward with the rotation is giving Bryce Elder a heavy load, especially if he sees some improvement under new pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.

Being able to set Elder’s start in stone every fifth day allows the team to manipulate the rest of the rotation around him, using off days and spot starters to buy extra rest for the postseason-caliber arms.

Were it up to me, this would be the Opening Day rotation, in no particular order:

Chris Sale
Spencer Schwellenbach
Spencer Strider
Reynaldo López
Bryce Elder

Grant Holmes would start off in the pen as a ‘utility pitcher’, with Atlanta using recent minor league signee Martín Pérez as their first break-glass-in-case-of-emergency short-term starter and now-graduated Hurston Waldrep as their first permanent rotation addition were one of the ‘Core Four’ go down.

The Pérez addition is one that’s being slept on across most of baseball. Since August of 2024, Pérez has made 21 combined MLB starts across two organizations with a 3.50 ERA, albeit a 4.52 FIP. His ZiPS projections, as well as Elder’s, are remarkably similar to those of rumored targets Bassitt and Giolito.

Lucas Giolito: 4.65 ERA/4.58 FIP
Chris Bassitt: 4.05 ERA/4.30 FIP
Bryce Elder: 4.38 ERA/4.10 FIP
Martín Pérez: 4.46 ERA/4.45 FIP

But obviously, it only takes one injury to wreck anyone’s best laid plans.

Configuring the lineup

I dove into this topic two weeks ago, determining that Ronald Acuña Jr. leading off and Jurickson Profar following in the #2 hole was the team’s best chance of blending on-base and power.

That is, if Ronald leads off. He did for most of the season last year, offering to move back in the lineup later in the year for increased RBI opportunities. Manager Walt Weiss addressed the likelihood of Acuña leading off at this year’s Winter Meetings.

“It’s enticing to have him at the top of the order,” Weiss told reporters in Orlando. “I really like when a lineup turns over and there’s teeth right away. If you’re a pitcher, you’ve got to run through a gauntlet as soon as the lineup turns over.”

If Ronald doesn’t resume his leadoff hitter role, he could slot into either the 2nd or 3rd spot as a nice blend of both speed and power. His ability to protect the (presumed) leadoff hitter in Profar would also go a long way towards setting up Austin Riley and Matt Olson to chase the modern-era Braves record of 139 RBI, set by Olson in 2023.

Who doesn’t make the bullpen?

As always, there are a lot more names than roster spots in Atlanta’s bullpen. While the team wasn’t as aggressive on bringing in options on minor league deals as they were last winter, when the Braves signed 15 different options to minor league/non-guaranteed deals (only for none of them to last through the season), the team has still imported plenty of competition for the final few spots.

Behind the late-innings trio of Raisel Iglesias (closer), Robert Suarez (RH setup/backup closer) and Dylan Lee (LH setup), Atlanta has a lot of names battling for relatively few jobs.

Guaranteed contracts

Tyler Kinley: $3M
Joel Payamps: $2.25M
Aaron Bummer (LH): $9.5M

All things being equal, Atlanta likely looks to validate their investments by giving these three a job on Opening Day. While Payamps struggled last season, some of it may have been sample-size theater and he has a history of strong performances for Milwaukee. Kinley returned as another Colorado Rockies find by this front office, with his four-pitch arsenal and lower price tag giving him the advantage over curveballer Pierce Johnson (1/$6.5M with Cincinnati).

Notable names

James Karinchak (Guardians)
Ian Hamilton (Yankees)

Both of these relievers have been excellent in the past, with Hamilton putting up a 2.64 ERA/2.82 FIP with the Yankees in 2023 and Karinchak sporting a crisp 2.08 ERA/2.29 FIP with the Guardians in 2022.

While neither pitcher has been as good as they once were, they’ve both reportedly had good offseasons and are past the lingering injury issues that impacted their performance in recent years. Hamilton’s on a non-guaranteed $1.05M deal, while Karinchak’s on a minor league deal with a projected $840,000 salary were he to make the MLB roster.

Are We Sleeping on the James Karinchak Signing?

Optionable guys

Daysbel Hernàndez
Dylan Dodd (L)
Hunter Stratton

Barring impressively dominant performances, this trio all project to start the season in Gwinnett and be some of the first men up were injuries to strike. Hernández, who recently withdrew from Cuba’s World Baseball Classic team for unknown reasons, is a potential closer-in-waiting who has some polishing to do with his locations and walk rate.

Dodd and Stratton are converted starters who fill their low-to-medium leverage roles well, but are more valuable as high-level depth were injuries to strike. Carrying them on Opening Day isn’t worth the sacrifice of depth elsewhere to add them to the roster.

The prospects

Hayden Harris (L)
Jhancarlos Lara
Rolddy Muñoz

These three prospects are all light on major league experience but have impressive traits that can translate to a major league bullpen - Lara and Muñoz have wonderful velocity bases to build off of, while Harris is a funky sidearm lefty with an impossibly deceptive fastball.

The long-men/spot starters

Grant Holmes
Joey Wentz (L)
José Suarez (L)

And here’s the toughest part of this calculus. Alex Anthopoulos has previously admitted that all three of these potential starters are too valuable to just designate for assignment, as they’d definitely be priority adds for another club. We saw that dynamic play out just last month, as Atlanta tried to slip Suarez through waivers only to lose him to the Baltimore Orioles. Fortunately, the Braves got him back when Baltimore tried the same trick and Atlanta was able to place their own claim.

I imagine the team’s ranking of these, based on value, is Holmes, then Wentz, then Suarez. It’s possible Atlanta executes a minor trade late in spring to move whichever one doesn’t project to make the roster, although it only takes one injury for all three to get spots in the Opening Day bullpen.

What does Weiss do differently?

New manager Walt Weiss may be from the Brian Snitker/Bobby Cox coaching tree, but all indications are that he’s going to do things his way.

He’s previously discussed being open to analytics, explaining that there’s no reason to “turn your back on information.” In his opening press conference, I was impressed by the way Weiss understood and broke down the sometimes-at-odds concepts of gathering information and then disseminating the right amount of it to the players for application. “Finding that sweet spot is the key and it’s a competitive advantage. […] It’s about putting context to the information that helps you win a game every night.”

The thing I’m most excited about is Weiss’ aggressiveness at making changes when things aren’t working. “My personality is always to hurry up and get in there and fix things. Watching Snit have a feel for the timing of when to interject was very valuable for me,” Weiss told us, but my expectation is that he has a bit of a shorter leash than his predecessor Snitker did when something isn’t going right.

This is the thing I’m most curious about as we get to spring training. We can project out the rest of the stuff - who bats where, for instance, only has so many possible permutations - but there are a lot of ways for Weiss to manage that that are different than what we’re accustomed to seeing.

And I can’t wait for it to get started.