The Atlanta Braves’ front office led by Alex Anthopoulos has been one of the more active and more successful front offices in baseball. In addition to finding a way to extend so much of the Braves’ young core, Anthopoulos and co. have made a lot of savvy free agent signings and big time trades that have turned the Braves into a juggernaut. Short of a big money free agent acquisition, they have done it all and have done it as well as anyone.
One of things that many forget, though, is that the Braves are notoriously great at turning relatively minor moves into important acquisitions. There are a lot of GMs that have made some splashy moves for big names (including Anthopoulos), but what separates the good from the great is being able to get the most out of every move including the little ones.
No front office gets every move right and the Braves have made their mistakes (trading for Lucas Luetge and Richard Rodriguez come to mind), but here are some of the seemingly tiny trades that the Braves have made that have made a huge difference in 2024.
Trading for Joe Jimenez
When the Braves’ traded for Joe Jimenez back in December 2022, the move was more notable because some Braves fans were convinced that one of the prospects they gave up, Justyn-Henry Malloy, had showed some promise at the plate. However, Atlanta wanted to bolster their bullpen and Malloy’s path to playing time back then was tough. Making the move even more sketchy was that Jimenez needed spinal surgery before he even threw a pitch for Atlanta.
