Our 2020 Atlanta Braves are doing something that we’ve wanted them to do for years, but they likely didn’t have the talent for it. It truly looks like they are going for it. With a payroll that has reached record highs for the franchise and a team budding with top-end talent in the Minor Leagues, is 2020 going to be THE year? I sure hope so.

Atlanta Braves 2020 Payroll Breakdown

*I’ll only list players that I think are near 100% guarantees as of this moment to make the team out of spring training should health not be a factor.

  1. Freddie Freeman– 22.5 MM
  2. Cole Hamels– 18 MM
  3. Marcell Ozuna– 18 MM
  4. Mark Melancon– 14 MM
  5. Will Smith– 13 MM
  6. Travis d’Arnaud– 8 MM
  7. Ender Inciarte– 7.7 MM
  8. Chris Martin– 7 MM
  9. Shane Greene– 6.5 MM (if loses arb-case)
  10. Mike Foltynewicz– 6.425 MM
  11. Nick Markakis– 4 MM
  12. Tyler Flowers– 4 MM
  13. Adam Duvall– 3.25 MM
  14. Dansby Swanson– 3.15 MM
  15. Darren O’Day– 2.25 MM
  16. Luke Jackson– 1.825 MM
  17. Johan Camargo– 1.7 MM
  18. Ronald Acuna Jr.– 1 MM
  19. Ozzie Albies– 1 MM
  20. Adeiny Hechavarria– 1 MM
  21. Mike Soroka– .55 MM
  22. Max Fried– .55 MM
  23. Sean Newcomb– .55 MM

Total: ~147 MM

2020 Atlanta Braves 40-man Roster Players (the Remaining 17)

  1. Grant Dayton
  2. Tucker Davidson
  3. Jasseel De La Cruz
  4. A.J. Minter
  5. Phil Pfeifer
  6. Chad Sobotka
  7. Touki Toussaint
  8. Jeremy Walker
  9. Jacob Webb
  10. Patrick Weigel
  11. Bryse Wilson
  12. Kyle Wright
  13. Huascar Ynoa
  14. William Contreras
  15. Alex Jackson
  16. Cristian Pache
  17. Austin Riley

2020 Atlanta Braves Spring Training Non-Roster Invitees

2020 Atlanta Braves Roster Thoughts

If you read the 40 names on the 2020 Atlanta Braves 40-man, you’ll notice something different than in the past: there are no throwaway players. Rafael Ortega and John Ryan Murphy were the players in 2019 that if they were DFA’d and claimed by another team, both organization and fanbase would likely be happy that they get another opportunity to play baseball at its highest level.

In 2020, the DFA pecking order, should one of the NRI’s need a spot on the roster, looks to be Chad Sobotka, Jacob Webb, Jeremy Walker, and Phil Pfeifer. However, none of those are throwaway talents and have some value in a trade. While most of the NRI’s don’t have a chance to crack the Opening Day squad, Felix Hernandez, Charlie Culberson, and, to a lesser extent, Chris Nunn could very well need a spot and that could be a real problem if Anthopoulos doesn’t clear room beforehand.

Restocking the Farm from the 40-Man

Most of the 40-man roster needs to be accessible to a general manager and the Braves have players on the current 40-man that are likely a full year away from the Major Leagues: Jasseel De La Cruz, William Contreras, and Huascar Ynoa. While they’re valuable assets that needed to be protected, they likely provide no 2020 value and they could best serve the team’s purpose by being traded for players that aren’t bound to the 40-man roster. The farm is getting top heavy and the Braves have lost 1 of their top 3 picks in this year’s draft. The International Free Agent sanctions are still there for the 2020 signing period and the Braves have already lost 1MM of their IFA pool, a pool that had already been cut in half, due to the signings of Will Smith and Josh Donaldson.

Minor Leaguers for Minor Leaguers are rare trades, but once in a while teams that can house 40-man players will agree to deal lower-level prospects for a chance at a player that could make a big league impact quicker (the Marlins just did that with a few trades). Or the other solution could be to just package the aforementioned players together in a trade for an impact Major Leaguer. Regardless of how it’s done, there’s a big need for 40-man space and I think we see at least one decent-sized deal before the end of Spring Training.

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this piece about the 2020 Atlanta Braves Roster, 40-man, and Non-roster Invitees, check out our entire category on the 2019-20 Offseason Analysis.

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