Pound for Pound: Do something

Published 10:30 am Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Originally this week’s column was going to be about the College Football Playoff national championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame, but expected winter weather has moved up our deadlines and forced me to pivot.

It’s a good thing I don’t have to physically pivot because I’m not sure I’d be able to after playing pickup basketball for the first time in months Sunday. Knees are weak, legs are heavy, and everyone came pretty close to seeing ‘mom’s spaghetti’ (shoutout Eminem) all over the court while I tried to run myself into some form of basketball shape.

While I did pretty well at predicting CFP winners while working an early deadline a few weeks ago, let’s go with something a little more fresh. How about the Atlanta Braves, the franchise whose fanbase has been exceedingly frustrated with the lack of free agency signings this offseason.

In my opinion, the frustration is spilling over from last season, one that saw the Braves quickly get to 12 games over .500 before basically becoming a .500 team from that point on. Atlanta went two games and out of the Wild Card round versus San Diego and have only become a worse team since.

Lefty ace Max Fried has gone to the Yankees. Charlie Morton’s powerful curveball now resides in Baltimore. The organization cut loose fan favorite and great clubhouse guy Travis d’Arnaud, who’s now stuck in LA. Two MLB teams have Los Angeles in their name and he’s not on the good one.

And what has Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos done? Not a whole heck of a lot. The man normally gets a ton of grace from me for building the team that brought the Braves their first World Series in 26 years. But the fans need some action.

The math is fairly simple. The personnel losses so far are much greater than the gains, even factoring in the returns of injured pitcher Spencer Strider and outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Neither will be ready for Opening Day, by the way.

First pitch this season likely belongs to Chris Sale, who’s coming off a surprise career season in 2024. He received the NL Cy Young, Gold Glove, and Comeback Player of the Year when he won the triple crown (leader in wins, ERA and strikeouts) among National League pitchers. Having him back is a positive, but there are real concerns about the remaining stable of starting pitchers.

Time is running out. The free agent well is drying up.

Now, with me having written this piece early, watch some news break Tuesday that the Braves have made some major deal. If so, I’m happy to have helped move things along. If not, then 2025 could be a long season.