Like for real too, since this year is the first time in forever without the old August waiver deadline where teams could dump bad contracts. And who knows what happens in the seasons final month or two, plus the post season. And the Braves will almost surely make the post season. Plus have a damn strong, relatively cheap core going into 2020. So since they can’t make any trades until the year is over. What would they need? Who might be moved? And what holes could a free agent fill? Since I’m looking at next year, that means free agents like Josh Donaldson for 3B and Dallas Keuchel as a vet SP.

They are on the hook for ...

Freeman at $22m. Melancon at $14m. Teheran at $12m (has $1m buyout, but has pitched well enough we can assume that he’s kept). Ender is $7m. Flowers $6m, or a $2m buyout so let’s assume he’s back too. Markakis has that same deal, but seems much less likely they don’t save $4m. Acuña and Albies are both guaranteed $1m and that’s all for definites under contract. That’s $65m total, including the $2m to let Neck go.

Then come arb eligible guys including Gausman (arb 4), Folty and Shane Greene are arb 3 (has Folty been optioned to AAA that he’d have two years left?), Culberson and Duvall would be arb 2 (though Duvall, like Folty, may have added an arb 4 season with their time optioned to AAA). Luke Jackson, Camargo, and Culberson Junior would be arb 1. Add in the pre arb guys and others on the way up, the core is looking like...

C - Flowers and Alex Jackson

1B - Freeman

2B - Albies

SS - Swanson

3B/LF - Austin Riley

OF (all 3) - Acuña

CF - Ender

RF/LF - Duvall

All over - Camargo and Culberson

add Pache and/or Waters to that OF in 2020 at some point after they’ve added a year to their service clock. Not sure who else currently in the organization but yet to debut would be an impact player in 2020 (Langeliers, Contreras, Shewmake, among others are all 2021 at the earliest).

That leaves a need maybe at 3B (Donaldson?), and in the OF (when will Pache/Waters be ready and will both become 3+ fWAR producers?). And ~$30m to spend.

For pitching, you’d have rotation options of:

Soroka, Fried, Teheran, Folty, Gaus, Wright, Wilson, Anderson, Muller, Weigel, etc.

and bullpen options including some of those above, plus:

Greene, Newcomb, Melancon, Minter, Jackson, Parsons, Sobotka, Ynoa, Walker, Webb, Dayton, Clouse, etc

so again no huge need, although a veteran SP (Keuchel) and a few options that could answer a bullpen call could be a good use of that ~$30m+ or so to spend.