The Atlanta Braves have finally announced the extension fans have all been waiting for. While most of the attention has been on free agency and the trade market in recent months, one area that hadn’t been talked about enough is getting a deal keep president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos around for the long haul. Fortunately, the news broke today that Anthopoulos is here to stay. Let’s rejoice!
The team’s GM was set to be a free agent after the 2024 season.
Alex Anthopoulos first joined the Braves before the 2018 season, after the previous GM, John Coppolella resigned in shame at the end of the 2017 season. Since taking the reigns of the Braves, AA has done nothing but win. Since 2018, the Braves have won the division every season.
Braves extend Alex Anthopoulos through 2031 after saving the franchise
Anthopoulos has spent the past five years extending the Braves core, starting with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies in 2019, and then a plethora of extensions in 2022 and 2023, including Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Spencer Strider, and Michael Harris II. The Braves’ GM won Baseball America’s MLB Executive of the Year in 2022.
Anthopoulos’s initial contract was set to expire after 2020, but the Braves extended him and manager Brian Snitker through 2024 in February 2020. He was also promoted to President of Baseball Operations.
A year after his extension, Anthopoulos’s boldly bought at the 2021 MLB Trade Deadline, despite a sub-.500 record and losing Ronald Acuña Jr. to an ACL injury. The acquisitions of Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, and Jorge Soler hit big, as each outfielder played a huge role in bringing in the first World Series Championship since 1995.
In the past two years, Anthopoulos has built 100+ win teams with help from aggressive promotions of Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II and savvy acquisitions of Matt Olson and Sean Murphy.
It’s a well-deserved extension for one of the best GM’s in the majors.
The new extension locks in the Braves GM for the next seven seasons. As Mark Bowman of MLB.com joked, it’s unknown whether this new extension includes a 1% donation to the Braves Foundation.
