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2019 MLB Season: Rating the NL East general managers

By Bill Felber

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 01: Mike Rizzo, general manager and president of baseball operations of the Washington Nationals spays champagne in celebration of the Wild Card game win against the Milwaukee Brewers on October 1, 2019, at Nationals Park, in Washington D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 01: Mike Rizzo, general manager and president of baseball operations of the Washington Nationals spays champagne in celebration of the Wild Card game win against the Milwaukee Brewers on October 1, 2019, at Nationals Park, in Washington D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB via Getty Images)
(Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB via Getty Images) /

2019 MLB Season: The NL East’s best GM

Alex Anthopoulos, Atlanta Braves

Three players fueled the Atlanta offense in 2019, and Alex Anthopoulos’ fingerprints are all over each of them.

It was Anthopoulos who pulled the trigger on the one-year signing of Josh Donaldson for mega-money. Given Donaldson’s injury history, that signing was wide open to second-guessing, but it paid huge dividends. Donaldson delivered 37 home runs, 94 RBIs and a +4.0 WAA, the team’s best.

Anthopoulos also pulled the trigger on the re-signings of the Braves’ two young phenoms, Ozzie Albies – for seven seasons — and Ronald Acuna for eight. Together they contributed another +6.0 WAA.

Those three decisions alone enhanced Anthopoulos’ short-term resume by a full 10.0 games.

That wasn’t all. The mid-season signing of pitcher Dallas Keuchel added 1.1 WAA and a 3.75 WAA in 19 starts. Mike Soroka came up from the minors and went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts, good for another 4.2 WAA.

With every GM, the impact of most moves is less profound, and that includes Anthopoulos. But subtleties add up, too. Of 33 players moved onto the Atlanta roster this season, two-thirds produced positive values. Not a single one generated a value of -1.0 or worse.

Add everything up and you realize you are looking at the best GM performance for 2019 in the NL East … and probably in all of MLB.

Short-term acquisitions: +0.2

Short-term trade losses: 0.0

Short-term free agent signings: +11.0

Short-term free agent losses: +1.8

Short-term rookie production: +2.1

Short-term total: +15.1

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