3. Will Smith — 1 year, $1.5 million
There is a lot of love in Braves country for Will Smith and a pitcher who helped give Atlanta a World Series title over the Astros. The struggles of the regular season were all but forgotten when Smith helped Atlanta go on an epic postseason run. While it was tough to let a number of impact players go from that team, parting ways with Smith clearly was the right decision.
Smith has struggled and failed to live up to his postseason run with the Braves. Smith has had great moments but Atlanta choosing to move on was clearly the right decision. This has been a constant for Anthopoulos, the Braves bullpen has been consistently shuffled with the front office understanding the need for a change and fresh arms each season.
While there have been a few stalwarts, Smith clearly wasn't a piece to build around and Atlanta added a new closer each of the following two seasons. Smith had a great run for the Braves but the team made the right decision to move on.