Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 postseason. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
3. Atlanta Braves, Alex Anthopoulos, president of baseball operations, +7.6
You could make a strong argument that year in and year out, Anthopoulos runs the best, most efficient front office in the bigs. His name annually ranks near the top of these kinds of lists, and he’s there again for his 2024 work.
The best way to appreciate the work Anthopoulos did in keeping Atlanta in postseason contention through an injury-laden summer begins with an examination of the pitching staff.
He engineered the December trade with Boston that landed Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale at the cost of marginal outfielder Vaughn Grissom. He flat out stole Reynaldo Lopez from the Cleveland discard pile and got a 1.99 ERA in 25 starts. He also summoned Spencer Schwellenbach from Triple-A and got a 3.35 ERA in 21 starts.
Those three moves alone improved the Braves’ fortunes by a nifty 10.3 games in 2024. The Braves qualified for postseason play by the margin of one game. Draw your own conclusions.
Five most impactful Anthopoulos moves in 2024
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Acquired pitcher Chris Sale from Boston | +4.7 |
Signed free agent pitcher Reynaldo Lopez | +3.9 |
Signed free agent outfielder Adam Duvall | -2.4 |
Promoted rookie pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach | +1.7 |
Traded Nicky Lopez to the White Sox | +1.3 |
For the year as a whole, Anthopoulos engineered moves impacting 53 major leaguers, and numerically they split right down the middle: 23 positive, 23 negative, seven neutral. But the impact of the positive moves way exceeded the impact of the negative ones.
As the above list suggests, the strength of the Anthopoulos management game lies in its versatility. If he was a player, you’d say he can hit with power to all fields. In 2024, he scored big in a trade (Sale), in free agency (Lopez) and with his farm system (Schwellenbach).
He also hit in a less-used fourth front office skill, extending rostered players. Pitcher Joe Jimenez got a three-year boost prior to the season’s start and responded with a 2.62 ERA in 69 relief appearances, adding +1.1 Wins Above Average to the mix.
To sum it up, Anthopoulos had no discernible weaknesses in 2024.
His offseason this go around hasn't been as strong, with free agent outfielders Bryan De La Cruz and Jurickson Profar representing his big gambles. Only time will tell if he should have been more aggressive ahead of the 2025 season, but the Braves already have one of the game's best cores in place thanks to the foresight of Anthopoulos from years prior.
Previous Rankings:
5. Baltimore Orioles, Mike Elias, executive vice president and general manager, +5.3
4. Kansas City Royals, J.J. Picollo, executive vice president and general manager, +5.8
3. Atlanta Braves, Alex Anthopoulos, president of baseball operations and general manager, +7.6
Next: 2. Chicago Cubs, Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations, Carter Hawkins, general manager, +13.6