If Alex Anthopoulos doesn't win the MLB award for Executive of the Year, something's off.
On July 11, Ronald Acuña Jr. was placed on the 60-day DL. Acuña was the third Braves outfield from Opening Day to be out of consideration for starts.
The team was 44-45 at the All-Star Break, not really in a position to spend big to pull in talent from around the league. Anthopoulos could have gone in a few directions.
He could have spent big and re-tooled the team for a postseason push. With a record below .500, that would have been lunacy. Atlanta's general manager and president of baseball operations could have sold off some older talent to build for later, but that wasn't really in the cards either.
When Anthopoulos started making moves, it looked as if he was adding a Band-Aid to the Braves' problems and looking toward 2022. However, ask Anthopoulos, and he stated he was readying for a fight.
On July 15 Anthopoulos traded Bryce Ball for Joc Pederson. On July 30, he traded Kasey Kalich for Jorge Soler. But he wasn't done. On that same day, the Braves GM traded Pablo Sandoval for Eddie Rosario and grabbed Adam Duvall in a trade that sent catcher Alex Jackson to Miami.
Four outfielders to save the season. The quartet did that, and then some.
Pederson hit .249 in 64 games with the Braves in the regular season. He added seven home runs and lit up a city.
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Soler drove in 33 runs and belted 14 home runs in 55 games with the Braves. His slugging percentage was .524.
Rosario played in 33 games and hit .271, driving in 16 runs and hitting seven home runs.
Duvall, who had a track record with the Braves previously, hit 16 home runs in 55 games and drove in 45 runs.
To say these midseason acquisitions helped the Braves make the postseason is an understatement. And to truly see how great these four were for Atlanta, you must factor in what happened in the postseason.
Soler hit three home runs in the World Series and was awarded the MVP trophy. Rosario slashed .560/.607/1.040 and hit three home runs in the NLCS. He was awarded the National League Championship Series MVP trophy.
Pederson hit two home runs in seven NLDS at-bats and posted an OPS of 1.714. He also had half the city of Atlanta wearing pearls every day, everywhere.
Anthopoulos didn't just win the midseason, he wrote a blueprint for the future of all midseasons to come. If your team needs an influx of talent, Anthopoulos proved he can craft a recipe for success.