Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke on a conference call following the signing of left-hander pitcher Cole Hamels to a one-year, $18 million deal Wednesday. Anthopoulos addressed several other issues including the status of the starting rotation, the team payroll and flurry of roster moves already this offseason.
Q: Over the last two months, Cole talked about not being completely healthy, how did you evaluate it as you began to pursue this deal?
A: We obviously spent a lot of time on that. We had interest in Cole at the 2018 trade deadline when he went to the Cubs. We thought we had a real good chance of getting him then. Even last offseason, they had the option on him, and we were hoping that he'd be a free agent. They obviously brought him back. We think he's got a very good chance to be the guy he was in the first half of the year. I think it's been pretty well documented that when he came back from the oblique injury that the shoulder was not 100 percent sound. … Just trying to look through some of it, when he had a little bit of rest in September, he got back on track and made that last start against the Cardinals. The Cardinals were obviously playing all the way to the end to try to win the division, and every game counted, and he was the guy he was in the first half – four innings, struck out eight guys and was very good. It made a lot of sense to us. And your betting on the person, the human being, work ethic, takes tremendous care of himself. We think he has a chance to pitch at a high level for a long time. All the work we did on Cole as a human being, worker, teammate, that stuff has tremendous appeal to us. Adding all those things in, we felt it was pretty significant upside if we are going to get the guy that put up those results prior to him going on the (injured list.)
Q: Does having a couple young guys like (Mike) Soroka and (Max) Fried make it even that much more attractive to sign a guy like Cole, who has been through it all and knows all about being a young stud coming up?
A: I think there is no doubt. Obviously we are signing Cole, first and foremost, because we think he is going to help us win a lot of games, get back to the postseason and hopefully win a World Series. But, look, there is added value in what we know of the person, who he is, the example he sets, the way he goes about it. There is no doubt in my mind, in whatever form that is going to show up, it doesn't have to be in meetings and being vocal but just by being himself, I think Max Fried will get better seeing him and being around him. I think Soroka will get better. I've just seen that over the years. Players can make other players better just in the way they go about things. How you quantify that is hard. I do think there is real value in that, especially when we are building a young core we hope is contending for years to come.
Q: Do you see having three lefties in the rotation if it comes to that because you have mention having (Sean) Newcomb possibly stretched out to get back in there?
A: We are just looking for the best starters. Left. Right. It's nice when they are left-handed. We are just looking to have the best starters that are going to get the best results. Obviously we have depth with some of the young arms and hopefully some of those guys take a step and emerge the same way Soroka and Fried did last year. We know all the names, and they are going to have a chance to come into camp and get stretched out. We'll break with the best five, whether they are right-handed or left-handed.
Q: Would you say that getting a power bat is now the priority?
A: I don't know if we have anything specifically lined up like that right now. We are going to continue to make the club better. We didn't have an order about how we were going to go about doing some of these things. It's just as the opportunities present themselves, we were able to get things done. I think we've been pretty open. We are still going to explore third base. That hasn't changed. Beyond that, we just have to continue to look for opportunities to make the club better.
Q: You’ve been really aggressive, making a lot of moves early in this winter. Why has it made sense for you to get so much accomplished even before the winter meetings?
A: It hasn't been by design. We had a lot of free agents, so we had a lot of meetings. You look at the roster at the NLDS, a lot of guys were on expiring contracts. Regardless, we were going to have a lot of work to do. It's just worked out that way. A lot of the volume has been the returning players, guys like (Chris) Martin, (Nick) Markakis, (Tyler) Flowers, (Darren) O'Day. I think that has certainly been a big part of it. As far as bringing in outside signings, guys who weren't here, we have Cole, Travis d'Arnaud, Will Smith. Again, I know that it seems like a lot. It's easier when guys have been with you and know the organization, and it's just a matter of trying to work a contract out with their representation. It was going to be a matter of need, and we had a lot of work to do regardless.
Q: What more could you do to this rotation?
A: We've been pretty clear we want to give Sean Newcomb a chance to get stretched out and compete. With that being said, we could still have an opening in the rotation. Even if we had five established guys, the reality is very few teams are going to go through a season using only five starters. If we think the right opportunity is there to add a starter, we would be open to do that. We wouldn't rule that out, the same way we wouldn't rule out a position player or even another arm in the bullpen. It's very hard for me to predict what else we might do in the offseason. We are going to use every bit of time we have to try to improve this club. We don't have anything lined up in the short term.
Q: Is this an indication that you guys are prepared and are raising the payroll rather significantly this year? If we just add up the numbers, it's getting there already.
A: I know that has been asked and has been a topic in years past. I don't focus on that. My focus is just making what we believe are good baseball decisions for the club and try to make the club better. I know it was a topic last offseason. It wasn't for us. We were just doing what we thought was right for the organization and making moves that we felt made sense for us. Again, you guys know, getting specific about a number, there is no advantage for us for disclosing something like that. We've shown the last two trade deadlines that we will go above and beyond if the club is close and we have a chance to add and it makes sense for us. … I'm satisfied with what we have and the ability to make the club better.
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