The Atlanta Braves assumed the bad contracts of Evan White and Marco Gonzales from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for the hope that Jarred Kelenic will tap into his potential with the Braves. Alex Anthopoulos has since flipped Gonzales and White to turn these payroll ankle weights into money well spent… okay maybe money better spent.

The Braves have now sent Marco Gonzales and Evan White off to new teams. In the process, they acquired Max Stassi and unloaded his contract too! We break it all down in the video above.

The Braves received about $4.5 million from the Mariners when they acquired Kelenic, Evan White, and Marco Gonzales. Gonzales and White came with $19.25 million combined contracts in 2024 alone.

The Braves sent Gonzales to the Pirates and agreed to pay them $9.25 million. The Pirates got Marco Gonzales for $3 million this season.

The Braves then sent Evan White to the Angels for Max Stassi and David Fletcher. In that scenario they traded White’s $7 million in 2024 for $13 million combined between Fletcher and Stassi. The Braves then sent Stassi to the White Sox and agreed to pay the majority of his salary. Spotrac has us down for $6.25 million of Stassi’s $7 million contract.

Once the dust settled, the Braves added Jarred Kelenic and David Fletcher and $22.25 million in additional 2024 payroll. Spotrac projects the Braves with a CBT payroll of about $250 million right now but they have David Fletcher on his old AAV. That will be recalculated to the amount of money and remaining years upon his trade for luxury tax purposes. They also show that the Braves are only paying $250k for Marco Gonzales this season.

The point is, the Braves are right at that second tier of the competitive balance tax. Once they cross $257 million, the penalties become more harsh. Read more about the CBT and how it works here.

The team has addressed 2/3 main priorities this offseason. It appears that starting pitching is the next move. However, the payroll is getting high and the Braves might like Bryce Elder, Reynaldo Lopez, AJ Smith-Shawver, and the other internal options.