Anthopoulos on why the Braves moved on from Marcell Ozuna

The Braves lost Marcell Ozuna, as he recently signed a one-year, $12 million contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, the writing appeared to be on the wall a while ago when Atlanta signed Mike Yastrzemski to a two-year deal.

As for why the Braves went in this direction, there could be a number of reasons, most notably the serious hip injury that plagued him all of last season. Ozuna managed to play through the pain, but his numbers took a significant dip, as he hit just 21 homers with a .756 OPS. Over the two years prior, the Big Bear averaged 40 homers, 102 RBIs, and a .916 OPS.

There’s a chance Ozuna bounces back in 2026, but $12 million for a 35-year-old with injury concerns and no ability to play defensively at all is a risky proposition. All of those reasons likely went into the Braves’ calculations, but in a meeting with the media on Friday, Anthopoulos referred to new manager Walt Weiss and his desire to have more defensive versatility, keeping that DH spot open so that more players can take glorified off days.

This was a very clear priority for the Braves this offseason. It might have even been the top priority based on the moves they made, which began by trading for super-utility man Mauricio Dubon, who can quite literally play any position on the diamond. They then added Yastrzemski, who is another versatile outfielder that can also serve as the designated hitter.

Unfortunately, a lot of that depth and versatility won’t be available for the Braves early in the season due to the injuries to Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim. Dubon and Yastrzemski will now have to play much more prevalent roles for at least the first month, with Dubon taking over as the everyday shortstop. The Braves hope both players can return sometime in May, but they have also acknowledged that it’s too early to tell when they will be cleared.

The decision to go with versatility over pop is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s something the Braves really lacked a year ago, but if Ozuna goes on to slug 30–40 homers with the Pirates, Atlanta’s offense is going to miss a bat like that.

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Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire

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