Anthopoulos thinking deep in Atlanta
Former Blue Jays GM has kept team in first despite all the injuries
ATLANTA— In an extended conversation last month, Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke of the two years he spent with the Dodgers as an assistant GM. “Like going to grad school,” he said. Then he offered this:
“I really learned to appreciate and value depth. I’m really excited about how deep we’re becoming as an organization. I didn’t appreciate it as much in my time in Toronto. We were more of a star-laden club with not that layer of depth. And being in L.A., I learned to appreciate that, especially that grind of six months, to get in (the playoffs) year-in and year-out, the importance of it.”
On Sunday, Anthopoulos’s club came from three runs down to win a game and a series against his former employer. Atlanta did this without Nick Markakis, Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley and Ender Inciarte, all on the injured list. They did it without Johan Camargo, demoted after a frightful 41⁄ months. They did it 2 without the most talented player east of Mike Trout, Ronald Acuna having been benched by manager Brian Snitker after three innings for not hustling.
They did it with nine hits, only two of which came from a member of Atlanta’s optimal everyday eight. One was a double from pitcher Max Fried. Two were from outfielder Matt Joyce, a 35-year-old on his eighth organization. Two were from shortstop Adeiny Hecharvarria, acquired Friday on waivers from the Mets, for whom he’d just gone 1-for-21. (He’s 4for-9 so far in Atlanta.) Two, including the decisive grand slam, were from outfielder Rafael Ortega, signed to a minorleague deal in January. Ortega is 28. The grand slam doubled his total of major-league home runs.
Atlanta wouldn’t be tracking a second consecutive National League East title if they had to run the likes of Joyce, Hecharvarria and Ortega out there every day. They’d be closer to the last-place Marlins, of whom the latter two are alums. But even the best teams need a competent professional to help them through a week, a series, a bigtime game against a big-time opponent. That’s why the best GMs — Anthopoulos is among that exalted number — are forever looking for somebody else’s castoff, somebody to fill the holes that will, over 162 games, always present themselves.
They entered the season with two super-utility types in Camargo and Charlie Culberson, and they bought Joyce from the Giants in March to be their fourth outfielder. But Inciarte has been injured twice, and Riley, who supplanted him the first time, hurt his knee lifting weights, and Markakis had his wrist broken by a pitch. Swanson, who missed the last part of last season with a bad wrist, developed a sore foot, and Camargo, who hasn’t taken to superutility duty, was unaccountably awful as a fill-in. That would tax even the deepest of 40-man rosters.
With Acuna, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies and former Blue Jay Josh Donaldson, Atlanta fits the profile of “a starladen club.” But Anthopoulos learned with both the Blue Jays and Dodgers that teams cannot subsist on stars alone. The Dodgers can outspend anybody, but they’re also savvy bargain-shoppers.
They landed Chris Taylor from Seattle in 2016 for a pitcher who was out of baseball by 2018. Taylor has been hurt lately; in 2017 and 2018 he had an aggregate WAR of 8.9, which is almost all-star stuff. They signed Max Muncy, cut by the A’s after hitting .195 with five home runs over two seasons, in 2017. He hit 35 homers last year; he has 31 now. They got Kike Hernandez, who’d already been traded by Houston, from Miami in the Dee Gordon deal of 2014; Hernandez has started 249 games over the past 21⁄ 2seasons at seven different positions. Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger were massive prospects; Taylor, Muncy and Hernandez were just guys.
Joyce, Hecharvarria and Ortega won’t have the lasting impact on this team that Taylor, Muncy and Hernandez have had in L.A. (The Dodger threesome was much younger on arrival.) Still, this is how a winning organization sustains itself. It keeps scrounging. A GM can’t just say, “We’ve got a superstar; we’re good to go.” He needs Plans B, C and D. If he can find someone capable of playing multiple positions, all the better.
Adam Duvall looked like a whiff of a trade. Anthopoulos pried him from Cincinnati last summer for Lucas Sims, Matt Wisler and Preston Tucker. The Reds got little from the deal — Wisler and Tucker are gone; Sims is working long relief — but Atlanta appeared to bank even less. Duvall hit .132 with no home runs last year. He logged the first 3 1⁄2 months of this season at Triple-A Gwinnett. He was summoned when the injury glut hit, and his home runs helped win a vital series in Washington. He hit another off Hyun-Jin Ryu on Saturday. Anthopoulos could have non-tendered Duvall in November; he kept him just in case.
Depth is like insurance: You don’t need it until you do. Injuries forced Anthopoulos to dance even faster — getting a proven shortstop off waivers in August constitutes a coup — but he has done it. Atlanta had a winning week against the Mets and Dodgers. They lead the Nationals by five games heading into Tuesday night, with the Mets and the Phillies slipping out of sight. They went 4-2 using guys you wouldn’t expect to be playing come August, but you know what they say about necessity. It’s the mother of lineup cards.
Oh, and the final three innings of Sunday’s victory were worked by the Deadline Triplets — Chris Martin, Shane Greene and Mark Melancon. Nine outs, no hits, no walks.
Will wonders never cease?
“I think once I got up here I was a little worried about trying to be too good, trying to do too well too fast so I altered my delivery inadvertently,” Zeuch said.
Zeuch feels like his mechanics and delivery are back to where they were in 2018, when he posted a 3.08 ERA in 21 starts for Double-A New Hampshire. His focus now is on helping the Bisons’ playoff push. Buffalo entered Tuesday two games back of Scranton Wilkes-Barre, the Yankees affiliate, in the International League’s North Division.
“The feeling with the team is we’re going to make the playoffs,” Zeuch said. “We’re making a tremendous push here in the late part of the year.”
He feels similarly about Toronto’s future on the mound.
“I think the talent level here is unbelievable, the work ethic from every guy in the bullpen and in the rotation is really unmatched,” he said. “It’s definitely something special to be a part of.”
“I’m really excited about how deep we’re becoming as an organization. I didn’t appreciate it as much in my time in Toronto. We were more of a star-laden club.” ALEX ANTHOPOULOS ATLANTA BRAVES GM