Braves banking on free agents’ late life

A familiar baseball axiom is to not be fooled by what you see in March or September. Yet, to upgrade their offense — the Braves’ top offseason priority — they are leaning heavily on September results for Josh Donaldson and Brian McCann.

Atlanta signed that duo for $25 million — $23 million going to Donaldson — with the belief that their true skills shined late in injury-devastated seasons. Donaldson played just 52 games in 2018 due to shoulder/calf ailments. But in 16 September games after joining the Indians, Donaldson had a .920 OPS.

The Braves used Nick Markakis (14 homers) as their prime cleanup hitter and see a healthy Donald son hitting behind Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna and Freddie Freeman to form a dynamic top four. Can he stay healthy enough to do that?

McCann was bedeviled most of last season by a right knee injury that led to two DL stints and f inally arthroscopic surgery in July. Overall, he had a .640 OPS, but after returning from the surgery, McCann’s OPS was .784 in September, not far off his .791 career mark.

The Braves came to believe that if the Marlins ever trade J.T. Real muto, t h ey would avoid doing so within the NL East, thus, Atlanta created a lefty (McCann)/righty (Tyler Flowers) catching duo.

The Braves were wil l i ng to gamble on Donaldson and McCann, in pa r t , because they are one-year deals and if they do not work, Atlanta will have money to reinvest next year. Atlanta will now look for a corner outf ielder, bullpen upgrades and possibly a starting pitcher.