GM: No timeline set yet for Acuna

While most folks around here were still dissecting the Falcons’ and Bulldogs’ season-ending losses, MLB Network Radio was talking baseball, of course. And if you missed it, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos made an appearance there Sunday.

Here are three takeaways from the interview:

1. Anthopoulos didn’t rule out outfield super-prospect Ronald Acuna making the big-league team out of spring training, but he didn’t fuel the notion, either. “I think the one thing with Acuna is he didn’t have a ton of time last year at the highest levels of the minor leagues, especially the little time he spent in Triple-A. So as a default, would you like him to have more time? Sure,” Anthopoulos said. And later: “Long-term, we’re totally sold on him. We think he’s going to do great. It’s just hard to put a timeline.”

(Anthopoulos didn’t go into the business ramifications of the matter, but there’s a significant advantage to Acuna opening the season in the minors: The Braves can have him for an entire extra season before he is eligible for free agency if they keep him off the bigleague roster until, say, the third or fourth week of April. That could loom large in six years. And cost-conscious clubs also can have a financial incentive to stall a prized prospect’s arbitration eligibilityby delaying their debut until, say, late May or so.)

2. Anthopoulos discussed third base, which remains in flux for the 2018 season. “Third right now would be a competition — I would say the two main guys (competing) would be Rio Ruiz and Johan Camargo,” he said. But he added: “We are openminded to get someone more established. ... We’ve definitely talked about some scenarios that we could get someone to come in and take the everyday third-base job.”

3. He offered this big-picture take on the coming season: “2018 is a really important year for us because we have a lot of young players that can go either way. They can really emerge and take the next step. They might kind of stay to the same area they’re in, or stall or go backward. Part of if it is to trying to find out exactly what we have. That being said, there’s a ton of talent on this team, as we all know. And we do believe in it, and there’s a very real chance a lot of these guys take a step forward and we do start to make some significant strides and have a really exciting 2018.”