How will Anthopoulos address free agency, other pressing offseason issues?

ATLANTA -- The Braves battled through an injury-plagued regular season to win the National League East for the seventh time in the past nine seasons. But their perseverance wasn’t enough to dethrone the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos met with Atlanta media members on Sunday. Here are some of the highlights of his conversation.

Spencer Schwellenbach recently had a screw placed in his pitching elbow. Spencer Strider was throwing bullpen sessions recently at the club’s Spring Training complex. How will the club view both starters while making rotation plans this offseason?

Anthopoulos: "I think from a planning standpoint, I don't think it'd be responsible to sit here and say, ‘OK, those guys are going to start 30 games and throw 180 innings.’ So that's something we're definitely going to have to account for and talk about where we're going to get our innings for next season.

"I remember telling Grant Holmes last offseason at the beginning, how he progressed was going to tell us what his potential role would be and how we would bank him and so on in terms of anything. So, if you sit here today, I don't think you're going to see us come in and say that we expect [Strider and Schwellenbach] to be locks in the rotation with [Chris] Sale.”

Could Didier Fuentes be used as a starter next season?

Anthopoulos: “It’s nice to know you've got an impact arm out of the ‘pen, but you also know there's tremendous upside if he can put it together as a starter, because he's still so young. The development of both the changeup and the slider are pretty encouraging. What you don't know is the workload, right? Can you handle 25-plus starts and 150-180 innings? Then, can you do that in 2027? Are you going to go from 70-plus innings and jump to whatever it is? Those are all things we need to talk about.”

Tyler Mahle was splendid after being acquired from the Giants on Aug. 2. Will you attempt to re-sign him?

Anthopoulos: “We'll take advantage for all of our [free agents] of the exclusive negotiating window we have [through the end of the World Series]. I couldn't be more pleased with what he did, and he deserves all the credit.”

Jurickson Profar’s performance-enhancing drug suspensions in each of the past two seasons have derailed the team’s plans. Can you talk about him and can you say whether there is a chance he is with the Braves next year?

Anthopoulos: "There isn't anything that prevents me from talking about it. What I can tell you is, we're going to have to sit and talk internally just across the board about the whole thing.”

How did the team evaluate Austin Riley’s third consecutive rough season, especially with this one not marred by the injuries that plagued him in 2024 and ‘25?

Anthopoulos: “That's something we're going to spend a lot of time having conversations about, trying to get him back on track. He’s still a great defender and a great teammate. It was nice to get the health part put aside after back-to-back years of being hurt. From an offensive standpoint, he's still a young player and is capable of so much more. He's shown that, and we're going to continue to work at it.”

Would you be comfortable with Mauricio Dubón as a shortstop? And what did you think of the year he had heading into free agency?

Anthopoulos: “You know, a lot of times, he didn't play as much short, because guys like [Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr.] were hurt and we needed him in the outfield. He had a really good year for us. He was a great teammate. I can’t say enough good things about him and I’m very comfortable with him at short.”

Will the coaching staff remain the same?

Anthopoulos: “I think continuity is important. Those are conversations I'll have with [manager] Walt [Weiss]. But I would say the entire staff, I think everybody did a really good job. I'm pleased with all of them.”