Aside from letting Josh Donaldson walk away (which seems like the right call now), the Atlanta Braves certainly did try to spend the big money last Winter.
Do you remember last Winter at this point? Really feels like it happened about 2 years ago instead of just 6-to-7 months back, doesn't it?
Let's review. Here are the bigger free agents that Atlanta acquired... way back then:
- Nov. 8: Darren O'Day (re-upped)
- Nov. 14: Will Smith
- Nov. 19: Chris Martin (re-upped)
- Nov. 24: Travis d'Arnaud
- Dec. 4: Cole Hamels
- Jan 21: Marcel Ozuna
- Jan 22: Felix Hernandez
So much money was being committed that we were actually talking seriously about much room the Braves still had under the luxury tax threshold.