Braves Sign Will Smith in the First Big Move of the MLB Offseason

Well that came out of nowhere.

Just a few days after Alex Anthopoulos said he was fine with Atlanta's bullpen as-is and didn't expect any big moves there, he goes out and signs Will Smith for $39 million. I love the way AA keeps the front office on lockdown and things like this just drop out of nowhere.

But more importantly, this is a great move to bolster the Braves' pitching staff heading into 2020, particularly if Sean Newcomb moves back into the starting rotation. I actually really wanted Atlanta to trade for Smith this past July, before we ended up with Shane Greene and Mark Melancon.

Unfortunately, this means Atlanta loses its second round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, but you'll take that 11 times out of 10 for a team that's in win-now mode that's able to get a great reliever.

Hopefully this is a sign that Anthopoulos and Co. are finally ready to spend some money and do what is necessary to finally make a real run at a World Series. Let's pray the next announcement is the re-signing of our mullet king, Josh Donaldson.

Chop On.