Atlanta Braves: Projected starting nine in 2023

Slowly but surely, Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta Braves have built one of the best rosters in baseball. The building process continued this offseason as they acquired one of the top catchers in the game, Sean Murphy from the Oakland Athletics.

In a massive nine-player, three-team trade, the Braves landed the Gold Glove-winning catcher. As part of the deal, Atlanta sent Manny Pina, Kyle Muller, Freddy Tarnok and Royber Salinas to the Oakland Athletics. They also shipped William Contreras and Justin Yeager to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Also in the deal, Milwaukee sent Esteury Ruiz to the A's, with Oakland sending Joel Payamps to the Brew Crew.

"The Oakland A's finally traded catcher Sean Murphy. The Braves and Brewers did well in the three-way trade and it appears the A's did not. Tipsheet: A's settle for questionable trade package for catcher Sean Murphy" - Jeffrey Adams

Two weeks after acquiring the 28-year-old, the Atlanta Braves committed long-term to the catcher, signing him to a six-year, $73 million extension. The extension follows a trend of Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who has secured the core pieces of the roster until 2028.

"For people freaking out about giving Mattias Samuelsson such a big deal after playing such few games, Go look at the Atlanta Braves philosophy of signing their guys young and buying out their arb eligible years. The Braves have 7/8 fielders locked up through at least 2028-2034" - Mike Monaghan

Heading into the 2023 campaign, the Atlanta Braves will enter the season with one of the strongest and most stable cores in Major League Baseball. The projected lineup for the 2023 season looks like this:

Position	Player	Age
Catcher	Sean Murphy	28
First Base	Matt Olson	28
Second Base	Ozzie Albies	26
Third Base	Austin Riley	25
Shortstop	Vaughan Grissom	22
Left Field	Eddie Rosario	31
Center Field	Michael Harris II	21
Right Field	Ronald Acuna Jr.	25
Designated Hitter	Travis D'Arnaud	33

The club will also feature the likes of Marcell Ozuna, Jordan Luplow and Orlando Arcia coming off the bench.

How do the Atlanta Braves stack up against the rest of their division heading into the new season?

Last season, the Braves won the National League East, narrowly surpassing their division rivals, the New York Mets. Now, heading into the new year, the Mets have loaded up on free-agent talents such as Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana in a push for their first World Series title since 1986.

Aside from the Mets, the 2022 World Series runner-up Philadelphia Phillies also landed several notable stars this offseason in the form of Trea Turner and Tajuan Walker.

"Trea Turner could be the fastest Phillie of all-time…" - Phillies Muse

If the Braves hope to retain their division crown, it will be a difficult task, yet with their plethora of talent, it's something they can achieve.