Recently, John Hart, newly appointed President of Baseball Operations for the Atlanta Braves…

…had a conference call with with Braves’ season ticket holders of which he discussed a plethora of Braves’ related items. One of the most interesting pieces discussed was plans for the Braves’ 2015 payroll. While the general range was rather vague, we as Braves’ fans should be very pleased with the general direction the team’s spending is headed. From the President of Baseball Operations himself..

Atlanta Braves Payroll will be “North of 100MM, south of 120MM”

This is good news. Last year, the Braves were said to be “over budget” due to the last-minute injuries to both Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy that, in turn, led to the 14MM contract given to Ervin Santana. The total spending last year was 112MM, and it sounds like 2015 will be more of the same. Looking at arbitration predictions from MLBTradeRumors, guaranteed contracts, and some assumptions of pre-arb players that’ll likely be on the 25-man at the beginning of 2015, the Braves have about 96 million committed to the following players:

Guaranteed Contracts: Freddie Freeman, Andrelton Simmons, B.J. Upton, Craig Kimbrel, Julio Teheran, Chris Johnson, Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, (Dan Uggla)

Arbitration Contracts: James Russell, Jordan Walden, Mike Minor, David Carpenter

Pre-Arb Contracts: Evan Gattis, Luis Avilan, Anthony Varvaro, Alex Wood, David Hale, Christian Bethancourt, Tommy La Stella, Philip Gosselin, Jose Peraza, Chasen Shreve, Shae Simmons

What does this mean for the Atlanta Braves in 2015?

As is, the budget will be incredibly tight to make any moves. Using simple subtraction and the 112MM as the benchmark, the Braves would have 16 million to fill out the 3 vacancies on the roster (2 starting pitchers, 1 bench player). Let’s take a look at how the Braves could open up their payroll by a few moves. Trading franchise players such as Teheran, Simmons, Freeman, and Kimbrel will not be discussed as I don’t foresee those being options the Braves would explore.

1. Trade Justin Upton for prospects- Justin is owed 15 million in 2015. Making this one move gives the Braves 31 million to work with, but creates another hole somewhere, whether it be at backup catcher, or left fielder (depending on how Braves utilize Evan Gattis). For the most part, left field is a pretty easy void to fill, but replacing Justin’s production would be difficult.

2. Trade Chris Johnson- Chris Johnson is owed 6 million in 2015. While this move doesn’t necessarily open up a ton according to the payroll, it helps reduce the redundancy of the plethora of infield options. Trading Chris likely creates a hole, of which would ideally be filled by a player that could hit RHP well and compliment Phil Gosselin.

3. Bad Contract Swap for B.J. Upton- This move would likely not benefit the Braves financially if it’s just a 1-for-1 deal, but if packaged correctly, could put a few bucks back into the pocketbook.

4. Trade Jason Heyward- This move would give the Braves an extra 8MM but would open up a hole that the Braves would not be able to fill via free agency.

There are a combination of some of these deals that could greatly open the payroll not only for this year, but years beyond. On its face, it looks like if the Braves want real financial flexibility, Justin Upton has to be the one to go.