The Atlanta Braves don’t really have a lot of available money to spend.

Let’s clarify: They have money – Atlanta’s revenue broke the $600M threshold for the first time last year, although baseball expenses increased as well.

But will they spend it?

Does Alex Anthopoulos decide to go over the third luxury tax tier to sign a veteran outfielder if star Ronald Acuña Jr’s “irritated meniscus” is bad enough to force him to miss regular season games?

As of Monday morning, Atlanta is sitting at a 2024 cash payroll of $228M, per FanGraphs.

But cash isn’t the problem, the Competitive Balance Tax is.

You see, Atlanta’s CBT figure is significantly higher – $42 million, in fact, at just over $270M, and it’s because CBT payroll is calculated differently than cash payroll: Cash payroll is, well, just that, the cash you’re paying to your players this season. CBT payroll is based on the Average Annual Value, or AAV, of your deals. And since much of the Braves roster has upcoming seasons where their salaries are increasing towards the $22M max, their CBT figures are higher than their cash figures for 2024.

Now, Alex Anthopoulos has said to us, at the Winter Meetings and elsewhere, that he cares about the cash figure. They track the tax payroll because they need to pay that tax, but the concern is the cash payroll and actual expenditures in that season.

But there’s a complicating factor here: exceeding that third CBT threshold of $277M not only increases your financial penalties, it brings others with it.

The Atlanta Braves are in a good place.

With less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, most of the team’s injury concerns have been resolved now that Ronald Acuña Jr., who is getting over minor “irritation” of the meniscus, has returned to defensive duties in right field.

Playing split-squad matchups today, Acuña resumes leading off and playing right field at home versus the Boston Red Sox while some veterans make the trip to Sarasota to take on the Baltimore Orioles.

Here’s how the Braves will line up in CoolToday Park against Boston:

RF Ronald Acuña Jr
2B Ozzie Albies
CF Michael Harris II
1B Matt Olson
SS Orlando Arcia
LF Jarred Kelenic
3B David Fletcher
C Chadwick Tromp
DH Drake Baldwin

Reynaldo López gets the home start for Atlanta. He’s 1-1 in his four appearances (two starts) this spring, striking out nine and walking five in 11.2 innings pitched.

Here’s the rest of the squad, heading to Sarasota to take on the Orioles:

LF Forrest Wall
3B Austin Riley
C Sean Murphy
1B Marcell Ozuna
SS Luis Guillorme
CF Eli White
RF Luke Williams
2B Andrew Velazquez
DH Phillip Evans

Ace Spencer Strider is on the bump for this one, looking to continue his torrid spring. Strider’s 3-0 in his four starts this spring, having struck out twenty-two and walking four in his fourteen innings pitched. He’s allowed only nine hits, good for a WHIP of 0.93.

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves on Sunday, March 17th

As is typical for Spring Training split-squad matchups, the home game has a full suite of broadcast options while the road matchup seemingly doesn’t even exist. At home versus the Red Sox, there’s a streaming broadcast available on MLB.com for subscribers to MLB.tv, with the Braves Radio Network providing coverage on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan. The road matchup against the Orioles is not being televised by either team, with the only coverage available is an Orioles radio feed on 98 Rock FM/WBAL NewsRadio FM/AM.