The Braves trade with Jake O’Dorrese, they take back Colby Allard

Anthopoulos then put in position ever since.

In 2019, the Braves had Josh Donaldson on a one-year deal. Brian McCann was playing his last season. Freddy Freeman was MVP-level performance. Halfway through the season, Atlanta signed with Dallas Keuchel.

They felt they had a club that could win.

The only problem: They had deficiencies in their schedule, which is why they made a slew of deals – including dealing with Allard to Rangers for Chris Martin – to fix that.

“I said it then: I don’t want to be in this situation again and should trade diluents and trade young assets,” Anthopoulos said. “It was tough. It was painful to let go of all these players because (Allard) is a competitive young man with ability.”

Allard made his Atlanta debut in 2018. As a member of the Rangers, he recorded 5.85 ERAs over 224 2/3 innings. In 2022, he had the highest strike rate of his career (21.8%), although still below the MLB average in this category. Allard also has a minor league option left, which gives the Braves flexibility.

Anthopoulos mentioned Allard’s name when listing the shooters who will compete for fifth place in the starting course next spring. Ian Anderson, Mike Soroka, Kyle Mueller and Bryce Elder would all be in the mix, too – that is, if the Braves didn’t acquire a better rookie bowler than them all.

Anthopoulos credited Odorizzi. Discuss Odorizzi’s gripping performance on the night the Braves clinched their fifth consecutive NFL title. Odorizzi posted 5.24 ERA over 10 times after being caught by the Braves on deadline.

“Jake really boosted things up for us,” Anthopoulos said.

But the brave have the depth of rotation. They would have paid Odorese – who may not have been one of their top five shooters – his $12.5 million salary. Instead, they save some of that when they go into an unsuitable season as they will continue to cater to their needs.

Odorese, 32, was 6-6 with a 4.40 ERA in 106-1/3 innings in 22 games this past season, all starting, for the Astros and Braves. The Braves have acquired loyalist Will Smith’s Odorizzi in another move in the trade deadline. He appeared once with the Braves in the National League series with the Phillies, providing three rounds of rest and allowing one hit and two earned kicks to go three walks.

In 2022, Allard split time between the Rangers and Triple-A Round Rock, making 10 relief matches for Texas and starting 20 games in Triple-A.

The brave brought him back.

“He rose through the system quickly at a young age, but we still love him,” Anthopoulos said. “We still think there are a lot of positive aspects to it.”