The Atlanta Braves' offseason is right around the corner, but this one will almost certainly look much different than the ones we're used to. The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m. ET, and if MLB and the Players Association can't reach a new deal, owners are expected to initiate a lockout after that time passes.

That would freeze major league transactions until an agreement is reached. While appearing on the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes earlier this season, MLB Insider Jeff Passan stated that a lockout is not just likely. It’s happening.

What Passan expressed is not just his opinion. That is the generally accepted outlook.

Proposals involving a salary cap, a salary floor and significant changes to free agency and the draft, the number of games, etc., have intensified the labor discussion, and the MLB Players Association is opposed to much of it.

I'm not here to break down the negotiations, but I do think it's worth asking what this means for the Braves, because the calendar may be about to get a lot tighter.

Think about how the offseason normally works. Players become free agents the day after the World Series ends, and all 30 teams can sign them about five days later. Typically, that would leave Alex Anthopoulos the entire month of November and most of December to evaluate the market, wait for prices to settle and make his moves.

This year, he may only have about a month before everything shuts down. The tender deadline lands in the middle of November, and the Winter Meetings, scheduled for Dec. 7 to Dec. 10, would likely be canceled in the event of a lockout. That was the case during the previous lockout five years ago. Could that force the Atlanta Braves to be more aggressive in the opening weeks of free agency?

Atlanta certainly has plenty to do. The Braves need more starting pitching depth, a more dependable bat in left field and some clarity in the middle infield. They also have to decide what to do with several of their own free agents, and two of the biggest names are Tyler Mahle and Mauricio Dubón.

Mahle posted a 1.99 ERA across nine appearances after joining the Braves from San Francisco and has expressed interest in coming back. Dubón went from a modest trade acquisition to one of the Braves' most valuable players in 2026, finishing as a finalist for his third career Gold Glove Award. Both are exactly the kind of players another team might pounce on once free agency opens, and both are familiar, productive pieces that would take two items off Atlanta's to-do list.

That's why, if the labor situation does compress the calendar, I think the Braves should lean toward securing their own guys first. Re-signing proven, familiar contributors establishes some certainty, and certainty is worth a lot when you may suddenly be unable to make a move for weeks, or even months. The last lockout, in the 2021-22 offseason, didn't end until March 10, resulting in Spring Training being shortened and Opening Day being pushed back a week. That's a long time to be sitting on unresolved holes.

There's a counterargument, though, and it's a good one. Moving too fast can lead to overpaying or committing to a player before you've had time to evaluate your internal options, especially pitchers coming back from injury. We've seen what happens when a team invests heavily in one player without enough certainty or depth behind him.

As I've written about with Ha-seong Kim, a big commitment that doesn't pan out can ripple through the rest of the roster. A rushed decision about a pitcher with an injury history could be just as costly.

So how should Anthopoulos balance it? The way I see it, the Braves can afford to be decisive on the players they already know and trust, like Mahle and Dubón, while staying disciplined on the bigger, riskier additions. Giving up a little negotiating flexibility to lock in two proven pieces is a trade I'd make. Giving up a lot of flexibility to rush into an expensive outside deal I'm not sure about is not.

To be clear, there's no indication that Anthopoulos plans to change his approach because of the labor situation, and a lockout is still only a possibility. But the Braves' offseason now has a clock hanging over it, and the teams that handle the calendar best may be the ones who come out ahead.

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