The Atlanta Braves were the early aggressors in MLB Free Agency, signing former San Francisco Giants closer Will Smith to a three-year, $40 million contract.

Shortly thereafter, general manager Alex Anthopoulos re-signed middle reliever Chris Martin, whom he acquired from the Texas Rangers at the July trade deadline.

In a matter of days, the Braves had turned a perennial weakness–the bullpen–into a strength. With Smith and Martin in tow alongside the likes of Mark Melancon and Shane Greene, Atlanta suddenly has a strong relief corps. Anthopoulos clearly has an understanding of perceived weaknesses, and he has moved very quickly in order to address those weaknesses.

The Braves are coming off consecutive National League East division titles, but they also have reason to be more assertive this winter due to a disappointing NLDS defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals.

This is a fan base that has been starving for some playoff success. The Braves may have been one of the teams of the decade in the 90s, but they have not been to an NLCS since 2001.

Atlanta has expressed a strong desire to re-sign third baseman Josh Donaldson, but the 2015 AL MVP has a number of suitors and is ready to cash in for his efforts. Meanwhile, the Braves still have some more pressing needs that demand Anthopoulos' attention.

With all of these things in mind, here are three ideal targets for the Atlanta Braves in free agency:

3. Jason Castro

The Braves need some help behind the dish with the recent retirement of Brian McCann. They re-signed Tyler Flowers, but they would prefer to have Flowers split time with someone else.

Castro is coming off a nice season with Minnesota in which he slashed .232/.332/.435 with 13 homers in 79 games. He is an extremely disciplined hitter and is also one of the better framers in baseball.

The 32-year-old is also likely to be far less costly (both in terms of the dollars and the length of the contract) in comparison to guys like Robinson Chirinos and Travis D'Arnaud.

Historically, Castro's offensive numbers are somewhat questionable, especially in comparison to Chirinos. However, he might be the best option form a financial perspective as well as the sheer fact that the Braves should not have any trouble scoring runs.

2. Mike Moustakas

Assuming the Braves cannot re-sign Donaldson, they should push hard for Moustakas.

Anthopoulos has hinted that he would prefer not to enter this season with Austin Riley as the starting third baseman, though he acknowledges that Riley is part of the long-term vision:

With that in mind, the Braves should pounce on Moustakas. The veteran had one of his finest seasons in 2019, slashing .254/.329/.516 with 35 homers. More impressively, Moustakas posted his highest “hard contact” rate of his career over the course of a full season.

Moustakas is every bit as capable of a power surge as Donaldson, and while he may not be the defender that Donaldson was in 2019 (second among all third basemen in defensive runs saved), “Moose” played multiple positions for the Brewers last season and has not shown much of a decline with the glove. If anything, he showed more range last season.

As previously mentioned, plenty of teams are looking for third basemen. Even if they fail to re-sign Donaldson, the Braves will have competition for Moustakas. Still, that should not deter them from signing a guy that can replicate Donaldson's offense behind Ronald Acuna and Freddie Freeman.

1. Madison Bumgarner

Starting pitching should be regarded as priority No. 1 for Anthopoulos.

The Braves declined their option on Julio Teheran, and left-hander Dallas Keuchel is a free agent. Atlanta will eventually expect guys like Ian Anderson to become staples in their rotation, but right now they need an “anchor” type of guy that can eat innings and provide quality starts.

Who better than Bumgarner, who is only 30 years old and grew up just a couple hundred miles away from Atlanta in Hickory, NC?

The Braves reportedly have their sights set on Bumgarner, and the fit just makes sense.

“MadBum” had a 3.90 ERA in over 200 innings of work. He posted his highest K/9 since 2016. Sure, the home run and fly ball rates remain a concern (opponents posted the highest average exit velocity against Bumgarner since the start of the Statcast era), but Bumgarner competes.

He also has the kind of stuff that should translate into his mid-thirties. Bumgarner routinely dominates opposing hitters with his off-speed and breaking stuff.

Atlanta should sign Bumgarner before the market gets too crowded.