LAKELAND, Fla. -- There weren't any sightings of Ken Griffey Jr., Jake Peavy or Rafael Furcal when the Braves opened the Grapefruit League season against the Tigers on Wednesday afternoon.

Their presence existed only via memories of those reports that previously indicated the Braves might be just days, hours or possibly even minutes away from luring them to Atlanta.

With this week's acquisition of veteran outfielder Garrett Anderson, Braves general manager Frank Wren put an end to a four-month roster reconstruction process that produced both frustration and ultimate satisfaction.

Satisfaction came courtesy of the acquisitions of Anderson, Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami and Javier Vazquez. The frustration was supplied via the miscommunication and misunderstandings that surrounded the unfulfilled pursuits of Griffey, Peavy, Furcal, John Smoltz and A.J. Burnett.

"If you'd go back to our [organizational] meetings [that were held in October] and told me we'd have the club we have today, I'd have taken that right then for sure," Wren said. "It took a lot of work and a lot of trials getting here, but it's worked out real well."

Wren's offseason quest to fortify his starting rotation and upgrade his outfield mix with a power bat might have actually ended better than imagined. But in the process of satisfying his multiple needs, he encountered an array of twists and turns that a GPS system might not have been able to track.

"It was tough because the free-agent market was limited and overpriced," team president John Schuerholz said. "So that meant that we had to be really creative, and we were."

Projecting the potential difficulty they might encounter while attempting to fill their needs via free agency, the Braves planned to begin their offseason with the acquisition of Peavy, who the Padres were seemingly willing to deal.

But after a six-week process during which they offered the Padres an impressive four-player package highlighted by Yunel Escobar and Gorkys Hernandez, the Braves turned their attention away from Peavy and began pursuing A.J. Burnett, who would eventually decline their five-year, $80 million deal to sign the five-year, $82.5 million offer made by the Yankees.

"You can't blame us for not getting [Peavy], because the Padres didn't even think about trading Peavy," Schuerholz said. "We made a preemptive approach. Ultimately, the Cubs didn't get him, either. So maybe somebody should say the Padres never intended to trade Peavy, no matter what they were offered."

While that is debatable, one could also argue that the Braves should feel fortunate that Peavy never seemingly gave the Padres reason to believe he was willing to waive his no-trade clause to come to Atlanta.

Essentially bidding against themselves, Wren and his staff may have ultimately regretted a decision to get Peavy at the cost of parting ways with Hernandez and Escobar, a talented shortstop who won't be arbitration-eligible until the conclusion of the 2010 season.

In the process of fortifying their rotation with three solid veterans, some members of Braves management will argue the only valuable prospect they parted ways with was catcher Tyler Flowers, who highlighted the deal that brought Javier Vazquez and left-handed reliever Boone Logan to Atlanta.

"It's a big plus getting three starters like Lowe, Vazquez and Kawakami while keeping our farm system intact," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "I think they were pretty good deals."

While the acquisition of Peavy could have weakened Atlanta's strong youth movement, the acquisition of Burnett would have been accompanied with an enormous financial cost and tremendous doubts.

Instead of landing Burnett, who has made 10 trips to the disabled list during his injury-plagued career, the Braves ended up with Lowe, who has consistently totaled 200-inning seasons while never requiring a trip to the disabled list.

Regardless of the fact that some have questioned the decision to give Lowe a four-year, $60 million contract, the Braves wound up gaining the greater guarantee. Such also seemed to be the case last week, when after Griffey opted to return to Seattle, they set their sights on the younger and more versatile Anderson.

"Maybe it's divine intervention," Schuerholz said with a smile. "[Former Major League executive] Branch Rickey said, 'Luck is a residue of design.'"

Instead of buying into the theory that unforeseen luck followed Wren throughout this reconstruction process, Schuerholz believes that the Braves' management team ultimately found satisfaction due to the fact it was ready and willing to constantly alter its plans.

While Smoltz's decision to go to Boston created the greatest public outcry, the only event that truly incensed the Braves this offseason came in December, when Furcal opted to return to the Dodgers. The shortstop's decision came after his agent Paul Kinzer requested that the Braves send him a signed term sheet.

This request led Wren to believe an agreement had been reached. Other Major League general mangers have said they would have made the same assumption.

"We were all blindsided by how that all went down," Schuerholz said. "We didn't lose [Furcal]. He just chose to go away. His agent had an arrangement with the Dodgers that we weren't aware of. So, criticism about not getting him is unfounded."

Before landing Lowe and Kawakami off the free-agent market in January, Wren heard the loud cries of frustrated fans, some of whom wanted him to be fired. Over the course of the five weeks that have followed, he's battled through that adversity and built a roster that seemingly provides more certainty than the one that he possessed last year.

"We're structured pretty solidly right now," Schuerholz said. "We've got good young players to make a run at it."