The Braves have been aggressive this offseason, signing four free agents (Raisel Iglesias, Ha-Seong Kim, Robert Suarez and Mike Yastrzemski) to deals that pay eight figures annually. They also bolstered their infield depth with the Mauricio Dubón trade, taking on nearly $5MM for the difference in arbitration salaries between Dubón and Nick Allen.
Their free agent activity has already been out of character compared to Alex Anthopolous' previous offseasons. They love to re-sign their players, so it wasn't a huge surprise they brought Kim and Iglesias back, yet they hadn't given out more than one free agent deal with a $10MM+ annual value in an offseason since 2020. Their four such contracts this offseason are more than they'd dished out in the previous four winters combined.
It's still not enough. They've ticked off shortstop and late-inning relief. Those were indeed key needs, but neither was as worrisome as the rotation. Injuries exposed Atlanta's lack of starting pitching depth in 2025. They haven't done anything to address that thus far, and they should be as motivated as any team in MLB to add a mid-rotation arm before Opening Day.
The Braves will enter the season with a rotation that'd line up as Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep and one of Reynaldo López or Grant Holmes. If they could push a "turn off injuries" button, they'd be in excellent shape. Every team wishes they could keep pitchers healthy, of course, but the Braves look particularly vulnerable. AJ Smith-Shawver underwent Tommy John surgery in June and isn't coming back until the second half at the earliest. Their other six starters have limited track records or durability questions, and no one behind that group should be starting games at the MLB level.
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AA prefers the scrap heap. He could trade for Peralta or someone else, but it’s more likely he picks up seventeen throwaways from other teams.
Trading for 1 year of Peralta would likely require giving up Waldrep, Ritchie or Caminiti plus. I hope that does NOT happen. The most likely starter would be Waldrep because the Brewers will want someone they can immediately stick in the rotation. That makes zero sense for the Braves. The goal is to add rotation depth. If you are subtracting part of your depth to add Peralta you STILL need depth. And just for the record, Suarez, Kim, Yaz, Kiinley are not “throwaways”.
I think the seventeen throwaways he was referring to was how AA handled the bullpen last year.
None of them are starters, the subject of the article.
Off-season moves have been great….But the #1 need was SP imo and the available list keeps dwindling. I was hoping this would be the year they finally signed a FA pitcher to a big contract, guess not.
Of the top starters only 2 are gone. I definitely would not want Cease on that deal he signed. I was hoping for Ranger so him going to Boston hurts. But I’m confident the Braves will add a starter and just hope they don’t have to give up a starter to do so. My guess now would be Bassett or Gallen.
I don’t see the Braves matching up in a Robbie Ray deal. Braves don’t have anything in the majors that the Giants would want and Atlanta willing to trade. Albies is too little for Robbie Ray, even with Ray a 1-year rental.
I’d rather the Giants trade Ray to the Cubs for Nico Hoerner (also a 1-year rental).
Atlanta isn’t trading Albies anyway. He’s too big of a locker room piece.
Prefers the scrap heap?
“The Braves have been aggressive this offseason, signing four free agents (Raisel Iglesias, Ha-Seong Kim, Robert Suarez and Mike Yastrzemski) to deals that pay eight figures annually. ”
Are you this stupid on purpose?
I think he means pitching, but I’d argue that if you find a Triple Crown/Cy Young winner on the trash heap even once — wouldn’t you go back to that well?
But is there also an in-between considering they had a 44M deal pulled last year to Hoffman after a failed physical (where he’d be in the rotation, presumably). They extended Strider very early for 75M. Extended Sale before throwing a pitch. None of this is trash heap.
Miles Mikolas. Cheap and easy.
and he sucks. no thanks
Fair enough. Maybe there’s some upside to a Walker Buehler flyer.
“exposed their lack of depth” is a weird take. They had all 5 of their opening day rotation on the 60 day DL at the same time.
It wasn’t a lack of depth, they had quite a few other viable starters. But then several of them got injured as well.
It was one of the unluckiest rotations in recent history (healthwise).
Bryce Elder led the rotation in IP (156.1: 5.30 ERA/4.55 FiP) in ’25.
It’s true. They really aren’t lacking depth. It could be argued they may need more depth than most teams but they have like 9 options without taking into account any potential surprises with a Didier Fuentes or someone else. As to whether or not those options end up being solid enough-Id say it’s 50/50. In season trades could be an option.
Sale, Strider and Lopez all have extensive injury histories…call it bad luck or whatever. Braves need to plan on injuries….gotta add a starting pitcher who has consistently thrown 160+ innings/year.
It’s just complicated cause who would they add like that? A back end type would likely be on a one year deal and looking for a guaranteed spot to start the year. That would lead to Waldrep being sent to AAA and someone like Elder or Wentz being DFAd (out of options-very possible only one would stay on roster even as is). Certainly wouldn’t be worth it for a Patrick Corbin but I guess you could argue about some other guys. Maybe there is a higher impact move they could make. In that case I could see it I guess. I mean someone could get hurt in Spring too obviously but even the projections I am making are already assuming Holmes is gonna be hurt (who knows).
Bringing back Bartolo Colon would make a heckuva’ splash.
That wouldn’t be a splash, it would be a tidal wave
Hail to the Yeah!
I am not sure they NEED to make a rotation splash.
Yes there are a lot of questions with their rotation and health…but when healthy Sale, Schwellenbach, Strider, and Lopez are a very strong 1-4. Waldrep and/or Holmes rounding out the rotation are very solid options.
It would be nice to get a solid inning eater to help when injuries happen.
Now I’m 100% supportive of the Braves trading for Peralta, but stay completely away from Gallen
Re: Peralta — it really depends on what they’re asking for. You can make a case that Waldrep can headline, especially if there’s mutual extension interest, with the added benefit of being able to recoup a comp pick, if he bolts.
IMHO, they NEED to make a pitching addition to prevent last year, but they don’t NEED a splash. Some MiLB arms are further in their development and can contribute in ’26 so they wouldn’t have to call up an unweathered 19 y/o SP like they did in ’25 (Didier Fuentes).
I agree added MiLB arms that could contribute is the best option.
Chris Bassitt. 10-15 million a year.
That’s my pick
If 37 y/o Merrill Kelly got 2/40M…I don’t think 10-15M AAV is attainable.
Good luck getting Chris Bassitt for 10-15milli..
I say 1yr-18mill or 2yr-36milli
The Braves will never ever trade Ozzie Albies, you can scratch that off the list of possibilities..
He is Acuna’s best friend and everyone in the organization knows it. They would never upset him to pick up a depth starter.
The rotation was extremely unlucky last year. There’s no reason to overreact and sign a bloated long term free agent contract.
And contrary to popular narrative, the rotation was not the reason the Braves were DOA by the All-star break last year.
Yeah, the bats sucked for the first half of the year and then were uneven in the second half
If Lopez is healthy he is guaranteed a rotation spot. Although Waldrep is definitely the most likely #5, if he struggled with his control in spring he may start in AAA. His leap forward in control was quite abrupt and unproven over a longer period. With two of their depth guys being out of options they have some incentive to monitor Waldrep fairly carefully.
The Braves have five legit contenders for the #5 rotation spot. Waldrep, Holmes, Elder and two lefties, Wentz and Jose Suarez. Behind them, should we encounter another year of multiple injuries are Ritchie, Fuentes, and next year, Caminiti. No wasteful contracts, please.
The idea of selling paid subscription upsells off Mr. Franco’s unoriginal headline would be laughable if it weren’t so pathetic.
Do they want a top starter like Valdez or Gallen, in the trade market Gore or Peralta? Or are they willing to score lower for someone like Zack Littell, or even lower, like Tomoyuki Sugano?
The Braves need to answer this question.
trust in the double aa….
ommmm