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10 Out Of Options Players To Watch This Spring

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One of the most interesting elements of spring training every year, at least for those of us who feast on roster construction minutiae, is the collection of players who are out of minor league options. MLBTR just released a full list of such players earlier today.

In many instances, a player being out of minor league options is inconsequential. Justin Steele, Isaac Paredes and Evan Phillips are among the players who fit that description but are in no risk of losing their MLB roster spot. They're all key players on big league rosters who'd never be in danger of being sent down to the minors anyhow.

However, there are typically a handful of players every spring who are on the roster bubble with their current club but who could be a better fit on a team with less competition in their current position. Most of these players have already had big league opportunities with their current club but whether due to injury or poor performance (or both) have yet to firmly seize hold of a roster spot. As players exhaust their minor league options, they'll tend to face increased competition from younger players progressing through the minor league ranks and/or external additions made via trade or free agency. An out-of-options player who doesn't fit his current roster can still go on to find a more solid role and some success elsewhere. Joey Bart was in just this spot last year and after being squeezed out in San Francisco has emerged as Pittsburgh's starting catcher. The Yankees didn't have a spot for Ben Rortvedt, but he's the Rays' clear No. 2 catcher now.

Let's run through 10 names to keep an eye on this spring. Not all of these players will lose their roster spots, and even some who do might not wind up making an impact elsewhere. But each of the names listed here has some reason to hold a bit more intrigue than many of their out-of-options brethren (players listed alphabetically)...

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Braves Chairman: Team Has “Dry Powder” To Add Payroll

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The Braves enter Spring Training with a luxury tax payroll around $230MM, according to the RosterResource calculations. That puts them about $11MM shy of the base threshold. Atlanta has paid the tax in two straight seasons, pushing their spending to $276MM by the end of last year.

That seemingly indicates that the Braves have room to add to their payroll. Chairman Terry McGuirk confirmed as much to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. “We have crossed the competitive balance tax each of the last two years. It’s possible we could do it again this year,” McGuirk told Drellich. He added that the team “(has) some dry powder” to add spending and implied that Atlanta could make a move in free agency this spring. McGuirk noted that the Braves waited until the middle of March before bringing back Adam Duvall on a $3MM deal last year.

Atlanta has had a quiet offseason. Their only free agent move of significance was the signing of Jurickson Profar on a three-year, $42MM contract. Their remaining free agent pickups were split deals. Their biggest trade was to offload the final two years on Jorge Soler’s contract to the Angels for no return. They acquired Griffin Canning, then non-tendered him. President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said at the Winter Meetings that the Braves were willing to exceed the tax threshold. Perhaps that’d have happened if a failed physical hadn’t scuttled their reported five-year agreement with Jeff Hoffman, though it’s possible they wouldn’t have subsequently signed Profar if the Hoffman deal had been finalized.

The Braves seem unlikely to add $11MM+ to their tax ledger before Opening Day. There are only a few free agents who are sure to sign major league deals. A one-year deal for David Robertson, Jose Quintana or Kyle Gibson could still approach eight-figures, but most remaining free agents are unsigned because their markets haven’t materialized the way they’d hoped.

Anthopoulos has indicated that any rotation pickups would need to be marked improvements on Ian Anderson and/or Grant Holmes, who are out of minor league options and are vying for back-end jobs. Robertson would be an upgrade for any team’s bullpen. Atlanta has a few questionable spots in the middle innings. Their relief group is anchored by a strong four of Raisel Iglesias, Aaron Bummer, Pierce Johnson and Dylan Lee, however.

A team’s luxury tax number isn’t calculated until the end of the season. The Braves hope to add to the roster midseason. If they added a few million dollars to their CBT payroll with a Spring Training free agent pickup, a midseason trade or two could push them past $241MM. Their current $230MM calculation is an unofficial estimate, so it’s possible that number is off a couple million dollars in either direction.

Clubs are generally hesitant about narrowly exceeding the luxury tax threshold. Teams pay escalating penalties for going beyond the marker in consecutive seasons. Staying underneath $241MM would allow the Braves to reset their status rather than pushing them to third-time payors, which comes with the top tax rates. The tax is only on the overages, so they’d have a minimal tax bill if they only exceed the threshold by a few million dollars, but the repeat penalties could limit their financial flexibility in future offseasons. They’ll need to weigh that against the benefits of short-term upgrades as they vie with the Phillies and Mets atop the NL East in 2025.

MLBTR Podcast: Atlanta’s Pitching Depth, Iglesias, Jobe, Castillo, And More!

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors for a mailbag episode. We spent the entire show answering questions from listeners, including…

  • Can the Braves seriously go into the season with this rotation depth? (1:50)
  • Could the Braves add to the bullpen before the season starts? (9:25)
  • Why is David Robertson not signed? (13:00)
  • Could the Mets and Jose Iglesias reunite on a one-year, $5MM deal with a vesting option? (17:10)
  • Should the Cubs have signed Jose Iglesias instead of Justin Turner? (24:35)
  • Could there be a battle forming for the final rotation spots for the Tigers between Casey Mize, Kenta Maeda and Jackson Jobe? (30:35)
  • Are the Mariners waiting for a pitching injury on another team to trade Luis Castillo? (38:05)
  • When a team like the Dodgers does significant deferrals, what year’s payroll does the money go on? (43:50)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Salary Details For Several Minor League Deals

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Every offseason, the primary focus for baseball fans is on trades and free agent activity. Naturally, major league free agent signings garner the majority of the attention and generate the most buzz. Minor league signees come with less fanfare, typically with good reason. They tend to be older veterans who are looking to extend their playing careers or perhaps younger names looking to rebound from an injury or a disappointing showing the prior season (sometimes the prior few seasons).

As spring training progresses, we’re seeing an uptick in minor league signings. Free agents who’ve lingered on the market and felt their leverage in negotiations dry up begin to concede and accept non-guaranteed pacts to get to camp in hopes of winning a roster spot.

Salary details for minor league signees isn’t as prominently reported on as it is for players signing guaranteed big league deals. The Associated Press just published a list of free agent signings throughout the winter, including within salary details for a handful of (mostly) recent minor league signings. Many of the salaries reported by the AP were already known and reflected here at MLBTR, but the report does include more than two dozen previously unreported base salaries for players on minor league deals. Here’s a quick rundown (player salary links point back to prior MLBTR posts detailing that minor league signing):

Blue Jays: Jacob Barnes, RHP, $1.4MM | Ryan Yarbrough, LHP, $2MM

Braves: Curt Casali, C, $1.25MM | Buck Farmer, RHP, $1MM

Brewers: Manuel Margot, OF, $1.3MM | Mark Canha, 1B/OF, $1.4MM

Cubs: Brooks Kriske, RHP, $900K | Travis Jankowski, OF, $1.25MM | Chris Flexen, RHP, $1.5MM

Diamondbacks: Garrett Hampson, INF/OF, $1.5MM | Scott McGough, RHP, $1.25MM

Dodgers: Luis Garcia, RHP, $1.5MM

Giants: Lou Trivino, RHP, $1.5MM

Mariners: Shintaro Fujinami, RHP, $1.3MM | Trevor Gott, RHP, $1.35MM

Padres: Yuli Gurriel, 1B, $1.35MM ($100K higher than initially reported)

Rangers: Nick Ahmed, SS, $1.25MM | Jesse Chavez, RHP, $1.25MM | David Buchanan, RHP, $1.375MM | Kevin Pillar, OF, $1MM

Red Sox: Matt Moore, LHP, $2MM

Royals: Luke Maile, C, $2MM | Ross Stripling, RHP, $1.75MM

White Sox: Brandon Drury, INF/OF, $2MM | Mike Clevinger, RHP, $1.5MM

A few things bear emphasizing. First, this is clearly not a comprehensive list of minor league signings throughout the league — nor is it even a comprehensive list of the listed teams’ non-roster invitees to camp. Secondly, many of these sums are of little consequence to the team. They’re not even guaranteed, after all, and even if a player makes the Opening Day roster and earns the full slate of his minor league salary, most of these salaries aren’t going to carry significant payroll ramifications.

That’s not true across the board, though. For instance, the Rangers are fully intent on remaining under the $241MM luxury tax threshold. At present, RosterResource projects them at $235.7MM of luxury obligations. Opting to select the contract of Buchanan or Chavez rather than allocating those innings to pre-arbitration players who’s being paid at league-minimum levels (or a few thousand dollars north of it) would inch the Rangers’ CBT number forward. They’re not going to hit the tax line even in if they wind up adding multiple NRIs to the actual roster, but selecting their contracts will further narrow the resources president of baseball ops Chris Young will have at his disposal for midseason dealings.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, are effectively seated right at the tax threshold. RosterResource has them with $241.4MM of luxury considerations. Team president Sam Kennedy said after signing Alex Bregman that he expects his team will be a CBT payor in 2025. As things stand, the Sox could duck back under that threshold, but selecting the contract of Moore, Adam Ottavino (also $2MM) or another prominent NRI would further signal ownership’s willingness to return to luxury tax status for the first time since 2022.

There’s probably no getting back under the tax line for the Blue Jays, who currently have a $273.3MM CBT number. However, the front office would presumably like to avoid reaching $281MM in tax obligations, as that’s the point at which Toronto’s top pick in the 2026 draft would be dropped by ten spots. In-season trades will have more of an effect on their tax number than decisions on NRIs like Barnes, Yarbrough, Eric Lauer and others, but it bears mentioning that the Blue Jays are around $8MM shy of what many clubs consider to be the most detrimental impact of straying to deep into CBT waters.

Facing My Heroes: The Day I Struck Out Ichiro Suzuki Twice

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Editor’s Note: Brandon Beachy had a relatively brief but highly memorable career, rising from undrafted free agent to a key — at times overpowering — member of the Braves’ rotation. Injuries derailed Beachy’s career, but he retired with a 14-12 record and 275 2/3 innings of 3.36 ERA ball under his belt. Beachy was at his best from 2010-12, when he made 41 starts with a pristine 3.07 ERA and plus strikeout/walk rates alike. Nearly two years ago to the day, Brandon was kind enough to take some time to host a chat with MLBTR readers. We’ve asked him about contributing some occasional writing for the site, and we’re thrilled that he’s taken us up on the offer.

A couple of years ago, I did a Q&A with readers that MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes said was well received. He asked if I’d be interested in doing some writing, and after a little consideration, I figured I’d give it a shot. We’ll see how it goes.

For my first piece, I want to talk about what it was like to face one of baseball’s greatest hitters: Ichiro Suzuki. As an undrafted free agent signing with the Atlanta Braves in 2008, I worked my way through the minors and made my Major League debut in September 2010. I had some success but unfortunately dealt with multiple elbow injuries that ultimately ended my career sooner than I’d hoped. Still, I had some incredible experiences, and facing Ichiro on June 27, 2011, is one of the most memorable.

Preparation

I want to set the scene by briefly describing my process and preparation. The day after my starts I would come in early, get my flush running in, and get into the gym. I’d then go through yesterday’s start pitch by pitch. Roger McDowell was very influential on me. The results mattered of course, but some of my toughest self-scouting days came after quality starts or even scoreless outings. I had days where I felt I had just gotten lucky after executing rather poorly. I would track all my fastballs and how often I hit my spot. I believed in the long run that process-oriented approach would yield the results I wanted in the long run.

Day 2 is when I started looking ahead at my next opponent. I’d look over their roster, see who was hot at the time, and dive into their numbers a little bit. I wanted to know two things on each hitter:

  1. What and where (i.e. pitch type, location) did they struggle that could be a putaway opportunity for me?
  2. Against which pitch type and where within the zone did they do their damage?

Balancing this with pitching to your own strengths was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this side of the competition.

The First At-Bat (YouTube link)

Back to June 27, 2011. I was throwing to Brian McCann, one of the best catchers a young pitcher could ask for. Mac was huge comfort blanket for me. He knew the hitters inside and out and was extremely perceptive to hitters’ swings and subtle changes.

Ichiro was leading off, and I started with a fastball up in the zone. He flared it foul down the left-field line. I was a four-seam, high-spin-rate guy before that became a widely discussed metric. I typically attacked hitters with my fastball early and often.

I missed with my next fastball to even the count at 1-1. I went back at him with another fastball, 93 mph, a little over the plate. He fouled it off. I got away with these a lot early in games especially. McCann had relayed things hitters had told him about my fastball just having a little extra gear than it appeared. McCann was great at using this to get me into favorable counts, and I trusted his guidance.

By this point, I thought Ichiro had a read on me—he knew what I was throwing and was adjusting accordingly, it seemed. Looking back I don’t think he ever started cheating to get to the fastball. He would’ve been content wasting them away all night long.

Next, I threw a well-located 95 mph fastball down and away. Ichiro was one of the best ever at this, and wasted another good pitch, just fouling them off instead of taking the strike. So McCann called for a changeup, a great pitch on the outer part of the plate. Ichiro appeared fooled by it but recognized it enough to keep his hands back, on plane and fouled it off to the right side.

Then came one of my favorite pitches of my entire career. McCann doubled up on the changeup here. After the way he kept his hands back on the last one I knew it couldn’t be the same. Mac set up on the chalk of the right-handed batter’s box to help illustrate this to me.

I threw a four seam changeup to match the spin of my fastball. I worked daily to try to stay perfectly behind this pitch so that it would mimic the fastball exactly. On this next pitch I intentionally got way inside of the ball, running it left to right out into the other batter’s box. Ichiro swung and missed. It was a huge moment—a small victory in the battle against one of the toughest outs in baseball.

The Second At-Bat (YouTube link)

In the third inning, we were up 1-0 with two outs and nobody on—an ideal time to face a hitter of Ichiro’s caliber. I started him off hard away, and again, he fouled it off, clearly tracking my fastball well. I missed off the edge with another fastball, bringing the count to 1-1.

McCann went back to the changeup. I threw a good one down and away, but Ichiro did what he does best—he kept his hands back just long enough to barrel it up and shoot it up the middle for a single. He was never the type of hitter who needed perfect timing; his ability to adjust mid-swing was second to none. This “good” pitch played into his hands well.

The Third At-Bat (YouTube link)

By the fifth inning, the game was tied, and I had a runner on third with two outs. The stakes were higher. After inducing a pop out for the second out, Mac visited the mound before Ichiro came to the plate. He was great in these settings. Always incredibly encouraging and helping me focus. A lot of times he would just ask what I wanted for first pitch, which is what I think was discussed here. I missed up with a fastball to start, then threw another over the plate that he swung through. Looking back, I can now see that I don’t think Ichiro had been on my fastball all day. He’d fouled them off repeatedly, but with glancing blows, not square dangerous swings.

At a 1-1 count, McCann called for another changeup, but he set up way outside, almost in the other batter’s box recalling the pitch I had struck him out on in the first inning. I again got way inside the release of it, and it ran sharply to the right and out of the zone. Ichiro, recognizing changeup, committed to the pitch expecting one like he had singled last at bat — swung and missed. Now I was ahead 1-2.

Then McCann made the call that sealed it. Instead of another changeup, he called for a slider down and in—a pitch Ichiro hadn’t seen yet. I threw a good one, and he swung over the top as it bounced into the dirt. Strike three. I got out of the inning unscathed, thanks to McCann’s pitch calling and conviction in the way he set up. These nonverbal cues put me at ease giving me not just the pitch he wanted and the location, but the purpose behind it.

The Takeaway

Earlier that year, I sat with Chipper Jones and a group of hitters, probably McCann included. Chipper was always generous with his time, and he’d invited me to always listen in and would even tailor conversations to help me understand from a pitcher’s perspective. One thing he told me stuck: “Maybe one or two guys in each lineup are truly thinking the game—picking pitches, playing chess at the plate.” The rest just go execute against. Ichiro was definitely one of those guys.

Facing a legend like Ichiro was an incredible challenge. He wasn’t just reacting to pitches—he was playing the chess game at an elite level. Early in the game, he wasn’t selling out for my fastball; he was waiting for something off-speed. Striking him out twice in the same game felt surreal, but it came down to a combination of sequencing, execution, and trust in my catcher.

Looking back, moments like these are what made my time in the big leagues so special. Sitting in the dugout after the game, icing my arm, I couldn’t help but think, I just struck out Ichiro Suzuki twice. It was one of those “I can’t believe I’m here” moments that I’ll always cherish.

Baseball is full of small battles within the larger game. Sometimes, you win those battles, and sometimes you don’t. In this instance, I believe I benefited from giving up what was ultimately a harmless single in the 3rd inning. Striking a pro hitter out is always a good feeling. Fooling someone or overpowering them are fun. My favorites though were times like these with Ichiro, where I gave them what I believe they wanted and used their aggression and wits against them.

After my playing career ended, I decided to bet on myself again—this time in business ownership through franchising. I wanted control over my time after years of being told where to be and when. Franchising was the right fit for me, and I believe it’s a great path for many athletes making the transition, as well as anyone looking for a new opportunity.

Now, while running my own business, I also help others navigate franchising as a consultant—a guide, coach, and advocate for those exploring their next step. My service is free, and I’m always happy to talk franchising, baseball, or anything in between. Feel free to reach out at Brandon@whatsnextfranchising.com.

NL East Notes: Sale, Montas, Wood

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Braves left-hander Chris Sale just had a tremendous bounceback season. He made 29 starts with a 2.38 earned run average, earning a National League Cy Young award. He was largely injured and/or ineffective from 2019 to 2023, which had him pondering retirement.

“I thought that it was gonna be my last year,” Sale said to the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast about where he was at before getting traded to Atlanta. “So I went into that offseason on a mission like ’one more year left.’… ’cause in my mind, I wasn’t walking away from baseball. I was walking away from getting hurt.”

The Red Sox traded Sale to Atlanta for Vaughn Grissom in December of 2023. At the time, as mentioned, he had been battling significant injuries for five years. Tommy John surgery in 2020 was the big one but Sale also had a stress reaction in his ribs, a fractured finger, a broken wrist suffered in a bicycle accident and a stress reaction in his shoulder blade over that span. He had a 4.16 ERA in 298 1/3 innings over those five seasons.

2024 was the final year of his extension with the Red Sox and the mounting injuries apparently had him looking towards hanging up his spikes. But he was traded to Atlanta, signed an extension that covered 2024 and 2025 with a club option for 2026, and then went on to have an excellent season in 2024. It makes for an interesting “what if” but Sale is clearly in a better spot now. The injury bug hasn’t left him entirely alone, however. He missed the final two weeks of 2024 due to back spasms and was also left off Atlanta’s postseason roster. 2024 was still a big improvement over prior years but time will tell if he can keep the good health going into his age-36 season.

Some more spring training tidbits from the NL East…

  • It was reported earlier this week that Mets righty Frankie Montas has a lat strain and will be shut down for six to eight weeks. The righty is apparently a bit more optimistic than his club, however. He told members of the media today, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, that he’s already feeling better from his platelet-rich plasma injection and expects to be throwing again in four to six weeks. That’s still a notable period of time but it’s a bit less dire than the other timeline. He had a 4.84 ERA last year and then signed a two-year, $34MM deal with the Mets this winter. He will have the chance to opt out after the first year, though returning healthy and productive will be important if he is to consider that possibility. For now, the Mets’ rotation mix includes Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill.
  • Nationals outfielder James Wood has some quad tendinitis, per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. It doesn’t bother him when he hits, so he’s been able to take batting practice but has skipped some defensive drills. Per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com, Wood says he has “zero” concern but the club did send him for an MRI, which showed no structural damage. With still over a month before Opening Day, there’s plenty of time to get things in order, with Wood and the Nats both surely hoping for a clean bill of health by then. Now just 22 years old, Wood hit .264/.354/.427 in his major league debut last year and is slated to be a big part of the club’s future.

Braves Sign Buck Farmer To Minor League Contract

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The Braves have signed right-hander Buck Farmer to a minor league deal.  The Nati Sports X account was the first to report the news, and Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Farmer will receive an invitation to the Braves’ big league spring camp.

Farmer was born in Conyers, Georgia and played his college ball at Georgia Tech, so the signing represents something of a homecoming for the veteran reliever.  (Not to mention an early birthday present, as Farmer turns 34 on Thursday.). The Braves actually made Farmer a 46th-round pick in the 2009 draft but he elected to attend college instead, and his pro career didn’t officially begin until he was a fifth-round pick for the Tigers in 2013.

In terms of bottom-line results, his 2024 campaign was the best of his 11 big league seasons.  Farmer posted a 3.04 ERA over 71 innings for the Reds, chewing up innings as a bullpen workhorse for the second consecutive year.  His 3.94 SIERA was more reflective of his overall performance, as Farmer had an unimpressive 9.7% walk rate and roughly a league-average 23.4% strikeout rate, but he did a good job of limiting hard contact.

Since Opening Day 2018, Farmer has posted a 4.03 ERA, 23.5% strikeout rate, and 9.8% walk rate across 386 2/3 Major League inning with Detroit and Cincinnati.  A rough 2021 season with the Tigers skewed those numbers upwards a bit, but it still represents some solid production and durability for Farmer, even if he lacked the standout secondary statistics to land a guaranteed contract.

Farmer is the latest in a long line of veteran non-roster invites battling for jobs in the Atlanta bullpen, and his track record could give him a bit of an edge within a busy competition.  Jake Diekman, Chasen Shreve, Dylan Covey, Wander Suero, Jordan Weems, Enyel De Los Santos, and Enoli Paredes are also in camp on minor league contracts, not to mention the Braves’ in-house prospects and starter candidates who could be battling for relief work.  The Braves had some holes to fill after losing several relievers in free agency, and Joe Jimenez to what might be a season-ending knee surgery.

Braves Sign Jake Marisnick To Minor League Deal

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Outfielder Jake Marisnick is in camp with the Braves as a non-roster invitee, reports Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That indicates the Equity Baseball client signed a minor league deal with the club.

Marisnick, 34 in March, signed a minor league deal with the Angels last winter. He spent the year playing in Triple-A for that club, getting into just 54 games around a few stints on the injured list. He performed well, hitting .283/.368/.551, but didn’t get called to the majors.

The veteran has an established track record at this point as a glove-first outfielder. From his 2013 debut to the present, he has logged 5,357 innings on the grass with 80 Defensive Runs Saved and 52 Outs Above Average. The latter method didn’t come into existence until 2016, so the sample size is a bit smaller. Only nine outfielders have a higher DRS tally during Marisnick’s career and all but one of them spent more time out there than him. He’s also 11th on the OAA board, again trailing only one player with a smaller sample of innings played.

However, his offensive contributions have been less consistent. He’s had a few good showings with the bat but has hit .228/.281/.385 in his career overall. That production translates to a wRC+ of 81, meaning he’s been 19% below average on the whole.

Atlanta has some question marks in its outfield. Ronald Acuña Jr. is still recovering from tearing his ACL last year and could miss about a month of the season. Until he’s back, the projected outfield consists of Michael Harris II and Jurickson Profar in two spots. A third spot could perhaps be a platoon between Jarred Kelenic and Bryan De La Cruz.

Profar is coming off a monster season at the plate but has been wildly inconsistent and isn’t a great fielder. Kelenic’s production has been up-and-down, both offensively and defensively. De La Cruz is a poor defender and is coming off the worst offensive showing of his career thus far.

The club has Carlos Rodriguez and Eli White on the roster, but White is out of options and might get squeezed. Rodriguez hasn’t yet made his major league debut and has just 31 games of Triple-A experience. The club previously brought in Conner Capel for some non-roster depth and now Marisnick gives them a bit more. If a path opens up to some playing time, he’ll give Atlanta a glove-first outfield option off the bench.

Which Teams Should Still Sign A Free Agent Starter?

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Spring training is beginning to kick off around the league, and as is perennially the case, there are a handful of notable free agents still looking for homes. That's of particular importance for the group of starting pitchers who still remain unsigned. Over the years, we've typically (not always) seen late-signing hitters struggle less than late-signing pitchers. Starting pitchers, in particular, seem to benefit from a full, gradual ramp-up rather than the sort of accelerated build that inherently comes with a mid-March signing.

Nick Pivetta stands as the most notable starter who's yet to find a landing spot. He's surely been impacted by the qualifying offer that's hanging over his head. Any team other than the incumbent Red Sox would need to forfeit at least one draft pick (possibly two, depending on CBT status) in order to sign the longtime Boston righty. Others still on the market include veteran mid-rotation or back-end starters Andrew Heaney, Jose Quintana, Kyle Gibson, Cal Quantrill, Ross Stripling, Lance Lynn and Patrick Corbin -- just to name some. (A full list can be seen here.)

This time of year, there's plenty of talk about teams that still need to add an arm. That can take different shapes, however. I wrote about the Mets' rotation for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers last week, but the Mets aren't necessarily the type of team that needs to go out and add an innings eater to step into the fourth or fifth spot in the rotation. They have myriad options there already. Any addition for them, presumably, would be a clear-cut playoff starter. It's a similar situation with the Orioles, Cubs, Blue Jays and many other postseason hopefuls. Other clubs, like the Tigers and Pirates, have a mostly set group with a bevy of interesting young, MLB-ready top prospects knocking on the door. Signing Quintana or Gibson to eat innings likely isn't in the cards for teams in either of these groups.

At this stage of the offseason, some of those available free agents might need to wait for a spring injury or a trade to create the opportunity they seek. But there are still teams around the league that are rather clearly in need of some steady innings in the Nos. 3-5 spots in the rotation. Let's run through some clubs that have the need and, as crucially, the budget (or lack thereof) to add an established veteran arm to the back of the staff.

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Poll: Do The Braves Need Another Starter?

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The Braves struggled through a difficult season on offense last year amid another lost season for superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. and a number of down seasons all around the lineup. The club still managed to win 89 games and make it to the postseason on the back of its excellent rotation, however. Headed into 2025, that rotation has lost two key pieces: southpaw Max Fried and right-hander Charlie Morton.

Both departing pitchers had down seasons relative to their career norms last year, with Fried’s 3.25 ERA being a bit of a step back from his ace-level production of previous years while Morton clocked in right around league average. Even so, both were key pieces of the club’s rotation last year from a volume perspective. The pair combined for 59 starts and 339 2/3 innings in 2024, and they joined Chris Sale as the only three pitchers in the Atlanta rotation last year to throw even 140 innings.

That led to plenty of speculation early in the offseason that the club would be in the market for starting pitching help, with at least a back-of-the-rotation veteran to help eat innings widely expected to be a priority. That didn’t end up coming to fruition, however, despite a reported pursuit of Jeff Hoffman as a potential convert to the rotation that ultimately fell apart due to concern over Hoffman’s medicals. With Spring Training just over the horizon, the Braves have yet to make any sort of additions to their pitching staff with outfielder Jurickson Profar being the club’s only major free agent signing of the winter.

Even after losing one of the better pitchers in the sport in Fried, the club still has one of the highest-ceiling rotations in the majors. Reigning NL Cy Young award winner Sale leads the group coming off a season where he won the NL Triple Crown award and got his career back onto a potential Hall of Fame track after struggling to stay healthy with the Red Sox in recent years. He eventually figures to pair at the top of the club’s rotation with hard-throwing righty Spencer Strider, who missed almost all of last season due to internal brace surgery but struck out an incredible 36.8% of opponents in 2023 en route to a fourth-place finish in Cy Young voting. Reynaldo Lopez is the club’s number three starter on paper after posting a 1.99 ERA in 26 appearances (25 starts) last year in his first season as a full-time starter since 2020. Spencer Schwellenbach delivered solid mid-rotation production in 21 starts as a rookie last year with a 3.35 ERA in 123 2/3 innings of work.

It’s a front four that’s hard to argue with from a talent perspective, but it’s difficult to ignore the many health question marks at play here. Sale was nothing short of elite last year but combined for just 151 innings of work in the four years prior to 2024 and ended the season unable to pitch in Atlanta’s postseason run due to back issues. Strider, of course, is coming off elbow surgery and is not even expected to be ready for the start of the season. Lopez had previously last topped 66 innings back in 2019, while Schwellenbach pitched in relief during his college days and had never made more than 16 starts or thrown more than 65 innings in a season prior to last year, leaving questions about whether or not either can handle a full slate of 30+ starts in 2025.

All of that makes an innings-eating veteran addition seem like an option, to say nothing of how valuable a more reliable mid-rotation arm like Nick Pivetta could be for the club. Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, Jose Quintana, Spencer Turnbull, and Kyle Gibson are among a number of noteworthy starting pitching options still available in free agency, while the trade market holds options such as Marcus Stroman and Jordan Montgomery who could be had for minimal return outside of salary relief. Pivetta and Gibson in particular would immediately become the most reliable source of innings on Atlanta’s entire staff if signed, but any of them would raise the floor of a volatile rotation group.

With that being said, it’s worth noting that the club is deep in potential starting options beyond their top four, despite none of those players being proven at the big league level at this point. Grant Holmes, 29 next month, was excellent for the Braves in a swing role last year as a rookie. Ian Anderson was one of the club’s best arms during their 2021 World Series run and won’t turn 27 until May, though he didn’t pitch in the majors in either of the last two seasons. AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep are both entering their age-22 and -23 campaigns respectively and have pedigree as former top-100 prospects who could easily break out with more reps at the big league level, Bryce Elder was an All-Star in 2023 despite a rough 2024 season, and even more depth is available in the form of Dylan Dodd and Davis Daniel.

That’s a list of potential fifth starter options that’s seven names deep, including two players with successful seasons as wire-to-wire MLB starting pitchers under their belts, a player who produced in a limited rotation look last year, and two well-regarded young arms who have been ranked among the organization’s best prospects in recent years. Most clubs would love to have that sort of depth in competition for the final spot in their rotation, but given the history of health issues and lack of reliable innings that permeate the rest of Atlanta’s rotation, even that deep cache of arms might not be enough to let the Braves keep up with the Phillies and Mets in a highly competitive NL East division.

There’s also the financial component to consider. RosterResource puts the club’s competitive balance tax number a bit above $230MM, just over $10MM shy of the $241MM base threshold. While they have some willingness to pay the tax again this year, they may not consider the available arms enough of an upgrade over their internal options to justify going beyond the line right now.

What do MLBTR readers think? Does Atlanta have enough internal pitching options to make it through the season, or at least until trade season resumes over the summer? Have your say in the poll below:

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