On the heels of the Braves’ abrupt elimination from the postseason after being swept out of the Wild Card Sequence in two video games by the Padres, Atlanta will now flip its consideration to the approaching offseason.
The dominating narrative of the membership’s winter figures to be the way forward for longtime starter Max Fried, who has been a stalwart of the membership’s rotation for the previous half decade however is slated to hit free company in November. The 30-year-old southpaw figures to be one of many higher beginning pitching choices on the free agent market this winter alongside former NL Cy Younger award winners Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell. In 112 begins because the begin of the 2020 season, Fried has pitched to a sterling 2.81 ERA (151 ERA+) with a 3.11 FIP in 659 innings of labor. That’s the kind of run prevention expertise that’s positive to attain a big payday in free company, even regardless of his comparatively pedestrian 23.6% strikeout charge over that very same window.
What’s unclear at this level, nevertheless, is how concerned the Braves will likely be within the bidding course of for his providers in 2025 and past. Fried is a key a part of the membership’s nucleus of expertise and was a significant piece of their 2021 World Sequence championship, however the identical may be mentioned of each Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson when the pair hit free company. Each Freeman and Swanson in the end signed hefty contracts elsewhere whereas the Braves managed to proceed to contend with out them. As famous by The Athletic’s David O’Brien, it will not be a shock to see the membership comply with an identical path with Fried. In any case, Atlanta figures to welcome Spencer Strider again into the rotation someday early subsequent yr, and the immensely proficient righty would kind a daunting front-end duo with probably NL Cy Younger award winner Chris Sale.
Such a fearsome pairing on the entrance of the rotation might make the Braves comfy with dropping Fried, and O’Brien means that the membership’s offseason purchasing listing could solely require including a veteran depth starter who can assist fill issues out behind Strider, Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach. Whereas such a pursuit “appears probably,” O’Brien does observe that the membership might additionally merely keep on with its deep inside reservoir of optionable beginning expertise that features Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Ian Anderson.
Each Elder and Anderson have loved vital success within the majors beforehand, whereas the membership trusted Smith-Shawver to take the ball in Sport 1 in opposition to the Padres earlier this week and Waldrep entered 2024 as a consensus top-50 prospect int he sport. It’s actually possible that a number of of these arms might emerge as a top quality piece of the rotation combine in Atlanta subsequent yr, the quartet posted a mixed 7.23 ERA in 61 innings of labor within the majors this yr. What’s extra, solely Elder has vital latest large league expertise amongst that group: Waldrep and Smith-Shawver have mixed for simply 9 complete large league appearances of their careers, whereas Anderson final pitched within the majors again in 2022.
With such uncertainty surrounding these younger choices, it looks as if including one other confirmed starter to the rotation combine must be a precedence for the membership even when they don’t aggressively pursue a reunion with Fried. Ought to the Braves shrink back from the highest of the market this winter, a handful of fascinating mid-rotation arms must be accessible akin to Michael Wacha, Andrew Heaney, and Luis Severino. Even a back-end starter within the mildew of Michael Lorenzen or Martin Perez may very well be a strong addition that would offer the membership with some stability within the #5 spot of its rotation whereas nonetheless leaving the door open for one in every of that aforementioned group of inside arms to grab a rotation spot. MLBTR’s Steve Adams lately previewed the upcoming class of free agent starters, a lot of whom may very well be believable matches for the membership’s wants this winter.
Even when the membership does pursue an innings-eating veteran for the again of its rotation, O’Brien notes that the membership re-signing Charlie Morton for that function is “unlikely.” He goes on to relay that the group believes the quickly to be 41-year-old veteran might choose to name it a profession relatively than proceed pitching in 2025 regardless of his roughly league common 4.19 ERA in 30 begins with Atlanta this yr. A Florida native, Morton has most popular to pitch near dwelling in recent times, having pitched two seasons with the Rays from 2019-20 earlier than pitching for Atlanta in every of the previous 4 seasons. Provided that, it will hardly be a shock if the veteran determined it was time to hold ’em up and spend extra time at dwelling along with his household at the same time as Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Structure notes that Morton has thus far mentioned that he isn’t able to make any bulletins about his future in some way at this level.
