This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat publication. To learn the total publication, click on right here. And subscribe to get it usually in your inbox.
Almost two months later, the Soler commerce stands as Atlanta’s solely important transfer. Properly, there was the workforce’s resolution to say no Travis d’Arnaud’s $8 million possibility, so perhaps it’s finest to say the offseason has introduced Braves followers no information to have fun.
However it’s not like there’s a deadline to make offseason changes. The Chris Sale commerce was considered one of baseball’s most vital strikes final yr. It occurred on Dec. 30.
So, there’s nonetheless time for Atlanta to make a transfer that might considerably affect the 2025 season and past. However it isn’t clear precisely how the membership might finest enhance its roster earlier than the beginning of Spring Coaching.
Ought to the Braves add insurance coverage to a talent-rich rotation that should show its sturdiness as soon as once more? Wouldn’t it be higher so as to add an outfielder to a lineup that can miss Ronald Acuña Jr. for the season’s first two months?
How do you change the innings logged by the injured Joe Jiménez and free agent A.J. Minter, two of final season’s high three setup males?
Let’s simply agree that signing free agent outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and buying right-handed pitcher Davis Daniel from the Angels received’t have a major influence on something past Triple-A Gwinnett’s bid to win the Worldwide League.
These depth strikes can definitely show to be beneficial, however creating outer padding doesn’t deal with the inner holes.
May the Braves get away with De La Cruz, Jarred Kelenic and Michael Harris II serving as their main outfielders till Acuña returns? That’s definitely not a danger I’d wish to take. If De La Cruz is within the massive leagues, he appears finest suited because the right-handed portion of a left-field platoon with Kelenic. So, the addition of one other outfielder appears vital.
So long as his medicals have been positive following late-season hip and knee points, Max Kepler appeared like a good free-agent possibility. However he signed a one-year, $10 million cope with the Phillies on Friday. Giving Kepler one yr appeared a greater possibility than giving Jurickson Profar the multi-year deal he might need earned after resurrecting his profession with the Padres this previous season.
With the free-agent outfield listing thinning, there’s cause to marvel if it could be higher for Atlanta to get an outfielder through commerce. The identical might be stated concerning a beginning pitcher.
Loads of groups would like to have a rotation that has Spencer Strider, Sale, Reynaldo López and Spencer Schwellenbach as its first 4 starters. This has the potential to be one of many sport’s high beginning pitching teams once more in 2025. However there are some respectable questions on every of those 4 arms.
How efficient will Strider be after he returns from proper elbow surgical procedure in late April or early Might? Sale received the NL Cy Younger Award after totaling simply 151 innings from 2020-23. Can he do it once more? Certain, however that’s removed from a assure.
López rebuilt his endurance whereas serving as a starter for the primary time since 2021. This might make it simpler for him to shoot for 170-plus innings this season. However a pair of late-season arm points create some concern. As for Schwellenbach, all he did was full 168 2/3 innings throughout his first full season as a beginning pitcher since highschool.
There’s an opportunity every of those pitchers proves environment friendly and dependable all through the season. However as an alternative of taking an opportunity, I’d discover some insurance coverage, particularly if I’m a workforce just like the Braves, who’ve needed to pull a reputation out of a hat to decide on a starter for a playoff sport in each of the previous two seasons.
You may by no means have sufficient pitching.
This leads me again to my answer for the bullpen. It will be nice if Daysbel Hernández, Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer show they’ll deal with some extra high-leverage roles. Grant Holmes would possibly once more change into a key bullpen piece after probably spending the season’s first month within the rotation.
However for now, Atlanta must carry a handful of additional relievers to camp and hope to seek out a few of the magic the likes of Tyler Matzek, Kevin Gryboski, Peter Moylan and Chris Hammond have proven after being given a Spring Coaching audition.
