Trading for a Starting Pitcher Seems the Likeliest Route for Atlanta Braves
With free agent prices out of control for starting pitching, going the trade route to upgrade the rotation seems the most likely route for Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves have now seen two of their top free-agent starting pitchers go off the board in Aaron Nola and Sonny Gray.
While the team was reportedly very aggressive in attempting to signing Nola, it's unclear if they had that same determination to land Gray who is a good bit older and hasn't shown the durability of Nola.
Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Jordan Montgomery remain as the top available starters left on the free agent market -- unless you're signing Shohei Ohtani with dreams of him starting in 2025.
With Anthopoulos seemingly focusing more on durability when signing free-agent starters, Montgomery could make the most sense, having made at least 30 starts the last three years. But he's coming off a career year and will likely get a hefty free-agent deal beyond the length that AA is comfortable giving out.
We've discussed how Yamamoto makes a lot of sense because of his age, but he already has half the league going after him, which likely inflates his price.
And again, we've yet to see Anthopoulos go that extra mile to sign a free agent starter... even if the willingness to do so this offseason is supposedly stronger than other times.
That really leaves the trade route as the best option.
While the Braves are light on prospects to trade with, they do have several intriguing options to help headline a deal like Vaughn Grissom, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Hurston Waldrep.
Others behind them like Spencer Schwellenbach, Owen Murphy, and JR Ritchie could help get a deal done as well.
Trade candidates across MLB
The most likely starters we know could get moved at this point are Tyler Glasnow, Dylan Cease, Corbin Burnes, and Shane Bieber.
Glasnow and his $25 million price tag for 2024 seem certain to be moved from the Rays, who are likely trying to cut payroll. With that huge price tag for one year and the injury concerns for Glasnow, the price tag shouldn't be astronomical.
Cease is the one a lot of people have focused on and likely makes the most sense, because he has two years of control. But that control will also cost you, as there is likely no way the Braves make a move for him without giving up either AJSS or Waldrep.
(Ed. note: Atlanta has reportedly joined the list of teams engaging the White Sox in preliminary trade talks with the Chicago White Sox for Cease.)
And with Cease being a Scott Boras client, the odds of trading for him and extending him, as Anthopoulos has done with Matt Olson and Sean Murphy the past two offseasons, are low.
The same "repped by Scott Boras" scenario is in play for Burnes, as well, and it's also unclear what the Brewers are going to do.
There might be other names that become available as the offseason goes on -- we likely have to wait for the free agent market to clear up before trade discussions intensify.
As Lindsay wrote here, the best strategy in free agency might be to look for some shorter-term deals on guys looking to rebound.
But if the Braves are to get a frontline starter this offseason, going the trade route seems the most likely way it gets done.
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