Braves Have Key Decisions to Make on Spencer Strider This Offseason

As time goes on, it’s becoming clear that Spencer Strider isn’t part of the Atlanta Braves' plans. General manager Alex Anthopoulos already made it clear that the expectation is that he isn’t anticipating that Strider won’t be a lock for the rotation entering spring training.

That’s a $22 million per season question mark that the Braves are faced with. Since the 2023 season, Strider has missed time every season. First, it was an elbow injury that took out virtually his entire 2024 season. He lost the first few months of 2025 due to finishing off recovery and then suffering a hamstring injury.

Then, there was an oblique injury right before opening day 2026. Then, there was a dip in velocity during his last start back in June. He wasn’t seen again.

At some point, a decision will have to be made. Is he part of the future, and in what capacity?

Solution for Strider within Braves Pitching Staff

He may just not be a starting pitcher anymore. His arm may not be able to handle the workload, and using him as a reliever could be the way to go. That's not a bad thing. If he's healthy as a reliever, then he's around to help the team.

A healthy Strider out of the bullpen is better than a injured Strider that can't help the rotation.

With his experience, he could be an open when they opt for a bullpen day. If they want to have him pitch the final two innings of a game, then can do that, too. His experience can allow him to wear multiple hats.

How costly he would be as a reliever is debatable.

By comparison, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias made $15 million and $16 million last season respectively. As a way to justification of the cost, he could be a multi-inning reliever. He pitches two innings per appearance over 45 appearances in a season, that's 90 innings pitched. That's more than they'd get for a typical one-inning reliever.

Finding Strider a New Home

An alternative is that they try to trade him. A report from MLB.com's Mark Feinsand in September indicated that the Braves used Strider as a trade piece in the vetoed Jacob DeGrom trade.

Getting him off the books is already on the mind. However, that was back on Aug. 3. Since then, there has been more time to raise doubt. That could hurt his trade value.

Maybe a team that really needs another arm is willing to take him on along with his contract in extrange for something decent in return. It's possible. It's not something they should rely on either.

At this point, he might be traded strictly as a salary dump. Whether or not he's worth shipping off in a salary dump is also debatable. It could be worth seeing where he's at as a reliever for at least part of the season and boosting his trade value.

Waiting seems like it's a better strategy. They can get a better idea of what they have. They can never have enough arms either, and having him in a bullpen role could end up helping the team.

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