The Atlanta Braves’ biggest strength in the 2024 campaign was its starting pitching, but with how the offseason has gone so far, that can change in 2025. Yes, the team still has Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach. but Strider is unlikely to be ready to pitch by Opening Day, and the other three starting pitchers have questions as well. Can Sale stay healthy? Can Lopez repeat his breakout year? Is Schwellenbach the real deal?
On top of those questions, the Braves lost Max Fried to the New York Yankees, and might lose Charlie Morton as well. In response, they’ve done nothing to address the rotation.
To be fair, most of the starters have signed deals that a team like the Braves would never even consider, but an exception took place on Monday when the Boston Red Sox signed Walker Buehler to a one-year deal worth $21.05 million. He had a regular season to forget, but Buehler showed that he still has plenty of gas in the tank with a dominant postseason showing. While $21.05 million is a bit pricey for a pitcher with an injury history coming off a rough regular season, the fact that Buehler only required a one-year commitment made it so that this made a whole lot of sense for a Braves team that could still use another starter.
Chances are, if the Braves wouldn’t match or top Boston’s offer for Buehler, they won’t be spending big on any starting pitcher. Corbin Burnes and Jack Flaherty were never likely for Atlanta, but they almost certainly aren’t happening. The Braves probably don’t have the prospect capital to land an ace, either. What they can do, though, is acquire other mid-tier pitchers who will come at a cheaper cost than Buehler did to fortify a rotation that still needs a little bit of work.
The Braves won’t be replacing Fried with any of these pitchers, but can find improvements over the likes of A.J. Smith-Shawver, Bryce Elder, and Ian Anderson rather easily on the market. Here are three targets Alex Anthopoulos should consider.
3) Jose Quintana can get revenge on his former team by signing with the Braves
Juan Soto gets most of the attention, obviously, but the New York Mets have completely revamped their rotation, not only re-signing Sean Manaea, but bringing in guys like Clay Holmes, Frankie Montas, and Griffin Canning as well. By bringing in those arms, the Mets let Luis Severino walk, and Jose Quintana is likely headed in that same direction.
He had his ups and downs during his Mets tenure, but there’s a good chance that the Mets don’t make the postseason, let alone earn a spot in the NLCS, without Quintana. The southpaw posted a 3.75 ERA in 31 appearances (all starts) and 170.1 innings of work during the regular season, and he saved his best work for when it mattered most.
Quintana had a 0.74 ERA in his last six starts and didn’t allow an earned run in either of his first two postseason starts. When the Mets needed him the most, he pitched as well as he ever had. Yes, he’ll be 36 in January, and yes, he had his share of clunkers this past season as well, but it’s hard to imagine that the Braves will get better bang for their buck than by signing Quintana to a cheap one-year deal to round out their rotation.
2) The Braves should reconsider their stance on Charlie Morton
It’s been reported that Charlie Morton wants to pitch in 2025 and that the Braves have shown little to no interest in bringing him back to Atlanta. With what’s transpired this offseason, that feels like a mistake.
Morton has spent each of the last four seasons with the Braves and has been an anchor in their rotation, making at least 30 starts and pitching at least 160 innings in all four of those regular seasons. For reference, Morton ranks tied for seventh in the majors in starts and 13th in innings pitched over those four years. With the injury concerns in this rotation, having a guy you can count on to take the ball every fifth day and keep your team in games most of the time is crucial.
Morton is far from an ace, and saw his strikeout rate dip as low as it has in nearly a decade, but again, as a back-end starter, can the Braves do much better? Morton won’t require more than one year when taking his age (41) into account, and he’s proven he can be a reliable fourth or fifth starter for Atlanta.
Aiming higher than Morton at the start of the offseason made sense, but with pitchers like Buehler now coming off the board, the Braves should reconsider their stance with Morton before he ends up elsewhere.
1) Erick Fedde makes too much sense as a Braves trade target
As Braves fans know all too well, Anthopoulos loves doing most of his damage on the trade market. With that and the fact that most starting pitchers are off the board in mind, the Braves ought to consider pulling off a deal on the trade market.
The Braves, in an ideal world, would love to pull off a trade for a young controllable starting pitcher, but they probably don’t have the prospects to get a deal done. They do have the prospects, though, to acquire Erick Fedde in a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.
If money is an issue, starting pitchers won’t come much cheaper than Fedde, who is owed just $7.5 million in 2025. $7.5 million for a guy who had a 3.30 ERA in 31 starts and 177.1 innings of work, especially when most of that damage was done with a team as putrid as the Chicago White Sox, is a steal. Even if the Braves don’t think he can repeat what he did in 2024, any capable starting pitcher is going to make way more than $7.5 million. I mean, the Mets gave Frankie Montas more than double that amount.
Fedde doesn’t have Buehler’s upside or track record, and acquiring him after just one good year comes with some risk, but the price makes him worthwhile. The retooling St. Louis Cardinals shouldn’t have much of an issue trading the 31-year-old entering his final year under contract, and the Braves have more than enough to make a deal happen.
