The Atlanta Braves have been named as a suitor for a free agent starter.
The Athletic’s Chad Jennings has paired up the Braves with starting pitcher Kyle Gibson in his effort to find a home for the remaining free agents.
What Gibson brings to the Braves is that extra starter for depth. Injuries have happened and it helps to have another option in case the goes awry.
“Stability. That’s all we’re looking for here. The Braves have done very little this offseason — Jurickson Profar and not much else — and are counting on the return of Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. to meaningfully raise their ceiling,” Jennings said. “Fair enough. Strider, Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez are the impact starters at the top of the rotation, but another veteran starter would help solidify the group and protect against further injury.”
While the Braves are reportedly finishing up their offseason plans, a big reason being Strider is returning early on this season, another addition hasn’t been ruled out.
Gibson is a fitting pairing when injury is part of the reasoning. He gave the St. Louis Cardinals 30 starts and nearly 170 innings in 2024. He finished the season with a 4.24 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, a 99 ERA+ and struck out 150 batters.
That’s about on par with that would get with Charlie Morton at a slightly lower price (he’ll make about $15 million next season with Baltimore). However, he’s an average pitcher who is coming at a higher cost than, for example, Grant Holmes, who will make about $800,000 in 2025.
Gibson is projected to make $13.4 million next season.
To compare, Morton had a 4.19 ERA in 30 starts in 2024 and Holmes at 4.01 ERA in seven starts.
There’s also the fact that Gibson is a righty and so is the entire rotation outside of Chris Sale. So, depth really is the only incentive here. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Depth, to state the obvious, is pretty important. The Braves learned that the hard way less than a calendar year ago.
It comes down to if the price tag will make it worth acquiring this depth.
As of now, here are the Braves rotation options, including Strider since he’ll be back:
