The Atlanta Braves entered the offseason with two glaring needs. First, they needed an outfielder. Ronald Acuña Jr. is not expected to be ready to return from his torn ACL by Opening Day, and Jarred Kelenic is far from proven at the MLB level. Alex Anthopoulos filled that need by signing Jurickson Profar to a three-year deal.
The other need, however, has not yet been addressed by Anthopoulos. The Braves entered the offseason with a need for another starting pitcher, but Atlanta has not added to its rotation. They could sign a guy like Nick Pivetta, but chances are, Anthopoulos won’t want to part with the draft pick he would need to with Pivetta having rejected the qualifying offer.
Atlanta’s need for a starting pitcher and the lack of options still available has Marcus Stroman, a pitcher squarely on the trade block, linked to them. Given his past experience with Anthopoulos, it makes sense.
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Prior to his tenure with the Braves, Anthopoulos spent over a half-decade as the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. He led Toronto to an ALCS berth back in 2015 before unexpectedly turning down an extension offer from the Jays and joining the Braves organization instead.
Anthopoulos’ Jays drafted Stroman in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft, and watched him blossom into one of the more underrated pitchers in the American League. Stroman was expected to play a major role in Toronto during the 2015 season, but tore his ACL before that year even began.
That injury was expected to knock him out for the remainder of the year, but Stroman not only made it back to make four starts down the stretch in the regular season, but he made three starts that postseason as well, going at least six innings in all three of those appearances.
Considering how quickly Stroman recovered from such a major injury, there was reason to believe Anthopoulos and Co. rushed him back. That was not the case, however. Anthopoulos revealed once Stroman was able to return late in the 2015 regular season that he only came back after passing an “exhaustive series of tests, drills and clearances from medical personnel.” In other words, Anthopoulos never rushed him back, even with the Jays in the midst of a playoff race.
Stroman and Anthopoulos have a clear off-field connection, and on the field, Stroman would fit nicely in Atlanta.
The right-hander is far from an ace, but a Braves rotation that already includes the likes of Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Spencer Strider (when healthy) does not need another ace. The Braves could, however, use an innings eater like Stroman who has thrown at least 130 innings in each of his last five seasons and eight of his 10 campaigns overall.
There are questions revolving around durability with guys like Strider and Sale, and around just how good guys like Lopez and Schwellenbach will be. You know what you’re going to get with Stroman, and Atlanta having Gold Glove-caliber defenders in its infield with guys like Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia should only help.
A Stroman trade would be incredibly cheap given the New York Yankees’ apparent urgency to part with him, and would give Atlanta an ideal back-end starter.
