The Atlanta Braves’ quiet offseason has been a point of much debate as spring training gets underway.

Spencer Strider is due back soon, but he’s not going to be ready on Opening Day. Max Fried and Charlie Morton both left in free agency, meanwhile, which leaves Atlanta short on proven depth on the pitching staff.

The hope, obviously, is that health smiles upon Atlanta after its injury-cursed 2024 campaign. Once Strider gets back, the Braves will have a hypothetical four-man gauntlet of Strider, Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach. That stacks up with any unit in baseball.

What about the fifth starting slot, though? What happens if Sale, an aging vet with a long history of elbow problems, doesn’t have another 170-inning season in the tank? What if Lopez, who wore down as last season progressed, can’t quite replicate the same magic in 2025? Durability is a huge concern for this Braves staff.

The proposed internal solutions have been a mixed bag so far in spring training. Bryce Elder looked solid out of the gate, while Ian Anderson struggled in his return from a two-year absence. The Braves aren’t going to find in-house replicas of Fried or Morton, though. The only way to Alex Anthopoulos to truly strengthen this unit is a trade.

Thankfully, there’s an easy target right in the division.

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Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara looks like his old self — and should appeal to Braves

Sandy Alcantara is returning from Tommy John surgery for the Miami Marlins. He was last on an MLB field in 2023, when he made 28 starts and tallied 184.2 innings. Alcantara finished that campaign with a paltry 4.14 ERA and 1.21 WHIP, but his durability prior to elbow surgery was deeply admirable. Alcantara led the National League in complete games two straight years leading up to his injury. The dude was a proper workhorse.

The Marlins obviously hope that Alcantara can get back to that level of dependability and productivity in 2025. At 29 years old, he’s still in the middle of his prime — with two All-Stars and a Cy Young award under his belt. Alcantara’s 2022 season will go down as one of the best pitching displays in recent memory. He posted a 2.28 ERA across 228.2 innings, with a 2.99 FIP and 0.98 WHIP. That was not long ago.

If there’s a complication, it’s that Miami isn’t a very good team. Alcantara’s friendly contract, which pays him $34.6 million over the next two years (with a $21 million club option in 2027), makes him extremely valuable as a trade asset. Especially if he puts together a few solid starts out of the gate.

He’s rocking early in spring training.

Alcantara pitched a scoreless one-hit inning against the top of the New York Mets’ lineup in his spring training debut. It ended with a punch-out. That is the smallest of sample sizes, but it’s a good sign of where Alcantara is at. He looks comfortable, his velocity is in a good place, and most importantly… he’s on the bump. He’s back.

It’s huge for Miami and it’s huge for prospective trade suitors, like the Braves. This has “Alex Anthopoulos Special” written all over it. The Braves GM isn’t going to sell the farm for a Dylan Cease rental, but he will buy low on a former Cy Young candidate with troubling injury history on a palatable contract (see: Sale, Chris). The Braves can keep Alcantara in the building for at least three years at an affordable price.

Expect Atlanta to monitor this situation closely. If Alcantara keeps it up, Anthopoulos may need to strike sooner than later, lest the rest of the league catch on.