There is no question that the Atlanta Braves are going to need rotation help heading into 2026. While the Braves do have some options in the minor leagues including JR Ritchie, Blake Burkhalter, and Didier Fuentes, most fans would agree that it would be a massive failure if the Braves don’t sign at least one quality starter this offseason.
Banking on Grant Holmes returning via sheer force of will and Chris Sale continuing to be an ace at his age is absolutely a mistake.
As to who the Braves could go after during the offseason, that is tougher to project.
There are big names set to be available including Framber Valdez and Dylan Cease, though it is hard to see Atlanta getting into a bidding war for those guys.
Michael King is an interesting option as well, but he has dealt with some injury issues this year.
One pending free agent arm that should intrigue the Braves and who would also come with the added benefit of devastating Phillies fans is lefty Ranger Suarez.
Atlanta needs to try and sign Ranger Suarez this offseason
While the trolling of Phillies fans would be fun, there are plenty of really good baseball reasons that support adding Suarez.
In addition to giving the Braves another lefty alongside Sale and maybe Joey Wentz, Suarez is annoyingly good at limiting hard contact.
His ability to miss bats is pretty mediocre, but he gets guys to chase out of the zone and hit weak grounders at a rate that is among the best in baseball.
He has a diverse five-pitch arsenal that allows him to adjust when one of his pitches isn’t working on a given day and he is an incredibly consistent performer as a starter.
One red flag that the Braves would have to do their homework on is Suarez’s repeated back issues.
You never want to push your chips in on a guy that can’t stay healthy, but Suarez hasn’t missed a ton of time overall and he continues to pitch well.
Atlanta would need to put his medicals in front of the best doctors possible before committing real money to him, but the back issues could also help in negotiations to keep his price reasonable.
It is a certainty that the Braves will at least kick the tires on Suarez once free agency begins.
The only question is whether or not the Phillies will make a real push to keep him and if Suarez’s late season swoon has a more serious underlying cause.
The one thing we know for sure is that Atlanta can’t afford to avoid the deep end of the free agent pool this coming offseason and signing Suarez would be a strong start.
