{"id":24208,"date":"2025-01-06T22:16:24","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T22:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24208"},"modified":"2025-01-06T22:16:24","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T22:16:24","slug":"with-morton-gone-could-braves-add-depth-to-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24208","title":{"rendered":"With Morton gone, could Braves add depth to rotation?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ATLANTA — The Braves heard your pleas to begin utilizing deferrals. But instead of deferring salary payments, they have opted to defer making offseason additions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Just kidding. But I want a portion of the proceeds if somebody slaps this on a T-shirt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  • Get Braves tickets for the 2025 season<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    Anyhow, a new year has arrived and we\u2019re still waiting to see how the Braves might upgrade their roster. Pitchers and catchers will report to\u00a0Spring Training a little more than a month from now, but we still don\u2019t know who will fill the final spots in the outfield, rotation and bullpen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Even though this offseason has been highlighted by Travis d\u2019Arnaud\u2019s departure and other moves to lower 2025 costs, there\u2019s still time to make sure Bryan De La Cruz isn\u2019t this winter\u2019s\u00a0most significant addition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    When Nathan Eovaldi signed his three-year, $75 million deal with the Rangers last month, there was more reason to question whether the Braves should reunite with\u00a0Charlie Morton. But while there was dialogue between the two parties, there was never a serious attempt to re-sign Morton, who inked a\u00a0one-year, $15 million deal\u00a0with the Orioles over the weekend.<\/p>\n

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    With Morton off the board, who are some of the available free agent starting pitchers?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Kyle Gibson\u00a0—<\/strong>\u00a0Morton is 41, but he\u2019s also one of just 20 pitchers who have totaled 500-plus innings over the past three seasons. The 37-year-old Gibson is the only remaining free agent who fits the same description. Morton was more effective whether looking at ERA (4.06 vs. Gibson\u2019s 4.68) or\u00a0Expected Weighted On-Base Average\u00a0(.323 vs. Gibson\u2019s .333) over this span.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    If Gibson were willing to take a one- or two-year deal with an AAV (average annual value) less than $15 million, then he might make some sense.<\/p>\n

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    Or if Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos extends his practice of thinking outside the box, maybe he would take a chance on\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Jakob Junis\u00a0—<\/strong>\u00a0After spending his early years within the Kansas City and San Francisco rotations, Junis has spent the past few seasons primarily working as a reliever. But he was moved to Cincinnati\u2019s rotation after a Trade Deadline deal this past summer and flourished. The 32-year-old right-hander posted a 1.55 ERA and limited opponents to a .158 on-base percentage in six starts last year. He limited the Braves to one run over six innings on Sept. 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    If the price is right, this might be a gamble worth taking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Jose Quintana\u00a0—<\/strong>\u00a0With Max Fried\u2019s departure, Chris Sale is the only left-hander in Atlanta\u2019s projected rotation. If looking to add a southpaw, the Braves could turn to Quintana, who posted a 3.75 ERA over 31 starts for the Mets this past year. He strengthened his market with a strong September. But his 4.56 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) should create concern about making a significant offer to the 35-year-old hurler.<\/p>\n

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    Jeff Hoffman\u00a0is another reliever who is looking to follow the path of Clay Holmes, who moved from the Yankees bullpen to the Mets rotation this winter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Now, let\u2019s just say the Braves don\u2019t add another starting pitcher. They would likely enter the regular season with this rotation:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    LHP Sale
    \nRHP Reynaldo L\u00f3pez
    \nRHP Spencer Schwellenbach
    \nRHP Grant Holmes
    \nRHP Ian Anderson or A.J. Smith-Shawver or Bryce Elder<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    Holmes is out of Minor League options. So, barring injury, you can almost guarantee he will be on the Opening Day roster as a starter or reliever. The odds of him beginning the year in the rotation are increased by the fact Spencer Strider will miss most or all of April recovering from elbow surgery.<\/p>\n

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    The Braves can spend Spring Training and April evaluating Holmes and each of the other rotation candidates. Once Strider returns, the rotation could look like this:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    LHP Sale
    \nRHP Strider
    \nRHP L\u00f3pez
    \nRHP Schwellenbach
    \nRHP Anderson, Smith-Shawver or Elder<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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    That has the potential to be one of the game\u2019s top rotations. But knowing that Sale, L\u00f3pez and Schwellenbach each exceeded durability expectations last year, would you be willing to enter this season without the insurance that could come via the offseason addition of a starting pitcher?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    ATLANTA — The Braves heard your pleas to begin utilizing deferrals. But instead of deferring salary payments, they have opted to defer making offseason additions. Just kidding…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nWith Morton gone, could Braves add depth to rotation? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24208\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"With Morton gone, could Braves add depth to rotation? - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ATLANTA — The Braves heard your pleas to begin utilizing deferrals. 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