The Braves rotation has been a talking point all offseason.
As the Winter progressed, Alex Anthopoulos filled the void in left field by acquiring Jarred Kelenic while bolstering the bullpen with free agent signings and trades to bring Reynaldo Lopez, Joe Jimenez, Pierce Johnson, and Aaron Bummer.
However, the rotation has gone somewhat untouched. Anthopoulos did bring back Charlie Morton, and Lopez is expected to stretch out for a shot to be a starter, but hope isn’t a strategy. It seems that’s exactly what the Braves are doing.
They’re hoping Charlie Morton, Max Fried, and Spencer Strider remain healthy. They’re hoping Bryce Elder’s second-half struggles were due to fatigue. They’re hoping Lopez can be a starter. They’re hoping one of Huascar Ynoa, A.J. Smith-Shawver, or Hurston Waldrep can contribute in 2024.
Hope isn’t a strategy. The Braves will be just fine this season because they are returning the best offense in baseball with one of the best bullpens too. The club won 100+ games last year without Kyle Wright and Max Fried for much of the season, but October and the future are different beasts entirely.
It’s still a formidable unit with three capable arms at the top in Morton, Fried, and Strider. Injuries are a concern, though. To be fair, if any team lost one of their best starters, they’d have a difficult time overcoming that in the postseason. And it would be even more challenging when their offense slumps. If the Braves bats don’t wake up next October, it doesn’t matter who is on the mound.
What is worth talking about is the future because that is cloudy, which Jeff Schultz of The Athletic did in a sit down with Alex Anthopoulos.
What’s the extent of your concerns with the rotation in 2024 and 2025, when Max Fried and Charlie Morton could be gone?
We’re always mindful of down the road. But after 2019, I would’ve told you Mike Soroka will be a mainstay in this rotation. After ’21, I would’ve told you Ian Anderson will be a mainstay. After ‘22, I would’ve told you Kyle Wright will be a mainstay. It shows you the volatility of it. We have a lot of young guys. (Huascar) Ynoa should be ready for spring training. Anderson should be starting a rehab assignment sometime in June, which hopefully means by early July he’s back. We have the returning guys in Charlie and Max and Strider. Bryce Elder was an All-Star but he wore down at the end of the year. AJ Smith-Shawver has a tremendous ceiling and he just turned 21, and we’re excited about the kid we drafted last year, Hurston Waldrep. We’ll know so much more about the composition of our 2025 rotation at the end of 2024.
Anthopoulos confirmed the Braves were in on Aaron Nola, who garnered a significant contract from the Phillies, so one would assume Atlanta is willing to spend on the right guy. Nola is a rockstar in October and as reliable as any starter in baseball. It seems those are the most desirable attributes for Anthopoulos.
Losing Fried and Morton next year will certainly hurt, but the Braves have young arms ready to fill the void and will have plenty of cash to spend in free agency. In that same breath, if they have the money, why not just re-sign Fried? Well, AA didn’t quite divulge as many might have hoped.
Fried is one year from free agency. Negotiations to this point have gone nowhere. Is there anything new you can say about his future? (Thought bubble: This feels like Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson all over again. Anthopoulos also has previously noted the unique nature of Fried’s situation, since he’s becoming a free agent later than most at the age of 31.)
Same thing I’ve said in the past. We have him for sure in 2024. We love the player. Beyond that, we’ll see where that goes. I would never say anything else. I know there’s been times when we’ve gotten something done and you didn’t know until the press release came out.
The writing seems to be on the wall for the Braves and Max Fried. Fans have seen this story play out in the form of Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but Atlanta watched Freeman walk and the club won 100+ games then watched Swanson walk and did the same. The Braves will be just fine without Fried if that’s the direction it goes.
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David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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