On paper, the Braves had yet another near-perfect offseason. They bolstered their rotation by adding Chris Sale in a trade with the Red Sox, completely overhauled their bullpen, and upgraded in left field by trading for Jarred Kelenic and adding Adam Duvall in free agency.
This is a team that didn’t have many needs. They could have totally justified going into next year with the exact same roster, one that won 104 games a year ago, but Alex Anthopoulos didn’t sit on his hands. He attacked the Braves most significant needs aggressively, which should have everybody in Braves Country giddy for Opening Day.
However, no general manager bats 1.000, even the greats like Alex Anthopoulos. Looking back on every offseason, there’s usually at least one thing he would like to have back. According to Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly, that move will be failing to pry away Aaron Nola from the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Braves are rarely in on the top free agents. It’s not Alex Anthopoulos’ M.O.; he doesn’t pay the sticker price for anything. The largest contract he’s ever handed out to a free agent was to Marcell Ozuna, who signed a four-year, $65 million contract with the Braves a few years ago. However, Alex Anthopoulos was fishing for something much bigger this offseason, hoping to steal Nola away from a division rival, and he was reportedly willing to go much further than ever before to get a deal done.
According to Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Braves offered Aaron Nola a six-year, $162 million deal.
“The Braves, off back-to-back 100-win seasons and divisional-round ousters by the Phillies, made a six-year, $162 million offer to Nola out of the chute, a source said Sunday. It was a sensible starting point. Atlanta’s bid equaled the Yankees’ deal with free-agent lefty Carlos Rodón last winter.”
That’s nearly triple Alex Anthopoulos’ biggest free agent signing since becoming general manager of the Braves. He really wanted Nola, and there’s one primary reason he set his sights on the Phillies star. Nola might not be the best pitcher in the game today, or even top 10, but he’s a bonafide workhorse that doesn’t really exist around the league anymore.
“Not only have the division-rival Philadelphia Phillies upset the Braves in the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but Nola’s 1,065.1 innings pitched since the start of the 2018 season are second in baseball only to Gerrit Cole’s,” writes Tim Kelly.
“For as great as Fried is, he’s pitched more than 165.2 innings just once in his career, as opposed to six times from Nola. Sale—who likely wouldn’t have been acquired if the Braves signed Nola—may very well have a bounce-back season, but he has made 31 total starts over the last four seasons. Charlie Morton has been a workhorse late in his career, but he’s 40 years old, so it’s fair to wonder how many more times you can successfully go back to that well.”
Nola’s track record as a workhorse is what makes him so valuable. He’s one of the few arms that will near the 200 innings threshold every season, even in down years. That kind of durability is what made him so attractive to Alex Anthopoulos, but I’m not sure if it’s something he’ll look upon with regret at the end of the season.
The Braves made Nola a more than fair offer. They pushed the Phillies to cough up a seventh year, and at the end of the day, it takes two to tango. Nola wanted to remain in Philadelphia. When they offered that seventh year, it was a no-brainer for him. The Braves did everything they could to pry him away, but Philadelphia was always home to him. When that’s the case, I don’t imagine Alex Anthopoulos has any problem sleeping at night knowing it didn’t come to fruition.
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Photo: Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire
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