The Braves have only made one notable move this offseason, signing Jurickson Profar to a three-year deal. The outfield was the single biggest area of the team that needed bolstering, but it’s not the only one.
Michael Harris II was the only returning outfielder who started at the end of the 2024 campaign. Ronald Acuna Jr. is on the mend, and Jarred Kelenic was relegated to a bench role. Profar fills a massive void, but again, the pitching staff needs to be improved. Thankfully, the Braves’ offseason outlook isn’t bleak; in fact, it could bleed into Spring Training, according to the club’s president of baseball operations.
“There’s plenty of really good players that we like, a lot of them, through trade or free agency,” Alex Anthopoulos said. “But you’re trying to get the right fit. It won’t surprise me if we’re still talking to people into Spring Training. It’s the way things are going. We’re almost into the month of February. So we’ll continue to see if something comes up that makes sense.”
Most recently, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reported that the Braves are among the teams interested in right-handed reliever Ryne Stanek. The 33-year-old spent the 2024 campaign with the Mets and Mariners, pitching to the tune of a 4.88 ERA and 4.14 FIP across 55.1 innings of work.
It’s not exactly sexy, but his 27.8% strikeout rate is intriguing, and he’s just a short time removed from a 2.90 ERA from 2021 to 2023 with the Astros, in which he threw 173.2 innings. While that’s the only reported connection to any free agent or trade target, the Braves are wide open for any deal.
“We’re not locked into one area,” Anthopoulos said. “If there’s a good starter deal, we’ll do it. Trade, free-agent signing or a bullpen deal, the same way. But we’re not close to anything. We’re still having conversations about both.”
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Photographer: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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