This offseason is full of a lot of intriguing decisions for the Braves and general manager Alex Anthopoulos. A lot of the headlines will surround Max Fried, one of the biggest free agents of the offseason, but the Braves have some other critical pieces they’ll have to make decisions on, and it’s fair to wonder if this is the offseason Anthopoulos decides to shake things up after three straight early exits in the postseason.
Braves Free Agents
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Braves fans most likely need to come to grips with Max Fried leaving in free agency. We’ve seen not once but twice how these situations play out, and while Alex Anthopoulos may change his philosophy a bit this offseason, paying over $200+ million for a starting pitcher who has had his fair share of injury concerns over his career is highly unlikely.
A.J. Minter is the Braves second-best free agent hitting the open market. Unfortunately, for him, he’s doing so after missing the end of the season due to a hip injury that bothered him the entire year. That’s undoubtedly going to affect his value, but by how much? I think there’s a world where the Braves and Minter work something out, a short-term deal with some lucrative options for future years.
Gio Urshela, Adam Duvall, and Jesse Chavez are all unlikely to be re-signed. Urshela provided a nice boost, but he’s not on the roster if not for a slew of injuries. The return of Adam Duvall was a failure, and while there’s a chance Jesse Chavez agrees to return on a minor-league contract, retirement is an option as well as another team scooping him up.
Speaking of retirement, that’s what Charlie Morton will be mulling over this offseason. The 40-year-old veteran has made it clear that being away from his family for such a large portion of the year has been extremely difficult. In that same breath, he knows he still has the stuff to compete at the highest level and saying goodbye to the game is one of the hardest things a professional athlete has to do at some point in his life. If he does choose to play one more season, I imagine the Braves will have interest in bringing him back as their fifth starter.
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Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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