An early look at which free agents Atlanta Braves could target
By James Kunkle
Free agency is just a few weeks away. It’s never too early to see who the Atlanta Braves may go after.
Of course last year, the Atlanta Braves big signing turned out to be Josh Donaldson early in the offseason.
Fast forward one year later, and many Atlanta Braves fans would tell you they hope it’s the same way this year (this person included).
The Braves are in a fortunate position as they have many of the core pieces of this team locked up for the next few years, but as every other team in the game, they still have holes to fill.
They still need at least 1 more catcher (I’m assuming they are going to pick up Tyler Flowers club option). And they still need a third baseman as I am not ready to hand the reigns back to Johan Camargo (If he is on the team at all) and I’m also not ready to rely upon Austin Riley full time there either yet.
Of course, the Atlanta Braves need arms to come out of the pen, just like every other team in the Majors.
And lastly, two more holes to fill include another reliable rotation piece and a bat to protect Freddie Freeman in the middle of the order.
Again, hopefully it’s the same bat as it was last season.
The Atlanta Braves history would suggest that trades may be the likelier route to fill out most of these holes, but we are going to look into players they could potentially sign in the upcoming free agency period.
The majority of this article will focus on players who I would consider the best of the “realistic” players the Braves could chase over the next few months.
At the end, we will list some players who we could sign that maybe wouldn’t move the needle as much, but could be big none-the-less.
And let me go ahead and tell you, there is no mention of Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon here. Yes, that would be marvelous, but we are being realistic.