Atlanta Braves Top 5 Free Agent Pitching Targets Outside of Cole and Strasburg
By Seth Carter
With the departures of Dallas Keuchel and Julio Teheran to free agency, the Atlanta Braves are in obvious need of some rotational assistance.
Let’s start with the obvious: it is improbable that the Atlanta Braves and Liberty Media will throw down $30+ million per year on Gerrit Cole.
Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg opted OUT of a contract that would pay him an average of $25 million per year over the next four seasons, so he anticipates something even better. I doubt the Atlanta Braves will be pursuing either one of these two.
A wise line-cook at a terrible restaurant once told me, “to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised when you get something better. This way you can never be let down. With that in mind, we will examine the top five potential starting-pitching targets for GM Alex Anthopoulos to give Liberty Media’s money to.
The free-agent market is full of quality arms. Several Cy Young candidates from the previous season are now looking for new homes. There even a couple of former Cy Young winners roaming around without a leash.
Big names like Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Cole Hamels and Stephen Strasburg are just a few of the stars available during the Hot Stove season. Former Cy Young winners like Dallas Keuchel and Rick Porcello are also looking for new homes. Hyun-Jin Ryu won the 2019 ERA title and for the right price, he’ll bring that crown to your town.
This article will take a look at the top five targets for the Atlanta Braves in 2020. I look for value relative to the price of similar pitchers, consistency, and a history of durability is always good.
I love quality starts. It’s a great indicator of how often you give your team a chance to win. I don’t believe there is a be-all-end-all statistic to determine a pitcher’s value, so we’ll look at it from several different angles.
ERA is valuable, but a horrible outing or two can grossly inflate an ERA to look less attractive based on our perception of the numbers. So take all of this into consideration – along with contract projections from MLBTradeRumors.com – take a look at the players I have pegged as the top five targets for the Braves rotation in 2020.