Are the Braves done shopping for pitching this offseason?

After spending $18 million on Cole Hamels, it appears that the Atlanta Braves could be done looking for starting pitching this offseason.

Going into the offseason there was the hope that the Atlanta Braves could sign a frontline starter and a veteran starter to boost the rotation and give it the depth that it needs to win in the postseason.

But after giving $18 million to Cole Hamels, and with them still needing to find a big bat for the lineup, it seems like the dream of getting two pitchers could be dead.

Zack Wheeler was one of the frontline possibilities for the Braves, but he just landed in Philadelphia for 5 years and $118 million — about $30 million more than I think the Braves would have felt comfortable giving him.

Atlanta was never going to play in the Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg tier, so that doesn’t leave much in terms of frontline starting pitching available in free agency.

Some believe Madison Bumgarner could still be in play, but there are rumors he’s looking at over $100 million contract, which Atlanta wouldn’t be willing to do — nor should they.

Hyun-Jin Ryu is the only free agent starter left who the Braves could afford that would be considered a frontline starter, but that seems unlikely and would be terribly risky.

That means if Atlanta is going to find a frontline starter at this point, it will have to be through a trade, and the options aren’t great there either.

Trade candidates include Matthew Boyd, Robbie Ray, Jon Gray, Corey Kluber, Chris Archer, Caleb Smith, Jeff Samardzija, and David Price.

All of those pitchers come with plenty of question marks, and I wouldn’t consider any of them to be a sure thing atop a rotation.

What’s more likely to happen at this point if the Braves do sign another starting pitcher, is they sign another veteran for depth. Maybe even someone like Julio Teheran; although I think Julio is going to get a fairly lucrative deal from someone.

Rick Porcello, Tanner Roark, Alex Wood, Wade Miley, or Michael Pineda are all players who could fill that tole rather inexpensively just to name a few.

That all said, if the Braves make another move for a starting pitcher, it’s likely to be a deal for less than $5 million that is incentive-laden.

I do think they sign another starting pitcher like this to protect the young arms they’ll be counting on in 2020.

And don’t forget, they’ve bolstered the bullpen a lot this offseason already and could lean more on them.

But I definitely think the dream of getting a frontline starter this offseason (if you don’t view Hamels as one, which I don’t) are over.