Are the Braves Done Going After Starting Pitching?

After signing Drew Smyly, we take a look at whether or not that means the Atlanta Braves are done shopping for starting pitching this offseason.

We know going into the offseason that the Atlanta Braves would be looking for a veteran starter in the rotation to go along with the large number of young hurlers they have.

Early in the offseason, targets like Jon Lester, Adam Wainwright, and even Charlie Morton were floated around as possibilities for the Braves.

And then, as usual with AA, he comes out of nowhere and signs a game like Drew Smyly that no one — and I mean no one — was thinking about.

That’s not to say the Smyly signing was a bad one — AA has proven himself enough to get the benefit of the doubt here.

But you have to wonder if that’s the only move he’s going to make for the starting rotation this offseason.

Certainly, the bigger need is finding a replacement in the lineup for Marcell Ozuna — if not Ozuna himself. And that move is likely going to be quite costly.

The Braves now have a solid starting rotation with Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Ian Anderson, Smyly, and Kyle Wright.

With others like Bryse Wilson, Touki Toussaint, and Tucker Davidson in the mix as well along with some other young guys.

But I’d still like to see them get one more veteran arm. Maybe you bring in someone on a minor league deal like they did with Felix Hernandez as more depth.

We saw how important starting pitching depth was even in an abbreviated season in 2020. We thought the Braves had plenty of starting pitching depth going into the first spring training, but opt-outs and poor performances saw that depth quickly evaporate.

I think you need to go into a season with 10 guys you can count on to make starts for you.

Not to mention the fact that Soroka might not be ready for the start of the season — and even if he is, the Braves might be cautious with their ace — and these pitchers didn’t get a full season last year. It’s going to be difficult for them to regain that stamina to pitch an entire season.

I would expect even more injuries for starters next year after a lot of them didn’t pitch many innings in 2020.

Of course, you could also look at the flip side of that and say they are well-rested. But for the Braves, they’re counting on a bunch of young guys who don’t have that experience of pitching over a full 162-game season (if we even get a 162-game season).

I don’t know if pitchers like Waino or Lester are still possibilities on a one-year deal for around $5 million as I thought, but I still think they need to find at least one more veteran starter for depth.