We take a look at a possible free agent target for the Atlanta Braves this offseason diving into starting pitcher Alex Wood.
Alex Anthopoulos has been hesitant to trade from the deep farm system of the Atlanta Braves to this point, so there is a good chance he could continue to go the free agent route this offseason.
I mentioned Alex Wood recently in my article of the top 5 starting pitching targets left for the Braves to consider, but I wanted to shine the spotlight on him even more because I think it could be a perfect fit.
As you all know, Wood is a Georgia native and attended Georgia University before being drafted by the Braves in the second round of the 2012 MLB Draft.
He was very good for Atlanta in two-and-a-half seasons with a 3.10 ERA in 368.2 innings with 337 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.27.
And then they made perhaps the worst trade of the of the John Hart/John Coppolella era sending Alex Wood, Jim Johnson, Jose Peraza, Bronson Arroyo, and Luis Avilan to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Hector Olivera, Paco Rodriguez, the 40th pick in the 2016 MLB Draft, and Zach Bird.
That draft pick wound up being Joey Wentz who has since been flipped to the Detroit Tigers for Shane Greene, so I guess there was a positive out of that trade.
Going back to Alex, he spent three-and-a-half years with the Dodgers and had a 3.46 ERA with them in 434.2 innings with 401 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.17.
He was an All-Star in 2017 when he went 16-3 with a 2.72 ERA in 152.1 innings with 151 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.06.
But then last offseason the Dodgers traded Wood, Matt Kemp, and Yasiel Puig, and Kyle Farmer to the Cincinnati Reds for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs, and Josiah Gray.
He only made 7 starts for the Reds in 2019 and was not very good, but there is reason for optimism in the future.