The Atlanta Braves are preparing to send pitchers and catchers to North Port for spring training. However, they still have some holes that need to be filled before the regular season begins.
Atlanta lost Max Fried and Charlie Morton to free agency and they combined for 339.2 innings last season. Those are valuable innings that the Braves now have to replicate without them. The problem is that Atlanta's rotation as it currently stands, lacks experience.
Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach will be at the top of the rotation. Spencer Strider will return but he won't be ready on opening day. This leaves the Braves to depend on their pitching depth to fill the final two rotation spots. Grant Holmes, Ian Anderson, Hurston Waldrep, and AJ Smith-Shawver are potential solutions but there's no guarantee they'll perform well.
This leaves the front office with an important decision to make. They have to leave things how they are and hope for the best or look for external options. External options are out there and the Braves could land a starting option via trade or free agency. Rumors are going around that Atlanta has an interest in possibly trading for one of San Diego's top starters.
However, free agents are still tied to the Braves and ESPN's David Schoenfield believes Atlanta will land veteran starter and former rival, Max Scherzer. It's not surprising to see the Braves tied to a veteran starter in the late stages of their career. This is similar to what Atlanta did in 2020 when they signed Morton on a one-year, $15 million deal.
Braves predicted to sign Max Scherzer despite having every reason not to
Now Morton was 3 years younger than Scherzer who is currently 40 years old. Atlanta makes sense as a destination since he'd be an experienced arm and a stopgap while Spencer Strider is out. Scherzer recently threw a bullpen session with a few teams present including the Braves. There's clearly interest in adding him to the rotation.
Health is the main factor to consider with Mad Max. He pitched to a 3.95 ERA last season with the Rangers but that was limited to 9 games due to injury (arm fatigue and nerve issues). Braves fans will remember a similar critique when they traded for Chris Sale last offseason was that he wasn't healthy. Sale went on to win his first Cy Young Award in 2024 and made Alex Anthopoulos look like a genius.
I'm not saying Scherzer will do the same by any means but there is a chance he could still provide some meaningful innings early in the season for the Braves. In 2023, he made 27 starts with a 3.77 ERA with the Mets and Rangers. He has also impressed with a 2.92 ERA in the last four seasons for a total of 520.2 innings.
Fangraphs projects the veteran could land a one-year contract worth $19 million but Spotrac suggests it could be $15 million. AA doesn't seem like he would shell out $15 million for a starter with serious injury concerns. Especially when you factor in the Braves passed on Morton who got $10 million from the Orioles. For comparison, Morton pitched 521 innings, only one-third of an inning more than Scherzer.
However, the Braves certainly need to add to their rotation and this may be a way to do it. Strider is coming back so you wouldn't need Scherzer to be a workhorse all season. It will be interesting to see what Atlanta decides to do.