Missing out on Sonny Gray was brutal
Some guys are just natural fits for a team when it comes to free agency. If the Braves do add free agent arms, they like to do so on shorter deals even if doing so means that the AAV of said deal has to go up. That mold does not fit most of the deals that the top starters on the market were expected to get this offseason with the notable exception of Sonny Gray.
Gray was arguably the best option for the Braves this offseason. He was widely expected to be willing to sign a three or four year deal given his age and the guy just finished second in the AL Cy Young last year. Even with the lingering durability concerns he would, Gray felt like he was right up the Braves' alley especially given that Gray was from Tennessee and playing in Atlanta would have put him pretty close to home.
Unfortunately, that was not to be as the Cardinals of all teams were able to swoop in and sign him to a three year, $75 million contract. After he signed, Gray said that he wanted to be a Cardinal, so it is possible that the Braves were already fighting an uphill battle to get Gray in the first place. That said, this feels like a deal that the Braves should have been willing to put on the table.
Who knows? Maybe Atlanta offered that much or more and just got spurned because of player preference like what happened with Aaron Nola early in the offseason. It was just an unfortunate turn of events given that Gray just felt like the kind of guy the Braves would target and he would have given the Braves another quality starter to build around going forward.