While there are no shortage of people talking about what the Atlanta Braves did (or didn't) do at the trade deadline, it is also around the time of the year where attention starts to turn to what needs the Braves should address this coming offseason for 2024 and beyond.
The Braves have some pretty tough choices coming up. Max Fried is about to enter his final year of arbitration eligibility and is going to be making big money in 2024. Is an extension in the cards? Could we see the Braves consider trading Fried? Atlanta also has to make decisions regarding club options for Charlie Morton ($20 million), Eddie Rosario ($9 million), Kirby Yates ($5.75 million), and Collin McHugh ($6 million).
When you put all those guys along with pending free agents like Joe Jimenez, Pierce Johnson, Kevin Pillar, and Jesse Chavez and you have a lot for the Braves to consider very, very soon. Fortunately, we have a reasonably good idea as to who will be available on the free agent market after the season and whether or not they would be good fits for the Braves.
Here are 4 pending free agents that the Braves need to target this offseason
The goal here isn't to target pie-in-the-sky options for the Braves in free agency. Sure, Shohei Ohtani is a once in a lifetime player who is about to get a ginormous contract, but Alex Anthopoulos is on the record as not liking to overcommit to a single player on long-term deals and it seems very, very likely that Ohtani wants to stay on the west coast even if the Braves were to throw a pile of money at him.
There are also guys with various kinds of contract options for next season whose statuses/availability is unclear, so we are going to avoid such players for the moment unless there is a strong reason to believe that those options won't get exercised. The names available are obviously going to change, but this is a good starting point.
Anyways, let's get to the list of pending free agents the Braves should target this coming offseason.