When will we add a starting pitcher?
We will finish off this mailbag by addressing one of the most frequent questions we receive here at HTHB. Numerous free agent pitchers have come and go this offseason. Some, like Aaron Nola, better than others. Some of which, like Seth Lugo, were thought to be perfect fits toward the backend of the rotation.
Believe or not, there are still many names out there that could get innings for Atlanta next year. We mentioned those splash moves possible still (Yamamoto, Snell, Montgomery, Cease), but those don't seem to be up the Braves alley.
Instead let's look at some backend rotation options that could be had at a much lower cost: Lucas Giolito, Sean Manaea, Hyun Jin Ryu, James Paxton, Mike Clevinger, Marcus Stroman, and Michael Lorenzen. Not exactly your cream of the crop to pick from, but Atlanta doesn't need an ace with Fried and Strider in the 2024 rotation.
They need a reliable number 4 to give you innings and keep games manageable for this amazing offense. Thus, why any of those options are viable for AA. If you are asking me to pick one, I lean Ryu. He seems like the prime one-year bounce back candidate for AA. But that is under the assumption the Braves can't pull off a splash move like Cease. Anthopoulos has proven me wrong for assuming things before so I never rule anything out.
I'll end this segment be reiterating the date. It is December 20th, 2023. We still have so much offseason to go. Do not panic, and trust what Anthopoulos is cooking up. The front office has proven right much more often than not in his tenure.
On behalf of the entire team at House That Hank Built, I want to thank you all for sending in your questions! We will do a few more of these this year so be on the lookout on our social media accounts at Facebook and Twitter so that you can send your questions in to us!