While the Atlanta Braves have money to spend this offseason, this front office's philosophy under Alex Anthopoulos has consistently been to avoid the top names on the market and look for value. Sometimes this works out great (trading for Chris Sale comes to mind) while other moves such as the ill-advised bet on Alex Verdugo did not. The goal is to make any moves that won't cripple the Braves' payroll if they don't pan out, but which also have some upside. As it turns out, one free agent starting pitcher fits the bill almost perfectly.
Atlanta's rotation is in a weird spot heading into the offseason. Spencer Schwellenbach should be healthy to start the season after breaking his elbow and Hurston Waldrep was a pleasant surprise after his second look at the majors. Both Spencer Strider and Sale should be healthy and/or improved after normal offseasons, but Strider's recovery and Sale's age are fair question marks. However, AJ Smith-Shawver is definitely not going to be back for a while and both Reynaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes have some serious health questions entering 2026.
One potential option for the Braves that was recently floated by The Athletic's Jim Bowden is Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen and while he is certainly trending downward at the moment, the idea isn't as crazy as it sounds.
Braves potentially targeting Zac Gallen feels extremely on brand for this front office
From 2019-2023, Gallen was one of the better starting pitchers in baseball. He had three top 10 Cy young finishes including a third in 2023 and Gallen held a 3.21 ERA over that span of 115 starts. Even in 2024 which saw his ERA and walk rate creep upward, Gallen still sported a very respectable 9.5 K/9 and most thought that he was in line for a nice payday once he reached free agency.
However, 2025 was not kind to Gallen's free agent case as his ERA ballooned to 4.83 with a noticeable dip in his strikeout rate with no improvement in his walk rate. Gallen's offspeed and breaking stuff in particular graded out significantly worse as there was a lot of hard contact and homers off of his cutter, knuckle curve, and slider the last couple of years.
Beyond that though, Gallen honestly isn't that different of a pitcher than the guy who was mowing down hitters just a couple years ago. His velocity is still in-line with his career norms and the spin on his pitches is very similar to what he has done in the past. The Braves have a good idea as to how want their pitchers to attack hitters and assuming Gallen's stuff lines up with that ideal, it kind of feels like some changes to the 30-year-old's pitch usage and sequencing could pay massive dividends for him along with just throwing more strikes.
The catch here is that while Gallen has seen his stock dip, Bowden still thinks that he will end up getting a five year, $135 million deal. $27 million a year is a lot for a guy coming off a down year and the Braves just let Max Fried walk when he commanded a similar AAV in free agency albeit over eight years instead of five. If that is the asking price, Atlanta probably won't (and shouldn't) be involved. However, if Gallen's price tag is a bit more reasonable, the Braves would do well to at least kick the tires here.