The offseason is getting ramped up and Atlanta appears to be targeted on including to its rotation. Per Mark Bowman of MLB.com, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi ranks close to the highest of the membership’s offseason want checklist.
Eovaldi, 35 in February, simply declined his participant choice with the Rangers. He might have stayed in Texas for 2025 and made a $20MM wage however determined to move to the open market and assess his choices. MLBTR just lately predicted the veteran might land a assure of $44MM on a two-year deal as a part of our annual Top 50 Free Agents checklist.
The righty is arguably the poster little one for profession success after a second Tommy John surgical procedure. After coming back from that operation, he struggled a bit in 2019 however has been fairly constant over the previous 5 years. He has a 3.75 earned run common over these campaigns, putting out 24% of batters confronted, limiting walks to a 5.6% price and getting grounders at a 46.9% clip. His ERA completed between 3.63 and three.87 in all 5 of these seasons along with his different price stats holding fairly regular as properly.
For Atlanta, beginning pitching is a wise goal space. They only misplaced each Max Fried and Charlie Morton to free company, opening two holes within the beginning pitching combine. That leaves them with a core of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López and Spencer Schwellenbach however with query marks behind that threesome.
Spencer Strider will ultimately be within the combine however will probably miss not less than a part of the season after present process inner brace surgical procedure in April of final 12 months. Griffin Canning was simply acquired within the Jorge Soler deal however he’s coming off a tough season through which he posted a 5.19 earned run common and his strikeout price fell to 17.6% after being at 25.9% the 12 months prior.
Ian Anderson is on the roster however hasn’t pitched within the majors since 2022 as a result of poor efficiency and Tommy John surgical procedure. The membership additionally has guys like Huascar Ynoa, AJ Smith-Shawver, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder and some others, although nobody in that group did a lot to impress in 2024.
Provided that rotation image, pursuing exterior additions makes loads of sense, although the finances with naturally be a consideration. RosterResource tasks the membership for a $215MM payroll subsequent 12 months, simply $20MM shy of 2024’s spending.
Basic supervisor Alex Anthopoulos has mentioned the payroll will rise nevertheless it’s unclear by how a lot and there have been some latest indicators that cash might be tight. The aforementioned Soler deal did convey again Canning however was seen largely as a wage dump. A couple of days in the past, the membership reworked the contracts of each López and lefty Aaron Bummer, in each instances shifting a couple of million bucks from the 2025 ledger to 2026. The membership turned down a membership choice on Travis d’Arnaud regardless that Anthopoulos had beforehand steered they might be choosing that as much as convey the catcher again for 2025.
The long-term books have a lot on them as properly, due to the membership’s penchant for signing incumbent gamers to extensions. Every of Strider, López, Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Ronald Acuña Jr., Sean Murphy, Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies are more likely to be on the books by way of 2027, both as a result of assured contracts or membership choices.
Along with the membership’s funds, there’s additionally the observe report to think about. Although they’ve been linked to some distinguished free brokers over time, that hasn’t been their modus operandi. Per MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the most important assure they’ve even given a free agent is the $75.3MM they gave to Melvin Upton Jr. manner again in 2012. Ozuna’s $65MM deal is their high free agent deal from more moderen seasons. Their largest deal for a free agent beginning pitcher was $60MM for Derek Lowe again in 2009 whereas $18MM for Cole Hamels is the most important of the previous 5 years.
Taking all that into consideration, Eovaldi is a logical goal for the membership. He’s been fairly efficient on the mound however his age and damage historical past will put a pure cap on his incomes energy. Whereas pitchers like Fried, Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell and Jack Flaherty might require nine-figure commitments, Eovaldi can be in a special tier of free company. Although Atlanta appears to have focused Eovaldi, free agent starters who might command comparable contracts embody Yusei Kikuchi, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Nick Martinez, Nick Pivetta, Matthew Boyd, Andrew Heaney, Frankie Montas and others.
