All eyes are on the starting pitching market as Spring Training approaches, as they should be. The Braves have had a glaring need in their rotation since the beginning of the offseason and have done nothing to alleviate it. It’s an all-too-familiar feeling from last offseason, when the rotation entered the season with a litany of injury concerns, and the result was an unmitigated disaster, with the Braves falling to fourth place in the NL East following seven straight postseason appearances.
Thankfully, there are still a handful of impact starting pitchers available on the free agent market. The hope is the Braves will snag at least one of them, and if that’s the case, this will have been quite the offseason in Atlanta.
However, the work might not be done there. The Braves have become notorious for extending players early, often allowing them to lock in guys at a more team-friendly rate. That hasn’t happened to this point in the offseason, but there are a couple of candidates Alex Anthopoulos should be heavily considering.
Like most Braves fans, I’ll continue to pound this table until a new contract is signed, sealed, and delivered. This is a franchise that has had a plethora of Hall of Famers represent it, but there is not a single player who has put on that Braves uniform who is more talented than Ronald Acuña Jr. To let him walk out the door for nothing — after doing so with franchise icons like Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, and Max Fried in recent years — would be nothing short of a travesty. It’s a deal that has to get done, and it makes sense for both sides to work something out sooner rather than later.
With Acuña, the only thing that’s held him back has been injuries. Only twice over the last five seasons has he played in more than 100 games, suffering not one but two ACL injuries. That’s cause for concern when talking about handing a player a potential 10-year contract worth north of $300 million, but it’s also the only reason the Braves even have a chance of retaining him long-term.
And, of course, from Acuña’s perspective, there’s upside to signing a contract now because of that injury history. He has the opportunity to lock up generational wealth for himself and his family without taking on additional risk. Plus, he’s made it abundantly clear he wants to be a Brave for life.
The one caveat to remember, however, is the pending lockout expected next offseason. Many expect the owners to push hard for a salary cap, which could force teams to avoid mega-contracts that take up such a large portion of payroll. That uncertainty could give the Braves pause, but if they wait until after the lockout, it could be too late.
Chris Sale has been arguably the best acquisition of Alex Anthopoulos’ entire tenure as GM. Since joining the Braves, Sale has been a top-three pitcher in baseball, winning the 2024 NL Cy Young Award and recording a 2.46 ERA over 303.1 innings.
The only small knock on Sale has been injuries, which has been the case for his entire career. He missed the end of the 2024 campaign with a minor back injury that prevented him from pitching in the playoffs, then missed about two months of the 2025 season due to a fractured rib cage.
But like with Acuña, those injury concerns create a market opportunity for the Braves if they’re in the gambling mood. He’ll be 37 years old this season, so there’s a chance he’d be willing to sign a one-year extension worth around $20–30 million for the 2027 season. However, if he has another season like he did in 2024–2025, there will be plenty of teams willing to offer him $40–50 million next offseason.
—
Photo: John Adams/Icon Sportswire