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 record.
Eovaldi, 35 in February, simply declined his participant possibility with the Rangers. He might have stayed in Texas for 2025 and made a $20MM wage however determined to go 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 High 50 Free Brokers record.
The righty is arguably the poster baby for profession success after a second Tommy John surgical procedure. After getting 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 nicely.
For Atlanta, beginning pitching is a smart goal space. They simply 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 no less than a part of the season after present process inner brace surgical procedure in April of final yr. Griffin Canning was simply acquired within the Jorge Soler deal however he’s coming off a tough season during which he posted a 5.19 earned run common and his strikeout price fell to 17.6% after being at 25.9% the yr prior.
Ian Anderson is on the roster however hasn’t pitched within the majors since 2022 because 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.
On condition that rotation image, pursuing exterior additions makes loads of sense, although the price range with naturally be a consideration. RosterResource initiatives the membership for a $215MM payroll subsequent yr, simply $20MM shy of 2024’s spending.
Common supervisor Alex Anthopoulos has stated the payroll will rise but it surely’s unclear by how a lot and there have been some current indicators that cash might be tight. The aforementioned Soler deal did deliver again Canning however was seen principally 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 possibility on Travis d’Arnaud although Anthopoulos had beforehand prompt they’d be choosing that as much as deliver the catcher again for 2025.
The long-term books have loads on them as nicely, 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 2027, both because of assured contracts or membership choices.
Along with the membership’s funds, there may be additionally the observe document to contemplate. Although they’ve been linked to some outstanding free brokers over time, that hasn’t been their modus operandi. Per MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the biggest assure they’ve even given a free agent is the $75.3MM they gave to Melvin Upton Jr. means again in 2012. Ozuna’s $65MM deal is their high free agent deal from newer 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 might be in a unique tier of free company. Although Atlanta appears to have focused Eovaldi, free agent starters who might command comparable contracts embrace Yusei Kikuchi, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Nick Martinez, Nick Pivetta, Matthew Boyd, Andrew Heaney, Frankie Montas and others.
