Max Fried is a Yankee. How will the Atlanta Braves Repsond?

The Atlanta Braves will need to starting figuring out their options for the starting rotation while there are still quality options available

Max Fried is officially gone. Time to see how the Braves respond / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves have lost Max Fried to the New York Yankees. We all knew he was going to walk. But you can’t help but have that feeling of “Now what?” 

I guess, it’s time to check in on potential starters they could sign to replace him. 

Let’s see. Blake Snell? Nope, he’s a Dodger. We heard they liked Nathan Eovaldi anyway. Wait, word is he re-signed with the Texas Rangers. Ok, well, how about Luis Severino? He signed a two-year contract with who now? 

It’s fine. The Braves can always sign a reliable middle-of-the-rotation guy like Matt Boyd or Alex Cobb...never mind. 

Look, there are, obviously, still options out there. However, names are starting to come off the board. Soon, their best option will be to find a trade partner to fill the spot in the starting rotation. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it would be preferable to be able to sign an arm to a short-term deal and not give up any assets to make it happen. 

But before we get to that, let’s look at some remaining free-agent options. 

Free Agents

Before we get going, for clarification, we’re skipping over Corbin Burnes. That’s not happening. 

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at more serious options.  

The most familiar option is Charlie Morton. You know what you’re getting with him, even at 41 years old. If they sign him, the rotation is the same minus Fried. They just need to bridge the Opening Day to Spencer Strider's return. 

That being said, they can’t bank on re-signing Morton. A previous report from The Athletic’s David O’Brien indicated that Morton is likely to sign with a team that is near his home in Bradenton, Fla. While the Braves are one of those teams, and the most likely to do so, that still opens the door to the Orioles, Rays and Pirates. 

So, who else is there? 

One option is Jack Flaherty. Whatever he picked up with the Tigers in Spring Training helped him return to form and earned him a spot on a World Series-winning Dodgers team. A prediction from Bleacher Report from a month ago had the Braves signing Flaherty to a three-year, $60 million deal. That’s the only instance these parties have been connected, so we’ll see how likely his signing actually is. The Braves might not want to commit to a multi-year deal with the prospects they have, but those prospects could also be traded for other pieces - more on that in a moment.  

Another option is Sean Meanea. There aren’t any serious connections between him and the Braves, but he’s a realistic option. 

In theory, they could go after Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer. It’s certainly possible, and that’s why I’m including them. We’ve discussed signing specifically Scherzer on Atlanta Braves on SI before, and the Braves have been named a potential landing spot for him. Just Baseball also mentioned the Braves when discussing landing spots for Verlander 

But I would have to see it to believe it. 

Trade Options

When all is said and done, this could be how the Braves address their rotation needs. 

An affordable, reliable option is St. Louis Cardinals’ Erick Fedde. He was linked to the Braves when the Chicago White Sox were dealing him at the deadline, and writers still like him as an option. He had a 3.30 ERA last season and would make $7.5 million. That could be an easy move for the Braves. 

Jordan Montgomery has come up in the Braves’ offseason discussions on multiple occasions. His first season with the Arizona Diamondbacks was a disaster - finishing with a 6.23 ERA. His owner loathes having him on the team and Montgomery chose to spite him by exercising his option for 2025. The Braves could take him off their hands.

Garrett Crochet is still a strong option to acquire. However, the Braves have not been named in his latest trade buzz, and the White Sox's asking price is reportedly high. 

In the end, we could end up with a surprise addition. It would be a very Alex Anthopoulos thing to do. Chris Sale would not have been recommended at this time last year.

Regardless of how they go about it, the clock is ticking. It’s December sure, but pitchers and catchers report in about 60 days. It goes by quicker than you think, and the Braves need to be ready.