REPORTS: Braves willing to exceed $22M/year for right starting pitcher

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, citing unnamed sources, says Atlanta's prepared to exceed their current highest AAV for the right pitcher and suggests Aaron Nola as a good fit

As we get into the depths of the offseason and wait for free agent signings to begin in earnest, one report says that the Atlanta Braves are planning to be more aggressive than perhaps they've ever been in their search for a frontline starter. 

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, in his MLB news and notes column ($), cited "sources briefed on the team's plans who are not authorized to speak publicly" as to Atlanta's aggressiveness to spend this offseason. 

One of the remarkable things about the Atlanta Braves is that none of their players signed long-term has a salary of more than $22 million. But for the right starting pitcher in free agency, the Braves are willing to go higher.

As we've discussed on this site ad nauseam, none of Atlanta's existing long-term contracts exceed $22M/year at their highest. It's not a hard cap - the extension offered to Freddie Freeman reportedly would have paid him $28M/year, had he signed with the Braves instead of the Dodgers, but no existing contract on the books will exceed that $22M yearly value. 

Player	Highest Salary	Year
Matt Olson	$22M	2024-2028
Austin Riley	$22M	2025-2028
Spencer Strider	$22M	2027-2028
Ronald Acuña Jr	$17M	2024-2028
Sean Murphy	$15M	2025-2028
Michael Harris II	$10M	2028
Ozzie Albies	$7M	2024-2027

And Rosenthal's idea of that right pitcher? Aaron Nola. 

Nola's fit in Atlanta has two off-the-field factors going for it - the fact that he remains close with current Braves pitching coach Rick Kranitz (who was in Philadelphia from 2016-2018), and the fact that Nola's originally from Braves Country. 

We've talked about being from the South as a differentiator in a lot of Atlanta's long-term deals: Riley's from Mississippi, while Olson and Harris are both from the Atlanta area and Spencer Strider's from Tennessee (and attended college at Clemson), and the idea of signing with their "hometown" team had some amount of appeal for a lot of Atlanta's roster. 

Well, Nola's from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, attending LSU for college before going to Philadelphia with the 7th overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. 

Rosenthal goes on to point out that, unlike top free agent Blake Snell and top trade candidate Corbin Burnes, Nola isn't represented by superagent Scott Boras - Atlanta doesn't have any current Scott Boras clients on their roster, as he's known for getting large deals for his players in free agency and the Braves have typically stayed away from that end of the free agent market. 

Read the entire piece on The Athletic ($) HERE.

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