Blood in the water? Best pitcher available should still be in play for Braves

After letting Max Fried and Charlie Morton walk in free agency, the Atlanta Braves have not made any moves to counter the loss of these two reliable starting pitchers. As the 2025 season vastly approaches, general manager Alex Anthopoulos will remain a busy man for the foreseeable future as he looks to upgrade the Braves’ starting rotation. 

When the Braves are fully healthy, the front end of their rotation is still pretty solid with Spencer Strider and Chris Sale. However, Strider is still recovering from surgery and will not be ready by Opening Day. Sale had an incredible 2024 season, earning the National League Triple Crown, but he cannot be expected to repeat this kind of production in his age 36 season. 

While there are no more aces on the free agent market for the Braves to pursue, they do have options like Kyle Gibson, James Paxton and Alex Wood who could provide their rotation with much needed depth.

ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan (subscription required) recognizes another free agent as the best available pitcher, which Atlanta should consider. Nick Pivetta, formerly of the Boston Red Sox.

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Braves should be in play for NIck Pivetta, named best starting pitcher available by ESPN's Jeff Passan

For the first four years of his career, Nick Pivetta was a rival of the Atlanta Braves while wearing a Philadelphia Phillies jersey. Across those four years, Pivetta went 19-30 with a 5.50 ERA but since then has been better. 

The past five seasons for Pivetta have been spent with the Boston Red Sox, where he has lowered his ERA to 4.29 over that stretch and has struck out 718 batters in 633 innings of work. Pivetta is not exactly an ace but in this free agent market that has already been raided, he is the best option available. 

Although Passan only mentions the Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox as potential suitors for Pivetta, the Braves should not be ruled out. Pivetta’s last signed contract was a one-year deal with Boston for $7.5 million. The Braves have the cap space and leverage to sign him for even less money to join a World Series contending team.