Braves dream Opening Day rotation after free agency: Fried returns to Atlanta's dream rotation

The Atlanta Braves were one of the biggest disappointments of the 2024 season. They had so much talent and were expected to be one of the best teams in the league, but after injuries destroyed some of their top talent, they never quite found their footing.

One place where they struggled, surprisingly, was the starting rotation. When I say this, I don't mean as a unit. They had a few pieces perform incredibly well. Chris Sale is set to bring home the National League Cy Young award. Max Fried continued to be incredibly consistent. Charlie Morton looked incredible in his age 40 season. Reynaldo Lopez was awesome when he was healthy.

But their fifth spot, and sometimes their fourth spot when injuries came knocking, was a revolving door of below average big league arms. Atlanta tried multiple different prospects before Spencer Schwellenbach stuck in the rotation.

Heading into 2025, Fried and Morton are free agents and Spencer Strider's recovery timeline won't have him back for Opening Day. Still, the Braves have the chance to put together a dream pitching rotation this offseason that will only get better when Strider r

What would the Braves dream Opening Day starting rotation look like in 2025?

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Braves dream Opening Day rotation after free agency

Braves re-sign Max Fried to a multi-year deal to keep him in Atlanta

The number one priority in Atlanta this winter will be getting Max Fried back in a Braves uniform for next year. Fried has been a staple of the Braves' rotation for the last eight years. Over those eight years, he's thrown 884.1 innings for Atlanta and posted a 4.00 ERA or higher just one time. He's a legit Cy Young candidate year in and year out while being the poster boy for consistency and reliability.

Atlanta needs to do everything in their power to make sure he remains a Brave for the rest of his prime years. Many experts around baseball expect Fried to be one of the first pitchers off the board because he's not a Scott Boras client while a lot of the top arms are Boras clients.

The Braves need to get ahead of the curve to make sure that Fried is back in their dream rotation in 2025.

Braves sign Roki Sasaki and let 40-year-old Charlie Morton walk

Charlie Morton is a bit of a wild card for Atlanta. He was great last season, but he's on the wrong side of 40 years old and the Braves could find better options to replace him. In a world of strict realism, Morton is probably going to be brought back unless the Braves can sway international ace Roki Sasaki to their team. If Atlanta can't land Sasaki, offering Morton a one year deal won't be the worst thing in the world.

But in their dream rotation, it's Sasaki replacing Morton. Sasaki is coming over from Japan as a 23-year-old international free agent which means he can only sign minor league deals in the MLB. That opens the door for any team in baseball to sign him without destroying the money they have to spend in free agency. Atlanta could realistically sign Fried back on a big contract and then send $7 million to sign Sasaki out of Japan.

This strictly comes down to whether or not they can sway him to Atlanta. In a dream rotation, they can.

Braves trust prospect Spencer Schwellenbach to hold down the back of the rotation

The back end of the Braves rotation comes down to a lot of different arms. Hurston Waldrep, AJ Smith-Shawver and Spencer Schwellenbach are all potential fits to round out Atlanta's rotation in this scenario, following Sale, Fried, Sasaki and Lopez.

But the pitcher that the Braves are most likely to rely on first is Schwellenbach simply because he was great for them last season. In 2024 Schellwnbach made 21 starts and held a 3.35 ERA across 123.2 innings. The righty struck out 127 hitters while only walking 23 in his age 24 season. He flashed ace potential from time to time and there's no reason for Atlanta to not bring him back to the starting rotation next year.

He looks like an incredible fifth starting pitcher, especially if he continues to thrive and develop thie winter and into the spring.