We can pretty much chalk up the 2025 Atlanta Braves season as a lost cause. The Braves are 44-60, a healthy 17.0 games behind the first-place New York Mets and nowhere particularly close to the NL Wild Card race. There is still a lot of season left, but with their entire Opening Day starting rotation on the injured list, it's getting increasingly difficult to imagine how Atlanta can salvage this campaign.
As such, GM Alex Anthopoulos must do what every fan already has: turn his attention to 2026, when the Braves might be healthier and their stars might remember how to hit. A full season of Ronald Acuña at 100 percent health? A full offseason for Spencer Strider and Chris Sale to get right? The fans can dream a whole dream, so can Anthopoulos.
If there's a priority for the Braves this upcoming offseason, it's adding depth to the rotation. Strider and Sale still profiles as one of the very best one-two punches in MLB, but health has decimated Atlanta's rotation two years in a row. We don't know what Reynaldo López will have left in the tank. AJ Smith-Shawver, Grant Holmes and Spencer Schwellenbach will be recovering from various elbow surguries. The Braves need some firepower on the mound.
Here are a few potential targets.
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4. Zac Gallen, Arizona Diamondbacks
Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen is probably going to get traded in the next few days. It has been a rough season for the 29-year-old former All-Star who finished top-five in Cy Young voting in 2022 and '23. Gallen's peak can challenge the very best pitchers in MLB, but it's becoming more difficult to believe that he will reach that peak again. He currently has a 5.60 ERA and 1.35 WHIP through 22 starts, in a contract year no less. Gallen has all the motivation to perform, but it's just not happening.
That said, Gallen is still in his prime (on paper) and durability has long been a forte. The Braves need spry arms with the ability to pitch deep into games and deep into seasons. If Gallen can unearth his pre-slump form, suddenly the Braves have a bonafide third ace in the rotation behind Strider and Sale. It's a tantalizing proposition.
The hope would be that this down season keeps his price within range of Atlanta's pocketbook. Anthopoulos has never been the kind of GM to spend willy-nilly on free agent pitchers, but he made a competitive run at Aaron Nola last winter, so there's at least some precedent for going into free agency with designs on adding an established arm.
3. Matt Strahm, Philadelphia Phillies
The Braves' focus will no doubt be on beefing up the starting rotation, but the bullpen needs just as much work — and that's without a spate of injuries. Raisel Iglesias hit a wall this season. Atlanta's best relievers on Dylan Lee and Pierce Johnson, both in their early-to-mid 30s. Matt Strahm isn't any younger at 33, but he gives the Braves another tried and tested late relief arm with 40-plus innings under his belt in four straight seasons.
The ideal would be signing Strahm to a relatively short-term contract that gives the Braves a lefty alternative to Iglesias. Strahm's production has waned compared to last season's All-Star heights, but he still has a 2.98 ERA and 1.11 WHIP with 49 strikeouts in 42.1 innings of work. He would be far and away the best bullpen arm on the Braves roster right now.
Other big relievers will be available this winter — Ryan Helsley, Andrés Muñoz and Devin Williams among them, not to mention Atlanta's own closer in Iglesias — but Strahm checks the right boxes in terms of affordability, durability and, well, ability. Plucking him away from a division rival in the Philadelphia Phillies is the cherry on top.
2. Framber Valdez, Houston Astros
After years of trade rumors, Framber Valdez is finally slated to hit free agency this winter. It feels like the Houston Astros would regret letting the southpaw walk, but there are a lot of mouths to feed in that rotation at full strength. The 31-year-old should command a significant payday and the Braves already have a lot invested in Chris Sale, another lefty. But Valdez has three straight top-10 finishes in Cy Young voting under his belt and should add a fourth this season. It's hard to find a more consistently dominant pitcher in MLB.
Valdez is on track for four 28-plus start campaigns in a row. He has a career-best 2.67 ERA and 1.13 WHIP. He isn't an elite swing-and-miss pitcher — 129 K's in 128.0 innings — but Valdez can get strikeouts while also pitching extremely well to contact. His groundball rate sits in the 98th percentile thanks to a dynamic sinker-curveball combo. He can still dial up the velocity into the mid-90s and he has three knockout pitches under his belt when factoring in his evasive changeup.
Valdez is probably the best free agent pitcher on the market this coming winter, so the Braves paying up feels... unlikely. If his contract demands start ballooning into Max Fried territory, Atlanta will politely excuse itself. That said, the Braves are in a dire spot and the best way out might just be breaking with tradition and spending big in free agency. Valdez is worth a call.
1. Ranger Suárez, Philadelphia Phillies
If not for a back injury that held him out for the early portion of this season, Ranger Suárez might be locked in a Cy Young race with his own teammates right now, Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez. He has a 2.59 ERA and 1.17 WHIP through 15 starts, with 90 strikeouts in 93.2 innings. The lefty sinkerballer has become famous for his poise under pressure. He feels like the perfect in-budget target for the Braves.
Suárez has made it clear he wants to re-sign in Philadelphia, which would make it all the more sweet for Braves fans if Atlanta can lure him to the southeast. Suárez won't rack up strikeouts, but he forces groundballs and soft contact while exerting tremendous command over his pitch locations. He works the bottom of the zone like a champ and is seldom rattled. Plus, he's one of the more impressive fielders for his position, as an added bonus.
Suárez was an All-Star in 2024 and he was snubbed in 2025. The Phillies are about to transition into a slightly younger pitching staff, with Andrew Painter and Mick Abel both on the MLB fast track. That opens the door for Atlanta to be aggressive in pursuit of the 29-year-old. The Braves missed out on a Phillies staple a couple years ago in Aaron Nola. If that just means they get Suárez in 2026, the team will be better off for it.