One week after the Braves were eliminated by the Dodgers in a four-game division series, Braves general manager Frank Wren met with the team’s beat writers and discussed the 2013 season and the team’s needs going into the offseason. One writer asked, “You could have used an ace down the stretch. Is that something you would look to add from outside?”
To which the GM replied: “Unfortunately, aces or top-of-the-rotation starting pitching is the most rare commodity, whether it’s the trade market or free-agent market. And you look at this year’s free-agent market, there really isn’t one of those guys. Whether there’s going to be one in the trade market, I don’t know. But we recognize that that’s an area of need.”
Two or three days later, manager Fredi Gonzalez did an interview with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, wherein the discussion came around to the Braves’ division-series loss and postseason teams that were still alive.
“All those teams that are in the playoffs now, they have a legit No. 1 guy, a top-of-the-rotation, No. 1 guy,” Gonzalez said. “I think potentially our guys could develop to that – (Julio) Teheran, (Mike) Minor and (Kris) Medlen – but I think to go deeper into the playoffs, I think you need an ace, you need a bona fide No. 1.
“That’s something that we’re going to look at and talk about in the (organizational) meetings. Easier said than done, because you’ve got trades and free-agent salaries and all that kind of stuff. But I think that’s what we’re missing. We’re missing a guy that’s going to be a horse for you.”
Eight weeks later, we’re at the Winter Meetings, and the Braves are still hoping to add a starter. They stopped talking about it being a potential ace-type of pitcher some time ago, about the time the price of free agents was soaring beyond all expectations and they couldn’t find a match on the trade market without giving up a bevy of top young talent.
Some fans cling to those “we need an ace” sentiments and hope the Braves are still being driven by that perceived postseason flaw. But it sure doesn’t seem like that’s the case. Not that they wouldn’t like to add one, but it’s not something they characterize these days as a need.
Since the postseason ended, the Braves have lost their one veteran starter, Tim Hudson, to the Giants via free agency.
They might add one and possibly soon, but those still holding out hope that it’ll be an ace might want to brace yourself. The Braves never planned to get involved in the potential David Price sweepstakes because they aren’t going to trade three or four (or more) top young players, including elite pitching prospects, to get two years of Price.
The Braves have made a couple of those trades in the past, deals that famously didn’t work out in the long run. And they all but vowed not to mortgage the future again, not when their payroll is mid-market at best.
So with the price too high for good free-agent starters – Hudson is 38 and coming off season-ending ankle surgery in late July, and he got a raise from $9 million to $11.5 million in a two-year deal – and even for some mediocre ones, the Braves shifted their focus to potential trades for pitching depth, whether for the rotation or the bullpen, or both.
They still might get a top-half-of-the-rotation starter such as Cubs power pitcher Jeff Samardzija. … But the Braves might – and seem more likely to — sign or trade for a modest-priced middle- or bottom-half-of-the-rotation starter just for depth.
Now, about those comments Wren and Gonzalez made in the aftermath of the division-series loss. About needing an ace and Gonzalez noting the Braves planned to pursue one.
“I think I was asked if you could add anything, what would be the No. 1 thing you would add,” Wren said last week. “Well, if I was going to add anything, it would be a No. 1 starter. We don’t necessarily have a No. 1 starter, and we haven’t had one for the last several years, that guy of that ilk. Most teams don’t. There’s 20 or so clubs that are in the same boat we’re in.
“Sure, we’d all love to have one. And I followed that (statement) up with what I’ve said continuously, which is that they’re really hard to get, and the No. 1 way you get them is to draft them and develop them yourself. And we have a pool of kids that we believe have those abilities, and over the course of time we hope to develop them and get them in our rotation.”
Lucas Sims, Jason Hursh and Mauricio Cabrera head a list of potential future aces in the Braves system. All were at low-Class A in 2013, and aren’t candidates for the major league roster in 2014. But they’re coming. And the Braves don’t want to trade or block them.
