An already busy offseason for the Braves could spike to a new level this week at the Winter Meetings, where they’ll attempt to add the gleaming piece — preferably Chris Sale — who could turn their current starting-rotation revamp into a complete and far more impressive overhaul.
Braves officials headed Sunday to baseball’s annual five-day swap meet of sorts amid ongoing trade discussions for a big-time ace, a deal that would likely cost multiple prospects but which they believe would help assure they’re competitiveness from Day 1 in their first season at new SunTrust Park.
“We said from the start we want to get better,” Braves general manager John Coppolella said Sunday. “We loved the way we finished the season (20 wins in final 30 games), we really like the makeup of our team and we want to give them a better chance. Our biggest need has been starting pitching. We feel like we’ve got that addressed.”
The Braves already signed aging free-agent starters Bartolo Colon, 43, and R.A. Dickey, 42, to one-year deals and traded for veteran left-hander Jaime Garcia with one year left on his contract, committing $32 million to that trio for 2017. But they would like to add still another big piece, if they can get Sale for a price they can stomach.
Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer is another “ace” trade option they’ve discussed, as is Oakland’s Sonny Gray, though to a lesser degree. Gray comes with some durability questions and isn’t a dominant strikeout pitcher like Sale or Archer.
“For us, it comes down to needs and wants,” Coppolella said. “We needed to add starting pitching. We need to add a player like (recently signed utility veteran) Sean Rodriguez. We want to add an ace. It’s a want, not a need. So if a great opportunity comes along, we’ll be ready to strike. But we don’t need to force the issue.”
The Braves are looking to add another starter on a minor league deal with a spring-training invite, and also have some interest in non-tendered free-agent catcher Welington Castillo, though they say they'd be content with their incumbent catching tandem of Tyler Flowers and Anthony Recker. But, as Coppolella put it, most of the heavy lifting is done.
If they can’t trade for an ace, the Braves say they’re fine bringing back Julio Teheran at the top of the rotation, complemented with the three newcomers and with young starters and perhaps re-signed veteran Josh Collmenter competing for the lone vacancy in the rotation. Mike Foltynewicz would be the front-runner for that open spot.
If the Braves trade for Sale, it’s possible they would include not just prospects but a young pitcher such as Foltynewicz or even Teheran, in whom the White Sox are known to have shown interest in the past. Coppolella declined to discuss any players or prospects that the White Sox have asked for or anyone the Braves might make available.
“We don’t need to trade for another starting pitcher,” Coppolella said. “We love Julio Teheran and the three guys we’ve signed. We love Mike Foltynewicz and Matt Wisler and Aaron Blair and we’ll see how it plays out. Competition is a good thing. We basically had open tryouts for the past two years. What’s wrong with a little competition? What’s wrong with guys pushing themselves?”
He then added, with a nod toward the more-elite pitching prospects the Braves have accumulated in the low minors, “All these guys better get used to competition because of the young pitching we have coming.”
The Braves are not interested in adding another starter unless it’s an ace. The best available is Sale, the White Sox left-hander who averaged 203 innings and 226 strikeouts over the past five seasons while finishing in the top six in the American League Cy Young Award balloting each year.
Other teams, including the Nationals, Astros, Red Sox, Rangers and Dodgers, have also pursued Sale, whose performance, durability and team-friendly contract — he’s under control for $38 million over the next three seasons, including option years — make the 27-year-old something of a blue-diamond rarity on the trade market.
Archer, 28, has an even more club-friendly contract at $39 million over the next five seasons, including two option years. He’s had nowhere near the performance level of Sale, but Archer posted ERAs between 3.22 and 3.33 for three consecutive seasons in the tough American League East and had career highs of 252 strikeouts in 212 innings in 2015.
Archer slipped to 9-19 with a 4.02 ERA and career-high 30 homers allowed in 2016, though the right-hander still had 233 strikeouts in 201 1/3 innings. He also has a sterling reputation in the clubhouse and community, while Sale has an edge and a temper that has, at times, caused discord.
Still, Sale is one of the top pitchers in baseball and the Lakeland, Fla., native might be the only pitcher available for whom the Braves would consider parting with multiple prospects or young players.
For those who contend that the rebuilding Braves have diverted from their patient rebuilding plan after accumulating a stable of prospects over the past two years, Coppolella would disagree.
“I don’t feel like we’ve veered off course at all,” he said. “We’ve tried to do one-year deals throughout this process, we just did better one-year deals. Where in years past, we did Jhoulys Chacin and Bud Norris and Lucas Harrell, now it’s Bartolo Colon, Jaime Garcia and R.A. Dickey. It’s not a change, it’s just better guys. So there’s no veering off for us.”
It was difficult for Braves officials and manager Brian Snitker to see the team use a majors-leading 16 starting pitchers to get through a 93-loss season in 2016. That broke a franchise record that had stood for four decades, since the 94-loss 1975 Braves used 15 starters despite getting more than 275 innings apiece from Phil Niekro and Carl Morton.
Those 16 starters in 2016 produced a 4.87 ERA, nearly two runs higher than Cubs’ starters (2.96) and higher than every major league team’s starters except the Diamondbacks (5.19) and Twins (5.39).
This comes from a Braves franchise that was long the standard of starting pitching, using eight or fewer starters in 13 of 14 seasons from 1991 through 2004 and usually producing an ERA at least 1 1/2 runs lower than did 2016 Braves starters.
