The Braves got real value out of Martín Pérez last season, and that kind of move is exactly the sort of bargain hunt that can matter when the roster needs help without a big splash. Pérez came in on a minor league deal, wasn’t expected to lock down a rotation spot, and then ended up giving Atlanta 142 innings with a 3.04 ERA, second-best in the staff. His late-September injury hurt because he had become that important, especially when the playoff rotation was reduced to a two-man setup that may have taxed the Braves in the NLDS.
With the 2026 offseason likely getting underway soon, Atlanta could again be looking for a starter who fits that same low-cost, high-upside lane for 2027. Three names stand out as possible bargain-bin bets.
Nestor Cortes looks like the clearest buy-low swing. The left-hander hasn’t thrown a major league inning in a while after a rough stretch in 2025, when he made eight MLB appearances and spent more of the year on the injured list.
He then missed all of 2026 and showed up only three times in the Phillies organization at the minor league level. Even with that recent slide, the profile is familiar: a soft-tossing lefty with a track record of success who has now seen his career head in the wrong direction.
Cortes, who will soon be 32, could be the kind of reclamation project Jeremy Hefner and the Braves might want to take on.
Jordan Montgomery brings a similar left-handed appeal, though his 2026 was more active than Cortes’ by a wide margin. Injuries have taken a big toll on his last couple of years, but he still managed to pitch in the majors this past season and was solid enough.
Montgomery appeared in 13 games, threw 26 innings, and posted a 4.15 ERA with a 3.87 FIP. He’d be more likely to land an MLB deal than Cortes, but his recent track record still points to a relatively modest price.
Then there’s Zack Littell, who may be the most obvious pivot to a short-term bargain after a brutal 2026. He signed with the Washington Nationals last offseason for $7 million and a mutual option for 2027, with the hope that he could look more like his 2025 Rays version than the pitcher who followed after a trade to the Reds.
That didn’t happen. Littell was worse with Washington than he had been in Cincinnati, logging 112.1 innings with a 4.97 ERA and 5.76 FIP.
The Nationals released him, and his time with Arizona was even shorter, lasting just 16 days. Still, he just turned 31 and had been a serviceable starter from 2023 to 2025, which is why he could wind up on a minor league deal and become exactly the kind of no-risk addition Atlanta made with Pérez.
In Other News...
Braves Fans Will Instantly Recognize This World Series Parallel
A late-inning jolt from a rookie can feel like the kind of moment that shifts a World Series, especially when it comes in the 12th and puts his team ahead in dramatic fashion. Cooper Pratt delivered exactly that kind of swing, and for Braves fans, the scene probably felt uncomfortably familiar right away. The energy, the timing and the sense that a postseason game had just turned were all there, along with the uneasy memory of how quickly a championship script can change.
Milwaukee got the kind of lift that usually becomes a postseason legend, only for the Tampa Bay Rays to answer in the bottom half and flip the night back the other way. It is the sort of sequence Atlanta followers know too well from a recent October heartbreak, when a huge swing seemed to set one path in motion before the other dug in and changed the outcome. For Braves fans, the parallel is hard to miss, and it leaves plenty of room to wonder whether this latest version ends the same way or breaks the pattern instead. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Suddenly Face A Tough Jurickson Profar Decision
Jurickson Profar is back on a field again, but his return comes with more uncertainty than clarity for the Braves. The outfielder recently played for Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League, his first game action since receiving a 162-game suspension for a second PED violation that cost him the 2026 season, and Atlanta is now sorting through what comes next as it tries to map out the roster and the clubhouse.
Alex Anthopoulos has said the organization plans to have internal discussions about Profars future, which puts the Braves in an awkward spot after a season lost to suspension. Ronald Acua Jr. has also said Profar distanced himself from the team after the ban, adding another layer to a situation that is still very much unresolved as Atlanta weighs how to handle one of its more complicated offseason questions. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Face Tough Price Decision On Two Key Free Agents
Jim Bowdens free-agent projections put the Braves in a familiar winter spot, trying to weigh fit against price on two players who matter in very different ways. Mauricio Dubon brings the kind of defensive versatility teams value when the market gets thin, and the Athletic piece suggests there may not be much competition at shortstop if clubs start circling. For Atlanta, that can turn a reasonable ask into a tougher one, especially if other teams decide they need a glove-first option who can move around the diamond.
Raisel Iglesias is the more straightforward name, but not necessarily the easier call. Bowden projected the veteran closer at one year and $17 million after another All-Star-level season, yet the Braves may pause before going that high with a reliever on the roster already and some age-related caution attached to the deal. It leaves Atlanta staring at two free agents who could help right away, while also forcing a decision on how much certainty they want to buy this offseason. [Read more 🡒]