The Braves are heading into the winter with a familiar need: more starting pitching.
Atlanta’s rotation got through most of the season with solid results despite a wave of injuries, but the lack of depth showed up in the playoffs. Chris Sale and deadline addition Tyler Mahle were the only pitchers trusted to work as true starters, and with Mahle and Martin Perez now free agents, the Braves are widely expected to shop for rotation help.
Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution dug into the free-agent market and flagged a couple of names that could fit, while also laying out the concerns that come with both. Nick Pivetta has been on Atlanta’s radar “in [the] past, but there are currently concerns about his elbow,” Burns wrote.
The Braves also have reservations about Casey Mize’s health, which helped keep them from making a full push for him over the summer. As Burns put it, “the Braves were prominently linked to Mize at the trade deadline, though that interest was overstated.”
Mize’s medical file is long. He landed on the 15-day injured list three times in 2026, and twice more before the Tigers shipped him to the Padres at the deadline.
Last season, he missed a little more than five weeks because of a pair of adductor injuries, then a sprained ankle in late September knocked him out again and kept him off San Diego’s postseason roster. Hamstring issues also cost him time in both 2024 and 2025, and the biggest interruption came from Tommy John surgery, which wiped out almost all of the 2022-23 seasons.
The finish to his 2026 season didn’t help his case either. Mize opened the year with Detroit and posted a 2.70 ERA over 86 2/3 innings, but things fell apart after the trade.
He finished with a 7.46 ERA in 44 2/3 innings for San Diego, with his strikeout and walk numbers moving the wrong way and his home-run rate spiking. Padres opponents took him deep 13 times, after he allowed just five homers in his 86 2/3 innings with the Tigers.
That rough stretch is part of why MLB Trade Rumors ranked Mize 25th on its offseason top 50 free agents list and projected him for a two-year, $28MM deal with an opt-out after the first season. The idea is that Mize may not find the long-term offer he wants, so a shorter contract could give him a chance to rebuild value and try again next winter.
Pivetta’s market comes with a similar shape. He checked in 28th on the same list, with a projection of two years and $26MM.
His 2026 season was wrecked by a flexor strain that limited him to eight starts and 34 2/3 innings for the Padres. Because he spent more than 130 straight days on the injured list with an arm issue, his $14MM player option for 2027 turned into a club option, and San Diego declined it, clearing $32MM in salary since he was also owed $18MM in 2028.
When Pivetta was on the mound, though, he still pitched well. He finished with a 2.86 ERA, a 30K% and a 5.7BB% in the regular season, then turned in a 3.52 ERA over 7 2/3 playoff innings. He’ll enter his age-34 season, so durability remains part of the conversation, but he should still attract plenty of interest as a bounce-back candidate.
Burns wasn’t shutting the door on either pitcher for Atlanta. He was simply pointing out the same concerns any team would have when weighing them. And in Mize’s case, a free-agent pursuit is a different animal from a deadline trade - signing him would only cost money, while the Tigers’ asking price may have been a major reason Atlanta never went all the way in on a deal.
If anything, the shorter-term nature of both pitchers could make them more appealing to the Braves. Alex Anthopoulos has generally avoided major free-agent splashes during his nine years running baseball operations, with Marcell Ozuna’s four-year, $65MM deal still standing as the biggest free-agent contract of his tenure. Robert Suarez’s three-year, $45MM deal from last winter is next on the list, and it’s also the largest contract ever given to a pitcher by the Braves.
Mize and Pivetta are only two names in a much broader field. Atlanta could look at free agents or trade candidates, and Anthopoulos has a track record of pulling off surprise moves, with the Sale trade standing out as one of the best steals in recent years. The Braves usually like to move early, often getting major business done by early November, but the looming December 1 lockout could make that tougher this winter as other teams race to finish their own work before the freeze.
In Other News...
Padres Have A Bogaerts Problem That Could Haunt Every Move
Xander Bogaerts remains one of the biggest variables in the Padres long-term picture, and not in the way anyone in San Diego hoped when the deal was signed. His contract runs through 2033 with roughly $175 million still on the books, a commitment that looms over every discussion about how the roster should be built from here. With Manny Machados salary set to climb, the Padres are already dealing with a payroll structure that leaves little room for error.
The tougher part is that Bogaerts has not produced at the level the contract demands, yet moving him is no simple escape hatch. He has a full no-trade clause, which gives him control over any potential destination and makes the front offices options even narrower. For a team trying to balance present competitiveness with future flexibility, figuring out how Bogaerts fits into the next phase may end up shaping far more than just one roster spot. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Suddenly Have A Real Ty France Decision To Make
Ty France turned a minor league deal into one of the more useful stories of the Padres 2026 season, and now hes positioned himself for a much different kind of winter. After a career year in San Diego that brought personal bests in slugging, OPS and home runs, the first baseman has gone from roster depth to a sought-after free agent, with multiple teams reportedly showing interest in him.
For the Padres, the question is no longer whether France can help, but whether they can keep him around after he proved his value. There is mutual interest in a reunion, and France has said he is open to hearing offers while understanding the business side of the sport and the freedom that comes with it. That leaves San Diego weighing a familiar player against a market that may be ready to push him in a new direction. [Read more 🡒]
Padres May Be Headed For A Brutal Michael King Decision
Michael Kings strong October only sharpened the spotlight on what comes next for the Padres. The right-hander declined his player option and is headed for free agency, leaving San Diego with a familiar but uncomfortable offseason question about how hard to push to keep a pitcher who delivered in the biggest moments. His postseason run, capped by a 0.64 ERA and 15 strikeouts over 14 innings, gave the Padres exactly the kind of late-stage stability teams dream about.
Now the market is part of the equation, and it may not be a quiet one. There is speculation the Cubs could get involved, though no official offers have been confirmed, which leaves San Diego weighing both value and urgency before the bidding even begins. For a club that has leaned on King in meaningful spots, the decision is no longer just about what he did in October, but whether that kind of production is worth the price of keeping him around. [Read more 🡒]