Friday news roundup: A timeline for Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider
As the Braves enter the Winter Meetings, a timeline is emerging on their two best players returning from injury.
The Winter Meetings kick off next Monday in Dallas, and after such a great experience last year in Nashville, I’m bummed that a family concern is going to keep me away from this one.
But as we prepare for three days of press conferences and media availabilities, there’s some actual news to report on the Atlanta Braves.
Injury timelines for Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider
The last official confirmation we got from Alex Anthopoulos was that the team wasn’t expecting their best starter and their best hitter to be ready for Opening Day, prompting the team to look at creating “financial flexibility” to replace them for the season opener on the road in San Diego.
Well, enter Mark Bowman of MLB.com
Couching his timelines with “might” and “could”, Bowman relayed that Strider’s likely a month after Opening Day and Acuña’s closer to six weeks, at a minimum.
This makes me believe that the team’s not going to try and reset the CBT penalties this season by reining in spending, given what it would do to the makeup of the roster in the meantime.1
Atlanta’s outfield right now is Michael Harris II in center, flanked by Jarred Kelenic and either Eli White or Carlos D. Rodriguez. The Braves rotation right now is Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Spencer Schwellenbach, and multiple question marks.
It feels unlikely that the team would want to roll with that configuration for four to six weeks (or more, if either player has a setback). It’s also unlikely that the organization could fill both of those holes AND find an impact reliever to replace the injured Joe Jiménez all for $20M without multiple lottery tickets cashing in or pulling off some massive trade heists.
After 2025, there are some more notable contracts coming off the books in Raisel Iglesias ($16M) and Marcell Ozuna ($13M), providing an avenue for a CBT reset.
Mark Bowman drops a report from a source
Fans of the Braves know that this front office does NOT leak - when a signing happens, it’s almost always broken by the team themselves using that all-too-familiar blue box on social media, not by Jeff Passan or anyone else.
So it’s significant that Mark Bowman both heard and passed along the intel last month that the team was interested in free-agent starter Nathan Eovaldi, formerly of the Texas Rangers. Nothing that’s come out in the last month refutes that original report from November, and it’s logical to think that the Braves are still the favorites to sign the righty as of now.
A teammate of Chris Sale’s on Boston’s 2018 World Series championship team, Eovaldi’s entering his age-35 season in a stretch of perfectly acceptable mid-rotation production: A 3.76 ERA across 606 innings in the last four seasons, with all but one of those four seeing him make at least 25 starts.
While I think Eovaldi’s more “reliable innings” than “impact starter”, this reminds me of the Aaron Nola pursuit last offseason - let’s get a guy that’s both posted and performed at an above-average level almost every season. (His two seasons of 20 and 25 starts, 2022 & 2023, were due to forearm and back injuries, but he recovered to pitch 170+ innings last year.)
If Eovaldi joins Atlanta either before or after the meetings, does it move the needle on Atlanta’s ceiling for 2025? Probably not, but it raises the floor. Atlanta’s fill-in starters like Allan Winans (0-2, 15.26 ERA) and a non-ready Hurston Waldrep (0-1, 16.71 ERA) were mostly dreadful, and erasing just two or three of those losses would have allowed the Braves to clinch a playoff spot early enough to set the rotation and perhaps proactively manage Chris Sale’s back where he could have pitched in October.
Fair to expect a Braves move this week?
The Braves have a habit of making a significant move around the time of the Winter Meetings.
I was already in bed in Nashville on Sunday night last year when my roommate woke me up so I could write about Atlanta acquiring Jarred Kelenic from the Seattle Mariners in the first of a dizzying set of trades. But it’s not just last year where Atlanta’s GM/POBO got active when in close proximity to the rest of the league’s decision-makers:
1992: Starting pitcher Greg Maddux, considered to be a lock to the New York Yankees, signed with the Atlanta Braves for five years and $28M during the meetings. It is widely considered to be a good move.
2015: The Braves acquire that summer’s number one overall pick, SS Dansby Swanson out of Vanderbilt, from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a five-player deal. Atlanta also received outfielder Ender Inciarte and starter Aaron Blair, while pitcher Shelby Miller quickly flamed out in Arizona and prospect Gabe Speier never debuted for the Diamondbacks - he was traded two years later to Kansas City and is now a member of the Seattle Mariners.
2003: Braves trade top pitching prospect Adam Wainwright to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder J.D. Drew. It is widely considered to be a bad move. While Drew was exceptional in 2004, batting .305 with 31 homers and more walks (118) than strikeouts (116), he left after the season and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Wainwright, however, spent all 18 years of his career with the Cardinals, winning 200 games with a career 3.75 ERA before retiring after the 2023 season. Despite never winning a Cy Young, he has two 2nd-place, two 3rd-place finishes, and a 7th-place finish (at age 38!) as well as two All-Star nods, two Gold Gloves, and a Silver Slugger.
Despite not being in attendance this year, we’ll have you covered with podcasts, newsletters, and hopefully press conference video from the Winter Meetings! Stay tuned to both Braves Today and the Braves Today Podcast for complete coverage.
Speculation, not reporting