The Atlanta Braves got some more bad news when it was discovered that Spencer Schwellenbach will need arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow. This leads to wondering what the way forward.
It was widely expected that the Braves would try to land a playoff caliber starting pitcher this off-season, which obviously has not happened yet. This is not to say that the front office has not tried. It is not like walking into a grocery store and you pick what you want. It takes two parties and a lot of moving parts to get a deal done. This goes with both free agents and trades.
As it stands now, the five-man rotation looks to likely be Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, and Hurston Waldrep to start the season. AJ Smith-Shawver is likely out for the entire year, Strider has yet to be his former self, and we don’t know for certain how Reynaldo López will be post injury. Add the fact that the Braves usually opt to give Sale extra rest and that means they will need either a sixth man or run a bullpen game. The depth has been worn thin yet again this season.
It makes sense that the Braves should at the very least entertain bringing someone else in. There are a few free agents available still, but there these names have been floated around social media like crazy. There have been some trade targets that have been talked about a lot like Sandy Alcántara. There is also a possibility that a farm arm steps into a rotation spot. However, let’s have some fun and look at some lesser mentioned names, or out of the box ideas.
First, we need to point out a few things. If you are looking at trades, then you must be realistic. Teams that are looking to make a playoff push rarely move starters. We have also seen teams that likely won’t win their division add players. For example, the Pirates and Angels have added a decent number of players for teams in their position that typically would not, which leads to thinking they are planning on keeping their starters for now. It should also be noted that we are not looking at players to replace Schwellenbach’s level of play, but rather serviceable arms to fill out the rotational depth that is sorely needed.
Let’s start with a team that may think they can compete but may be willing to move certain starters if the trade makes sense for them.
López is coming off a season in which he only pitched 75.2 innings, but he looked like his former self in terms of ERA with a 2.74. He had a much higher expected ERA (xERA) of 3.96, but that is still in the upper half of pitchers in MLB. Fangraphs has him projected at 3.75 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 3.2 fWAR, 9.0 K/9, and 2.3 BB/9. The reason this may work is he still has two years left on his contract with an AAV of $18.375MM. The Twins may be willing to move him to clear up some money while also bringing in prospects.
It may seem weird to be considering a pitcher that had a 5.11 ERA last season, but don’t quit reading just yet. His xERA of 4.36 shows he was unlucky, not to mention he was dealing with a hip issue. Braves fans know that hip injuries can have a lingering effect after watching Marcell Ozuna last year. He was a hitter, but still. Ober is supposedly good to go this season.
Four out of the last five seasons he has been in the top ten percent or better in walk rate, and from 2023-2024 he was arguably an all-star level talent with an xERA of 3.61 and 3.25 respectively. Fangraphs does not have much faith in him projecting a 4.28 ERA, 4.25 FIP, 1.8 fWAR, 8.2 K/9, and 2.1 BB/9. If the Twins are willing to sell low on him, he may be worth the gamble. The Braves would have team control through 2027.
Staying in the division, let’s look at the Guardians.
If the Guardians are willing to move Bibee, he is an excellent bounce back candidate that could be under team control through 2030. He has four years left on his $48MM contract with a team option for 2030. It is clear the Guardians plan on him being part of their core, so it depends on if they think they can be competitive within his contract window.
A 4.25 ERA is nothing to be excited about, but his xERA was much lower at 3.64 and was actually the lowest of his three-year career. He also is extremely durable. He had two complete games and pitched 182.1 innings last season. His lowest number of innings in a season was 142.0, and that was his rookie season.
Fangraphs projects that he will have a 3.90 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 2.5 fWAR, 8.4 K/9, and 2.7 BB/9. These are numbers that pretty much any rotation would be happy to have, especially when you consider the inning count. The real question is if the Guardians can be persuaded to move him. The odds are low.
Moving on to an outside of the box idea. The Cardinals are clearly sellers, but how much do they want to sell? They have two arms that are under their control for a while.
Michael McGreevy (Cardinals)
The odds of the Cardinals trading McGreevy are slim to none, but why not consider it if it is a non-zero chance? McGreevy is under team control through 2031and has only pitched 118.2 innings at the MLB level with a 3.94 ERA. Fangraphs likes what they have seen enough to project him having a 3.98 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.6 fWAR, 6.3 K/9, 2.2 BB/9. It should be noted that Statcast does not like his stuff as much as Fangraphs.
Matthew Liberatore (Cardinals)
In the same line of thinking we can look at Liberatore. He is under control through 2029. To say his career started off poorly would be an understatement, but he has shown improvements to be at least a cheap depth arm that is good enough for the back of a rotation. Back in 2023 he had a horrendous xERA of 6.04. It was in the bottom 5.0 percent of all MLB pitchers, but he improved to a much more palatable xERA of 4.19 in 2024. Both of those seasons he bounced between being an SP and RP. In 2025 he settled in as a full-time starter and gave the Cardinals 151.2 innings of 4.21 ERA and 4.03 FIP ball. This included his best strikeout to walk ratio of his career with a 3.05.
Fangraphs projects him to have a 4.22 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.5 fWAR, 7.5 K/9, and 2.9 BB/9. These are not numbers that jump off the page, but they are much better than what we would likely see from Bryce Elder, who is out of options anyway. It would be a gamble by both the Cardinals that he would not progress and the Braves that he would progress if this hypothetical trade were to take place.
One can only guess what route the Braves will take in terms of reacting to Spencer Schwellenbach’s injury, but one thing is for sure. The Braves will most certainly need depth after what we saw last season.
