Ken Rosenthal speaks on the Braves rotation plans

A wrench has been thrown into the Atlanta Braves’ rotation plans right at the start of Spring Training, with Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both set to go under the knife for elbow injuries. The Braves hope both can return at some point this season, but for at least the first few months, they’ll be without two of their top arms.

The news has many fans up in arms about the Braves’ decision not to add a starting pitcher during the offseason. They knew they had a slew of pitchers entering the season with injury concerns, so the fact this has happened shouldn’t have been the least bit surprising.

Throughout the offseason, Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos called starting pitching the club’s top priority. He’s since reiterated his quest for a “playoff-caliber” starter. Yet, as the season approaches, it looks as if the Braves are going to roll with what they have, which potentially means a lot of opportunities for 2023 All-Star Bryce Elder.

“Bryce Elder, he’s an interesting guy,” Rosenthal said on Foul Territory. “His velo jumped about two miles in September. He was better in September. He’s not a hard thrower, but they feel perhaps he can hold this down in a way that at least buys them some time.”

Bryce Elder has had success at the major-league level. In the first 40 starts of his career, he posted a 3.66 ERA with a 14-8 record, earning All-Star honors in 2023. But since about the second half of that 2023 campaign, he’s been nothing short of a disaster, making 38 starts since the beginning of the 2024 campaign and recording a gaudy 5.59 ERA.

There have been moments, but there’s also a large enough body of work to determine he is what he is. He’s not going to strike many guys out, there are going to be a lot of baserunners when he’s on the mound, and he has a tendency to throw a meatball right over the heart of the plate that hitters at this level simply do not miss.

Could he potentially hold things down enough until reinforcements arrive? Absolutely. But there’s also a strong chance this experience is a short-lived disaster, leaving the Braves scrambling for answers by the time late April arrives.

Which is why signing another starting pitcher — even if it’s not a “playoff-caliber” arm — should not be off the table.

“The question I have, frankly,” Rosenthal continued, “is why don’t the Braves just go sign Lucas Giolito, or Zack Littell, or even Max Scherzer? Obviously, that still can happen, and maybe that is something they will look at. But with the exception of Scherzer — at least in his past — those are not top-of-the-rotation options. The Braves might argue that, for a certain price, they are not worth more than Bryce Elder would be at a minimum salary.”

If the entire Braves rotation can stay healthy, they’ll probably be fine riding with guys like Elder, Martin Perez, or perhaps even a prospect arm like JR Ritchie. The pitchers Rosenthal mentions all come with warts of their own and don’t exactly raise the team’s ceiling.

However, the argument for signing one of them becomes much stronger when considering the possibility of another injury. Chris Sale has had plenty over the course of his career. Reynaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes are also coming off season-ending injuries of their own. If one of those guys goes down, it becomes a dire issue that may not be resolvable with the current in-house options.

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