It looks like the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles have the same player in mind to be a potential low-cost replacement for All-Star pitchers Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.
This will be an interesting next few weeks for the Braves and Orioles. Both teams made the playoffs again in 2024. However, the pair of elite clubs were easily sent backing in the Wild Card Round of the postseason. Bringing positive seasons to a quick and disappointing end.
Many of the key players from this year’s team will be back in 2025. And in the case of the Braves, top stars Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. will return from season-ending injuries. However, the two franchises also have some major players that will be available in free agency, and two of them were top stars on their pitching staffs this season.
Corbin Burnes and Max Fried are two of the best arms available on the pitching market this offseason. Both are expected to get huge increases in pay after earning All-Star honors again in 2024. With teams like the New York Mets and Yankees, as well as the Boston Red Sox likely to drive up the price, both could be playing somewhere else next year.
That is why both clubs must be ready with potential backup plans if they lose Burnes and Fried this offseason. And it seems the two organizations are eyeing the same two-time All-Star as a possible replacement for their top pitchers.
- Nathan Eovaldi stats (2024): 12-8 record, 3.80 ERA, 1.107 WHIP, 166 strikeouts, 177.2 innings pitched
Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles both interested in veteran pitcher Nathan Eovaldi
“The Orioles and Braves are among the teams with interest in free agent Nathan Eovaldi,” MLB Network league insider Jon Morosi revealed on Wednesday.
The 13-year MLB veteran has played with six different teams during his career and is likely headed to join a seventh different one this winter. While he was a journeyman pitcher for much of his career, he has come into his own in recent seasons.
- Nathan Eovaldi contract (Projection): Two years, $55 million
Eovaldi has won 11 or more games in three of the last four seasons. And earned All-Star honors in two of those years. He was a huge part of the Texas Rangers winning it all in 2023. While this season he turned into the team’s ace due to injuries to future Hall-of-Famers Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
He has not had the same career as Burnes or Fried, but he is still a very good pitcher at the moment and would cost a whole lot less in free agency.