Braves reportedly interested in AL East starting pitcher

The Atlanta Braves would like to strengthen their rotation.

When you think about ace Spencer Strider’s season-ending injury and the workload issues of starters Chris Sale (injury), Reynaldo López (replacement conversion) and Charlie Morton (age), it makes sense.

By Bob Nightengale, MLB InsiderBraves ‘watching closely’ Tampa Bay Rays veteran Zach Eflin.

Eflin, 30, hasn’t had the same caliber of starts as he did last season, when he went 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA in his 31 starts for Tampa Bay, striking out 186 in 177.2 innings. In 2024, Eflin is just 3-4 with a 4.12 ERA, although the worst win-loss record can be attributed to Tampa Bay’s slow start to the season.

Finishing in 6th place in the AL Cy Young race last season, Eflin is currently underperforming some of his peripherals, posting a 3.67 independent pitching ERA and the best strikeout per walk rate in baseball at 11.0.

Fielding Independent Pitching, or FIP, is considered a more accurate measure of a pitcher’s true skill because it isolates only those things the pitcher can control – home runs, walks, strikeouts and RAP – which eliminates the positive or negative contributions of the defense. pitcher statistics.

Eflin is in the second season of a three-year contract signed before the 2023 season, earning $11 million this season and $18 million in 2025 with a $1 million trade assignment bonus. This extra year of control would apparently be attractive to a Braves team that currently plans to be without Max Fried and Charlie Morton next season, as both pitchers will hit free agency after 2024.

Tampa Bay is another organization, similar to Atlanta, that is considered good at developing pitchers and it makes sense that a deal could be reached between the two teams despite Atlanta’s lack of high-end players. Tampa Bay’s historic depth with hitters is another factor that portends a pitching-heavy return, although the Rays’ system is not as deep with hitters as in previous seasons.

Eflin’s contract for the remainder of this season could potentially be a sticking point absent financial squabbles; the Braves are expected to find themselves less than $5 million below the third competitive balance tax threshold of $277 million, a figure that comes with additional financial and draft penalties. If Eflin is traded before the final month of the season, a possibility that depends on Atlanta being aggressive in improving the rotation before entering the heart (and heat) of the Georgia summer, Tampa Bay could see itself ask to pay for part of Eflin’s contract, receiving higher caliber prospect feedback for doing so.