Braves Briefing: How does Marco Gonzales impact Atlanta's rotation?

The Atlanta Braves pulled off a huge trade to kick off the MLB Winter Meetings.

On Sunday night, the Braves agreed to a trade that allowed them to acquire outfielder Jarred Kelenic, left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales and first baseman Evan White from the Seattle Mariners. 

In return, they gave up right-handed pitchers Cole Phillips, one of their top prospects, and Jackson Kowar, who was recently acquired from Kansas City to Seattle in the deal.

Now with Gonzales on the roster, it opens up an interesting conversation about what the start rotation could look like in 2024. Right now, we don't expect Gonzales to force anything among the top four pitchers in Atlanta's rotation but a battle for the fifth spot could be a key storyline early in the season.

Here's what we are looking at regarding Atlanta's potential starting rotation.

Max Fried
Spencer Strider
Charlie Morton
Chase Elder
Reynaldo López or Marco Gonzales

We wrote it

Braves Today's Lindsay Crosby broke down the news Sunday night. When looking at the addition of three new players, Gonzales will certainly be a key guy to watch.

An immediate candidate to slot into the rotation for 2024, the 31 year-old Gonzales is coming off of an injury-riddled year that saw him make only ten starts for a Seattle Mariners club that had to lean heavily on young pitching to contend for the postseason.
Dealing with a nerve issue in his forearm, he spent over two months on the injured list before having season-ending surgery in August.
But in the four seasons prior to 2023, Gonzales made 102 starts with a 3.92 ERA, showing the ability to go both deep in games and run higher workloads. He's owed $12.25M in 2024, with a $15M club option for 2025 that contains no buyout. 

Check out our reaction to Sunday night's trade.

How long until pitchers and catchers report?

70 days. Atlanta's expected to ask pitchers and catchers to report on Monday, February 12th, in advance of their first spring training game on February 24th against the Tampa Bay Rays. An official announcement of the reporting date will come in January.

Here's the odds for the top 10 teams to win the 2024 World Series according to FanDuel

Atlanta Braves - +600
Los Angeles Dodgers - +700
Texas Rangers - +850
Houston Astros - +850
Philadelphia Phillies - +1000
New York Yankees - +1400
Tampa Bay Rays - +1500
Toronto Blue Jays - +1500
Baltimore Orioles - +1500
Minnesota Twins - +1800
Seattle Mariners - +1800

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