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Braves Another Team Pirates Should Consider Making Trade With This Offseason
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- Braves Another Team Pirates Should Consider Making Trade With This Offseason
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
The Pittsburgh Pirates will likely struggle to move on from right-hander Mitch Keller, the 30-year-old who has been in trade rumors for much of his career.
Keller, a one-time All-Star in 2023, frankly just hasn't thrown the baseball at a great level over the past couple of seasons. Keller looked like one of the more above-average starters in baseball, especially in 2022 and 2023, but his numbers have fallen off sharply over the past three years.
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At the same time, Keller hasn't been bad. In 2024, he posted a 4.25 ERA and struck out 166 hitters in 178.0 innings. He didn't exactly throw the baseball well this season, but only appeared in 22 starts, tossing a 5.29 ERA and striking out just 89 hitters.
The problem for the Pirates isn't that Keller is a bad player and no team would trade for him; it's that he won't be a free agent until 2029 and is still on a five-year, $77 million deal.
For teams that might be interested in adding him, one writer recently suggested the Atlanta Braves could be one of them. Aside from Chris Sale, the Braves have some decent arms, but they've also dealt with multiple injuries on that front.
"This option is more dependent on how the Atlanta Braves could satisfy their need for starting pitching in 2027. Atlanta has good starting pitchers, Chris Sale, Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwallenbach, but the former will be 38 next season and both Strider and Schwallenbach are dealing with serious injuries.
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"The Braves have had success with some of the other starters they've gone to: Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Martín Pérez, but they will likely look elsewhere for more rotation depth this offseason. Keller gives the Braves a reliable fourth- or fifth-day starting pitcher and has avoided injury for most of his career," Dominic Campbell wrote .
As for an area the Braves need to add this offseason, starters should be the priority.
However, it's also safe to say that if they trade with the Pirates, asking Pittsburgh to eat some of that salary might come up.
That also leads to the next point: the Pirates might not be interested in doing so.
Regardless of what happens on that front, the Pirates have to get the best possible return, though there might not be a great one out there for a player of his caliber on his contract.
