Even after adding Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey, and Jaime Garcia to a starting rotation that already included Julio Teheran, the Atlanta Braves are still trying to make their biggest acquisition of all. According to Jerry Crasnick on Twitter, the Braves are still interested in adding aces Chris Archer and/or Chris Sale. They prefer to add Sale, but then again, so would anybody.
Sale, 27, is probably the second best left-handed pitcher in the world behind Clayton Kershaw. Since 2012, he has made the All Star team every season, and hasn’t finished lower than 6th in Cy Young voting. You can bet you’ll get 200 strikeouts out of him every year, and possibly even the 274 he struck out in 2015.
Last season, Sale went 17-10 with a 3.40 ERA. In 226.2 innings he struck out 233 batters and walked 45, good enough to finish 5th in Cy Young voting. He is owed only $12 million in 2017, with $12.5 and $15 million options for 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Despite leading the Major Leagues in losses with 19, Chris Archer remains one of the most promising young arms in the bigs. Archer, 28, went 9-19 in 2016, recording a 4.02 ERA in 201.1 innings and striking out 233. He finished 5th in Cy Young voting in 2015 when he struck out 252 batters with a 3.23 ERA in 212 innings and made the All Star team.
Both of these players would instantly make the Braves much better, however not close to being contenders. With their only offensive threats being Ender Inciarte, Matt Kemp, and Met killer Freddie Freeman, as well as not really having much of a bullpen, they still have a long way to go.
