Who Are Some MLB Free Agents the Atlanta Braves Could Target?

Who Are Some MLB Free Agents the Atlanta Braves Could Target?
Fact Checked by Nate Hamilton

The Atlanta Braves are spending the offseason wondering how they won a Major League-best 104 games in the regular season in 2023 but could manage to win just one game in the postseason. For the second consecutive season, the Braves were ushered out of the playoffs by NL East rival Philadelphia. The Phillies pitchers held Atlanta’s offense to eight runs in dispatching the division champs, 3-games-to-1, in the Divisional Round.

And so, the Braves – like the Los Angeles Dodgers, who similarly won triple-digit games but face-planted in the playoffs – will be looking to shore up the clubhouse in MLB free agency.  In baseball, the opportunity to sign free agents starts right after the World Series but plays out at, well, baseball pace, meaning it’s a languid process.

Always thinking with a Georgia sports betting mindset, BetGeorgia.com sized up the Braves’ situation, analyzed the baseball free-agent market, and developed hypothetical odds of Atlanta landing one or more of the top FAs.  For the Braves, their task is a delicate one.  After all, they already have an outstanding team.  Arguably, the best team in baseball.

However, being best on paper, and even in the regular season, doesn’t get you baseball immortality.  Only winning the World Series does that.

Atlanta Braves Free Agent Odds

Below are some hypothetical odds of which MLB free agents the Atlanta Braves could go after. These are odds you might not typically have on Georgia betting apps even if they were legal.

Free Agent Odds Percentage
Adam Duvall, OF +180 35.7%
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., OF +225 30.5%
Teoscar Hernández, OF +300 25.0%
Joc Pederson, OF +300 25.0%
Michael A. Taylor, OF +450 18.2%
Other -300 75.0%

MLB Free Agents Braves Could Land

While there will be lots of talent available on the free agent market, there’s only one headline name -- Shohei Ohtani, the amazing pitcher-hitter who’s been playing for the Los Angeles Angels and is now a free agent.  Ohtani’s elbow surgery probably eliminates him as a pitcher, at least for 2024, but he’s still one of the game’s best hitters with 124 home runs over the last three seasons and an OPS of  1.066 (on-base plus slugging) last season.

Certainly, Braves fans would love to see Ohtani in an Atlanta uniform, but that’s not what the smart money says is likely to happen.  The probable fat-wallet contenders in the Ohtani bidding war are the Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the Chicago Cubs, and the San Francisco Giants.

So, putting aside Ohtani in Atlanta, here are the Braves’ hypothetical odds of landing some of the rest of the top available free agents.  Percentages do not total 100% because signing one player doesn’t preclude signing another. The odds and percentages are a team’s chances of signing a player among the 30 MLB teams.

Part of the free agent equation is who the Braves will be losing and that roll call includes outfielders Eddie Rosario and Kevin Pillar. So, Atlanta’s free-agent targets will be heavy on outfielders.

Stay with BetGeorgia.com for all of the latest sports news and be sure to bookmark our Georgia sportsbook promos page as it will be filled with the best deals the Peach State has to offer once legal.

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Author

Bill Ordine

Bill Ordine covers state gambling issues for BetGeorgia.com. He was a reporter and editor in news and sports for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Baltimore Sun for 25 years, and was a lead reporter on a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News. Bill started reporting on casinos and gaming shortly after Atlantic City’s first gambling halls opened and wrote a syndicated column on travel to casino destinations for 10 years. He covered the World Series of Poker for a decade and his articles on gaming have appeared in many major U.S. newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and others.

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