Despite the fact that we’ve entered this quiet period here this offseason, there are still a fair number of players available via free agency. In fact, there are plenty of starting pitchers still on the market right now. Jon Heyman of the New York Post recently took note of this in a social media post:
Two of the names Heyman mentioned in his own post that he quoted were Lucas Giolito and Chris Bassitt. It turns out that these two players are now linked as the Atlanta Braves are reportedly interested in signing one of these guys. Heyman was the one who linked the Braves to those two when he appeared on MLB Network. He’ll start talking about the Braves’ interest in Giolito (and also Bassitt) around the 4:20 mark during the video below:
Back in November, Alex Anthopoulos stated that the team would look for pitching this offseason. They’ve accomplished the goal of strengthening the bullpen (with the retention of Raisel Iglesias and the addition of Robert Suarez as key offseason additions) and now they apparently want to make sure their starting rotation is strengthened for next season as well.
Lucas Giolito will enter his Age-31 season here in 2026, but he’s coming off a bit of a bounce-back season in 2025, where he stayed with the Red Sox all season after bouncing between three clubs in 2024. He produced a 3.41 ERA (80 ERA-) and a 4.17 FIP (99 FIP-) over the course of 26 starts and 145 innings pitched for Boston. That was good for 2.0 fWAR in 2025, giving him his most productive season since 2021, when he capped a very good three-year run with a 4.1 fWAR season at the time.
Giolito has certainly had his ups and downs since 2021 and he is also coming off an elbow injury that ended his season prematurely in September. Ultimately, though, he recovered early enough that he essentially had a full offseason to train rather than rehab, so the obvious hope for any team that would sign him is that he’ll be ready to go once spring training and the regular season roll around.
On the other hand, Chris Bassitt has been very steady since the 2019 season and any team that brings him in knows what they’re likely to get – even as he enters his age-37 season next season. Bassitt has made 188 starts since 2019 and thrown 1087.1 innings in that span, and over all that time he has posted a 3.60 ERA (87 ERA-) and a 3.94 FIP (93 FIP-).
That’s about as stable and reliable as you can get over the long term, and he proved that in the Postseason for the Blue Jays last season. He played seven games for Toronto over the course of their long playoff run, posting a 10.38 K/9 rate to go along with a 1.04 ERA and 1.52 FIP coming out of the pen for the Jays. That kind of reliability goes a long way and also seems to fit what the Braves would like to have when they actually dip their toes into the free agency waters. This is a club that values experience and a proven track record and it appears Bassitt has both qualities.
I’d be quite happy to see either of these pitchers join the rotation (especially considering neither will face the penalty associated with the Qualification Offer), as they would certainly help add a point to some of the lingering question marks surrounding this rotation. Atlanta still has a very solid rotation on paper at the moment, but as we’ve seen in recent seasons, injuries can quickly tear that paper apart. If Atlanta chooses to bring in one of these guys, they can at least be satisfied knowing Giolito comes into this season healthy and Bassitt has been consistent for a very long time (even as he gets older). We’ll see what happens when it comes to either of these two potentially joining the Braves ahead of the upcoming season.
#Braves #reportedly #interested #expanding #starting #rotation