Opening Day is just a few days away, and the Atlanta Braves are already having to drag themselves. First, there were injuries to Sean Murphy and Spencer Schwellenbach. And then it was Jurickson Profar who had to go out and get suspended for a year after getting caught for PEDs. And now, Spencer Strider has hit the IL. This means that the Braves will have to act fast and bring in the Red Sox’s $20M pitcher.

Jon Heyman, after the Strider injury, said, “Braves absolutely need to sign Lucas Giolito now… Spencer Strider is the latest loss, hitting the IL.”

As reported, Spencer Strider will be opening the season on the IL with an oblique strain. Manager Walt Weiss confirmed that Strider will be out for at least a “few” weeks. It usually takes around 4-6 weeks to recover fully from an oblique strain, which means that the Braves will miss him for around 24-38 games.

But this is just another name added to the long list of injuries the Braves have had in their pitching department. Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both underwent elbow surgeries and are out until midseason. Joey Wentz suffered a torn knee ligament and is set to miss the entire season. A.J. Smith-Shawver is recovering from a Tommy John and is going to miss a portion of 2026.

With Strider sidelined for weeks, the Braves must rely heavily on their current rotation. They have Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, and Bryce Elder in the current rotation.

Except for Chris Sale, nobody is good enough to support the batting lineup, even with Ronald Acuna Jr. looking his best.

This opens the doors for Lucas Giolito. Giolito is currently unsigned after he refused the club option by the Red Sox. In 2025, Giolito had a 3.41 ERA and a 10-4 record. He also had 131 strikeouts, backing his 22.9% whiff. This justifies the $20 million price tag on him, so the contract the Braves give him will be around the same.

Giolito’s addition to this rotation will take pressure off arms like Reynaldo López and Bryce Elder. With many of their starting pitchers on IL, the Braves will have to go after Giolito, but if they somehow miss signing him, they will have to turn quickly to other free agents.

Other free agents that the Braves can go after

The Atlanta Braves looked stretched, but it looked manageable until this injury to Strider. Now, it looks like they have no choice but to add a starting pitcher, because five of their projected starters are unavailable for opening day. This brings some of the free agents into question.

Some of the best available free agent pitchers on the market are Frankie Montas, Nestor Cortes, and Tyler Anderson.

Frankie Montas had a terrible 2025 with 19 runs earned in 27 innings. He allowed 5 or more runs in 9 appearances last season. And with the Braves looking to get back into playoff contention, they can’t have Montas leaking runs.

The next option is Nestor Cortes, who had a very average 2025 with the Padres and the Brewers. He ended the season with an ERA of 6.29. At one point, he even gave up 11 runs across 2 starts with the Padres. But if he can get back to his 2022 form, where he held teams to less than 3 runs in 18 starts, the Braves could consider him an option.

The last pick is Tyler Anderson. In 2025, Anderson made 27 starts for the Angels and covered 141 innings despite his 4.55 ERA. But Anderson did prove that he can pitch deep into a game by pitching 6 innings in 14 of his starts for the Angels. And this might be the best choice the Braves have apart from Lucas Giolito.