ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – AUGUST 28: Casey Mize #32 of the San Diego Padres delivers a pitch in the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on August 28, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We’ve got some more hot stove speculation to talk about and apparently it’s on the pitching front. As you can imagine after how this past season went, the Atlanta Braves are likely going to be on the hunt to add to their rotation in order to fortify it ahead of next season (whenever that may be). There are some intriguing names out there and while there aren’t really any substantial rumors at the moment, there is now some information out there on who the Braves were looking at back in August once the Trade Deadline rolled around.
According to Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Braves were “prominently linked” to current free agent right-hander Casey Mize and were also reportedly interested in fellow free agent and right-hander Nick Pievetta as well. With that being said, Burns did mention that Atlanta’s “interest was overstated” when it came to Mize and that they also had injury concerns when it came to Pivetta as well.
Mize was certainly coveted by large portions of this fanbase at the deadline, as he’d been a core member of the Tigers’ rotation for a few years and had been having a solid season up until he got traded to the Padres. He then had a very rocky rental stint in San Diego across 10 starts and 44.2 innings pitched where he ended up with a 7.42 ERA (185 ERA-) and a 7.17 FIP (171 FIP-). His production truly fell off of a cliff when compared to how he fared during his time in Detroit in 2026, which is when he was sitting on a 2.70 ERA (65 ERA-) and a 2.58 FIP (62 FIP-) over 16 starts and 86.2 innings pitched.
Who knows how much the change of scenery played a role in Mize going from having an fWAR of 2.9 with the Tigers to cratering down to a -0.7 fWAR during his time with the Padres, but you have to imagine that the Detroit version is more of the true version of Mize than the one we saw in San Diego and that means that he’ll certainly have plenty of interest in him during this free agency cycle. With that being said, that rough stint should play a factor and maybe it’ll play out in Atlanta’s favor since Mize might end up being more amenable to the type of short-term deal that Alex Anthopoulos likes to go for on the free agency market.
Mize also comes with his fair share of injury issues as he did spend a decent amount of time on the IL during the 2026 season. It makes sense that if Atlanta’s interest in Mize was overstated then their interest in Nick Pivetta being muted due to injury concerns is also understandable. Pivetta was only able to make eight starts in 2026 for the Padres as a right flexor strain essentially torpedoed his season and caused him to miss basically everything from late-April until September.
With that being said, Pivetta was effective when he did pitch in 2026 as he finished with an ERA of 2.86 (71 ERA-) and a FIP of 2.21 (53 FIP-), which was largely in line with what he did in 2025 during his first season with the Padres. As such, it makes sense that the Padres themselves are reportedly interested in bringing Pivetta back on a different deal.
That also makes it make sense that Pivetta would be up Atlanta’s alley because, again, Anthopoulos has a M.O. of sticking with short-term deals in free agency. At this point, however, it’s purely speculation on the part of Burns and everybody else since we haven’t really heard anything substantial or that the Braves are close on anybody at the moment. I’m sure that there’s certainly some talking going on with various free agents at the moment but for now, the talk is just that: Talk.
We’ll see if this light puff of smoke eventually turns into a source of fire but for now, all we can do is wait and see what the Braves get up to in this period before the lockout. Let’s see what happens!
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
Fewer ads
Create community posts
Comment on articles, community posts
Rec comments, community posts
New, improved notifications system!
Download the SB Nation app on iOS or Android.