The Atlanta Braves will start a pitcher other than Max Fried on Opening Day for the first time since 2020. The Braves recently declared that Spencer Strider will start the Opening Day game. For the past three years, Fried has started on Opening Day. It was Michael Soroka in 2020 who was not the Opening Day starter before Fried.

Fried will be a free agent at the end of the season, as the most of you are aware. The Atlanta Braves’ retention percentage is low when it comes to re-signing their best players who are about to become free agents. Just take a look at the most recent crop of prominent Atlanta players to hit free agency.

Jorge Soler is in San Francisco, Kenley Jansen is in Boston, Freddie Freeman is with the Dodgers, Dansby Swanson is with the Cubs, and we let Adam Duvall walk twice. Marcell Ozuna and Eddie Rosario were the only two players the Braves re-signed who were on the verge of free agency, and only Ozuna is still in Atlanta.

The likelihood of us getting Fried back is not good. However, that does not imply that this will be his final season. Is Strider’s selection as the Opening Day starter a way of telling Fried to get over it? That isn’t the case, in my opinion either. This pitching staff could rank among the greatest in the Major League Baseball. Fried, Strider, Sale, Morton, and, temporarily, Lopez. It only serves as evidence of the Braves’ skill on the mound.

This may also be related to relaxation, as our own Lindsay Crosby noted on the Braves Today podcast. Though there are a lot of variables that go into why Strider starts on Opening Day, none of them point to Fried’s departure at the end of the season. Business is business, always.