The Atlanta Braves offseason priority list starts with Max Fried. The southpaw is one of the most coveted starters on the market for good reason, and while the Braves and Alex Anthopoulos would prefer to keep him, their chances of doing so have dropped dramatically.

Blake Snell signed a five-year, $182 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. Snell fully earned that contract last season when he played with the rival San Francisco Giants on a one-year deal. Snell has won the Cy Young twice and would be the undisputed ace of the Dodgers team without Shohei Ohtani. Instead of waiting too long like he did last winter, Snell jumped at the opportunity to join the World Series champions. It’s hard to blame him.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work The Baseball Insiders Podcastsubscribe The moonshotour weekly MLB newsletter and join the Discord for insider information during the MLB offseason.

The unfortunate truth about the free agent market this winter is that it is top heavy, especially at starting pitchers. It’s a great year to be a free agent, but not an ideal time to need pitching help. The Braves, like many other teams, will learn this the hard way.

If Anthopoulos hasn’t already, he should lower his expectations. The Braves pitching staff is doing well without Fried, especially if Spencer Strider gets back into shape after Tommy John surgery. After all, Chris Sale won the NL Cy Young last season. Bringing Fried back would be a fantastic addition, but he would also cost more than $30 million AAV, a number the Braves will almost certainly walk away from.

Atlanta spent the first few weeks of the offseason sorting out payroll, whether it was trading Jorge Soler or letting Travis d’Arnaud go. These painful decisions have consequences that the Braves are willing to live with under the luxury tax. Anthopoulos will spend money to improve a possible World Series contender in Atlanta, but it will be on his own terms and not those of CAA.