The reliever-turned-starter is believed to be seeking a three-year deal.
The Braves are among a handful of teams showing interest in right-handed starter Seth Lugo, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Lugo, 34, may be a familiar name after spending seven seasons with the Mets. While he served almost exclusively as a reliever with New York, the veteran righty traveled west to San Diego this past season and surprisingly made 26 starts.
The results were strong across the board for Lugo with a 3.57 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 3.76 xFIP, and nearly a 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 146 innings. He featured one of the top fastballs in the game (97th percentile in value despite average velocity, per Baseball Savant), although his off-speed pitches were nothing special. Lugo also did a good job at keeping the baseball on the ground, with his 45.2% ground ball rate tying him for 20th among all starting pitchers.
The Braves are seemingly active on the free agent starting pitching market. There was heavy reporting the club was in on Aaron Nola before he ultimately returned to Philadelphia, and Sonny Gray made sense on paper. It remains to be seen just how interested Alex Anthopolous is in the unconventional Lugo, but he, like quite a few others, would make sense given how the roster is currently constructed. Heyman noted Lugo is seeking a three-year deal.
Stay tuned for continuing updates from the Winter Meetings in Nashville.