The Braves bullpen has been a work in progress for most of the 2025 MLB season. Although Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee and Pierce Johnson all entered the weekend with ERAs under three, that’s a sentiment that isn’t shared across the rest of the unit. That thinking is extremely evident in their closer situation, as the usually steady Rasiel Iglesias has posted a subpar 5.12 ERA in 31 2/3 innings this year.
While those struggles all but confirm that the Braves will be in on the relief market at this year’s trade deadline should they choose to be buyers, it doesn’t mean that they should blindly go after some of the big arms on the market.
In fact, here are three potential trade relief arms they should stay away from at this year’s trade deadline.
3 relievers the Braves need to avoid at all costs at the trade deadline
RHP Kenley Jansen, Angels
1-2, 3.82 ERA, 15 saves in 30 2/3 innings
Braves fans should be familiar with Jansen since he put together an up-and-down season in Atlanta in 2022. While he racked up a National League-leading 41 saves that season, he also finished the year with a 3.38 ERA in 64 innings and spent some time on the injured list due to an irregular heartbeat.
He parlayed that strong season into a two-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, where he was an All-Star in 2023 but finished both seasons with an ERA above 3.25.
While Jansen has the fifth-most saves in MLB history, it’s still not worth taking the risk on him. He’s on pace for the highest ERA of his career, and is in the 1st percentile in average exit velocity and the 3rd percentile in ground ball rate. In short, people are hitting his pitches hard and they’re hitting them in the air, which is a recipe for disaster.
The Braves have seen Jansen’s song and dance before, and they’d be better off by staying away from it this year.
RHP David Bednar, Pirates
2-5, 3.73 ERA, 12 saves in 29 2/3 innings
On paper, Bednar has everything the Braves would want in a trade deadline target, since he’s been pitching well as of late and still has two more years of team control after this season.
But the story doesn’t stop there. While he’s a two-time All-Star and was just named the National League Reliever of the Month for June, he’s coming off a season where he had a 5.77 ERA and was sent down to Triple-A earlier this year before being light out since coming back.
Bednar will likely be on the trade block this year since the Pirates are stuck in a perpetual rebuild, but that also means that the Pirates will have a high asking price for the 30-year-old Pittsburgh native.
RHP Emilio Pagán, Reds
1-2, 2.92 ERA, 19 saves in 37 innings
Another veteran closer from the National League Central, Pagán opened the season as a high-leverage arm for the Reds before becoming the team’s full-time closer at the end of April when they demoted, and subsequently traded, Alexis Díaz.
His ERA sat at 4.05 in the middle of May after he allowed three earned runs in 1 2/3 innings against the White Sox, but he’s been solid since and just finished a month where he allowed one earned run in 9 1/3 innings.
But, like Bednar, Pagan's success doesn’t seem sustainable. Even though he’s in the 97th percentile in expected batting average, he had a 4.50 ERA last year with the Reds and he hasn’t been a full-time closer since he was with the Rays in 2019.
Pagán’s on an expiring deal so he’d be the kind of hired run reliever that teams crave, but Atlanta should be wary of giving up too much for him.