As much as they were were posturing about addressing the rotation and shortstop, most Atlanta Braves fans knew that Alex Anthopoulos and the front office were going to be active on the bullpen market. Reuniting with Raisel Iglesias was never going to be the only splash the Braves made on a reliever, although signing Robert Suarez was a pleasant surprise. However, what is even more interesting was the Braves' pursuit of Edwin Diaz.
The Braves had been mentioned in the Diaz rumor mill, but never prominently and he obviously ended up signing with the Dodgers, Atlanta got Suarez, and that seemed like the end of it. However, things almost ended very differently as a report from ESPN's Jorge Castillo indicated that among the teams that were suitors for Diaz, Atlanta was the one to put a five year contract on the table.
It's been a week since Edwin Díaz chose to sign with the Dodgers over the Mets. Some details on the Mets' pursuit of the closer and what's possibly next for a team that is going to look very different in 2026:https://t.co/tFr4KkxBRe
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) December 16, 2025
Braves' reported five-year contract offer to Edwin Diaz is pretty wild when you think about it
Now, there are some things we don't know about the Braves' offer for Diaz. From Castillo's report, the Braves were unwilling to match Diaz's demand of an at least $20 million AAV and he did end up ultimately signing with LA at $23 million a year over three years. Given what we know about how Atlanta operates and the fact that they gave Suarez $15 million a year, the best guess is the Diaz AAV was in that neighborhood.
However, five years is a lot of years for a reliever and that had to be awfully tempting for the 31-year-old closer. That isn't quite Josh Hader's deal with the Astros (which is almost certainly what Diaz was hoping to beat), but not a lot of relievers get $75-ish million in guaranteed money on a single contract. It is hard not think about having Diaz AND Iglesias at the end of games and watching Mets fans absolutely lose their minds.
In the end, everything worked out mostly well other than the part where the Dodgers ended up with Diaz. The Mets losing Diaz was the beginning of what is shaping up to be a nightmarish offseason for them and no one should be complaining about the Braves getting Suarez to pair with Iglesias in the bullpen next year. Still, it seems like it was really close to being even better for Atlanta fans than that.