Braves check off major box on offseason to-do list with much needed reunion

What the Atlanta Braves are planning to address this offseason and in what order appears to be in constant flux. Earlier on Wednesday, word spread that the Braves reached out about Mauricio Dubon to address their open shortstop stop and it feels like they have been connected to most of the starting pitchers on the market. However, their bullpen is in a particularly bad way and that was going to require some real investment...which Atlanta just did.

Raisel Iglesias has been mostly excellent during his time with the Braves, but his horrific first half made some wonder if we were witnessing his unfortunate decline. Thankfully, he got back on track in the second half and got back to dominating opposing hitters again. Still, with Iglesias hitting free agency and that rough start still fresh in their minds, it was unclear if the Braves would pony up to bring him back.

Well, we have good news. On Wednesday night, the Braves announced a one-year deal with Iglesias worth $16 million which feels like a nice middle that values Iglesias' contributions while avoiding a risky long-tern commitment.

Braves bring back Raisel Iglesias on a one year, $16 million deal

While there were a lot of exciting potential closers on the market, a reunion with Iglesias remained the option that made the most sense. Both sides know each very well and while being a reliever inherently means he is volatile, the Braves at least know where Iglesias' health and work ethic stand. Given how much interest Iglesias was seemingly getting as a free agent, Atlanta is exceedingly fortunate to be able to lock him up on a reasonable one year deal.

With closer out of the way, Atlanta has a lot of work to do to rebuild their bullpen still after the team's roster culling at the end of the season. There is a chance that Tyler Kinley and Pierce Johnson both could return on different contract terms, but nothing is certain at the moment. Now that the front office knows how much they are committing at closer, we could see even more bullpen dominos fall soon.

It is nice that the Braves got their first major move out of the way. Re-signing a familiar face to a one year deal may not seem like much now and Atlanta will have to reckon with their closer situation a year from now. However, this was an important step towards understanding exactly how aggressive the Braves plan on being elsewhere and how much money they have left to pull their plans off.