The Braves wasted no time making a move this offseason as they traded Jorge Soler the day after the World Series ended. In return, Atlanta received starting pitcher Griffin Canning, with the Angels covering Soler's remaining salary. With Marcell Ozuna's impressive performance over the last two seasons, Soler's contract was redundant.
It was an expected move, but the timing was a bit surprising. Alex Anthopoulos moved quickly to offload money. He restructured Aaron Bummer and Reynaldo Lopez's contracts to give them more flexibility.
The team needs to fill two pitching spots and consider upgrades at shortstop and potentially left field. Making any impact additions will require a decent amount of room in the budget.
AA and company could consider moving another player: Braves closer Raisel Iglesias. Iglesias has been an important part of the Atlanta bullpen since being acquired from the Angels in 2022.
Braves could make this offseason special with trade of Raisel Iglesias
But why would the Braves want to trade an essential right-handed reliever, especially considering Joe Jimenez's injury? Iglesias is entering the final year of his four-year $58 million contract with the Angels in the same season the Braves traded for him. He will earn $16 million in 2025 and reach free agency in 2026 at the age of 36.
He is valuable, but that $16 million could be huge in signing an impact starting pitcher or position player. The Braves could look to move him to a team that needs a quality back-end bullpen arm. Trying to get what you can from him while his value is high isn't a terrible idea.
Iggy just completed arguably the best season of his career. He earned a 1.95 ERA through 69.1 innings with 13 walks and 68 strikeouts. He excelled in practically every single pitching metric measured. It makes it hard to justify trading him ahead of his final season.
Raisel Iglesias was insanely good for the Braves in 2024. These metrics are mind blowing. pic.twitter.com/v1gu79cwmm
— Steven Teal (@realteal09) November 18, 2024
Factor his incredible performance alongside the realization that Joe Jimenez is likely to miss most or all of 2025, and you make the decision even more difficult for the Braves. However, the team is in a challenging position, with two starting pitchers coming off the roster and needing an impact bat.
Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. are expected to miss the beginning of the season, so Atlanta needs to consider how to fill those voids. Opening up almost $20 million to work with would allow them to do so more easily.
However, that would then leave them without a proven closer. The likelihood of this actually happening is extremely low, but it's certainly something the front office has considered. To be a good MLB front office, you have to examine every scenario to see if it could help improve the team.