Say what you want to about Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta Braves' front office, but they are always looking for opportunities to improve the ball club. Sometimes those moves are on the flashier side as we have seen this week with the signings of guys like Craig Kimbrel and Alex Verdugo, but very often they are minor moves that provide real depth that don't look like much at the time.
Given what the Braves dealt with on the injury front last season, there is a lot of wisdom with this strategy. You don't necessarily need to field an All-Star team on the bench and in Triple-A, but having real options available for a rainy day is what the best teams do and Atlanta is as good as anyone at stockpiling depth in advance of the grind of the long baseball season.
On Friday, we saw yet another such move from Atlanta as the Braves traded for pitcher Nathan Wiles from the Rays in exchange for cash considerations.
Braves Acquire Nathan Wiles From Rays https://t.co/LJyxCP5aEH pic.twitter.com/SKWgY5KrMB
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) March 21, 2025
Braves strike trade with Rays to acquire Nathan Wiles
You are forgiven if you are not familiar with Wiles. An eighth round pick in the 2019 draft out of Oklahoma, Wiles is best known for his ability to throw a lot of strikes (which is good) while consistently posting 4-5 ERAs every season. Mostly used as a starter in the minor leagues, Wiles saw more action as a bullpen arm in 2024 when he posted a 5.54 ERA in 35 appearances including 11 starts at Triple-A.
Is Wiles going to come out of nowhere and carry the Braves to a title in 2025? Probably not. However, he was probably quite cheap and didn't require an investment of prospect capital and he isn't even occupying a 40-man roster spot yet. Atlanta likely saw something they like in his profile and are willing to take a flyer on him to see if he can be a potential option for the team in 2025 if needed either as a spot starter or long reliever.
Given that Anthopoulos has already indicated that the loss of Joe Jimenez is the one area the team failed to address earlier this offseason, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Atlanta continued to keep looking and will probably continue to look even after this trade.