The Atlanta Braves continue to crawl through the offseason, only making minor moves while potential targets come off the board. Things have gotten so dire that even respected insiders have called on Atlanta to do something.
On Friday, Jeff Hoffman, who anchored the back end of the bullpen for the NL East champion Phillies signed with the Blue Jays at a price that looked like it had Alex Anthopoulos's name written all over it. Instead of inking with Anthopoulos's current club, however, the righty signed with Anthopoulos's former team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
However, the signing isn't the loss that it looks like for the Braves at first glance.
Sources: Before signing with the Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman had reached a three-year, $40 million agreement with the Baltimore Orioles.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) January 11, 2025
The Orioles flagged Hoffman’s physical and now the right-hander is in Toronto: https://t.co/fmepOO1qqW
Why the Braves were right to pass on Jeff Hoffman
On the surface, the three-year, $33 million contract the former Phillies setup man received from the Toronto Blue Jays would have tracked perfectly for the Braves. Last season with Philadelphia, Hoffman had a 2.17 ERA and 2.52 FIP in 66.1 innings. He also earned his first All-Star nod in his nine-year MLB career.
Considering that the team's righty setup man, Joe Jimenez, might be out for the entire season and the club's next best righty not named Raisel Iglesias is Daysbel Hernandez, Atlanta has an obvious hole in the bullpen that Hoffman would have filled.
Alex Anthopoulos, of course, has been no stranger to signing relievers to big deals like the one Hoffman just received. In 2020, he gave Will Smith a three-year, $40 million deal. He extended Joe Jimenez to a three-year, $26 million deal after the 2023 season, and took on the Raisel Iglesias contract in 2022 that still had over $51 million remaining over the next three and a half seasons.
However, soon after signing, reports revealed that Hoffman's $33 million deal wasn't his best offer. According to Robert Murray of FanSided, the 32-year-old had actually come to terms with a different AL East team for $40 million.
The Baltimore Orioles were set to sign the righty for $7 million more guaranteed than he eventually received from Toronto, however, the physical flagged something in Hoffman's shoulder that made the Baltimore reconsider.
Instead, both parties pivoted, with Baltimore opting for a one-year deal with Andrew Kittredge and Hoffman heading up north on a deal that could net him up to $39 million over the duration of his three years.
If Hoffman's shoulder is as big of an issue as the Orioles seem to believe it is, the Braves were smart to pass up on the righty.
Had the Braves signed him to the same deal he took from Toronto, he would have become the club's eighth-highest paid player, just ahead of Jimenez, the reliever he would be replacing. If Hoffman's shoulder became a long-term problem, the Braves could have seen two of their nine highest paid roster spots go to relievers on the shelf.
As Alex Anthopoulos tries to navigate a booming free agent market to solidify an impressive core, the last thing he'd want is to sink a hefty portion of the budget on injured bullpen arms.