This past offseason is not one that is going to be remembered fondly. Not only did Atlanta get burned almost immediately for signing Jurickson Profar thanks to his suspension, but they failed to address a bullpen that lost stalwart AJ Minter to free agency and Joe Jimenez to knee surgery. That left the Braves to try out a bunch of arms in camp as well as the surprise late spring signing of Hector Neris.
Neris was a worthy gamble as he has been good to really good in recent years, but not having a traditional spring training to build up clearly caused him some problems with Atlanta. It took just two appearances for the Braves in 2025 to realize they had made a big mistake and moved on from Neris in short order.
Funnily enough, Neris just found a new team and it is one of the Braves' favorite trade partners as the Angels inked Neris to a minor league deal.
Hector Neris lands with the Angels after bombing with the Braves this spring
There will be some that wonder why the Angels made this move given how bad Neris looked with the Braves. However, it is likely that they did their due diligence and that Neris had been working out hard to get another opportunity. This deal also appears to be a cheap, no-risk minor league deal, so it won't be a big deal if it doesn't work out.
It is objectively hilarious that the Angels are the team that has been reported that scooped Neris up. The Braves have made multiple trades with the Angels just in the last few months and now yet another former Braves player (albeit short lived) has joined them. Arguably the most consequential move may have been when Angels stole Ron Washington as the Braves haven't been the same since he left.
Hopefully Neris turns things around with the Angels, if for no other reason that the Braves are running out of spare bullpen arms to give them.