There are a lot of reasons why the Atlanta Braves have struggled so much this season. Injuries are at the top of the list as losing Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, and others for long stretches would be difficult for any team to overcome. However, there have also been guys on the roster that have underperformed in 2024 as well which has led to some interesting decisions for the Braves this coming offseason.
With Charlie Morton seemingly likely to retire after the season, Max Fried and AJ Minter among those set to become free agents, and the aforementioned injuries to deal with at least early in the 2025 season, Atlanta has their work cut out for them in the offseason trade and free agent markets. They will need to add starting pitching even if they re-sign Fried which is no sure thing, the bullpen will need reinforcements, and it wouldn't be shocking to see them explore a long-term solution at shortstop given Orlando Arcia's trials and tribulations this year. That is a hefty and potentially expensive shopping list.
Getting Morton off their payroll certainly helps the cause, but the Braves still have around a hefty $216 million in active payroll committed to 2025 assuming they exercise their options for Travis d'Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna which is extremely likely and that is before factoring in arbitration guys. If the Braves want to actually make waves next offseason and shore up their roster without getting eviscerated by the luxury tax, it may mean that they need to trade closer Raisel Iglesias.
Trading Raisel Iglesias may be the easiest solution to the Braves' payroll concerns
Moving Iglesias is far from an easy decision because his body of work with the Braves has actually been quite good. After being one of the most dominant relievers in baseball in 2022 after the trade deadline when the Braves acquired Iglesias from the Angels, Iglesias has been extremely good since the beginning of 2023 as well with a 2.29 ERA in 101 appearances. For a playoff caliber team, Iglesias has absolutely done his job and then some closing games for Atlanta.
The problem is that the Braves payroll is a numbers game and bullpen arms are easiest to replace their production with cheaper alternatives. As good as Iglesias has been, he is still making $16 million next season and has only been the third most valuable reliever by fWAR in the Braves' bullpen behind Joe Jimenez and Aaron Bummer. Amongst all of the guys Atlanta has making real money next season, Iglesias' contract is both the most expendable and the easiest to move given that it is just one year of a productive reliever.
Not only would trading Iglesias likely net a nice return to beef up the Braves' minor league system, but it would be a huge boon to Atlanta's offseason schemes. Between getting Iglesias' $16 million off their books and the scheduled increase in the luxury tax threshold, the Braves would have a lot more options available to them in this scenario. Whether that would be re-signing Max Fried and/or signing a long-term solution at shortstop to spreading the wealth throughout the roster, it really does feel like the money owed to Iglesias could be spent more wisely elsewhere.