Raisel Iglesias and…
It’s almost Trade Deadline time, and if there’s one thing that definitely happens at Trade Deadline time, it’s relievers moving teams. Clubs don’t just acquire good or great relievers at the Deadline; if you look even as recently as last year, many clubs acquired relievers having truly putrid seasons, too.
The Braves have little to gain from holding on to some of their relievers, but other situations are murkier. Let’s go down the list.
The most obvious candidate to be moved is Raisel Iglesias. Not only is he on an expiring contract and already the subject of trade rumors, but it would be kind of fitting for the Braves to wash their hands of a guy whose struggles have been a big reason for their season going the way it has. That’s not to say that Iglesias has specifically and persistently pitched poorly — a 91 xFIP- isn’t bad, per se — but the combination of a HR/FB rate approaching 15 percent, and the fact that said HR parts of the equation have been timed horribly enough that Iglesias has a -1.58 WPA on the year (that’s over three losses attributed to his time on the mound alone) means that the season went sideways in decent part because of things that transpired during his appearances.
Pierce Johnson is having the best season in the bullpen, but he has a $7 million club option for next year. That makes him more valuable as a trade chip, but it also means the Braves could simply choose to retain him and hope that his relief pitching is more relevant in 2026. A controllable-for-one-more-full-year-at-$7M reliever with a current 79 FIP- and 86 xFIP- might actually net something more than a throw-in on the trade market, though.
I definitely think the Braves should trade Enyel De Los Santos if they can find a buyer. He has a 103 xFIP-, so his utility in a middle relief role is already fairly questionable. But, he has an 83 FIP-, so maybe someone ignores that his season is a house of cards built upon a lack of HR/FB that’s killing most of his teammates. De Los Santos is arbitration-eligible for a final time this offseason, so he’d be another guy to move with some control, but unlike Johnson, he just doesn’t seem that enticing to me. The Braves took a flier on De Los Santos, and it worked in the production sense, but not actually in the talent sense.
Aaron Bummer is guaranteed $9.5 million next season. The Braves should move him because they clearly don’t like using him as a high-leverage, lefty-dominating option. He is now being used as some kind of starter/bulk guy/who knows what hybrid, and his value has tanked accordingly. Please, someone, rescue Aaron Bummer. Just look at his 88 FIP- and 85 xFIP- and ignore whatever the Braves are forcing him to do lately.
Rafael Montero is another pending free agent, but after a decent run of being good, he’s gone back to being essentially unrosterable. The Braves might trade him, as terrible relievers also get moved at the Trade Deadline, but this is kind of a coin flip because there’s really no reason for anyone to acquire him. He’s had four questionable-to-terrible outings in a row at this point, and hasn’t struck out two batters in an appearance in about 40 days, but maybe someone really believes he’s another tweak away from relevance.
There are other guys, too, but these are the main candidates to be moved. What do you think?