ATLANTA – The Braves have a lot of holes in their bullpen, but they filled the biggest on Wednesday by re-signing free-agent closer Raisel Iglesias to a one-year, $16 million contract, the same salary they paid him each of the previous three seasons.
Iglesias, who’ll be 36 in January, looked to be in steep decline at the beginning of his fourth season with the Braves in 2025. But after posting a 6.75 ERA and allowing seven homers in 25 appearances through June 5, he flipped the proverbial switch, made some mechanical adjustments and returned to form.
The Cuban right-hander posted a 1.25 ERA with just one homer allowed in 45 appearances the rest of the season, totaling 48 strikeouts with 10 walks in 43 1/3 innings during that torrid stretch while converting 21 of 22 saves, including each of his last 18.
Iglesias, who was the No. 45 free agent on The Athletic’s Big Board, finished with a 3.21 ERA, 0.995 WHIP and 29 saves in a career-high 70 appearances, one year after having a career-best season where he posted a 1.95 ERA and 0.736 WHIP in 66 appearances.
In four stellar seasons with the Braves, he has a 2.35 ERA and 97 saves in 222 appearances, with 239 strikeouts and 49 walks in 218 2/3 innings. He has the lowest ERA of any NL reliever with at least as many appearances in that span.
The Braves still need to add at least two setup relievers after declining options on Pierce Johnson ($7 million) and Tyler Kinley ($5.5 million), and with there still being some uncertainty about the health of Joe Jiménez, their top setup man in 2024 who missed all of last season recovering from knee surgery and is still not fully recovered.
There’s a chance the Braves could move at least one starter, Reynaldo López or Grant Holmes, to the bullpen. But López, a former triple-digit fastball reliever, is coming back from early April shoulder surgery, and Holmes is trying to rehab from a partially torn UCL without having Tommy John surgery.
So far, Holmes hasn’t reported any setbacks and is on schedule to be ready for spring training.