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The Braves already brought back closer Raisel Iglesias this winter. Now, they’ll pair him with the reigning National League saves leader.
Robert Suarez will be leaving San Diego, where he was an All-Star twice in four big-league seasons, for Atlanta after agreeing to a three-year, $45 million deal with a Braves team attempting to rebound from a fourth-place finish in 2025.
Suarez led the NL with 40 saves last season and had a major league-leading 76 saves over the last two years with the Padres, though it sounds like he will serve in a setup role in front of Iglesias in 2026. Iglesias returned on a one-year deal, so it’s possible Suarez transitions to the closer role for the final two years of his deal.
In a disaster 2025 season, the bullpen was among the litany of problems for the Braves. Their relievers ranked 19th in both ERA and strikeouts in MLB. Now, they’ll have one of the most talented late-innings duos in the sport. Suarez brings the heat. His four-seamer averaged 98.6 mph, and opponents hit .155 with 52 strikeouts against the pitch in 2025.
It’s the latest chapter in an incredible rise for Suarez, who didn’t make his MLB debut until his age 31 season in San Diego in 2022 after spending the majority of his professional career playing in Mexico and Japan. He’s in his mid-30s now — he will turn 35 in March — and he logged the highest hard-hit rate of his career in 2025, but he also produced his highest strikeout rate in three years.
What’s Next For the Closer Market
(Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images)
While it took a while for the top of the position player market to heat up, relievers have flown off the board early in free agency.
Suarez’s market picked up steam after Edwin Diaz joined the Dodgers on a three-year, $69 million deal earlier this week. Now, with Díaz, Suarez, Iglesias, Devin Williams (Mets) and Ryan Helsley (Orioles) all off the board, the top of the relief market is mostly tapped out.
Expect Pete Fairbanks, Luke Weaver and Brad Keller to draw plenty of interest. Kenley Jansen and Seranthony Dominguez are among the other top relievers also available. The Blue Jays, Mets, Yankees, Rangers and Diamondbacks are among the many contenders who could still use bullpen help.
What’s Next For the Braves
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
In November, the Braves declined options on Pierce Johnson, who had a 3.05 ERA and threw the third-most relief innings on their team last year, and Tyler Kinley, who was 5-0 with a 0.72 ERA.
A month later, that bullpen suddenly looks a lot more formidable.
Atlanta has been busy since the end of the winter meetings. The addition of Mike Yastrzemski bolsters an outfield that already included Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II and Jurickson Profar. Now with Suarez signed, the Braves’ attention should turn to the rotation, which could use another reliable arm after the club’s litany of health issues on the pitching staff in 2025. But after a year in which seemingly everything went wrong in Atlanta, it’s becoming increasingly easier to envision a return to prominence if the Braves can get a couple bounceback seasons.
What’s Next For the Padres
(Photo by Brandon Sloter/Chicago Cubs/Getty Images)
Suarez is going to Atlanta, Dylan Cease is a Blue Jay, Michael King is a free agent and Yu Darvish is set to miss the 2026 season after elbow surgery. Nick Pivetta is set to lead the rotation coming off his most productive big-league season, but the Padres have a lot of work ahead to remake the pitching staff even with Joe Musgrove returning from Tommy John surgery.
They’re leaning toward keeping Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon in the bullpen, so the relief unit should remain among the best in baseball even after Suarez’s departure. But that only furthers the need for more starting pitching.
How the Padres attempt to add there will be interesting. There should be at least some financial space to work with after all the free-agent departures, but with ownership exploring a potential sale, most of A.J. Preller’s work improving the roster might have to come via trade. Exploring that market is typically not a problem for him, though the Padres’ farm system has been depleted by acquisitions in recent years. That could necessitate a trade of a player off the big-league roster to bring in multiple pieces.
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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