After getting done with a busy Wednesday evening consisting of a pair of important deals, Atlanta Braves President and General Manager Alex Anthopoulos took some time to speak with the media after all
the smoke cleared.
The first major deal that went down on Wednesday was Raisel Iglesias signing on for another season. We all figured that the Braves were going to do something big with their bullpen at some point and as it turned out, the big move was to stick with a familiar face in Iglesias.
“We knew we needed to address closer one way or another and who better than than someone that we know?” AA went on to detail the many reasons why they wanted to keep him around. “We know that he fits in the clubhouse, we know the health, we know the makeup, we know the ability,” said AA. “He’s such a great fit for us and he wanted to be here. I don’t want to speak for him but I think his goal and his first choice was to be back in Atlanta. We’re glad that we were able to get it done and he’s just a great fit for us.”
AA continued to talk about how much of a good fit Iglesias was for the current roster while also shedding some light on why they didn’t trade Iglesias back at the trade deadline. “We knew we needed to address the closer role. He was prepared to sign a one-year deal and he was a priority for us,” stated AA. He then went on to talk about how long this had been on the mind of the organization. “We wanted to get him signed back. It’s a conversation we had as a front office back in July. I think I mentioned at the trade deadline that our offseason started at that time. That was one of the discussions we had of, you know, ‘Do we want to bring this guy back? What are the alternatives?’ and so on…”
Anthopoulos concluded that despite the fact that Iglesias hd a very rocky start to the season, he was still just as capable of being a reliable late-inning pitcher as ever. “He had a rough start but all the underlying indicators were good and we wanted to keep him for his ability aspect, he’s a phenomenal teammate, he’s a great fit and we know him so well. Having the anchor in the bullpen just sets things up.” He went on to sum up the Iglesias Effect by stating that “It helps the manager…knowing that your ninth inning is settled and then you can build around that behind that and so on.”
Despite the fact that the Braves presumably have filled their closer role for 2026, it’s clear that Alex Anthopoulos still feels like there’s a lot of work left to be done when it comes to continuing to fortify the bullpen. “We still have other work to do. I think I mentioned this at the GM Meetings but we need a lot of relievers,” confirmed AA. “Our plan is not to just get one reliever and be done. We’re going to need more. How that’s going to present itself? I don’t know yet but closer is definitely the anchor and you definitely want to get that solved.”
The GM of the Braves also had a lot to say about bringing in Mauricio Dubón from the Astros. As you can imagine, Alex Anthopoulos is pretty happy to have Dubón on and he even mentioned that they’d asked about Dubón a while back — making it clear that the Braves have coveted Dubón’s skill set for a while now. “The appeal with Dubón is that he can play anywhere. He’s a true Swiss Army Knife. He protects you at a lot of spots and he’s a good defender at almost every spot. He’s a high-energy guy, a great teammate and has great speed, great bat-to-ball contact,” stated AA, clearly detailing just how much he expects Dubón to bring to the table.
When it comes to Dubón’s main role with the squad, AA did stop short of declaring that the shortstop spot belonged to Dubón. Instead, it’s clear that they view him as a really valuable utility player for the time being. “I did tell him that I don’t know what his role is going to be yet,” stated AA. “The fact that we have the flexibility to do all sorts of things with him [is good]. We’ll just see how the rest of the offseason goes…I asked him tonight about how comfortable he is there. Our underlying data on him at shortstop is good and strong but we think he’s good at second, good at third, good in the corners and can play center field. We like the contact and the speed as well, so he’s just a good piece. We’ve had a bunch of injuries over the last few years so he’s just a great fit for us.”
Alex Anthopoulos went on to make it clear that this is still a very fluid situation and that they’re definitely looking to do more business as the offseason progresses. “I would say his role will be dependent on what else we do this winter. I have no idea what the roster’s going to look like come spring training — I have no idea what the roster will look like in spring training or coming out of spring or during the season,” said Anthopoulos. “Knowing he has the flexibility and the athleticism and the ability to do all that stuff, it just gives us so many options tis winter. We’ll see but he’s going to get in there. Walt’s going to get him in there regardless just because he fits in all kinds of places…He’s a winning player and he’s a nice piece to have on a contending club.”
As I mentioned in both of our articles sharing the news, it’s pretty clear that these are just moves to get the party started rather than moves that are made to last for the entire offseason. If the Braves are serious about getting back to a spot where they can be an actual contender then they will surely have to continue making big moves going forward.
The bullpen must continue to be fortified and the Braves will have to make sure that Mauricio Dubón can actually be used as a super utility player instead of having to be stuck at one position as a starter. With that being said, this is certainly a good start to the offseason for Atlanta and hopefully we’ll continue to see Alex Anthopoulos keep the hot stove lit all winter.
