Shortly after the Atlanta Braves announced that they had brought back Raisel Iglesias on a one-year deal, it turns out that Alex Anthopoulos wasn’t done for the night. Indeed, the Braves have once again
brought out the “white text on a blue background” social media post to announce another deal. This time, it’s their second trade of the day and it’s a big one.
The Braves are bringing in Mauricio Dubón from the Houston Astros in exchange for Nick Allen.
This looks like just a straight-up swap, as the Braves will be getting the reigning AL Gold Glove Award winner as a utility player in the form of Dubón in exchange for a NL Gold Glove Award finalist in the form of Allen. Allen will be leaving the Braves with a paltry slash line of .221/.284/.251 with a .245 wOBA, 53 wRC+ and 22 RBI. However, where Allen provided his value was with his glove, as he finished the 2025 season with 17 OAA and 12 DRS on the year.
Mauricio Dubón will never be confused for a top hitter but he still fared better at the plate than Nick Allen did, as Dubón fiished the season with a slash line of .241/.289/.355 with a .283 wOBA, 80 wRC+ and seven homers for the season. Combine that with the fact that Dubón was just as good with the glove as Nick Allen was while also being more versatile, then it’s pretty clear that that this is a bit of an upgrade for the Braves in this deal.
While this is certainly a very solid deal, the Braves are likely going to need to bring in another bat in order to cancel out whatever shortcomings Dubón will provide with his bat on a consistent basis. Still, I’d say that this is a very solid move on Atlanta’s part and hopefully this is another step in the right direction towards a successful offseason.
