The Braves have committed 29 million in 2026 salary to two high-leverage relievers this offseason. Robert Suarez will collect another 32 million (walkout pending) through 2028. That’s a lot to allocate to the back end of the bullpen. What does this mean for any more offseason signings? Well, when this front office splashes the cash over relievers it usually means that they found the starting pitching market prohibitively expensive. I don’t think this keeps them from making a move at shortstop, though.
They have the salary headroom to make another deal. But there’s also a chance that they watched this bullpen in the late innings in 2025, particularly in the middle part of the year.
This is June 3rd, after Rafael Montero was asked to complete the eighth and ninth.
This was the next day, when Raisel Iglesias was summoned to hold a one-run deficit.
This was the next day, when the Braves held a six-run lead into the ninth.
Play it again.
Yeah we’re not done here.
Surely Pierce Johnson can correct things on the road trip the next day.
Give him another chance tomorrow, maybe?
The Braves lost four winnable games in the ninth and later in the space of a week. Did I mention how the Braves ended up seven games short of the playoffs? From June 1st to July 30th, they gave up 34 runs in the ninth and later. That was third worst in baseball.
Yeah, it’s dumb to order your bullpen by inning and score. Yes, the cult of the closer is dumb. But once you’ve built your altar, you better have answers.
