Around 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jesse Chavez and a group of his teammates, along with manager Brian Snitker, settled into the press conference room at Truist Park and waited for Austin Riley to address his monumental contract extension.
Suddenly, pitching coach Rick Kranitz appeared in the doorway. Kranitz and Snitker left the room with Chavez, an ominous sign.
The reason: The Braves traded Chavez and left-hander Tucker Davidson to the Angels for closer Raisel Iglesias in the final minutes before the trade deadline. And minutes after Chavez exited the room, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos entered with Riley.
“That’s why I was late,” Anthopoulos would later say. “I had to go tell Chavez, which was not easy. It came together very late.”
This season, the Braves’ bullpen has performed exceptionally well. The group is talented and features depth. But it seemed the Braves were missing one piece.
Another late-inning reliever.
As Will Smith – traded to Houston for Jake Odorizzi – struggled late in games, the need seemed more pressing. The Braves addressed this need with minutes to go before the deadline.
“It was very last-minute that I was worried it wasn’t going to go through,” Anthopoulos said.
The Braves acquired a guy who has 156 career saves since 2015. He had 16 of them for the Angels, who have fallen off a cliff, before the trade. Iglesias has a 3.13 ERA over his career and a 4.04 ERA this season. He has 48 strikeouts over 35-2/3 innings this season and allowed one earned run in his final 5-2/3 frames with the Angels.
The Braves, Anthopoulos said, were interested in Iglesias last offseason. He was a free agent until the Angels brought him back on a four-year, $58 million deal.
Anthopoulos worked with Angels general manager Perry Minasian, formerly an assistant GM under Anthopoulos, to make the deal.
“You have relationships, but now you’re competing,” Anthopoulos said. “His responsibility is to his club, my responsibility is to my club, and you separate it. I actually think sometimes it’s harder because you know each other’s style. And there’s also a part of it (where) you want to make sure you’re being fair to both sides, and so on.”
The Braves pondered many scenarios. They weren’t going to go through with all of them.
But in Iglesias, the Braves have a proven closer – though Kenley Jansen is expected to still be their primary closer – who has collected at least 28 saves in a season four times in his career. Iglesias has finished five seasons with an ERA under 3.00.
The Braves acquired Chavez on April 20 from the Cubs for Sean Newcomb. It was the third stint with the Braves for the right-handed reliever. He appeared in 31 games for the Braves this season and posted a 2.11 ERA over 38-1/3 innings.
Davidson, a left-handed starter, appeared in four games for the Braves this season, including three starts. He was 1-2 with a 6.46 ERA. He has made 15 starts for Triple-A Gwinnett this season and is 3-7 with a 4.59 ERA.
On Tuesday afternoon, as the deadline neared, it seemed Anthopoulos might have one more move in him. He addressed the outfield with Robbie Grossman, the rotation with Odorizzi and his infield depth with Ehire Adrianza. But he hadn’t touched his bullpen, except to pull from it in acquiring a starter.
With minutes to go, Anthopoulos pulled off a move that could bolster his club’s chances at repeating as World Series champions.
“Iglesias is someone we had our eye on,” Anthopoulos said, “and it came together really late, like with two minutes to go.”
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