The Braves came out of the trade deadline with Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson; it was one of the more quiet deadlines among the “buyers” and one of Alex Anthopoulos’ more quiet cycles.
However, Soler should provide much-needed pop and on-base ability to an offense that has been without a reliable leadoff hitter since Ronald Acuna Jr. went down, despite Jarred Kelenic proving capable for a short period.
Even with Soler struggling out of the gate in his reunion with the Braves, the club is riding high, winners of five of their last six games and just 6.0 games back of the first-place Phillies in the NL East. They’re getting healthy and starting to hit again. That’s why they’re winning, but it doesn’t take away from a strange trade deadline cycle.
A peculiar aspect that I’ve brought up privately is the Giants’ willingness to trade Jorge Soler to the Braves, which is why The Athletic dubbed San Francisco’s deadline the most bizarre.
They shopped Blake Snell, but then kept him. They traded one of their best power hitters, Jorge Soler, to the Braves for practically nothing outside of saving money. They traded Alex Cobb to the Guardians before he even threw a single pitch in the majors this year. Then, after selling those two players, they turned around and bought a lesser bat than Soler in Mark Canha, though he does provide walks and homers. It was confusing to see a team that was just 3 1/2 games out of playoff position sell more than they bought without selling Snell.
Buying and selling at the trade deadline is going to be a popular approach going forward, and the only reason I can come up with for the Giants trading Soler and acquiring Mark Canha is financial flexibility.
The Braves will owe Soler $13 million in 2025 and $13 million in 2026, while Canha is on an expiring deal. Saving money isn’t a surprising move, but it is for an organization like the Giants, who have plenty of money and were only a few games out of the Wild Card at the trade deadline.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, though.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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