{"id":109690,"date":"2025-11-19T21:08:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T02:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=109690"},"modified":"2025-11-19T21:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T02:08:03","slug":"braves-re-sign-raisel-iglesias-one-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/19\/braves-re-sign-raisel-iglesias-one-year-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves Bring Back Their Closer for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"176\" data-end=\"547\">The stove is hot, as they say. The Atlanta Braves made one of the early bullpen moves of the offseason on Wednesday, announcing that they will re-sign closer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/i\/iglesra01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-19_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raisel Iglesias<\/a> to a one-year, $16 million contract. The deal keeps the veteran right-hander in Atlanta for the 2026 season as the club looks to stabilize the back end of its bullpen after a turbulent year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100796\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100796\" style=\"width: 713px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-100796\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The Braves might be in the market for a new closer with Raisel Iglesias struggling.\" width=\"713\" height=\"475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/05\/USATSI_26199961_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100796\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">May 16, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Raisel Iglesias (26) throws against the Boston Red Sox during the ninth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 data-start=\"176\" data-end=\"547\">Braves Re-Sign Raisel Iglesias to One-Year Deal<\/h2>\n<h3 data-start=\"176\" data-end=\"547\">Iglesias&#8217; 2025 Season<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"549\" data-end=\"1141\">Iglesias, 35, is coming off a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/05\/23\/braves-might-need-closer-replacement-raisel-iglesias\/\" target=\"_self\">rocky 2025 campaign<\/a>. It was marked by inconsistency and uncharacteristic blowups for a pitcher known for late-inning dominance. In 2025, Iglesias posted some of the highest ERA and WHIP figures of his career, and stretches of diminished command <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/29\/braves-rumored-trade-raisel-iglesias-cubs\/\" target=\"_self\">raised questions<\/a> about whether the Braves would pivot to a younger option or explore the free-agent market for a replacement. Instead, Atlanta chose continuity \u2014 betting on Iglesias\u2019 strong track record, elite swing-and-miss potential, and the belief that his down year was more an outlier than a sign of decline. It also helps that Iglesias improved in the second half, with a 1.76 ERA compared to a 4.42 ERA in the first half.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Welcome back, Iggy! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hR2WUwQOJP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/hR2WUwQOJP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Braves\/status\/1991309076098142661?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"549\" data-end=\"1141\">Iglesias&#8217; Dominance<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1143\" data-end=\"1519\">Since arriving in Atlanta at the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2022\/08\/02\/raisel-iglesias-dealt-to-braves\/\" target=\"_self\">2022 trade deadline<\/a>, Iglesias has been a key late-inning weapon, recording dozens of high-leverage outs and anchoring a bullpen that has powered multiple postseason runs. Even in a down year, his underlying metrics remained competitive, with a strong strikeout rate, solid chase numbers, and limited hard contact suggesting room for a rebound.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1521\" data-end=\"1937\">For the Braves, this move signals confidence in their core while also prioritizing short-term flexibility. A one-year deal at $16 million avoids long-term risk while keeping the ninth inning in familiar hands as Atlanta continues to shape its roster. With the club firmly in win-now mode, retaining Iglesias provides stability\u2014and gives the Braves time to evaluate internal relief depth and potential future closers.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1939\" data-end=\"2058\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">As the offseason heats up, Atlanta\u2019s decision to bring back Iglesias adds another spark to a rapidly moving MLB winter.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1939\" data-end=\"2058\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">\n<p data-start=\"1939\" data-end=\"2058\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Main Photo Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The stove is hot, as they say. The Atlanta Braves made one of the early bullpen moves of the offseason on Wednesday, announcing that they will re-sign closer Raisel Iglesias to a one-year, $16 million contract. The deal keeps the veteran right-hander in Atlanta for the 2026 season as the club looks to stabilize the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5663,"featured_media":105027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071,35],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-109690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","category-news","tag-raisel-iglesias"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109690"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109697,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109690\/revisions\/109697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}