Atlanta Braves need bullpen help, with Raisel Iglesias giving up homers

Braves manager Brian Snitker says his hitters eventually will start hitting more. I buy that. Also consider that the team’s best hitter hasn’t played a game (Ronald Acuña Jr. is close to returning from injury) and the major free-agent addition has played only four (Jurickson Profar is eligible to return from a doping suspension June 29).

The bullpen is where general manager Alex Anthopoulos needs to find help. The offense has underachieved, but it hasn’t been terrible: 20th in MLB in runs per game, 17th in on-base percentage, 14th in isolated power. The bullpen has been worse. The 3.63 ERA (14th-best) doesn’t tell the story. Braves relievers rank 25th in WAR, largely because they rank last in the state of games when they leave games compared to when they enter.

Closer Raisel Iglesias is a big part of the problem. He’s giving up too many homers. Relatedly, his fly-ball rate is higher now than in any of his previous MLB seasons. Batters are teeing off on Iglesias’ slider, and he seems reluctant to try overpowering them with his very good fastball. The Pirates tallied a walk-off win against Iglesias on Sunday with three ground balls, but he couldn’t strike out light-hitting Adam Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes before Joey Bart got enough of a slider to bring in the winning run.

It’s reached the point where Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer are the only Braves relievers who surely can be counted on in tight situations. Daysbel Hernandez and Aaron Bummer are OK as “B” options. Scott Blewett has helped since the Braves got him for cheap from Baltimore, but he’s a back-end guy.

The bullpen issues were foreseeable. Two quality relievers from last season, Joe Jiménez and A.J. Minter, are no longer in the pen. Jimenez had knee surgery in October and Minter signed with the Mets.

Anthopoulos has stressed building a deep bullpen ever since the Braves got caught short of relievers in the 2018 postseason. That’s why not fortifying the bullpen this offseason seemed to be more about saving money than belief in available options.

The Braves will hit more eventually. That’s not just because the pending returns of Acuña and Profar. Matt Olson has been a bit unlucky. Marcell Ozuna‘s hefty production still is lagging his Statcast numbers. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II can’t play any worse.

Even if you don’t believe the Braves will start hitting more, what could Anthopoulos do about it? Nearly every batter in the meat of the lineup is signed to a long-term contract. The exception is pending free agent Ozuna. Albies and Harris have bargain-basement contracts (the latter is a good center fielder, too).

I don’t see any reason to believe that improvement with the pen will come from internal sources. Normally, fixing it could wait until closer to the July 30 deadline. There’s more urgency for the Braves this year. They started 0-7 and still haven’t made it back to break-even.

Anthopoulos has a track record of making unexpected deals to plug holes. His team’s bullpen needs him to swing a trade like that sooner rather than later.

Atlanta United is wasting Miguel Almirón

Several times during Atlanta United’s match at Chicago on Saturday, star midfielder Miguel Almirón ran into space and called for the ball, only to see his teammates send it elsewhere. A couple of times, that happened after Almirón won the ball in forward position and held up play before passing it back to set up the attack. It was frustrating to watch, so I’m guessing it was even more so for Almirón.

Meanwhile, the Fire clinched the 2-1 victory with the kind of precise, coordinated play that Atlanta United’s high-priced attacking talent is supposed to create regularly, but doesn’t.

Chicago’s Romingue Kouamé laid off a ball to Maren Haile-Selassie on the right wing and ran hard into the box. Haile-Selassie sent a beautiful through ball to Omari Glasgow. Glasgow feathered a cutback pass to Kouamé, who one-timed it on the bounce past goalkeeper Brad Guzan.

The goal in the 86th minute held up as the game-winner after Atlanta United’s Derrick Williams had a prime scoring chance that hit the post. It was the sixth consecutive winless match for Atlanta United. Their one score was on an own-goal (though it did come as a result of them playing with more urgency). Chicago’s other goal was on a penalty kick, following an inexcusable handball in the box by Atlanta United’s Alexey Miranchuk, who wasn’t under much pressure.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way for the Five Stripes. They spent more than $30 million in transfer fees on attacking players. They’ve scored 13 goals. Only seven MLS teams have fewer goals, and one of them, New England, has played one fewer match. Atlanta United (2-6-4) has a six-match winless streak and is on pace for a franchise-worst finish. On Sunday, they became the first of the six visiting teams to lose at Chicago.

Almirón‘s return to Atlanta after six-plus seasons in English Premier League was a big deal. So far, the Five Stripes are wasting his talent.

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Credit: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Derek Carr’s retirement helps the Falcons

Maybe it was always a longshot that quarterback Derek Carr would come back from a shoulder injury and become a solid starter again for the Saints. Now there’s no shot. Carr announced his retirement Saturday. The options at QB for the Saints are rookie Derek Slough, failed fill-in Spencer Rattler and somebody named Jake Haener.

This is a good development for the Falcons. They’ll have an unproven starter at quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., and now, so will the Saints. If Aaron Rodgers for some reason decides he wants to play for the Saints instead of the Steelers, that still would be good for the Falcons. Rodgers is 41 years old and will be a pain to manage for his next team, same as he was for the Jets, who were 5-12 with him in 2024.

Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield is the best quarterback in the NFC South. Carolina‘s Bryce Young was better in 2024, but that just means he was below average instead of awful. Slough was pretty good at Louisville, but his tendency to shy away from pressure will hold him back in the NFL.

Penix has a lot of potential and a good supporting cast. A jump in Year 2 by Penix and some pass-rush production from rookies Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. might be enough for the Falcons to be the best of the bunch in the South.