The Atlanta Braves need to go into the offseason with one vision in mind: making themselves into a contender once again. And to start that vision, they need to find a closer to replace Raisel Iglesias, who’s slated to be a free agent.
Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller believes that the Braves shouldn’t go in-house and rather should trade for Tampa Bay Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks.
“Over the past three seasons, Raisel Iglesias saved 96 games for Atlanta. Now that he’s a free agent, though, the ninth inning is a big question mark. Joe Jiménez after he missed all of 2025 due to knee surgery? Pierce Johnson with 16 career saves, most of which came while posting a 6.00 ERA with the Rockies in 2023? Moving Reynaldo López back to the bullpen to mitigate injury risk? Trading for an established closer sounds better than any of those options,” Miller wrote.
Fairbanks finished this season with an ERA of 2.83, 59 Ks, a WHIP of 1.044, and 27 saves in 61 games pitched. He’s also in his final year of arbitration, where he’d only cost $12.5 million.
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So, this works as a rental for the Braves. If they like what they see, they can offer him an extension. If not, he walks, and they don’t lose anything.
Hopefully, the Braves get to starting talks as soon as they can, as Fairbanks is a great reliever and will be the target of many contenders looking to give their bullpen an upgrade.
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