Entering the offseason, the Braves bullpen was far from a glaring weakness. A decision had to be made on A.J. Minter, but other than that, the rest of the group was expected to return healthy for 2025.
That changed when it was announced that Joe Jimenez had undergone knee surgery and is now expected to miss 8-12 months. The lumbering right-hander is coming off a career year, recording a 2.62 ERA, 2.34 FIP, and 10.7 K/9 over 69 appearances for the Braves. Replacing him, along with potentially A.J. Minter, whose season ended this year after undergoing hip surgery, is now a priority.
Thankfully, finding relief arms isn’t typically too difficult to accomplish during the offseason. There are a plethora of names available in free agency, but the two best arms are currently being shopped on the trade block, Ryan Helsley and Devin Williams.
Braves Trade Hypothetical For Ryan Helsley
Braves Receive: Ryan Helsley
Cardinals Receive: Drue Hackenberg and JR Ritchie
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Ryan Helsley feels like the most likely of the two to get dealt this offseason. The Cardinals are going nowhere fast and are signaling a total rebuild, with every player on their roster seemingly available for trade. There’s no reason to hold onto one of the best closers in the game when you’re not trying to compete. Helsley will go to the highest bidder this offseason.
Parting ways with top prospects for rental relievers typically isn’t good business, but Helsley isn’t just any reliever. This is a guy who’s been worth 7.2 WAR over the last three seasons, recording a 1.83 ERA over that stretch, and most recently led all of baseball with 49 saves. Pairing him and Raisel Iglesias would give the Braves an incredible advantage at the end of games.
In this hypothetical trade, the Cardinals receive two of the Braves top pitching arms. Drue Hackenberg was a second-round pick last year and really broke out in his first full season of professional ball, rocketing up all the way to Gwinnett and recording a 1.52 ERA over 23.2 innings with the Stripers. Ritchie was a first-round selection out of high school back in 2022 and really had an impressive return from Tommy John surgery this year, posting a 2.90 ERA over 49.2 innings across three levels.
Braves Hypothetical Trade For Devin Williams
Braves Receive: Devin Williams
Brewers Receive: Owen Murphy and Jhancarlos Lara
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The Brewers could very well move off of Devin Williams this offseason, but it’s not nearly as sure of a thing as Helsley being traded because this is still a competitive team. The Brewers ran away with the NL Central and will be heavy favorites to do so again, even if they are missing a few key pieces from this year’s team.
Williams has a case for the title of the best reliever in baseball over the last half-decade. Since he entered the league in 2019, he owns a 1.83 ERA over 235.2 innings. He also has spent most of his career as a set-up man ahead of Josh Hader, which could be his role in Atlanta in front of Raisel Iglesias.
I could have used the same trade I used for Ryan Helsley, but I wanted to mix it up a bit. Owen Murphy was having an unbelievable start to the season this year before undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he’s still a prospect oozing with potential that would be painful to part ways with. Jhancarlos Lara is another starting arm that’s much less refined than Murphy but can hum it at 100 MPH with a nasty slider that works off of his heater. With some more development, he could be a fixture in a rotation, but his arm gives him a high floor as a reliever.
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Photo: Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire
