The offseason JUST STARTED and we already have an interesting little trade going down between the Braves and Angels.
Jorge Soler is headed west:
You may remember that Soler found his way back to the Braves in the first place because the Giants, at the Trade Deadline, were looking to dump the contract he’d just signed before 2024. So this is a bit of a pinball situation, and his contract – two years and $32 million remaining (see UPDATES) – is potentially playing as big of a role in the deal as his anticipated production.
That is to say, I wonder if the Braves are eating some salary to effectuate this trade?
Canning, 28, has long been a “name” pitcher, but still hasn’t quite put it all together with the Angels. Anyone want to bet against the Braves getting some good performances out of him, though? Canning is projected by MLBTR to get a bit above $5 million in his final year of salary arbitration this offseason.
For his part, Soler, 32, hit .241/.338/.442/119 wRC+ in 2024 combined between the Giants and Braves. He’s just about as bat-only as it gets these days, as his outfield performance rates out as alarmingly abysmal, so he’ll have to keep producing at that level or better offensively to have any value at all.
Speaking of which, if there is no money changing hands in this trade, it feels like a whiff by the Angels – if they didn’t want Canning as his arb price, they could’ve non-tendered him. So that means they valued Soler at something slightly MORE than his current contract … which is … does not seem right to me. Then again, the Angels do a lot of wonky stuff.
I guess we’ll see if there’s more info yet to shake out.
UPDATE: The Angels reportedly say there was no cash in the deal, so it’s going to be pretty hard for me to say this was a good one for them. Again, sending Canning along (rather than non-tendering him (which would’ve been silly)) means the Angels view Soler’s deal as UNDER market. I don’t know – a pure bat-only 32-year-old with good but not elite production? I don’t know that Soler does much better, if at all, than 2/$32 million if he were a free agent right now. I think he’d probably get less.
UPDATE 2: Although the public databases indicate Soler is getting $16 million each of the next two seasons, I see multiple reports have it at $13 million per season. I am sure those reports are correct, which does make Soler’s deal much more palatable for the Angels. Still seems above market to me, but not egregiously so. And certainly would rather have Canning for one year and $5 million rather than Soler for two years and $26 million.