This trade has been a disaster for the Braves

It did not take long into the season for Alex Anthopoulos to realize he made a grave mistake by not adding to the Braves bullpen during the offseason.

The problem with that is it’s nearly impossible to fix once the season begins. No teams, even the ones that are aware they don’t have any chance at competing for a World Series, are looking to trade away their high leverage relievers in April. That left the Braves scrambling to find answers, and they stumbled on a deal for Rafael Montero of the Astros.

In 2022, Montero was among the best high leverage relievers in the league, pitching to the tune of a 2.37 ERA, 2.64 FIP, and 161 ERA+ (61% percent above league average). The season led to the Astros signing him to a lucrative three-year, $34.5 million contract in the following offseason, a deal they immediately regretted.

Montero never experienced that same level of success again. He pitched to a 4.70 ERA in 2023 and an even worse 5.54 ERA in 2024. The Astros were begging for someone to relieve them of his contract, and they finally found a desperate taker in the Braves, who swung a deal for Montero on April 8th.

The Astros were willing to eat some of the money, leaving Atlanta on the hook for about $3 million this year. Unfortunately, Montero hasn’t been worth a penny for the Braves, and it’s frankly pretty shocking he’s still even on the roster this deep into the season.

After giving up two more runs last night without recording a single out, Montero’s ERA is now up to 5.67 with the Braves. Among all relievers with at least 30 innings pitched this season, that’s the eighth-worst mark in the league, as he’s accrued -0.5 WAR.

It’s been a total disaster for the Braves, but the problem was never about spending $3 million on a reliever that didn’t end up panning out. It’s about not spending money in the offseason on a glaring issue. The Braves lost A.J. Minter in free agency and Joe Jimenez to a potentially season-ending injury in the offseason — their top two-set up men from 2024 — and decided not to spend a penny on relief arms until it was too late.

That’s negligence on the part of Alex Anthopoulos, who has a lot of explaining to do for the Braves’ performance this season.