The Atlanta Braves traded the former SF Giants’ DH to the Los Angeles Angels once it was legally permissible on Thursday.
The visitors’ locker toom at Yankee Stadium was still soaked in champagne and Dodger sweat when the Atlanta Braves kicked off baseball’s offseason by trading not-so-longtime San Francisco Giants DH Jorge Soler to the Los Angeles Angels.
And so the offseason begins: The Atlanta Braves are trading outfielder Jorge Soler to the Los Angeles Angels, a source tells ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 31, 2024
The Giants sent Soler to the Braves at the trade deadline, along with reliever Luke Jackson, in exchange for injured reliever Tyler Matzek and 22-year-old single-A infielder Sabin Ceballos. Matzek appeared in five games for the Sacramento River Cats before the Giants released him, at which point he returned to the Braves on a minor league deal. Ceballos slashed .295/.364/.549 with seven homers in 32 games for the Eugene Emeralds, not too shabby!
But while Ceballos has some promise — MLB.com ranks him as the Giants’ No. 30 prospect — the deadline deal was mainly done to ditch Soler’s three-year, $42 million contract. Which was not great, considering the Giants signed him to that contract only five months earlier.
Soler was a better hitter for the Braves than the Giants, upping his walk rate by two percentage points and greatly increasing his rate of hard contact, from 40.1% with the Giants to 53.2% with the Braves. Nevertheless, Atlanta moved to dump his salary at nearly the first moment that it was legally permissable, less than 14 hours after the World Series’ final out.
Atlanta received 28-year-old right-hander Griffin Canning in exchange for Soler. Canning made 31 starts for the Angels last season, going 6-13 with a 5.19 ERA. MLB Trade Rumors predicts he’ll get a $5.1M salary in his final year of arbitration, meaning the Braves can expect to save around $20.9M by moving Soler, who is owed $13M for each of the next two seasons. By comparison, the Giants dumped around $32M in future salary in their deal, including Jackson’s $2M buyout for 2025.
While Atlanta’s desperate need for outfield help spurred them to make the deal, they seemed equally intent on saying goodbye to Soler as soon as possible. Canning is a potentially useful back-end starter for the Braves if they lose Max Fried and/or Charlie Morton, but only as a below-average innings-eater. It feels like Soler actually became less valuable after his second go-round with the Braves, considering the additional money they had to take back.
Which illustrates what a bad contract it was for the Giants to give out in the first place. While the idea of adding a home run threat to a traditionally punchless Giants lineup was tempting, Soler hadn’t had a decent on-base percentage in four years, he’s only really good at hitting fastballs, and he provides little or even negative value on defense. He’s simply not the kind of player who should get a multi-year deal, which might be why he didn’t sign until mid-February.
Now there’s been two teams who’ve dumped Soler’s contract in the eight months since he signed it. Will the Angels end up being the third?