Braves trade Jorge Soler to Angels

The Angels and Braves wasted no time in negotiating the first significant trade of the offseason as the teams announced Thursday that they have agreed to a designated hitter trade Jorge Soler to Anaheim in exchange for Righty Griffin Canning. According to reports, no money will change hands in the deal. The Angels will assume the entire remaining two years and $26 million of Soler’s contract. Atlanta, meanwhile, will have to fight for Canning’s salary in his final season of arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a salary of $5.1 million for Canning, who will be a free agent next winter.

Soler was considered one of the most obvious trade candidates in all of baseball this offseason, given his defensive limitations and the presence of Marcell Ozuna in Atlanta. The Braves acquired him at the deadline out of desperation, needing help for an injury-plagued lineup. The plan always seemed to be to burden Soler in the outfield for a few months and seek a trade in the offseason (which is why Soler ranks at the top of our list of the top 35 trade candidates of the 2024-25 offseason).

The 32-year-old Soler (33 in February) will add a thunderous bat and defensively limited skills to the Angels’ roster. He signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Giants last winter following a 36-homer campaign in Miami and has now been traded twice in the first year of the contract. However, this is not due to a lack of production. On the contrary, Soler had a solid season at the helm, slashing .241/.338/.442 in 142 games. He was particularly productive starting in June, boasting a .263/.366/.489 batting line and hitting 15 of his 21 home runs in 386 plate appearances.

Soler simply wasn’t a good fit on Atlanta’s roster long-term, as Ozuna had to retain a $16 million club option. Both players offer tremendous power, but are at the lower end of the scale in defense in the outside corners. As luxury taxpayers, the Braves would have had to pay overage penalties in addition to the $13 million Soler owes annually.

The game is easier for the Angels. He will be a regular batsman for a Halos club that has brought in a journeyman Willie Calhoun as his primary option at the DH position in 2024. Eighteen players DHed for the Angels last year, and their overall performance (.222/.299/.328) was the fifth-worst in the sport in terms of wRC+ (80). Even if Soler doesn’t quite recapture his stellar performance in 2023, his performance in 2024 represents a monumental improvement over what the Angels received last year through the committee approach to the DH spot in their lineup.

Soler is now one of five Angels who have a guaranteed contract through the 2025 season and are joining Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Tyler Anderson And Robert Stephenson. Add in an arbitration process that could cost upwards of $31-32 million before possible non-tenders (according to projections previously cited by Swartz), and the Halos are looking at a payroll bill of about $168 million ( via RosterResource) as the entire offseason lies ahead of them. They are currently about $58 million below the first luxury tax threshold.

More will follow.

Mike Rodriguez first reported that Soler was traded to the Angels. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Canning was returning to Atlanta. David O’Brien of The Athletic reported that no money changed hands in the trade.