ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline has come and gone, and a plethora of players will don new uniforms from here-on out.
But that does not include Marcell Ozuna or Raisel Iglesias, who are on expiring contracts and will remain with the Atlanta Braves for the rest of the season, despite expectations they would be traded leading up to Thursday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline.
“We weren’t going to just give players away,” Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said following the deadline. “Our goal in this deadline was to focus on guys who could help us in 2026 and beyond. It just didn’t materialize.”
The #Braves are 45-62, 4th in the NL East and 3rd-worst in the NL. They’ve lost their entire opening day starting rotation and Ronald Acuña Jr. to injuries. To top it off, the only player they were able to ship at the deadline was Rafael Montero.
Ozuna and Iglesias get to stay.
— Aaron Schmidt (@ASchmidtSports) July 31, 2025
All Quiet on the Atlanta front
For the first time in eight seasons, the Braves (45-62) were sellers at the deadline.
Or they tried to be, at least.
The Braves repeatedly said for weeks that any players under control past 2025 were unavailable in trade talks. So, for weeks leading up to the deadline, many speculated that the Braves would trade Ozuna and Iglesias, along with maybe a few other relievers to bolster the team’s farm system in preparation for 2026 and beyond.
As the deadline crept closer, it became clearer that the team wasn’t able to garner any attraction toward Ozuna, Iglesias or relievers like Pierce Johnson or Dylan Lee.
Atlanta recently opted to shift Ozuna from an everyday designated hitter to a reserve role in order to give catchers Sean Murphy (righty) and his protegé Drake Baldwin (lefty) the opportunity to DH while the other catches. In the final season of a five-year, $80 million contract, Ozuna had a .922 OPS after his first 30 games this season. Since June 1, he’s struggled mightily, slashing .181/.279/.336 with just six home runs and 23 RBIs. He has an .759 OPS this season.
Part of this can be attributed to a hip injury that Ozuna’s been playing through. It was revealed in June that Ozuna was playing through a hip tear, and that he’d battle it all throughout the 2025 campaign.
Coupled with his past legal troubles and his 10-5 rights — which grant him the ability to veto any trade after ten years in the majors, including the last five with his current team — Ozuna presents a challenging trade scenario for any team with postseason ambitions.
According to Anthopoulos, he never approached Ozuna about waiving his 10-5 rights.
See you later, Montero
The Braves weren’t able to find any takers for Iglesias and Johnson, but were able to flip reliever Rafael Montero to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night, acquiring Double-A infielder Jim Jarvis in return.
Montero never turned out to be much help for Atlanta after it acquired him after the Houston Astros designated him for assignment in April, posting a 5.50 ERA over 34 1/3 innings (36 games) for Atlanta. Montero had a 10.61 ERA in 10 July appearances.
Jarvis, 24, gives the Braves much-needed organizational depth in the infield. Playing shortstop, second base and third base, Jarvis has a .652 OPS over 310 plate appearances with Double-A Erie (Detroit Tigers affiliate) this season.
A three-year starter for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Jarvis slashed .262/.373/.366 across 196 career games before getting selected in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB draft by the Tigers.
In addition to Montero, Detroit has acquired Kyle Finnegan from Washington, Codi Heuer from Texas and Paul Sewald from Cleveland as the Tigers push
Trying to stay afloat
With half the team’s starting rotation – Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes and AJ Smith-Shawver – on the 60-day injured list, the team acquired right-handers Erick Fedde from the St. Louis Cardinals and Carlos Carrasco from the New York Yankees in order to give Spencer Strider some help at the back of the rotation.
Grant Holmes to the IL with elbow tightness.#Braves starters on the IL: Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo Lopez, AJ Smith-Shawver, Grant Holmes
By the way, this was the team’s Opening Day starting rotation.#BravesCountry
— Aaron Schmidt (@ASchmidtSports) July 27, 2025
The team also acquired reliever Tyler Kinley from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Austin Smith. Reliever Enyel De Los Santos was designated for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot for Kinley.
Kinley, 34, has a 5.66 ERA in 49 appearances this season, striking out 51 hitters across 47.2 innings. If Kinley proves effective with Atlanta for the remainder of this season, the team could exercise his $5 million option ($750,000 buyout) for the 2026 season.
De Los Santos, 29, logged a 8.16 ERA over his past 15 appearances. He had a 4.53 ERA in 43.2 innings this season.