NL East Notes: Braves, Iglesias, Nationals, Thompson, Marlins

The Braves made a big new bullpen addition by signing Evan Phillips on Thursday, and the Tigers just added a prominent high-leverage reliever in Emilio Pagan. Even after these moves, reporter Francys Romero writes that Atlanta and Detroit are still interested in veteran closer Raisel Iglesias. For the Braves, it would mark the second straight offseason they’ve re-signed Iglesias, after re-upping with the righty on a one-year, $16MM pact. Obviously there’s plenty of familiarity between the two sides, and Iglesias has continue to pitch so well that there isn’t much concern of a slowdown even after he enters his age-37 season. The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal note that re-signing Iglesias to strengthen the bullpen would increase the chance that the Braves will use Didier Fuentes as a starter next season, though Atlanta figures to add a more proven starter even if Fuentes is indeed stretched out in Spring Training. More from around the NL East… The Nationals had one of baseball’s worst bullpens in 2026, but while improving the relief corps is an obvious offseason goal, “relievers who command multiple years and significant money are probably off the table,” the Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum writes. Since even contending teams often take this stance in acquiring relief help, it isn’t too surprising that the still-rebuilding Nats aren’t being too aggressive in adding the bullpen problem, even if Washington did exceed expectations with 77 wins last year. The rotation also needs help, and to this end D.C. seems more aggressive, as Nusbaum said the Nats have “asked around about controllable starting pitching in trade talks, and is casting a wider net than last season.” In other Nationals news, Nusbaum reports that the team has hired John Morris as the team’s new VP of baseball research. The role puts Morris in charge of “the baseball side of the Nats analytics department,” as per Nusbaum. Morris comes to Washington from New York, where he worked as the Yankees’ assistant director of quantitative analysis. The Marlins have hired Trayce Thompson for a role in their baseball operations department, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reports. The news presumably means the 35-year-old Thompson is retiring after a pro career that saw him play in parts of seven MLB seasons from 2015-23, and Thompson has spent the last three years in the minors, the Mexican League, in independent baseball, and playing for Great Britain’s World Baseball Classic team. Thompson played for five different clubs at the MLB level, with 217 of his 369 career games coming in a Dodgers uniform. The ex-outfielder’s best sustained offensive performance was a second-half surge with the 2022 Dodgers, and Thompson will finish his career with 45 homers and a .212/.300/.411 slash line in 1058 plate appearances in the bigs. MLB Trade Rumors congratulates Thompson on a fine career, and we wish him with the best as he begins this new direction in his baseball life. View Comments (7)