MLB trade deadline: OF Jorge Soler headed back to Braves in trade from Giants

The Atlanta Braves pulled off a trade deadline surprise Monday night, finalizing a deal to acquire former All-Star outfielder and World Series MVP Jorge Soler from the San Francisco Giants, sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports’ Russell Dorsey.

The Braves later confirmed the trade with the Giants, who will receive left-handed pitcher Tyler Matzek and minor-league infielder Sabin Ceballos in the swap. The Braves are also acquiring pitcher Luke Jackson, another former Brave, from San Francisco.

Atlanta previously traded for Soler in a 2021 deadline deal with the Kansas City Royals. He started 55 regular-season games with the Braves that season, then helped lead them to a World Series championship. In the World Series, he hit three home runs and batted in three go-ahead runs as Atlanta beat the Houston Astros and Soler was named World Series MVP.

Jackson was also a member of that World Series team.

Almost exactly three years later, Soler and Jackson join the Braves again as they look to fend off the rest of the NL wild-card contenders and make another postseason run.

The Braves are getting the band back together — will it work?

In 2021, Ronald Acuña Jr tore his ACL. The Braves added a quartet of outfielders at the trade deadline — including Jorge Soler — and won the World Series. This year, Acuña tore his other ACL, and the Braves … just traded for Soler. Again.

Asked recently by Yahoo Sports whether he looks back on 2021 as instructive for this season, Braves manager Brian Snitker replied, “No, every year is such a separate entity that you can’t say well, ‘OK, it’s OK that we’re doing this.’ In 2021, we lost one guy. Really. You know, we’ve lost a big chunk of what we had going on this year. And I don’t think you can look at [2021] and think it’s necessarily going to transpire and be that same result again. I think you just got to deal with this year this year. I mean, every year presents its own set of problems.”

And this year, while Soler — who just signed a three-year deal with the Giants in February — will bring light-tower power and a jolt of energy to Atlanta, he’s not as snug a fit on the Braves as he was three summers ago. With the raking Marcell Ozuna entrenched at designated hitter, Soler will have to play in the outfield every day. The gargantuan slugger hasn’t manned the grass regularly since 2021, when he rated as one of the worst defenders in all of baseball by advanced metrics. He’s now three years older, bigger and slower, with more injuries in the rear view.

With this move, Atlanta’s lineup is undoubtedly better than it was yesterday, but their defense just took an obvious step back. Jackson, who was also on the 2021 Braves, gives them another reliable, familiar option in the bullpen. — Jake Mintz

Are the Giants, who spent big in free agency, really selling?

This trade is potentially more significant for the Giants, who remain on the fringes of the NL wild-card picture. San Francisco spent big over the winter on Soler, reigning NL Cy Young Blake Snell and Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman. Unfortunately, those additions haven’t propelled the Giants into obvious contention, and the emergence of All-Star outfielder Helios Ramos makes Soler more expendable than he seemed four months ago.

Whether this trade is a one-off, space-clearing maneuver designed to give more playing time to youngsters and open up the DH spot or a harbinger of a bigger Giants sell-off on deadline day remains to be seen. What happens with Blake Snell, who has looked phenomenal recently and is likely to opt out of his contract this winter, will tell the story. Unfortunately, it seems, the Giants are operating like minnows. — Mintz