NEW YORK, NY — The Atlanta Braves made a significant move to fortify the back end of their bullpen Thursday afternoon with the addition of right-handed reliever Robert Suárez on a three-year/$45 million deal, according to multiple reports.
The 34-year-old from Bolivar, Venezuela, spending the last four seasons in San Diego as a Padre, where he made his MLB debut in 2022, posted a 2.97 ERA across 70 appearances in 2025 and led the National League in saves with 40.
“I had plenty of conversations with other teams,” Suárez said Thursday shortly after the signing over Zoom with media, “but at the end of the day, I just continued to hear so many good things about this (Braves) clubhouse, this team, this organization, the way they treat their players and the city of Atlanta itself.”
“This was the right decision for me, and I couldn’t be happier. My family couldn’t be happier either.”
Atlanta stacked up the back end of their bullpen with the addition of Robert Suárez and re-signing of Raisel Iglesias – Image Credit: Simon Lindenblatt/Latino Sports
As the plan goes for the Braves, Suárez will serve as the setup man for Atlanta’s premier closer Raisel Iglesias, a two-time LatinoMVP Reliever of the Year (2020 as a Red and 2024 as a Brave).
The 35-year-old, of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, recording 29 or more saves across each of the last three seasons—33 in 2023, 34 in 2024, and 29 in 2025—inked a one-year contract to return back to the Braves last month on a total of $16 million.
“I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done,” Suárez said regarding his role in Atlanta’s bullpen. “I just want to help the team win in any which way. So I’m happy to do whatever the team needs.”
It will be interesting to see how Braves manager Walt Weiss uses both elite right-handers out of the bullpen in 2026 as baseball shows time in and time out, the seventh and eighth inning is just as important as the ninth depending on which part of the opposing team’s lineup is due up to bat.
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