The Los Angeles Angels have acquired slugger Jorge Soler in a trade that sent right-handed starter Griffin Canning to the Atlanta Braves in a one-for-one swap, the teams announced Thursday.
The 32-year-old slugger immediately becomes an impact bat for the Angels, who are coming off the worst season in franchise history in 2024. He is owed $13 million in each of the next two seasons. There was no money exchanged in the trade.
OFFICIAL: The Angels have acquired OF/DH Jorge Soler from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for RHP Griffin Canning. pic.twitter.com/27yz5X2D0c
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) October 31, 2024
Canning, 28, will be owed approximately $5.1 million in arbitration, according to MLB Trade Rumors. He is set to be a free agent in 2026.
Soler, who is primarily a designated hitter, is coming off a down season that he split between the San Francisco Giants and Braves, where he hit just 21 home runs in 142 games. A significant drop from the 36 he slugged the year prior.
With superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. set to return from injury next year, there was no longer an obvious fit for him in Atlanta’s lineup.
Canning is coming off of an awful season in which he allowed the most runs in the American League. He had a 5.19 ERA in 32 games (31 starts). His walk rate jumped from 2.6 per nine innings to 3.5, and his strikeouts dropped from 9.9 per nine innings to 6.8. The Braves could opt to non-tender him.
Los Angeles has kept its payroll 2025 plans under wraps, other than to say it expected an increase from the $176 million they spent last year. This trade — coming just hours after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series — is some tangible evidence that they will spend more.
Why this makes sense for Braves
Atlanta wasted no time moving Soler, a slugger whom they knew didn’t fit into their long-term plans when they got the outfielder/designated hitter from the Giants at the trade deadline. So they wasted no time getting rid of him Thursday, trading him to the Angels less than 24 hours after the World Series ended.
The Braves traded Soler to the Angels for Canning, who is 25-34 with a 4.78 ERA in 99 games (94 starts) over parts of five MLB seasons, including a 6-13 record in 32 games last season, with 130 strikeouts, 66 walks and 31 homers allowed in 171 2/3 innings.
They’d never say it, but for the Braves return they got in the trade wasn’t as important for them as was shedding the defensively limited Soler and the $26 million he’s owed over the next two seasons ($13 million per season). And they were able to do that without sending any cash to the Angels in the deal.
They had no room for him next season, with All-Star designated hitter Marcell Ozuna expected back on a $16 million team option (if he’s not signed to an extension to reduce the AAV) and Acuña expected back in right field within the first month of the season after missing the last four months of the 2024 season recovering from a second ACL surgery.
Soler played right field in the last two months of the season for Atlanta, which returns Michael Harris II in center field and have versatile outfielder Jarred Kelenic under contractual control for four more seasons.
They got Soler from the Giants because the Braves were desperate to add a big bat to their injury-riddled lineup and underperforming outfield, even though he had served exclusively as a DH with San Francisco in 2024 and hadn’t played an inning in the field all season before the trade.
His defensive shortcomings were evident multiple times in his two months with Atlanta, but he did have nine homers in 49 games for the Braves with a solid .356 OBP, .493 slugging percentage and .134 OPS+, then added a homer in the two-game wild-card series loss to the San Diego Padres.
But with Ozuna back at DH and not a good enough defensive player to move to the outfield, there was nowhere for Soler to play once Acuña is back. — David O’Brien, Braves beat writer
(Photo: Brett Davis / Getty Images)
