Texas Rangers Sign Braves Free Agent Reliever to Minor League Deal

Another member of the 2021 World Series team is out of Atlanta, and it's for a reunion with an American League team

Another World Series champion is departing | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

Another member of the Atlanta Braves pitching staff has signed elsewhere. Right-handed reliever Jesse Chavez has signed a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers. This deal includes an invite to Spring Training. 

Just when he returned to the Braves, this is also a reunion addition. 

We've signed RHP Jesse Chavez to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training. pic.twitter.com/MWLAgpxSEu

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) January 27, 2025

This will be Chavez’s third stint with the Rangers. He’s technically had five stints with the Braves, so Texas still has some catching up to do. 

During the 2023 season and the first half of the 2024 season, Chavez was a key piece to the Braves bullpen. In 2023, he finished with a 1.56 ERA and had that exact same ERA heading into the 2024 All-Star Break. 

However, things unraveled for him when the season resumed. In his final 17 appearances after the break, he had a 5.87 ERA in 23 innings pitched. 

The 41-year-old isn’t ready to hang it up despite the rough finish and the Rangers took a flyer on him. He originally pitched for the Rangers starting with for part of 2018 and from 2019 and 2020. 

In 96 appearances with the Rangers, Chavez had a 4.58 ERA across 151 1/3 innings pitched. 

While other departures have been more problematic for the state of the Braves in 2025, this one should not be as much of an issue. In September, he only made four appearances because his second half of July and August were that brutal. From July 21 to Aug. 31, he had a 7.63 ERA. In one case, he was credited with a loss, but in other stances, his outing put a game out of reach. 

The Braves have plenty of right-handed pitching options in the system to sort out a replacement for Chavez in the bullpen. A larger issue is figuring out left-handed options. The departure of AJ Minter didn’t help with that. 

However, it’s the end of an era regardless. Like other departures this offseason, Chavez won the World Series with the Braves in 2021. During that run, he didn’t allow a single run, which included two scoreless outings in the World Series.