Atlanta Braves Free Agent Strategy: Could They Get Creative?

Which brings me to the rare, front loaded contract.  This type of contract is virtually non-existent in the MLB today.  There are some subtle cases, like Braves closer Jason Grilli, who signed a two year contract that paid him $4.25 million in 2015, but will pay him just $3.5 million this coming season, and potentially only $3 million if his 2017 option is exercised.  The only significant front loaded contract I could uncover that currently exists in the MLB today is the one of Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

His four year contract, signed not quite two years ago, paid him $15.5 million in the first year, $15 million this season, just $12.5 million this coming season, and bottoms out at $10 million in 2017.  You could argue that Peralta was coming off of a suspension for performance enhancing drugs, making him somewhat of an aberration, but I would argue that giving a player coming off of suspension $53 million in guaranteed money destroys that notion.

So now we come to the biggest questions this article wants to make:  Why aren’t there more of these deals seen in baseball today?  Is it player ego or pride?  Do they want to still feel they have value comparative to the market in future years?  Do they think this makes them less easy to trade off in the future?  I’m not entirely sure, but a Jhonny Peralta type contract could be the answer for signing long term free agents in Atlanta without feeling the salary bottleneck like in recent years.

So say the Braves keep Olivera at third base, and want to make a run at an upper echelon free agent like Alex Gordon.

Gordon is 31 years old, and as Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors noted this morning, could be in line for a five year deal worth $20 million annually.  This might be a little conservative, but lets say he potentially signs for a six year deal worth $125 million, including a buyout for a seventh.

Could the Braves potentially enter the market for a player like this outright?  Well, yes.  But would it be easier for them to explore that avenue by potentially front loading the deal to pay him more annually this season and next, when all of their young quality players are making less than a million dollars?  I have to argue yes.  Of course, it takes two to tango, and with seemingly no one interested in a front loaded long term deal, it’s a very unlikely scenario.  But it is an interesting avenue that John Hart and John Coppolella should, if they already haven’t, be exploring this Hot Stove season.