Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown: 40, bad contract

While impatient Atlanta Braves fans may be begging for a big deal yet this offseason, today’s number should give those same fans pause.

Atlanta Braves fans love to make fun of New York Mets fans for the Bobby Bonilla contract. Nearly a decade after the New York Mets signed Bonilla to a heavily-deferred contract, the Atlanta Braves got a big season out of Bonilla off the bench in 2000, as Bonilla put together a .754 OPS in 278 plate appearances primarily as a pinch hitter.

Those same Braves fans chide Washington Nationals fans for their recent heavily-deferred deals, whether it’s the recent Patrick Corbin deal, which is already being viewed as one of the worst deals due to the amount of backloaded money in the deal, or one of their other recent long-term deals, like the Stephen Strasburg or Max Scherzer contracts.

Perhaps those Braves fans may want to dial things back, because if there’s a worst baseball contract ever, it very well may be the one that the Atlanta Braves gave to Bruce Sutter.

By the 1984/1985 offseason, Atlanta Braves fans were growing impatient. They’d had a taste of success in 1982, winning the division, but losing in the NLCS to the Cardinals. The team finished second in the NL West in both 1983 and 1984, though in 1984, that second-place finish was on an 80-82 record.

For some reason, that’s when the team decided to go “all-in” on the 1985 squad by signing the highest-profile free agent of the 1984-1985 offseason, a closer coming off a record-breaking season with the Cardinals, Bruce Sutter.

The odd thing was that the 1984 Braves really weren’t hurting for bullpen options, and good ones at that. Donnie Moore, Gene Garber, and Steve Bedrosian had each saved double-digit games in 1984. If there was a spot where the team needed help, there were definite needs – starting pitching, any semblance of power to help Dale Murphy in the lineup, etc.

Instead, they chose to go for a super bullpen…and nothing else. They actually got some of that power they needed from a healthy Bob Horner, though the overall offense was still putrid, finishing with the third-lowest scoring offense in the league. However, that was not the worst failure on the team as the pitching, which was strong in the bullpen but weak in the rotation in 1984, collapsed completely in 1985, finishing last in the league in ERA. THREE members of the Opening Day rotation finished the season with an ERA over 6.

Sutter was no help, either. His presence had allowed the team to move Bedrosian into the rotation, where he had a solid year, with a 3.83 ERA over 206 2/3 innings, but he was definitely a reliever in a starter’s role. However, his ERA made him the second-best starter on the team!

Sutter’s performance was rough. After saving 45 with a 1.54 ERA over 122 2/3 innings the previous season, Sutter saved 23 over 88 1/3 innings, with a 4.48 ERA. Incredibly, it would be his best season with the Braves.

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The Atlanta Braves had met Sutter’s insane contract demands to defer his contract 30 (!!) years. Rather than pay him his actual salary as he played, the Atlanta Braves only paid Sutter interest at roughly an 8% rate during his playing career, much of which he missed due to injury, with 1985 being the only full season he pitched in his six-year contract.

Once the active contract ended (Sutter had retired after the 1988 season, but still collected active contract through the 1990 season), Sutter received an annual payment of at least $1.12 million (interest rates never got high enough to trigger an increase in his annual payment). However, those were all just interest payments.

The Atlanta Braves will still pay Sutter $1.12 million in 2019…and 2020…and 2021. Then, in 2022, finally, the team pays the entire principal of his six-year contract, $9.1 million!

Now, let’s just hope the Atlanta Braves don’t stick themselves with another contract like THAT!!