Atlanta Braves extend Ronald Acuna through 2028

Multiple sources report the Atlanta Braves and Ronald Acuna Jr., agreed this morning on an eight-year, $100M contract extension

The Atlanta Braves joined the list of Major League teams extending their young stars today when they agreed with Ronald Acuna Jr. on an 8-year/$90M deal with a $10M (minimum) buyout clause that brings the total value of the basic deal to $100M.

Yahoo’s Jeff Passan broke the story and reports that (Twitter link) the option years are worth $17M each meaning the Braves young superstar would earn $124M if both options are picked up.

The only cloud on the horizon is lack of word on a no-trade clause (though no Atlanta player has ever received one in the past).

The contract includes the 2019 season and extends team control of Acuna at least 4 – and up to 6 – years past his potential free agent year of 2024.  It’s the second largest contract in Atlanta Braves history behind Freddie Freeman’s 8-year $135M deal and tentatively gives Acuna another record.

The deal provides their young, rising star with security and stability, and is an absolute steal for the Braves as they retain control through his age 31 season. Just last week Alan suggested a deal with the same duration with a value of $204M while I had a spirited discussion about $204M being too low.

Predictably, fans are generally euphoric over the news.

Rather than bore you with statistics you already know ( I can hear you applauding), I’ll show you how Acuna stands in MLB history.  Here are the players who produced more than 4.0 bWAR and 3.4 fWAR at or under age 21, since 1979.

(In case you’re curious, the Nationals’ Juan Soto also posted a 3.7 fWAR in 2018 at the season-age of 19.  However, his bWAR came in well short at 3.0, though other stats in this chart were comparable:

• BA .292 / OBP .406 / SLG .517 / OPS .923 / wRC+ 146 / wOBA .392  )

The next step?

Extending Acuña would appear to be a nice first step towards solidifying the team’s core.

The contract for the team’s perennial MVP candidate Freddie Freeman runs through his age 31 year, 2021. An extension for him is essential, and given that he clearly wants to finish his career as an Atlanta Brave, it should be affordable.

Paul Goldschmidt, who plays at 31 this season, took a team friendly five-year $130M deal this spring. Offering Freeman a similar deal with a bit of a kick for being Freddie – say six years at $150M.

There are arguments for extending Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Johan Camargo that make waiting at least through this season prudent.

Joel Sherman prodded the elephant in the room out into the open with an outside opinion.

I’m all for making improvements and Kimbrel would make the bullpen better, but the potential bridge to Kimbrel is at best problematic and one man won’t fix that.

We’ve already seen evidence that Nick Markakis would make a better designated hitter than right fielder and that our young starters may not be dependable enough to fill out the rotation even if Kevin Gausman returns and pitches at his best.

The message is pretty clear:  congratulations on this signing, but no one’s forgotten the lack of deals that moved the team forward this offseason. As I recall, that was your mandate, at least according to Terry McGuirk.

"Spending now is about winning. It’s not about building as much. Alex’s mandate is to advance the ball from where we were last year in the playoffs . . . that we can take (payroll) to $126 million and put it on the field, plus an appreciable move beyond that, is unprecedented for us. We’ve been a bottom-10 payroll team . . . we want to get to the middle, and I think this year begins to get us (there) . . ."

We wouldn’t want to make the boss look bad, would we?

At this point in the season, changes are hard to make, but hard doesn’t mean impossible. It’s time to see the Ninja GM in actual action.

What about the money?

Opinions on the signing regarding the contract size and length for the values received are split between those who $100M is nothing to be sneezed at and others who say he seriously undersold himself; both are right.

The first argument is easy to understand. $100M is a life-changing guarantee, particularly inviting because of his roots in a country that suffer from internal turmoil and poverty. Invested wisely he and his family should be secure for a long time. There’s no question, however, that he would have cleared well over half that much in arbitration and multiples of it in free agency.

We heard much the same comment when Mike Trout extended with the Angels for $360M in the ten years beginning in 2021. That’s valid but at his end of the spectrum that doesn’t have the ripple effect that the Acuna contract has at his end of the pay ladder.

Taking $36M a year when you’re worth $45M a year is 80% of market.  Settling for an $11.5M AAV (excluding the $10M balloon payment that will be worth about $8.5m in today’s dollars when received) when you’re arguably worth at least $23M is 50% of market. Other teams will use Acuna’s number to leverage their young players at extension time. That’s why the MLBPA strongly encourages the member to fight for every dollar.

That’s a wrap

As a fan, I’m thrilled that this exciting young player’ been extended and wait for more of our home-grown assets to perform consistently well and do the same. I’m also disappointed that they low-balled him so badly in the deal, they could have given him more.

I understand that Heyward looked really good in his first year and then became a platoon player/defensive replacement.  I don’t foresee that from Acuña, he’s a far more talented player who’s already shown the ability to adapt and adjust.

Like Joel Sherman, I call for the Atlanta Braves to use that money they didn’t spend to put pieces around Acuña and Freeman that allow them to win.

That means trading players we like but having a lot of for player we need and lack as well as strategic use of the free agent market. Acuña, Freeman, and the fans deserve that and more.