Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: more on Ronald Acuna’s deal and schedules

Sometimes you just can’t win… even when the right thing is done.  The Atlanta Braves are learning that this week.

Now that we have the year-by-year breakdown of Ronald Acuna Jr.’s new contract with the Atlanta Braves, we know enough to make a few observations.

Oddly, though, there have actually been a lot of complaints about the Braves spending this money now and not on Keuchel or Kimbrel. That’s one viewpoint.

There have also been a lot of counter thoughts along the lines of “Okay, the team just saved money – now go out and sign Kimbrel”.

Here’s one of the more unhinged comments along these lines (by no means the only one):

Turns out that holding either of these viewpoints puts you way off base.

In the near term, this extension is much ado about nothing.  Acuna was not even going to be arbitration-eligible for 3 more years, and while this deal will certainly elevate his paycheck in advance of that schedule, it will hardly break the bank, either.

Note that this ‘3 years’ mark is important if you’re thinking ‘Kimbrel’ since that’s been the report of the contract length he’s now seeking.  In other words, supposed that Kimbrel signs for the 3 years that he wants… he’d be gone (again) by the time Acuna will start getting his bigger monies.

In short, whether Alex Anthopoulos chooses to sign Craig Kimbrel or not, this Acuna extension deal will have zero bearing on that – either way. None. Nada. Zilch.  No additional ‘financial flexibility’… no wasted dollars either.

What the Extension Does Enable

I don’t know if we’ll ever know the full motivation behind Acuna’s thinking in signing this contract. There are certainly a few possible angles – one of which that could be huge for the Braves.

• His family.  If he chooses, this could enable Acuna to get his family out of Venezuela and that terrible environment.  That may already have happened (there’s no rumors about this, and that’s probably a good thing).  Regardless:  this deal certainly helps this entire baseball family.
• His buddies. Yeah – I do think Acuna could have held out for more… a lot more.  But was that the primary motive?  What if he wants to see this young core locked up for a while? This discount would certainly allow Anthopoulos to afford to do that in the future – if others are amenable to such deals as well.

The bottom line is that while Acuna could have held up the Braves for a King’s ransom, he clearly chose not to do so. He will still be able to sock away several tens of millions over the next decade, and to do so in an environment he’s clearly comfortable with.

The Player’s Association is probably squirming uncontrollably at this deal, but we the fans ought to applaud him all the more, for this was definitely not done out of greed. The Braves truly got a steal of a deal.

Don’t listen to Anthopoulos

Of course this Acuna extension came just 1 day after an interview Alex Anthopoulos gave to 680 TheFan on the Buck and Kincade show Monday.

During the interview, Anthopoulos was asked specifically if the spate of extensions being offered – and signed – by others around the league was pushing him in a direction of trying to lock up any of the Braves’ young stars… if I recall correctly, Acuna’s name was not specifically mentioned, though the direction of the question was clear.

In the answer, Anthopoulos dodged while speaking in general terms. Things like ‘case by case basis’, ‘no rush’, and ‘perhaps with 2-ish years to go’ were phrases (paraphrased) thrown out in his response… with zero indication that anything like Tuesday’s bombshell might be in the works.

Of course, the astute among you might recall that at the time of this interview – 12:30 pm on Monday EDT – I was en route to Atlanta for the home opener.   And yes… I was still well outside the range of WCNN.  So yes – there was a story involved here.

I had this new truck, you see… and my resourceful wife figured out how to rig it up:

• That Chevy Silverado had its own WiFi hotspot
• My wife networked her iPhone to it
• She then found the station’s website (http://www.680thefan.com/)
• She found the ‘Listen Live’ button
• Now she Bluetooth-connected the phone to the truck’s audio system

Voila! The interview was streamed through the truck audio via the iPhone… and

Sweet. There’s something not available in my own (older) current vehicles.  But now having heard this interview directly, I also know that whatever Alex says isn’t necessarily the full story.

We’ll certainly file that information away for future consideration.

The Schedule

On the occasion of news that Nationals Shortstop Trea Turner broke a finger on his throwing hand last night, I did take a peek at the schedule just to see if the Braves might be able to play the Nationals while they were a bit short-handed.

Not only was the answer ‘no’, but it was worse than I thought.

Atlanta doesn’t actually see Washington at all until the end of May… and the Nats games are severely backloaded toward the end of the season.

Starting on July 14 and running until September 15, Atlanta plays the Nationals fourteen times during that 2 month stretch.

It gets worse. Let’s look at the period from September 5 through September 19. 14 games in 15 days against the Nationals, Phillies, Nationals, and Phillies in consecutive fashion.

I had previously fixated on the rest of the schedule in that area of the season… lots of games against the likes of Miami, Toronto, the White Sox, the Royals, the Reds, and Twins.  That starts in August.

This gauntlet against the East’s Beasts though… that’s going to require another level of effort. If the Braves can survive that, then perhaps they will be set up for a great finish, but it’s gonna be tough, no doubt.

There’s a lot of baseball to be played before we get that far ahead of ourselves, right? (yeah, I know – I’m the one who went there!)