How the Stephen Strasburg signing is good for Atlanta Braves
By Seth Carter
The Nationals have secured one of their three aces to seven more years. It seems like bad news for the Atlanta Braves but there are some bright spots.
Atlanta Braves fans looked on in dejection as news broke on Monday that Stephen Strasburg had re-upped with the Nationals.
His decision to opt-out of his remaining four years and $100 million with the Washington Nationals turned out very well for the 30-year-old San Diego native. Strasburg and the Nationals agreed on an astonishing seven-year, $245 million contract.
Strasburg will be a National through his age-37 season. He has finished in the top nine in Cy Young voting three times.
He is coming off of a 2019 season in which he finished first in the NL in innings pitched with 209, and he is a three-time All-Star and has a Silver Slugger Award (2012) for good measure.
This is good news for the defending World Champions and bad news for the rest of the NL East.
The Nationals are once again three aces deep. Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Patrick Corbin will stack up against any other top-three in the league.
Heck, it wouldn’t be a surprise if those guys end up being the first three pitchers in the All-Star game for the NL.
This is bad. See, I told you this was not good news. With Acuna hitting leadoff, the Braves’ lineup is projected to have a steep dropoff after Freddie if they don’t sign a big bat.
Meanwhile, the Nationals are over there writing checks for a quarter of a million dollars.
I’m in no way saying the Braves are better off with the World Series MVP returning to Washington D.C. for seven more years. I’m in no way saying the Braves are in a better position now that the Nats have secured a three-headed monster of aces again.
I am attempting to look at the bright side of this for the Braves. It isn’t all doom and gloom. There has to be some optimism in this for us.