A 4-year deal for Marcell Ozuna suggests a true commitment by the Atlanta Braves.
As the lead curmudgeon on this site in criticism of the Atlanta Braves‘ Front Office this Winter (gad — I’m turning into Jeff Schultz), there is one important thing to say in the wake of this news of bringing Marcell Ozuna back into the fold for 2021:
The Braves got lucky.
Truly: the juxtaposition of having only a few teams spending money this Winter vs. all of the other big free-agent hitters being off the board left Atlanta with only one choice available to them — even as they were trying desperately not to overpay for the privilege of locking down their offense.
Last year, a similar plot failed as the Twins jumped in big to steal away Josh Donaldson. The fact that Ozuna was available then — and then performed as he did — was also lucky.
This year, it was a massive poker bluff where Atlanta bet that no one else was looking for a DH-type player (especially in the National League) and/or that most other teams were okay with the outfielders they had… at this price level.
The Atlanta Braves vs. the Tampa Bay Rays for Ozuna?
Heck, if the frugal Tampa Bay Rays are your last competition, it means that you’re really trying to squeeze a few more bucks out of the equation. Such was the case this week in the pursuit (?) of Ozuna.
The Tampa Bay Rays did make an offer to Marcell Ozuna, but he communicated to his agents that he wanted to hear from the #Braves. Deal came together in one day.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) February 6, 2021
But in the end… it worked. You have to say that they read the market correctly, but it’s also clear that many prior transactions had to fall into the right places for this to happen… and that’s where the luck factor came in.
So with all that off my chest, it’s time to look forward, because the Atlanta Braves now have their middle-of-the-order slugger for the next four seasons.
Let’s now look at what this kind of commitment really means for the next few years… because this is fascinating to consider.