Dangerously Large Contracts Outside Braves’ Comfort Zone
The Braves have a propensity to extend young players who haven’t finished arbitration. Not so much with unrestricted free agents looking for long-term deals and big money.
We’ve seen Alex Anthopoulos routinely lock up his young players to long-term deals. He buys out their arbitration years in order to provide long-term security at an assumed discount on years after they were due to be unrestricted free agents (UFA’s).
For example, starting next season Acuna Jr. will earn a “meager” $17,000,000 per year through 2028. That’s cheap for one of the superstars of the game.
Ozzie Albies will earn just $7 million per year beginning next season and he is locked up through 2027, his age-30 season. Unbelievable deal.
AA let Atlanta Braves legend Freddie Freeman walk in free agency and chose to find value in a trade with Matt Olson. Freeman signed for $162 million over six years with the Dodgers. This contract pays Freddie a robust $27 million per year through his age-37 season. It’s a lot of money to pay a player on the downside of his career.
Anthopoulos has remained disciplined and refuses to overpay for a player. I think if the Braves were going to have reached a deal with Dansby, it would have happened already.
Swanson will command serious attention, even in a crowded shortstop market. He’s one of the best offensive and defensive shortstops in the game. He should be at the top of the list for Gold Glove voting this season.
This is going to come down to how the Braves’ front office values Swanson and how much other teams are willing to pay. When is the last time the Braves committed to a long-term massive contract to a true free agent?
Anthopoulos has not had a problem offering one-year contracts to veteran players. The largest UFA contract that comes to mind is Marcell Ozuna’s four-year, $65 million. That has not returned much value, either.
If you go down the aisles of the Library of Massive Contracts, the floors are littered with horror stories, flung to the floor in anger by bitter fans and general managers. Anthopoulos clearly prefers to keep his name off the byline of those horror stories.
If Swanson gets the kind of money he deserves, I don’t think it will be from the Braves.
What say you? Let it fly in the comments.