Late Monday night, word spread that Pete Crow-Armstrong had agreed to a contract extension reportedly exceeding $100 million with the Cubs. When he is on, Crow-Armstrong is one of the more dynamic players on the field, although it is still a little wild to see him get paid, given his maddening inconsistency so far. His new deal is also a reminder that the Braves may have already missed their chance(s) to lock up Ronald Acuña Jr.
The idea of extending Acuña Jr. is hardly new. While the Braves DID give Acuña Jr. an early extension that has become one of the bigger bargains in baseball despite his injuries, there has been little momentum towards a new deal to keep him in Atlanta through the rest of his prime. Fans have been eagerly awaiting such an extension as others go down across the league, and Acuña Jr. himself said that he wants to be a Brave for life.
However, now that the ink is drying on Crow-Armstrong's extension, the odds of another long-term deal with Acuña Jr. appear to be further away than ever.
Given Pete Crow-Armstrong's price tag, a Ronald Acuña Jr. extension may simply not be feasible now
Amidst Acuña Jr.'s knee injury issues, it does feel like Atlanta could have made a real push to get an extension done. Acuña Jr. has said previously that he wants to stay, and while the health issues made it risky, it feels like the Braves could have worked out a deal that would have been very reasonable while still making Acuña Jr. feel valued.
Instead, there has apparently been no movement towards an extension at all. The Braves seem content to keep the team-friendly current terms of his last extension in place. Meanwhile, the price of keeping young players around just keeps going up, with Cristopher Sanchez and now Crow-Armstrong the latest examples.
As a result, Acuña Jr. may simply be out of the Braves' price range now if he wasn't already. If Crow-Armstrong is worth as much as he got, what do you think Acuña Jr., a Rookie of the Year and MVP winning, is going to command on the open market? Acuña Jr. would probably give the Braves some sort of hometown discount, especially given his injury history, but only to a point. We don't know exactly what Acuña Jr. is looking to get, but the number certainly isn't going down right now.
Perhaps the Braves are simply waiting to see what Acuña Jr. looks like further removed from his second knee surgery, or they could just want to see what the rules of the game under the next CBA will be. However, they are waiting while the rest of the league is wheeling and dealing, and the possibility exists that the window of opportunity for an extension with Acuña Jr. is already closed.