Phillies fan here, lecturing Braves players on why they should hate their team. If you have come here for a biased Philly-centric opinion on baseball in Atlanta, you have come to the wrong place my friend. Nothing but objective facts from here on out.
The Braves are a corporation run without a true owner, one of two such organizational hierarchies in baseball (the other is Toronto). They have one clear goal, and that is the bottom line. Yes, the Braves must remain profitable or else people will lose their jobs. Granted, they are at least also trying to win while remaining profitable unlike the mandates from other owners but winning is secondary. To accomplish this goal, they employ one of the best GMs in the sport in Alex Anthopoulos. No one is better at making a deal than him. Whether it is convincing a kid to take less money or fleecing an opposing GM, the Braves are going to get the better end of a deal or they aren’t going to make a deal. I am not making fun, this is objectively great for the team. As for the players? Not so much.
The Braves simply do not dabble much in free agency, especially not at the top of the market. On the current roster, only Marcell Ozuna, Reynaldo Lopez, and Jurickson Profar were free agent signings of significance and none of them were subject to any type of bidding war. This lack of participation includes resigning any of their own players. Most recently, the Braves had little to no dialogue with Max Fried in terms of extension talks. The same went for Dansby Swanson a few years back. The Braves have a policy, sign an early discounted extension or be gone. When it became clear that Fried and Swanson were not interested in taking a discount, it was only a matter of time before both left in free agency. Fried signed for 8/$210m with the Yankees and is currently one of the AL Cy Young favorites. Swanson signed with the Cubs for 7/$177m. Again, I am not saying they were wrong not to sign these guys. I am saying that Braves players need to know that they will not be taken care of by the organization.
Series Matchup: Braves at Phillies
Tuesday, May 27 at 6:45p – Ranger Suarez v. Spencer Strider
Wednesday, May 28 at 6:45p – Zack Wheeler v. AJ Smith-Shawver
Thursday, May 29 at 6:45p – Cristopher Sanchez v. Chris Sale
Ronald Acuna came back this weekend from a torn ACL suffered early last year. He promptly blasted home runs in consecutive games and Braves fans rejoiced. They absolutely love him when he is hitting home runs. They should! He is one of the top 5 talents in the game and they have him signed for ridiculously cheap. After his first season in the league, the Braves locked him up to an 8 year, $100m contract. For a rookie who hadn’t won an MVP yet, that is pretty good. I am not knocking anyone for that part of the deal. No matter how much talent someone has, predicting an MVP is a little optimistic. No, I am knocking the deal for the “Braves Special” part of it. A Braves Special is what I am calling the team option years that do not get reported when people do a quick look at a Braves contract. Acuna did NOT sign an 8/$100m contract, he signed a 10/$124m contract. His 8-year deal would be up after next season and would allow him to hit free agency again at age 29. That would be pretty good for him…except that is not what’s happening. The contract has two team option years for $17m a piece (with a $10m buyout). This means that his initial contract was really either 8/$90m or 9/$100m (depending on how you want to see it) and robbed him of earning power for his age 29 and 30 seasons. Back when he signed the deal (2019), $17m would rank him as the 54th highest paid player. Right now, 93rd. What do you think it is going to be in two years? Unless Acuna can’t play, there is absolutely no chance that those options don’t get picked up. Unfortunately for him, there is an equal but opposite chance they ever offer him another early extension or make good on the surplus value they have received on the contract.
Acuna’s situation is rough, but Ozzie Albies may have the worst current contract in sports. It is Scottie Pippen level bad. Billed as a 7/$35m contract signed in 2019, it is another Braves Special that includes two $7m option years with a $4m buyout. So, you could look at it as any of the following 7/$31m, 8/$35, or 9/$45m. Do you know how many players in baseball are making at least $31m per season right now? 17!!! Just awful. At 22 years old, he signed a deal that didn’t bet on himself even a little bit. Acuna’s was at least justifiable, $100m guaranteed ain’t bad. $35m is a little different though. If he needed the money that bad, the Braves were down right cruel to tack on those last two option years. $7m per year is currently the 227th highest average salary in the league. He should be a free agent after this season. Obviously, there is no chance of that happening.
Acuna and Albies aren’t the only ones, but they are probably the two that most wished they had made the same decision as Swanson and Fried. Had they done so, Acuna would have been a free agent going into this current season and Albies before last year. There are two other candidates for regret on the ledger as well. Spencer Strider signed for 6/$75m officially but you could see it as 6/$70m, 7/$75m, or 7/$92m depending on how you want to see the Braves Special part of it. Pitchers do get hurt though. Strider tore his UCL in 2019 and damaged in again last year. At least he only gave up 2 likely years of free agency. Michael Harris on the other hand would not have reached free agency until after the 2027 season. The Braves bought out an extra 5 years! That’s basically two contracts in one. On paper it is an 8/$72m deal, but it is really 8/$67m, 9/$72m, or 10/$102m. Harris is struggling this season, but his defense alone would probably get him a similar contract to what he is getting in those 5 extra seasons of control.
I am giving the Braves a lot of credit for the contracts above, but they do have deals out there with the potential to go bad. Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Sean Murphy are all very good players. Riley and Olson have put up some monster numbers in their careers already. Riley signed a 10/$212m deal after his 3rd season though. It comes with one additional option year for $20m, but that will be his age 36 season. Similarly, when Olson’s 8/$168m contract ends, he has a $20m option for his age 36 season. Basically they are signed for the rest of their careers. Instead of signing at age 20, these two knew what they were doing. As a catcher, Murphy signed a solid contract at 6/$72m as a first-time arbitration eligible 28-year-old. As an older player, he simply did not have the kind of leverage as anyone else profiled above. Still, his deal is already starting to look like it might be going sour. He simply can’t stay healthy and Drake Baldwin is going to be taking more and more of his opportunities. As for Riley and Olson, they are going to be owed $20+m throughout their 30s. Those are pretty big commitments.
Right now, all of these deals give the Braves a competitive advantage over the Phillies. The roster the Braves run out there should cost probably $300-$350m but instead only around $220m. That’s just great business. Sucks for the Braves players though. Beware Spencer Shwellenbach and Drake Baldwin.
As for the fans, I mean, I think Braves fans are incredibly soft for “well actually”-ing their playoff losses to the Phillies. I won’t get into that though. I will say, next time you want to get mad at one of these guys for a slump, just remember how much they already gave you first.
Philly Front Office 
Leave a comment