The Braves are one of the more interesting teams out there when it comes to free agency. In fact, the success of free agency in a way comes back to them and Ted Turner when they signed the very first officially sanctioned free agent ever with Andy Messersmith‘s 3/$1m contract back in 1975. Since then? Other than Greg Maddux in 1992, it simply hasn’t been their thing.
Friday, September 11 at 7:15p – Aaron Nola vs Chris Sale (L)
Truist Park – Cumberland, GA
Saturday, September 12 at 7:15p – Jesus Luzardo vs Tyler Mahle (R)
Sunday, September 13 at 1:35p – Andrew Painter vs Grant Holmes (R)
Fresh off his first Cy Young Award, the Braves signed Greg Maddux to a free agent contract worth $28m over 5 years on December 10th, 1992. In my book, this is the second-best free agent signing in history thanks to his 3 Cy Youngs and 1 World Series win in those 5 seasons (Randy Johnson with the Diamondbacks went 4 for 4 with 1 ring). Since then? They have only made 6 free agent signings with more total value. Yup, just 6. The Braves have primarily relied on international signings, trades, and their own farm system rather than spending cash on new blood.
It would take 20 years for the Braves to sign another free agent to anything larger than what Maddux signed for in 1992. Andres Galarraga signed for more per year at 3/$24.8m in 1997, but it wasn’t until November 2012 that B.J. Upton signed for 5/$75.25m. That was damn near triple Greg Maddux. Want to know the crazy part? It is STILL the highest free agent contract ever given out by the Braves.
Can you believe that? Obviously, this is no hit piece on Atlanta. They have won two World Series and an unfathomable amount of division titles since Maddux all because of their shrewd ability to develop talent, make trades, and NOT overpay on free agents. Still, it is kind of amazing that they have almost completely ignored a tool that is so frequently used by everyone else.
The other big deals since then barely register. There’s Nick Markakis in 2014 who signed for 4/$44m. After him, it is almost entirely 1 year contracts. In 2018, Josh Donaldson went for 1/$23m. Cole Hamels sadly took the Braves $18m for the 2020 season. Also in 2020, Marcel Ozuna originally signed for 1/$18m before reupping at 4/$65m the following year, but that isn’t the same. Charlie Morton took $15m in 2021.
The current Braves team has used free agency more than any other Braves team in 30 years and it still isn’t much to look at. There are just 5 players making more than $10m on free agent contracts right now: Reynaldo Lopez (3/$30m), suspended Jurickson Profar (3/$42m), Mike Yastrzemski (2/$23m), Ha-seong Kim (1/$20m), and Robert Suarez (3/$45m). That’s it.
What am I trying to say with this? Nothing in particular. It absolutely works for the Braves. You have to wonder if this is by design, by necessity, or simply coincidence of none of the big free agents taking what the Braves offered.
Source: Spotrac and rummaging around Baseball Reference
Photo: Peter Bond from Chicago, IL, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)
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