Atlanta Braves need to figure out when to pay the kids

The Braves have an interesting collection of ‘kids’ that are establishing themselves as bona fide contributors… so when should the team make offers to keep them around for the long term?

It has been analyzed numerous times throughout the past 12 months or so, and we have all speculated how it will be used, but the Atlanta Braves figure to have a good solid amount of money to spend in the upcoming offseason.

As a result, it seems the Braves are being tied to every upcoming free agent including Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. I do expect the Braves to talk to those players camps but I wouldn’t expect to win the sweepstakes regarding those players.

I do wonder though, if the Braves should keep their free agent signings to a minimum and choose to instead lock up some of the young core players that have greatly contributed this year – namely Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies.

Special Somethings

Acuna is showing he is the real deal, and is possibly already one of the best players in the game, but will surely become one in the next couple of seasons. He is a generational talent, and the Braves barring something totally bizarre, will no doubt have him until after the 2024 season.

The same can be said of Ozzie Albies. He may not be a game changing talent, but he’s a darn fine baseball player and will most likely become one of the best second basemen in the next few years. Because Albies started in the majors in 2017, he will be eligible for free agency after the 2023 season.

The Braves could instead to stay the track and keep the paychecks to both players small for the next few years and add talent around them to keep up with the NL East. In fact, that is what I expect them to do, especially since neither player is arbitration eligible for a while yet.

However, to see what it might cost, you would have to look back at Pre-Arb extension records and go from there.

To the Record Books

In the upcoming off-season, Acuna will obviously still not have 1 full season under his belt. The current record for biggest contract ever given to a player with less than 1 full year of service was the White Sox giving Tim Anderson a 6 year/ $25 million deal.

I think we would all agree Acuna would figure to shatter this record. First off, 6 years would completely buy out his pre-arb and arbitration seasons. I’m sure the Braves would love to go to 7 or 8 years, which in turn would add to their control of Acuna another year or two.

More from Tomahawk Take

Albies will have over 1 year but not quite 2 in the bigs when this season ends. The largest deal ever given to a player in that category ever… was the Braves with Andrelton Simmons. if you will recall, that contract was a 7 year/ $58 million deal.

The Angels are obviously reaping the benefits of that deal now, but as anyone can see, that deal is a steal. The Braves could go down a similar road with Ozzie as they did with Simba. A 7 year deal would add to his control by 2 years making him a free agent after the 2025 season.

The last record I’m going to discuss here is the longest in length contract ever given to a pre-arbitration player. That award goes to Ryan Braun who the Brewers signed to a 8 year deal for $45 million – 10 years ago. I would love for the Braves to break this mark with Acuna.

Being honest about Albies, I would like to see a little more consistency from Albies before going to that kind of length, but that is nit-picking because you can’t hate on the season the 21-year-old has given us to this point.

The bottom line is you always want your team to spend money, but you obviously want them to spend it wisely and of course make the team better.

Next. Who was the Best?. dark

I’m all for spending money this off-season and keeping Acuna and Albies salaries down close to minimum but if the Braves miss out on their main targets, I would then think long and hard about spending the money to lock up Acuna and Albies.

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