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A deeper look at the coming Atlanta Braves arbitration numbers for 2020

By Alan Carpenter

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 31: Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves puts water on his face during the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 31: Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves puts water on his face during the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 17: Grant Dayton #75 of the Atlanta Braves reacts with Brian McCann #16 at the conclusion of an MLB game against the New York Mets at SunTrust Park on June 17, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /

The Atlanta Braves will almost certainly have less cash to spend in 2020, so the level of arbitration raises coming is… somewhat concerning.  Let’s look deeper at this.

Entering 2018, the Atlanta Braves had just 5 arbitration-eligible players on the books and the maximum estimate salary from that year was $3.7 million… and that number (for Arodys Vizcaino) ended up being signed for just $3.4 million.

Coming into this just-finished 2019 season, 8 players were in the arbitration barrel with three of them estimated to exceed that prior high mark of $3.4 million… including Vizcaino.

Kevin Gausman ended up at the high-water mark here at $9.35 million, exceeding his estimate by $150K.

Now we come to the 2019-2020 off-season with nine Braves players potentially needing raises via the arbitration system.

All of the estimates that we work with here will be the result of an awesome body of work performed by Matt Swartz at MLBTradeRumors.com.  They’ve been doing this for 9 years now, and as a minimum, it’s the industry go-to place for those like us who discuss these matters.

Some numbers obtained from the Cots’ Contracts site of baseballprospectus.com

Let’s break down the changes… and the expectations.

The Calendar

First off, here’s some key dates:

  • FREE AGENCY FILINGS:  1 day after the end of the World Series
  • EXCLUSIVE NEGOTIATION WINDOW:  Pending free agents are permitted to negotiate exclusively with their current clubs until Qualifying Offers are due.
  • QUALIFYING OFFERS:  Due 5 days after the World Series ends
  • CONTRACT OPTION PICKUP DEADLINE:  Same day… 5 days after the end of the series
  • FREE AGENCY BEGINS:  Same day.
  • QUALIFYING OFFER DECISION DEADLINE:  QO’s must be accepted or rejected 15 days after the World Series ends.
  • NON-TENDER DEADLINE.  Decisions on whether teams will commit to offer contracts to their unsigned/controllable players have to be settled by December 2nd.
  • WINTER MEETINGS:  December 9-12 in San Diego

Now to the players…

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