The Atlanta Braves have signed Marcell Ozuna: 3 important takeaways
It was an announcement that probably wasn’t intended for Hall of Fame night, but it does underscore just how much the Atlanta Braves have been driving offseason events.
In case you were driving home or having dinner last evening when it happened (raises hand), the Atlanta Braves got their middle-of-the-order hitter last night in Marcell Ozuna.
He wasn’t ‘Plan A’, but that Plan ultimately didn’t match up between the needs of the Braves and the needs of Josh Donaldson.
But no matter… because Alex Anthopoulos has been the puppet master for this entire offseason, seemingly doing almost anything he wants to build a team capable of getting deep into October.
But wait… didn’t all the really-big-money players end up on other teams? We saw Anthony Rendon go to the Angels. Stephen Strasburg returned to the Nationals. Gerrit Cole is now a Yankee. Zack Wheeler went to Philadelphia. Donaldson to Minneapolis. Madison Bumgarner to Phoenix. Yasmani Grandal is in Chicago.
All true. And each of those contracts will ultimately cost their teams at least $73 million apiece… with one of those ringing the bell at well over a staggering four times that number. Every one of these lasts at least four seasons… most are (or could be) five years.
The biggest contract that the Braves have delivered this Winter is the three year, $40 million deal handed to reliever Will Smith. That’s it.
There are now a pair of $18 million deals: Cole Hamels and Ozuna have those. Beyond that, Travis d’Arnaud will get $16 million over 2 seasons.
Nothing seriously long term. Nothing that will hold the team financially hostage.
At the same time, it has seemed that the entire player market has been wrapped around either the Braves immediately making a move (that happened very early on as they snapped up most of the best relievers available) or free agents waiting to see who Atlanta might be interested in adding at particular positions.
This week, it appears that Anthopoulos may have put out a message similar to this: we have a 1-year/$18 million contract available for somebody… who wants it? Ozuna took the bait. Nicholas Castellanos didn’t.
Trade options? Didn’t need ’em (more on that later). Too complicated… too pricey… too much uncertainty… Whatever the reason, this idea of just ‘spending money’ – and yes: having the financial wherewithal to be able to do so – has permitted the Braves to maneuver their way through this Winter like we’ve never seen.
And that leads us to our takeaways…