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What the Atlanta Braves have done this winter sets them up for a decade. Literally. They got 19 years of two franchise-caliber players for a max of $145M. Four of those years were going to be at minimum salary, seven of them at arbitration salaries. That's important to note. 1/9
Atlanta got four free agent years each on Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies. The importance of this – and the extreme value – cannot be understated. If either is what he can be, Atlanta bought itself hundreds of millions of dollars is surplus value. Yes: Hundreds. Of. Millions. 2/9
A confluence of factors led to this. Labor uncertainty. Panic among players. Fear of free agency. But there is much more to it, and this, as much as anything, is how in so many cases the players are playing from behind and teams take advantage when they have leverage. 3/9
Neither Acuña nor Albies signed as amateurs for life-altering sums. Acuña got $100K, Albies $350K. Latin American players are often put in positions to accept below-market deals not just because of their small bonuses but unfortunate circumstances at home. 4/9
The alternative is giving away a portion of career earnings for what amounts to a cash advance or taking out high-interest loans. Some players choose to do that. Others take the extension. A much smaller number value themselves properly, hold firm, don't accept a lesser deal. 5/9
Acuña and Albies were perfect candidates – young, enjoy their situation, employ smaller agencies, did not sign for big money – to take well-under-market extensions. There is an inherent fear in smaller-bonus players. They didn’t get it once. They don’t want to miss it again. 6/9
Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies are richer than you, me and 99.999% of people ever will be, and they can take solace in that. But it doesn’t lessen the fact that baseball teams are using the inherent advantages they have as cudgels and getting extreme value from them. 7/9
In the end, Acuña and Albies agreed to deals that were offered to them. That is fact. But the context behind it – particularly the institutional inertia that led them toward doing so – are not just part of the story. They are *the* story of these extensions. 8/9
This is great business for the Atlanta Braves. This is bad business for baseball, writ large. The push and pull of this is at the heart of the labor animus that exists now. Bad deals have happened before. They just stand out more in this environment. 9/9
Correction: The deals max out at $169 million, not $145 million. Still not nice.
