The Braves have gone on an extension frenzy this off-season that continued with the signing of Andrelton Simmons today. The extensions this year are as follows:
- Andrelton Simmons – 7 Years, 58 million (arb. years + 2 Free Agent Years)
- Freddie Freeman – 8 Years, 135 million (arb years + 5 Free Agent Years)
- Craig Kimbrel – 4 Years, 42 Million (arb years + 1 Free Agent Year + 13 million option)
- Julio Teheran – 6 Years, 32.4 Million (arb years + 1 Free Agent Year, + 12 million option)
- Jason Heyward – 2 Years, 13.3 Million (arb years)
In the deals, the Braves committed 280 million to five young players. Some of the deals are very smart, some are a bit dangerous. First, as a caveat,technically Heyward’s deal is not an extension as the Braves purchased him out of his arbitration years, not beyond team control (thus what the word extension refers to).
Anyway, a deal like Julio Teheran, although very young, controls a pitcher at a very low price. If he hits the market in five years, and he stays healthy all that time, he could be looking at a much larger contract than what he is owed in 2019 or the 12 million option for 2020. But that’s the risk for the Braves, that he stays healthy for 6 years, which is tough for a pitcher to do.
Same deal with Simmons. He could still be a Super II player this season. If he projects like the Braves expect him to, then this could be a very cheap deal for the Braves and provide stability in the infield (especially with Freeman locked up). But its early. There are way too many examples to list of players with tools that show them off in the rookie year, and never return to that. In this case Simmons becomes expensive.
The deal with the most risk is Freeeman, because it goes well beyond the arbitration years, but also the financial commitment. Freeman is a good player, but hasn’t established himself yet. David Wright signed a large contract extension last year, but that was after a smaller contract that allowed him to prove himself.
But this shows the changing landscape of contracts. The steal the Mets got on Wright and Reyes to get them out of their arb. years will probably never happen again. The Mets are probably watching all of this closely as it is unlikely the will be able to sign d’Arnaud, Wheeler, Harvey and Syndegaard to deals like Wright, Reyes and Niese.
