Let's Talk About The Ozzie Albies Contract Extension
Ozzie Albies
Photo Credit: MLB Trade Rumors
So the Atlanta Braves just locked up Ozzie Albies to a mind boggling $7 year deal worth $35 million. As a fan of the Red Sox, who just seem to throw $100+ million at our talent to get them to say, I can say that I’m definitely jealous. I would have loved for the Red Sox to have locked up Betts, Benintendi or Bogaerts to long term deals similar to the ones the Braves are dishing out. The Red Sox tried to extend Mookie 2 years ago to $200 million and he turned that down, and they were able to extend Bogaerts to 6 years for $120 million and I thought this was a relatively team friendly deal. Granted Bogaerts is older than Albies and in the last year of arbitration though. It’s just insane what the Atlanta Braves have been able to do with the Acuna and Albies extensions. The Braves first extended Acuna a few weeks ago with an 8 year deal worth $100 million that includes 2 club options for an additional $17 million in 2027 and 2028. Everybody ranted and raved about how the Braves were able to lock up one of the best young players in baseball until he was 30 for such a cheap bargain. But then they go and do this Ozzie Albies deal and it somehow tops the Acuna deal. Again for only $35 million the Braves have locked up Ozzie Albies and this includes 2 club options for an additional 2 years at $7 million each.
Some are saying this is the worst deal ever signed by a MLB player. I think that’s a bit of an overreaction. There’s definitely been some similar deals signed like Jose Altuve’s deal in 2013 which was the equivalent of 6 yrs for $25 million or Salvador Perez’s deal which was 8 yrs for $26.75 million if all incentives and club options were picked up. To me the 7 year part of the deal for $35 million isn’t really that bad. Is it team friendly? Absolutely. But it’s not bad considering he would make roughly the league minimum till 2021 when he would enter arbitration. Xander Bogaerts who has an all-star appearance, 2 silver sluggers and has been part of 2 World Series teams only made $25.26 million in his first 6 years in the league through the arbitration process. We obviously don’t know if Albies will continue to improve and be a better player that Xander or not but I feel like they are a pretty good comparison at this point. So when you look at it from that standpoint, 7 years for $35 million isn’t all that bad. To me, the only part that makes this contract bad is the two club options at the end that can extend it to 9 years for only an additional $7 million each. If Ozzie is giving you a team friendly contract for next 7 years, you can at least give him some reasonable bumps once he hits 29. Instead only paying Ozzie $7 million for his 29 and 30 season seems to be the steal of a lifetime at this point in his career and the trajectory that he’s expected to be on. I guess there’s always the chance that Ozzie could restructure his deal before he hits those club options at the end of his deal, and it would be the least the Braves could do if he continues to shine. But if Ozzie is happy, then there isn’t really anything to complain about. Fans complain about players who sign too big of contracts and players that sign too small of contracts. Ozzie said it himself, he doesn’t play the game for money and he just set his family up at the same time, so who are we to complain about a player taking a team friendly deal.