Braves sign Freeman to 8 year 135M deal! *Updated to 135m*

[Orphan Black]

Definitely awesome news if true...way okay with 8 years 125 million

[Enscheff]

Now THIS might end up being good work by Wren. Identify the man that wants to be in a Braves uniform, and pay him.

Finally, a move has been made this offseason to improve the organization in a meaningful way.

[Gary82]

Great news that the team is committed to Freddie.

edit:

Plus, no feelings are hurt over arbitration hearings.

[thethe]

We now have the new face of the Braves. Hopefully Jason will join that picture soon enough.

[KB21]

I'm curious to see what kind of deal Jason will be looking at if he plays the way he is capable of playing and posts 6+ WAR over each of the next two years.

I'd love to see Andrelton get locked up as well, and he could be undervalued on the market because he is mostly a defensive player.

[zitothebrave]

8/125 is a bit of abear. That last year of the contract (maybe 2) may sting a bit as generally big 1B don't age well (see Howard, Ryan. Poopholes, Albert, Dunn, Adam) so the 31-33 year old seasons from him are risky, but overall a solid deal. since the next few years, we'd be making money on his deal hand over fist interms of value.

[MadduxFanII]

Will have to wait for official word and details, but my assumption is that a long-term contract for Freeman, combined with Heyward's deal, means one of two things:

1. The Braves approached both players with broadly similar deals and Freeman was the only one to bite
2. The Braves have made an organizational decision to prioritize Freeman over Heyward

Either way, it doesn't seem to bode well for Heyward's future with the team. Still, having Freeman long term is better than not having Freeman long term, so this would be a good day.

[mossy]

Make it happen!!

[gilesfan]

Will have to wait for official word and details, but my assumption is that a long-term contract for Freeman, combined with Heyward's deal, means one of two things:

1. The Braves approached both players with broadly similar deals and Freeman was the only one to bite
2. The Braves have made an organizational decision to prioritize Freeman over Heyward

Either way, it doesn't seem to bode well for Heyward's future with the team. Still, having Freeman long term is better than not having Freeman long term, so this would be a good day.

Spot on.

[Heyward]

Worth every penny.

Awesome news.

If only they could lock up Heyward.

8/125 is about fair when you look at what other players get.

[Orphan Black]

Seems downright cheap to me if you compare it to say Joey Votto's contract.

Worth every penny.

Awesome news.

If only they could lock up Heyward.

8/125 is about fair when you look at what other players get.

[zitothebrave]

Will have to wait for official word and details, but my assumption is that a long-term contract for Freeman, combined with Heyward's deal, means one of two things:

1. The Braves approached both players with broadly similar deals and Freeman was the only one to bite
2. The Braves have made an organizational decision to prioritize Freeman over Heyward

Either way, it doesn't seem to bode well for Heyward's future with the team. Still, having Freeman long term is better than not having Freeman long term, so this would be a good day.

I tend to not try to read to far into things when it comes to contracts (though admittedly that's very hard to do) but Jason and Freddie were at different points. Ignoring that Jason though the same age as Freddie is closer to FA so there for an 8/125 deal is not the same value as it is to Freddie because it's 6 years of FA not 5, Freddie is fresh off his breakout year, which may wind up being his best offensive season (hope he keeps improving, just making a point) Jason is off an injury plagued season that some people felt was offensively down (when in reality it was about the same as they year before) so Jason's perceived value was downa tick while Freddie's was up. Jason may have been offered a much lower deal than Freddie and felt he would continue to bide his time. We have him locked up through free agency which is good, and hopefully when he does hit FA he'll stay, if not, Justin isn't a bad fall back option at that point.

[zitothebrave]

Seems downright cheap to me if you compare it to say Joey Votto's contract.

No offense to Freeman, but he's no Joey Votto. Granted, the Votto deal is bound to look horrific pretty soon, but he earned his pay. He was year in and year out the best or one of the best 1B in baseball. Like when Pujols signed his deal, you had to pay him if you wanted him. Odds are it will start hurting and hurting fast, but some moves you have to make to stay competitive.

[DaneHill]

[Dalyn]

This is good news.

[nsacpi]

Here's what I think is a fair deal with Freeman:

Arb years: 5M, 9M, 14M

Free agency years: 22M/year

Will be interesting to see how it comes out relative to that baseline.

A couple benchmarks to keep in mind. Fielder got almost 24M/year. But he took the risk of going to free agency. When a player re-signs early he accepts a lower number in exchange for the club assuming some of the risk.

The other benchmark is Votto: he is paid paid 22.5M/year over ten for his free agency years, and was paid a total of 38M for his arb years. In the case of Votto the contract is very long, so he made a concession on AAV.

[weso1]

8/125 would be a great contract for us. About as good as we could have hoped for. Covers Freeman through his entire prime and doesn't go too deep into his 30's.

[nsacpi]

8/125 would be a great contract for us. About as good as we could have hoped for. Covers Freeman through his entire prime and doesn't go too deep into his 30's.

Would take him through age 31. Perfect.

[clvclv]

Now THIS might end up being good work by Wren. Identify the man that wants to be in a Braves uniform, and pay him.

Finally, a move has been made this offseason to improve the organization in a meaningful way.

Had to absolutely kill you to type that, didn't it???

[Orphan Black]

No offense to Freeman, but he's no Joey Votto. Granted, the Votto deal is bound to look horrific pretty soon, but he earned his pay. He was year in and year out the best or one of the best 1B in baseball. Like when Pujols signed his deal, you had to pay him if you wanted him. Odds are it will start hurting and hurting fast, but some moves you have to make to stay competitive.

I didn't say he was Joey Votto, but Votto is already 30 and has at least 10 years and 218 mil left on his contract. Freeman has improved every year so far, and even if he remains consistent over the next 5 seasons it will be well worth the money. And Freddie was only 1 WAR behind Votto last season. He could very well equal Votto this season.