Braves Sign Jason Heyward To Two-Year Deal per MLB TradeRumors

[tmizerek]

Braves Sign Jason Heyward To Two-Year Deal
By Steve Adams [February 4 at 10:00am CST]

The Braves have issued a press release to announce the signing of right fielder Jason Heyward to a two-year contract. The contract, which covers the 2014-15 seasons, prevents Heyward and the Braves from going to an arbitration hearing. Heyward is a client of Excel Sports Management.

[The Chosen One]

Temporary good news. I guess those who criticized Frank Wren for not giving Hey the extra 300k or whatever it was he was asking for can give him a compliment for getting this done.

[tfbrave77]

Jon Heyman says 2 yrs/13.3M

Edit:
Same number reported on 680theFan

[zbhargrove]

Good news for the Bravos! Now let's hope Jason takes another step forward this year in full health and they work out a bigger extension.

[nsacpi]

Around 8M for 2015. Good value for the club and some security for Jason. Too bad it doesn't include another year.

[JohnAdcox]

Around 8M for 2015. Good value for the club and some security for Jason. Too bad it doesn't include another year.

Or several more years. But seriously, I am delighted. Nicely done. I hope a couple of other guys are next.

[mossy]

I like it. Was getting worried Jason wouldn't want to work with the FO at all.

Next up, Freddie...

[mcollier]

Freddie Freeman: 2 years/$12 million

Do this deal Frank and Freddie, and Chipper will throw in free towing service for winter storms!

[yeezus]

this is great, gives hope for the future as well.

[thethe]

What a nice piece of news in a mostly dissapointing time to be a Braves fan. Hopefully this guy is here for many years after this deal.

[The Chosen One]

Still think Heyward will be in pinstripes when he hits FA. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[skillet]

Heyward receives a $1MM signing bonus, a $4.5MM salary in 2014 and a $7.8MM salary in 2015. So in essence he will get $5MM this year, $.2MM less than the $5.2MM figure we offered, in exchange for a potentially higher $8.3MM in 2015. Good to get this done and not have to go to trial with him. That benefits nobody. Would have like to have seen another year or two added to this, but getting this done is a lot better than going to arb trial.

[zitothebrave]

The Heyward deal is a fantastic signing by Wren. Would have liked to lock him up longer, but overall it will save the Braves a pretty penny.

[Enscheff]

Temporary good news. I guess those who criticized Frank Wren for not giving Hey the extra 300k or whatever it was he was asking for can give him a compliment for getting this done.

Compliment Wren for signing Heyward through the 2 years he was already under team control for about what he would have made in arbitration? Now the Braves have taken on all the risk with a guaranteed contract and gotten nothing in return.

Why, exactly, does this deserve commendation?

[depley]

finally some good off season news

[zbhargrove]

Compliment Wren for signing Heyward through the 2 years he was already under team control for about what he would have made in arbitration? Now the Braves have taken on all the risk with a guaranteed contract and gotten nothing in return.

Why, exactly, does this deserve commendation?

Because arbitration causes conflict in many cases. This tells Heyward the Braves want him here and want to work with him. This also tells us that Heyward will work with the Braves... its a very good thing.

[gilesfan]

Arent't these his last 2 years of arbitration? The team has Heyward no matter what. All they did was lock in the rates to which he would be paid.

If anything, this is a great deal for Heyward, not as good for the Braves.

[drewdat]

Agreed that this is pretty much a neutral overall and probably a negative as far as Heyward's long-term future with the team. Maybe it helps his trade value though (just trolling).

Sounds like Freeman will get a long-term extension, so that's step 2. Now we just need to lock up Uggla long-term.

[zitothebrave]

Arent't these his last 2 years of arbitration? The team has Heyward no matter what. All they did was lock in the rates to which he would be paid.

If anything, this is a great deal for Heyward, not as good for the Braves.

Heyward has a strong season this year he earns way more than his arb number, if he has a weak season odds are he makes around what he makes next year anyway.

[Heyward]

Joel Sherman ‏@Joelsherman1 1h

#Braves were approached after arb exchange by Heyward reps about doing multi yrs. Issue made tougher because Heyward’s injuries skew stats, but sides were able to bridge and buy out rest of his arbitration period. #Braves

Meh, if he has a great/MVP year and stays healthy, maybe he'll get paid longterm, seems unlikely though.