AA's Failure

[bravesfanMatt]

some of AA's critics need to repeat this: mistakes are going to be made, but a 1-year mistake is not nearly as bad as a 3 or 4 year mistake

How about a 12 year mistake. Are those ok?

[nsacpi]

How about a 12 year mistake. Are those ok?

OK. I will treat your question as a serious one. There is a big difference, enormous really, between contracts such as the ones to Acuna and Albies and contracts such as the ones to Harper and Machado. The differences have to do with a couple things. One is the ages of the players and the portions of their careers it covers. The other difference has to do with contracts for free agents, which generally involve the team paying market rates, and contracts that are agreed to with a player who is not a free agent, where the player will allow some of his free agent years to be bought out at a below market rate in exchange for a reduction in financial risk for him and his family.

Long contracts with younger players who are not yet free agents are not without risk. But they tend to work out better for the teams handing them out than those with free agents. And within the universe of such contracts, the Albies and Acuna deals stand out as being especially team friendly. To the point where Albies' agent has sometimes been accused of malpractice.