Matt Olson to Braves!

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AA!
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We still have some intriguing minor leagues pieces... Harris, Strider, Grissom, Muller, Tarnok, Shuster, Franklin, Vodnik, Tavarez, Elder

I'm also really excited to see what Spencer Schwellenbach can eventually do and AJ Smith-Shawver

Maybe even Waters/Shewmake/Jenista can get back on the radar.
 
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zbhargrove said:
We still have some intriguing minor leagues pieces... Harris, Strider, Grissom, Muller, Tarnok, Shuster, Franklin, Vodnik, Tavarez, Elder

I'm also really excited to see what Spencer Schwellenbach can eventually do and AJ Smith-Shawver

Maybe even Waters/Shewmake/Jenista can even get back on the radar.
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Yup - And when you have a top 5 team in baseball while also being super young you don't need to have a top 5 farm system. Its nice but its about talent under 30 under control.
 
Unbelievable job by AA here. As Enscheff notes, an extension is not always a good thing but in this case (factoring in age curves and price), I think this is a steal.

Now the real test comes with what AA does with the remaining money saved from what they had budgeted for a realistic Freeman extension ($30-35M/annum) and the delta with Olson's $15M - combined with whatever else is left with respect to the 2022 payroll increase. If AA turns that into a competent OF and/or further SP quality depth (not of the Smiley ilk), then we're really cooking.
 
So we have him through his age 36 season? That is still pretty late. However 22 million is not that high.

If you assume increased revenue Olson probably only needs to be a 2 WAR player to earn his money.
 
If you neglect the pre-FA seasons, they're basically paying Olson $8m less per annum than Freeman was reportedly asking; and, on top of that, they're only paying him until he's 35, not 38 (or beyond). That seems like a solid coup, if you think Olson's package of power, patience, and premium fielding make him roughly as productive as Freeman is right now.

On narrative terms, however, it's pretty stinging to see that this deal surpasses Freeman's as the largest total given out by the Braves. Freeman's never been my favorite player on the team—of the current group, I'm much more invested in keeping Acuña/Albies in one uniform until they retire—but that still was an eyebrow-raising detail to read.
 
JxnMissFan said:
I wonder if the 168 million given to Olson was the final contract value offered to Freeman?

I like the extension. Yes it has risk but so did signing Freeman.
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It really does almost seems like, right after acquiring Olson, Anthopoulos just reallocated the Freeman funds—but arranged in more desirable terms—and Olson took a look at his new situation and accepted.

Maybe Anthopoulos was really crying because he knew what a coup he'd maneuvered.
 
jpx7 said:
It really does almost seems like, right after acquiring Olson, Anthopoulos just reallocated the Freeman funds—but arranged in more desirable terms—and Olson took a look at his new situation and accepted.

Maybe Anthopoulos was really crying because he knew what a coup he'd maneuvered.
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He better watch out. Scherzer and the MLBPA are going to come after him for stealing all this money from the players
 
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Jaw said:
MLB posted an 8 minute highlight reel of Olson. Dude hits lots of long fly balls and is quick guarding the line.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Braves/comments/teuhx2/8_minutes_of_matt_olson_highlights_for_braves/
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More cuts from this video are some bombs off guys like Framber Valdez and Jose Urquidy who I'll always remember from last year.

Another thing that stood out: he hit a clutch homer off Hader in this video that got me wondering about his splits. Career he has an .804 OPS against lefties (vs. .885 off righties). Looking a little deeper under the hood there, he flipped the script last year with a .972(!!) OPS against lefties (.878 against righties). I don't think that 2021 number is sustainable, but its nice to have a left handed stud who you can't just easily neutralize with a left handed pitcher.
 
jpx7 said:
If you neglect the pre-FA seasons, they're basically paying Olson $8m less per annum than Freeman was reportedly asking; and, on top of that, they're only paying him until he's 35, not 38 (or beyond). That seems like a solid coup, if you think Olson's package of power, patience, and premium fielding make him roughly as productive as Freeman is right now.

On narrative terms, however, it's pretty stinging to see that this deal surpasses Freeman's as the largest total given out by the Braves. Freeman's never been my favorite player on the team—of the current group, I'm much more invested in keeping Acuña/Albies in one uniform until they retire—but that still was an eyebrow-raising detail to read.
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In essence they gave him the same contract Freddie got 8 years ago adjusted for inflation.
 
McCann'sCans said:
More cuts from this video are some bombs off guys like Framber Valdez and Jose Urquidy who I'll always remember from last year.

Another thing that stood out: he hit a clutch homer off Hader in this video that got me wondering about his splits. Career he has an .804 OPS against lefties (vs. .885 off righties). Looking a little deeper under the hood there, he flipped the script last year with a .972(!!) OPS against lefties (.878 against righties). I don't think that 2021 number is sustainable, but its nice to have a left handed stud who you can't just easily neutralize with a left handed pitcher.
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The homer against Valdez was record-setting:

Coming off left-hander Framber Valdez in the sixth inning, the two-run blast was also his 22nd homer against a left-handed pitcher this year -- the most by any left-handed hitter over a single season in the expansion era (since 1961).
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