Acuña and Albies

The Tariff King

The Tariff King

Trade War Deadline Winner
Staff member
We haven't discussed it much, but both are 24-25 respectively.

Both got exploited by their agent and signed extensions that were so far below market value its' criminal. Can't fault AA for getting them to put pen to paper asap for the price he did.

They both got a ring now. And both said they want to play together as long as possible.

Ronald is a top 5 player in baseball when healthy. Ozzie is a top 2nd baseman in the league. Both will be paid so far below market value when their peers are getting AAV's that are 3-5x bigger than their own.

I think we're being naive in thinking we're gonna be able to ride out both of their deals without them fussing about being paid a little more. So the question is, if you're AA when do you approach them in the next few years about extensions but with fairer market value money to keep them happy? Soto got his ring, and turned down a yuge extension. When he gets his big deal, Ronald's deal will probably be a 4th of the value of that deal.

To me it's not a question of if but when. If we give Freddie this yuge deal, they're both going to want to be paid the same.
 
Honestly, the Braves will probably be leaving or be out of their competing window by the time either of their deals are up. Might as well ride it out and not worry about it. And just think of how much we can expedite a future rebuild by trading them on their current contracts, even only a couple of years before they expire.
 
CyYoung31 said:
Honestly, the Braves will probably be leaving or be out of their competing window by the time either of their deals are up. Might as well ride it out and not worry about it. And just think of how much we can expedite a future rebuild by trading them on their current contracts, even only a couple of years before they expire.
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This is probably accurate.

The Braves realistically have until Fried breaks down to be true WS contenders...or 3 more legit seasons.

At that point Freeman's deal will likely be a drag, Riley will be getting expensive, and Acuna will be making $17M. So unless guys like Lango/Harris/Pache hit, and someone like Touki/Wright actually figure things out, we will be staring squarely in the face of a rebuild around the 2024-2025 off season.

At that point Albies will have 3 years of control left for roughly free, and Acuna will have 4 years left at very reasonable rates. They will be insanely valuable trade chips...maybe so valuable nobody could afford to acquire them. AA will be in a tough spot...similar to the Nats are now with Soto. Build around those 2 cheap stars, or cash them in to facilitate a quick 2-3 year rebuild?

I suppose that answer depends on just how bad Freeman's contract ages, and whether or not any prospects make an impact between now and then. The Braves went through a stretch where every top position prospect hit, and the pitching prospects were sketchy. Now they are in a stretch where no prospects seem to be hitting, and that needs to change if they want to compete 3+ years from now.
 
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I take issue with saying their agent exploited them. As far as I know the agents get a percentage of the contract so they would have been exploiting themselves too. We dont know how this all went down. Acura and Albies might have tied their agent to get a long term deal done and this was the best offers the Braves made them. There is more to life than making the most money. I assume both grew up very poor and now won't have to worry about money the rest if their life. But pity them for only having tens if millions if dollars instead of potentially hundreds of millions.
 
There is no way Albies agent did his job competently when he secured that deal.

Call it whatever you want, but it is quite possibly the worst deal ever signed by a modern professional athlete.
 
Enscheff said:
This is probably accurate.

The Braves realistically have until Fried breaks down to be true WS contenders...or 3 more legit seasons.

At that point Freeman's deal will likely be a drag, Riley will be getting expensive, and Acuna will be making $17M. So unless guys like Lango/Harris/Pache hit, and someone like Touki/Wright actually figure things out, we will be staring squarely in the face of a rebuild around the 2024-2025 off season.

At that point Albies will have 3 years of control left for roughly free, and Acuna will have 4 years left at very reasonable rates. They will be insanely valuable trade chips...maybe so valuable nobody could afford to acquire them. AA will be in a tough spot...similar to the Nats are now with Soto. Build around those 2 cheap stars, or cash them in to facilitate a quick 2-3 year rebuild?

I suppose that answer depends on just how bad Freeman's contract ages, and whether or not any prospects make an impact between now and then. The Braves went through a stretch where every top position prospect hit, and the pitching prospects were sketchy. Now they are in a stretch where no prospects seem to be hitting, and that needs to change if they want to compete 3+ years from now.
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I’m curious as to why you’re putting the entire window on Fried’s shoulders.
 
cajunrevenge said:
I take issue with saying their agent exploited them. As far as I know the agents get a percentage of the contract so they would have been exploiting themselves too. We dont know how this all went down. Acura and Albies might have tied their agent to get a long term deal done and this was the best offers the Braves made them. There is more to life than making the most money. I assume both grew up very poor and now won't have to worry about money the rest if their life. But pity them for only having tens if millions if dollars instead of potentially hundreds of millions.
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I think I remember reading where both guys are represented by the same firm, which is pretty small. It's possible their agents were concerned they wouldn't be able to keep them as clients for much longer so they were in a hurry to make a deal. Obviously, that's speculation, and despite whether that is true or not, no one forced Albies or Acuna to sign the deals they did. It seems like their genuinely best friends and were willing to do whatever it took to stay together for the foreseeable future.
 
I refuse to believe that Acuna and Albies are so stupid that they signed these contracts not realizing they could have gotten more.

Can we give these two some more credit?
 
CyYoung31 said:
I’m curious as to why you’re putting the entire window on Fried’s shoulders.
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Not so much putting it on his shoulders as using his term of team control as a convenient measuring stick.

The year Fried hits FA coincides with when Acuna will be earning real cash, Riley will be getting pricey, Morton will be retired, Ian will possibly be in his decline phase, and Freeman will potentially be an albatross contract. I see very little in the system that could anchor the rotation, and there doesn't appear to be a single impact bat anywhere.

All those things line up for a team like the Braves not having enough cash to build around Albies/Acuna.

Many things can make that scenario not happen...Wright or Touki figure things out, Freeman defies the aging curve, Harris/Lango/Pache hit, etc, etc. But that 3 year mark is sort of what I consider "the first possible date the window closes".
 
The Fried control isnt crazy but also need to see what AA does in FA/trades once the lockout is officially done. But not a bad take though if what Scheff said above happens. Also no idea who will emerge in 2-3 years time.
 
Enscheff said:
There is no way Albies agent did his job competently when he secured that deal.

Call it whatever you want, but it is quite possibly the worst deal ever signed by a modern professional athlete.
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This is 100% true. They have to go back and pay this guy better. It’s criminal the deal he signed. AA could double his salary and he would still be vastly underpaid.
 
jpack1 said:
This is 100% true. They have to go back and pay this guy better. It’s criminal the deal he signed. AA could double his salary and he would still be vastly underpaid.
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The thing is, the team will still come out ahead. They can (appear to) be magnanimous and offer him a fairer deal and it will still be at a tremendous discount versus Ozzie's true value.

People like to talk about how stupid Ozzie and RAJr were for signing those deals, or how they were taken advantage of by the team or their agents, but there is value in locking down generational wealth and taking away the risk of losing it all due to injury, non-performance, etc. If Ozzie or Ronald had suffered a catastrophic, career ending injury while earning league minimums they could've ended up back in their home countries without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out. It's the same logic for why some regular people put their money into bonds, blue chip stocks, or index funds, while others go into risky tech stocks or venture capital. Some people need the security of knowing they're going to be okay if the worst case scenario happens.
 
Enscheff said:
Someone can “settle” for generational wealth without accepting 30% of their true market value.
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Calling the contract 30% of true market value at the time the deal was signed was a best case scenario, or at least close to it. Worst case for each was to go home and hope to be a scout or talent handler in their native lands for a pittance.

The deal sucks for Ozzie now, no doubt. Did the team take advantage of Ozzie or Ronald and their desire for security and/or risk aversion? Probably. Was it done intentionally? That's a lot more murky. It's easy for those of us whose financial worst case would make us one percenters in Curaçao or Venezuela to judge them from afar for deciding to remove any risk of complete failure.
 
A competent agent should have gotten at least 2x Albies deal at the time the deal was signed. That $35M is barely more than what an extension covering just his arb years should have cost (Swanson will earn about $20M in his arb years as a comparison), much less also buying FOUR FA years. A "fair" 7 year extension for a player like Albies covering all arb years plus 4 FA years would have been closer to $100M.

He is playing for $4M in 2026 for crying out loud. A bench player rate for an all star player in what should have been his peak FA years. That is simply an absurd rate for a player like Albies, and no "yeah-but-what-about" will change the fact the contract is an absolute joke.

His agent completely and utterly failed him, and if he did so to ensure himself a quick payday he should be banned from any involvement with MLB.
 
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AA won't do it, b/c it's not smart to raise your fixed costs.

However I would like it if they added on some Club options for ages 31-35 and upped his salary between now and then. Maybe lock him in for a 20 million club option for age 31 and go up 3 million each year until age 35. In exchange change his base from 7 to 10 and pay him 15 starting in 2025.
 
Enscheff said:
A competent agent should have gotten at least 2x Albies deal at the time the deal was signed. That $35M is barely more than what an extension covering just his arb years should have cost (Swanson will earn about $20M in his arb years as a comparison), much less also buying FOUR FA years. A "fair" 7 year extension for a player like Albies covering all arb years plus 4 FA years would have been closer to $100M.

He is playing for $4M in 2026 for crying out loud. A bench player rate for an all star player in what should have been his peak FA years. That is simply an absurd rate for a player like Albies, and no "yeah-but-what-about" will change the fact the contract is an absolute joke.

His agent completely and utterly failed him, and if he did so to ensure himself a quick payday he should be banned from any involvement with MLB.
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We dont know the context of the deals. Like I said, I think it's highly likely Albies and Acuna told their agents to get a deal done and this was the best offer the Braves gave. Imagine you are a prospect, would you want to sign with these agents after seeing these deals? It makes no sense for them to pressure them to sign these deals. Beyond that I do not believe these contracts were any different than what other players of similar service time got when signing long term deals. Players always give up a lot of potential earnings when they sign deals with such little service time. I would agree that they almost all sign for way too little, that's why I have always thought it was a great idea to sign them to long term contracts as early as possible. Even ones that dont turn out well, like Hinske's first contract AA signed him to after his rookie year agent that bad. The savings more than make up for the busts. So I agree that ALL players that sign long term contracts with low service time are taken advantage of, I just don't think Acuna and Albies contracts are out of line with what other players signed.
 
You may not think they are out of line with other deals, but the numbers in those other deals prove otherwise. I can promise you no other extension for a young player coming off a 4 win season pays him $4M in a FA season. Those FA seasons should have been a minimum of $15M each.
 
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