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Ozzie Albies’s New Deal Could Be the Worst an MLB Player Has Ever Signed

The 22-year-old All-Star just signed the rest of his 20s over to the Atlanta Braves for a relative pittance



Contract extensions are coming thick and fast this spring, everyone’s signing extensions. Wednesday it was Matt Carpenter, Thursday it’s Ozzie Albies—blink and you’ll miss the next deal.

Albies is a 22-year-old power hitter at an up-the-middle position who was worth 3.8 bWAR in his first full big league season last year. Albies is a special talent, and if the Braves hadn’t thrown him some money up front, he’d have become very expensive soon, starting after the 2020 season when he hits arbitration.

Albies, for his part, is a key part of a winning team, playing alongside his friend, Ronald Acuña Jr., who just inked a contract extension of his own. If Albies likes the Braves, and the Braves like Albies, then clearly both sides would want to hammer out an extension. But while the idea of an extension is so obvious it’s boring, the terms are nothing short of shocking.

Albies’s contract is for seven years, $35 million guaranteed, with two team options for $7 million each and a $4 million buyout, taking the contract’s maximum length and value to nine years, $45 million.

It’s a bracingly low sum. Even within the confines of the game’s current economic structure, Albies got taken to the cleaners. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, it might be the worst contract a player has ever signed.

Spud2nique wrote:Hi. Jamaal sent me here.

Albies is my fav player but we robbed him.



Go Braves!

Jamaaliver wrote:It's clear what Alex's intentions are this year:

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Ruzious wrote:

Jamaaliver wrote:It's clear what Alex's intentions are this year:

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This is the first time I've felt bad for someone who just got guaranteed $45 million. Is there something we're missing on these Brave new contracts? I mean, I'm all for the Braves making bargain signings, but this is feeling a little uncomfortable.

Nemesis21 wrote:Eh haters going to hate. I think in a few years both Ozzie and Ronald will get second extensions with more money.