In November, the Braves furiously started the postseason after adding Drew Smyly and Charlie Morton to their rotation via the free agency. The two deals in relatively short order seemed to indicate that Braves planned to remain active for the rest of the off-season, and that they were focusing on their weakness from the previous season as well. While both hires were good and made Atlanta’s pitching team better, there was still some cautious optimism after those hires. Smyly and Morton are solid additions, but they shouldn’t be the crown jewel of your off-season if you’re a team that came out on a World Series win the previous season.
So when I said that in November, I said assuming the Braves would at least give us something to grab as the off season progressed and we approached the pitchers and catchers reports.
With regard to the prospects for the rest of the off-season, it is encouraging to see that the Braves started very well here. They did a solid job of reinforcing the rotation by bringing in Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly. This may not be the big splash of free agency that some fans may want when it comes to shooting, but this is definitely enough to make Braves a better team than it was in 2020 – especially when it comes to rotation. There is still a lot of work to be done and it looks like the Braves will make a serious attempt to hire Marcell Ozuna’s services. If they want to bring Ozuna back, I am confident that the Braves will find a way to recover and keep the good off-season.
It turns out that it would have been a big disappointment if the Braves had denounced Marcell Ozuna at this point in the off-season. After seeing the Dodgers, Fathers, Mets, Cardinals (Dear Rockies, what the hell was that trade?) And even the Phillies at least made an effort to acquire and / or retain impact players to improve their team, the Braves were apparently he cornered himself in a corner where they would have gone to hang with the infallible contenders in the National League to be just a little ahead of the pack if they had missed the chance to bring Ozuna back to the fold.
Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about the Braves losing Ozuna because they took care of that and guaranteed that he would also be here for the next four years.
Needless to say, this qualifies as a big off-season win for Braves. Ozuna’s contributions to the board during the 2020 season helped to transform what was a good Braves lineup into one of the deepest lineups in the entire National League. Ozuna, Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuña Jr. formed what was arguably the best 1-2-3 blow at the top of any lineup you would see on the pitch last season. Freddie Freeman had an incredible season in 2020, and part of that was due to Ozuna providing some high level protection by bouncing behind him. Shooting at Freeman was not the option it used to be in previous years, because it meant that Ozuna had the potential to punish the opposing team with runners at the base – something he did regularly last season. Braves being able to get this trio back for the 2021 season is unquestionably good, and we hope they will be able to repeat their efforts on the board during a (hopefully) full season this year.
It also helped that Marcell Ozuna’s return was combined at a fair price for both parties. When it came to various predictions about the type of contract that Ozuna would sign, the financial figures generally ranged between $ 60 million and $ 75 million, so the fact that Ozuna ended up getting a guaranteed $ 65 million is very good for him – a $ 16 A million AAV contract is not negligible when it makes you the second highest paid player on the team. In addition, Ozuna seems very happy to call Atlanta his home for the next few years and the rest of the club seems to be thrilled to have him back. Everyone is happy!
As far as Braves are concerned, this can be considered a bargain. Again, it is not an insane (and almost obscene) bargain like the ones they did with Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies, but it is enough to make sense, considering how the Braves have spent money in recent years. I imagine that the inexplicable lack of clarity surrounding the use of a universal Designated Hitter for this season and beyond was what caused many obstacles between Ozuna, Braves and any other National League teams that were also interested. I would also assume that if the Braves were willing to sign a four-year contract with Ozuna when he enters the 30-year season, it means that they are confident that there will be universal HD this season or sometime in the near future. Anyway, it’s a business that makes a lot of sense in terms of money and fitness – frankly, it’s still a bit confusing that it took so long to happen.
At the risk of getting carried away by Braves’ euphoria for keeping a hitter of Ozuna’s caliber, I think this contract is an indication that Braves can close this off season with a lot of activity. They still have some work to do when it comes to filling in the back of their bullpen and can even add another bat to go outside – Adam Duvall immediately comes to mind when it comes to that. They also clearly have some flexibility to make a few more moves, since that vaunted 1-2-3 blow at the top of their lineup will cost the Braves nearly $ 1 million less in 2021 than what the Dodgers will pay Trevor Bauer alone this season.
Braves could do well with a few more small-scale signings to complete the list, but there is another option that is looking more and more tempting with each passing day. On Friday, Hector Gomez was one of the first MLB insiders to report that Braves and Marcell Ozuna reached an agreement. He later said the following about a trade rumor that has been circulating on the Internet for some time:
Thank you. Yes, I heard that the #Braves they are interested in an exchange with the Indians to get José Ramirez.
– Héctor Gómez (@ hgomez27) February 6, 2021
I still recommend that you accept rumors like this with a rock-sized grain of salt, but I also want everyone to imagine the Braves turning Acuña-Freeman-Ozuna’s 1-2-3 blow into a 1-2-3- 4 combinations of Acuña-Freeman-Jose Ramirez-Ozuna. Seriously, just close your eyes for a second and think about what it would be like if those four wreak havoc on any opponent pitchers who cross your path. It’s fun to dream, isn’t it? Apparently, the responsibility now rests with the Braves to transform these dreams into what would certainly be an incredible reality.
When you consider some of the ridiculously bad returns that some teams have received from trading their superstar players in recent years (including this off-season), it is possible that Braves could trade with Cleveland without having to destroy the quality of his organization’s depth in the process. With that said, the Braves must still be aggressive in their pursuit if Cleveland is really shopping at Jose Ramirez. The top of the National League should be extremely competitive this year, and adding a piece like Ramirez could be the difference between a short season in October and another deep race that could go beyond the NLCS for the Braves.
The Braves can now ponder these possibilities thanks to the rehiring of Marcell Ozuna for the next four years. It is the type of play that Braves needed to make to have a good and productive off-season. Objectively, Braves are currently a slight favorite to win their fourth consecutive NL East title, so they still have a game or two ahead of them before they can clearly consider themselves favorites to take the division again. Still, they absolutely needed to make sure that a hitter of the Ozuna caliber would still be on the roster for 2021 and beyond. They did it and now the Braves have a chance to turn a good off-season into a great one as we approach the start of spring training.