In a recent interview with Jeff Shultz of The Athletic, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos discussed a variety of topics. If you want to read the complete article, click on the link. I wholeheartedly recommend it. We’ll go over it piece by piece and offer our perspectives on a variety of themes, beginning with the elephant in the room. Why didn’t the Braves pursue Shohei Ohtani seriously?
“He’s a great player and obviously the Dodgers are a great organization,” Anthopoulos said. “We simply cannot — we are frequently asked: Do we react to what other teams are doing?” You simply cannot. You must do what is best for your company. You continue to keep an eye on what other teams are up to. But we’re much more in sync with the other four teams in our division.”
The Braves have not been cheap this winter, contrary to common assumption. Their luxury tax payroll is approaching $270 million, which is by far the largest it has ever been, and there are still more movements to be made. However, even with the extraordinary deferred money, adding Ohtani to the mix would require a lot of willingness from the front office. Ohtani’s luxury tax figure remains $46 million, putting the Braves past the fourth luxury tax barrier.
“There was so much speculation about what he would get,” Anthopoulos explained. “However, when you look at the net present value numbers, they’re in the ballpark of what people expected.” The $700 million threw everyone off, but (the value) ended up where it was meant to end up. I don’t have a strong view about the contract since, undoubtedly, he’s one of the finest players who’s ever played because of the two-way component, and he deserves the biggest salary. But wait a minute – there’s still the CBT hit. Our payroll is among the top ten. We have some guys who make a lot of money. But we’ve made extra arrangements to distribute it. That was our decision when we signed all of these individuals.”
The Braves have a number of team-friendly long-term contracts on the books, which allows them to be aggressive. That flexibility is a weapon, and it is something they would like to have in the future. Even though Shohei Ohtani is a fantastic talent, signing him to a mega-contract would significantly limit the Braves’ future possibilities. They don’t pay full price for anything, and that’s not going to change, even for the best baseball player ever.
