I’m sorry that I ever doubted you, Alex Anthopoulos. I was guilty of not seeing the vision.
After acquiring catcher Sean Murphy in a trade with the Oakland Athletics Dec. 12, the Atlanta Braves signed him to a six-year, $73 million long-term contract Dec. 27, which completely busted open what the vision of the Braves is.
For a while now, Atlanta has been following the same pattern of locking up players who were already on the roster with fresh contracts, effectively putting them in the World Series hunt for years. Throughout the past year, the Braves have — slowly, but surely — signed each Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Michael Harris II and Spencer Strider to long contracts.
And that’s not all either. Once upon a time, the Braves also locked up Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies to long-term contracts. So now with the Sean Murphy deal, Atlanta has effectively locked up seven core players who will be with the ball club for years.
The Braves have locked up a RIDICULOUS amount of young talent 💰
C Sean Murphy (2028)
1B Matt Olson (2030)
2B Ozzie Albies (2027)
3B Austin Riley (2033)
OF Michael Harris II (2032)
OF Ronald Acuña Jr. (2028)
SP Spencer Strider (2029)WOW. pic.twitter.com/AN0G2xpeoh
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) December 28, 2022
And that’s not even naming all of the talent the Braves have locked up:
𝘖𝘍𝘍𝘚𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘖𝘕 𝘜𝘗𝘋𝘈𝘛𝘌 🔒 pic.twitter.com/fsdRKqWZkp
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) December 28, 2022
I remember criticizing Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos in two previous pieces (here and here), and I sincerely want to apologize to that man, as well as our ownership in Liberty Media. I should honestly be ashamed of myself for not seeing the vision, and quite frankly, I don’t know how I didn’t.
You know what it was?
It was the fact that New York Mets owner Steve “Big Balla” Cohen was out here blowing nearly a billion dollars, and on top of that, Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton wasn’t lowering my blood pressure at all with his big contracts. I got caught up in the flash and dash of everything, I wanted my Braves to sink their teeth into the free agent market, and the whole time we were spending money — spending money to set up this beautiful core. It just happened slowly over time, so I didn’t even realize what was happening right in front of my eyes. (RELATED: REPORT: MLB Owners Are Complaining About Steve Cohen’s Massive Spending Spree For New York Mets)
And now Alex Anthopoulos has us in a position where we will be a legitimate World Series contender for years, and this after already giving us a championship in 2021. Again, I apologize, Alex. I should have trusted you, and I will never make that mistake again.
Oh, man. How gorgeous we look right now. Thank you, Alex. Thank you.
Go Braves!