Over the last 3 weeks, the Braves have signed 5 of their young, core players to multi-year extensions: 1B Freddie Freeman (24 yrs old) 8 yrs, $135 million SS Andrelton Simmons (24) 7 yrs, $58 million SP Julio Teheren (23) 6 yrs, $32.4 million, club option for 7th yr RP Craig Kimbrel (25) 4 yrs, $42 million with a club option for a 5th yr RF Jason Heyward 24) 2 yrs, $13.3 million They won 96 games last year and look to be in position for continued success. In the off-season, they lost Tim Hudson and Brian McCann via Free Agency. The rest of the roster remains intact. They have young, affordable talent in the rotation, bullpen and throughout their starting lineup.
Those are some contracts on the cheap. Like getting away with murder kind of cheap. You let go a catcher who tops out at 20/80 and who has been oft-injured these past 3 seasons to let the Yankees overpay for him. Great job by the Braves front office.
Freddie Freeman, in 3 full seasons in the majors, has hit 68 homers, and driven in 280 runs. Last season, Freddie had 23 HRss, 109 RBI's with a .319 avg and .396 on base. I think he finished 9th in the MVP voting last year. Kimbrel has been the Braves closer the last 3 seasons. He has 138 saves and a career 1.39 ERA. He tied for 4th for the NL Cy Young Award last year. Simmons is widely regarded as the games best short-stop. That's pretty amazing considering he's only spent a season and a half in the majors. And he hit 17 homers and scored 76 runs.