February 6, 2021

Ozuna Stays

Marcell Ozuna turned his excellent 2020 season into a four-year deal with the Atlanta Braves:

Ozuna took a gamble on himself after the 2019 season, turning down a $17.8 million qualifying offer from the St. Louis Cardinals, and signed a one-year, $18 million deal with the Braves in late January. The move paid off handsomely, as the slugger finished sixth in NL MVP voting after leading the league with 18 home runs, 56 RBIs and 145 total bases. He was third in the NL with a career-best .338 batting average and .636 slugging percentage.

ESPN.com

Ozuna posted a 2.5 fWAR in 2019 with the Cardinals, then matched that in a short season with the Braves. That netted him a four-year, $64 million contract with an option that raises his guaranteed money to $65 million. If the Braves exercise the fifth-year club option, he would earn $80 million. If you are conservative and look at Ozuna as a three WAR player, then he’ll be projected to earn between $5.6 million and $6 million per WAR over the life of his contract. Once again, a team keeps a free agent at a bargain price.

That’s also good for the Braves, because if the universal DH doesn’t happen, it would be easy to trade this contract to an American League club. I do wonder if this deal means the Braves have some inside knowledge that the rule is going to be effective in 2021.

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