MLB Star's Contract Extension Both Lays Roadmap For And Increases Pressure On Braves

The Atlanta Braves have been criticized by some parts of the baseball world for just how aggressive they've been with early career contract extensions for their young players. 

And now, a recent contract extension at that same position may make things difficult in a few years for Atlanta 

The Houston Astros have signed second baseman José Altuve to a five year, $125M contract extension that will keep the second baseman with the organization for what's likely to be the remainder of his career, and that has multiple direct effects on Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies. 

Altuve, 33, is a career .307 hitter that's been an eight-time All-Star, the 2017 MVP in the American League, and a two-time World Series champion. With this extension, he'll be the first second baseman in baseball history to make $300M in a career. 

It's also bad news for Atlanta. 

Ozzie's price just went up

Albies is entering the sixth year of a seven year, $35M contract extension he signed in April of 2019. Albies was 22, coming off of his first full season in the majors, one in which he made his first All-Star team after bating .261/.305/.452 with 24 homers and 105 runs scored. 

In retrospect, it was an incredibly low price for the Braves, with the extension commonly derided across baseball as the Braves "taking advantage" of a young player in Albies. 

Atlanta doesn't need to do anything now for Albies - in fact, they won't need to give him a new contract for several years. The team holds two club options, for 2026 and 2027, that are both priced at $7M each and would carry Ozzie through his age 30 season. Given the price tag, it's a virtual certainty that Atlanta exercises those options, especially when considering the 2026 buyout is a significant fraction of that amount, at $4M.

But when it's time for an extension for a 30 year-old Ozzie, it won't be nearly as cheap this time around. Per Spotrac, Ozzie is the 12th-highest paid second baseman in baseball, behind such luminaries as Chris Taylor ($13M), Jorge Polanco ($10.5M), and Javier Baez ($25M). 

And while Ozzie isn't as statistically accomplished as Altuve, he's still a four-time All Star, winning two Silver slugger awards and hitting 131 career homers. And despite Ozzie missing games in both 2022 and 2023 due to injuries, he's been available more times than not, having had four seasons with 148 or more games in his five full years in the majors (excluding his debut year of 2017 and the shortened 2020 season).  

His next contract, while likely not reaching Altuve's $25M/year, will be a lot closer to that figure than it will his current $7M. 

And those salary figures, whenever we finally get there, could cause issues for a Braves team that's already full of long-term contracts that have them right up against the third luxury tax tier for 2024. 

It's important to remember, Albies' deal wouldn't come in a vacuum - he's up for a new deal just one year before Ronald Acuña Jr, his best friend on the team, finishes his final club option year at $17M and would be looking for a new contract as he enters his age 31 season. 

We don't know what's going to happen, but we know that whatever the decision ultimately is - extension, letting him leave in free agency and replacing him with someone else, etc. - it just got a bit more expensive. 

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