The Atlanta Braves should lock Ozzie Albies into young core

Early Career Extensions

Extensions for players with as little service time as Albies are rare, but there are precedents. In 2008, the Rays locked up a young Evan Longoria after only six games in the majors. That deal was for six years and $17 and a half million. The deal included three option years that bumped up the total price to $44 million over nine years.

All Longoria did in those nine years was produce over 47 wins above replacement valued at roughly $329 million. That’s $285 million in surplus value! An Albies extension might not end up being that beneficial for the Braves, but it definitely could have tremendous upside.

So what would an Albies extension look like? The Longoria deal isn’t a great barometer as it happened a decade ago before players really understood the costs of these early career extensions. These deals are still usually very beneficial for the teams, but it’s going to cost a lot more than $17 million in today’s world to get it done. Luckily there are a couple of recent examples that could help lay the groundwork for an Albies extension.