1. Dansby Swanson — 7 years, $144 million
To be fair to Swanson, this deal is only one year old and it could prove to be a loss for the Braves. For now, however, you have a Braves team that saved at the shortstop position and got close to the same offensive production. Swanson is a better defender, but not enough to offset this massive contract. If the Braves want to improve the shortstop position, there are options out there better than Arcia and cheaper than Swanson.
Part of this Braves regime has been the mentality that they lock up their young players to team-friendly deals early or let players move on. We saw this again with Sean Murphy and Matt Olson. This is a team that is either going to build around you for the long haul or have a quick backup plan in place to move on.
Swanson meant a lot to this franchise and team. However, the Braves had a historic offensive season without their former shortstop and Swanson was sitting on his coach come postseason time. Yes, it would be great to have Swanson on the roster still but at this price, it was the perfect time for the Braves to part ways.