By CJ Carlson
Ronald Acuna is flat-out superstar in the MLB, so his upcoming contract will be a popular topic for conversation. Not to mention the fact that the Atlanta Braves are one of those teams that don’t usually hand out massive contracts, at least in the past few years they haven’t. Luckily, Acuna is absolutely hoping to stick around for many more years.
Ronald Acuna Doesn’t Want To Leave
When speaking to the media, Acuna had this to say about his future, “It’s not a secret that I want to be a Brave for life. Yeah, that’s my hope. I hope I can stay here forever, and hopefully, we can make that happen soon.” While he says that he hopes it happens soon, it might not be that fast. After all, Acuna signed an eight-year, $100 million deal back in 2019 with multiple team options in both 2027 and 2028. The real question is whether or not he’s looking for a pay raise, which feels undoubtedly correct given his numbers.
Last season alone, Acuna became the first player in league history to have at least 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases with them. The historic numbers were enough to get him the National League MVP award. Oh, and he led the league in base percentage with a .416, hits with 217 of them, and runs with 149 in total. Factor all of this unbelievable production in with his age of just 26 years old, and you have somebody that is absolutely going to warrant a hefty contract extension/pay bump.
Atlanta Braves Facing Tough Payroll Situation
The problem is the Braves payroll. It’s projected that the franchise will be spending around $221 million on their current roster for 2024. If they go over $237 million, then they would need to pay a large tax. This is what makes an extension unlikely for this season, because the team would need to maneuver some things in order to make it happen. Of course, you can’t wait too long because he deserves the pay raise. The market value that’s currently estimated for his services is around $38 million per year, and he’s currently making just $17 million a year.
As I mentioned earlier as well, Atlanta does have a history of not handing out these ridiculously large contracts. They notably parted ways with both Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman when their contracts expired in the past. When asking the team’s manager Brian Snitker, it certainly seems like he is hoping to stick with Acuna for as long as possible. He said, “I’m sure that’s the hope of all the Braves fans and everybody in the organization. Because a rare talent like that, you’d love to see him in this uniform and see him retire and go into the Hall of Fame with that A on his cap.”
Right now, it’s been rumored that Acuna and the organization can come to terms on an extension before the option year in 2027. It might get done beforehand, though the expectation is that it will get done at some point in the future. If Acuna wins the National League MVP again in 2024 though, Atlanta might need to give him that raise as soon as possible.
