The Braves made the decision this offseason to move on from Dansby Swanson with Vaughn Grissom waiting in the wings. The veteran shortstop spent the first seven years of his career in Atlanta, winning the World Series with the Braves in 2021.
Swanson is coming off the two best seasons of his career with 52 home runs and 184 runs batted in over the past two years while batting .263. Might letting him go be something that the Braves regret?
Former Miami Marlins President David Samson was a guest on the Audacy Original Podcast “Off-Air” and explained why he’s been so impressed with the Braves front office.
“The best front offices know when it’s time to let a player go and they don’t do it too late. They do it either on time or too early,” Samson said (6:53 in player above). “The Tampa Bay Rays are a great example of that. Again, in my 18 years, I unfortunately would hold onto players sometimes too long or trade them away way too soon.”
Atlanta has made a habit of locking up its younger players to long-term contracts recently. They have Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, and Michael Harris all on what should be team-friendly deals for the foreseeable future.
Samson praised the Braves front office for getting ahead of things and being proactive with their young players.
“The reality is by locking up all the young players they did, they’re making choices and they’re choosing upside,” he said. “There’s a chance – a really good chance – for overperformance of these contracts, meaning the players play better than what they’re getting paid.”
On the other hand, Swanson’s seven-year, $177 million contract he signed with the Cubs is one that he likely can’t outperform, and could quite possibly underperform.
“There is no way that Swanson can play better than what he’s currently getting paid,” Samson continued. “And if you stick by that philosophy and try to get overperformance by players versus their contracts, you’re going to win more than you’re going to lose and Alex has been really good at doing that.”
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulous built the Blue Jays up during his time there and is doing the same thing in Atlanta after two seasons with the Dodgers.
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