The Tampa Bay Rays have entered the Marcell Ozuna sweepstakes as reports that the veteran slugger is looking for a four-year, $100-million contract. Dukes & Bell talked about whether or not the Braves should pay the asking price or try to wait it out.
Carl talked about the asking price by Ozuna not being anything exorbitant.
“For this price, for what you’re getting offensively, this guy almost won the Triple Crown and to think we had the MVP in Freddie on our team,” Dukes said. “This guy and all the production he put up, to just say, 'well you know what, that’s above our paygrade.' I just don’t buy it. I’ll be hurt if the Twins or the Rays end up with this guy because the Braves we’re not willing to pay the going rate.”
“For this year the Braves are 15th in the big leagues as far as total payroll,” Bell said. “We need you to be in the top 10. Especially now with the Mets having a billionaire owner, the Nats have a solid team, Philly is spending money, the Marlins did it through the youth movement. But this is arguably the most competitive division in baseball.”