Rarely do I post news of other team's signings, but this news has relevance for the discussion we've been having since the BIG TRADE last week. The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed Martin Prado to a four-year $40 million contract.
Yesterday I wrote about how it seemed cheap that the Atlanta Braves didn't want to pay Prado what he was reasonably worth. MLB Braves writer Mark Bowman had written in his column that the Braves had gained a sense that Prado was seeking more than the Braves were willing to offer. He had mentioned the number of $12 million a year.
Prado will average $10 million over the course of his new deal with the D-Backs. He will actually end up getting $7 million this year and $11 million each of the next three years. I asked Bowman to clarify that this number was still more than the Braves were willing to pay, and he indicated that indeed they did not want to go above $7 million this year, and therefore did not want to pay him $11 million each of the next three years.
This is kind of good news slash bad news for the Braves. It's bad news that this seems like an affordable deal, one that the Braves could have afforded -- though I'm not sore about the outcome of the trade -- but the Braves could have signed him if they really wanted to. Which leads me to the good news: this reluctance to commit to Prado might indicate that the Braves are preparing to commit money to the other young homegrown players on the team.
I'm happy for Marteeen. He deserves this deal, and I hope he does well in Arizona. Now I'd like to see the Braves sign some guys to long-term deals... JHey, Free, Kimmy...