Atlanta Braves Taking No Chances, Solidifying Pieces With Millions To Bubbling Dynasty Now

Either Spencer Strider making the National League Division Series roster despite battling oblique issues was the biggest thing that happened this week to the flame-throwing pitcher of the Atlanta Braves, or it was the other thing.

It was the other thing.

Definitely the other thing.

It was the thing that has Strider contributing $75 million to the $359 million thing that puts the Braves on the verge of resembling baseball’s last dynasty, which was Derek Jeter’s New York Yankees who won five World Series titles in 13 years through 2009.

If not those Yankees, then these Braves — winners of the 2021 World Series after they nearly snatched the National League pennant the year before — could join their Atlanta forefathers as dynasty wannabes. Starting in 1991, those Braves captured a Major League record 14 consecutive division titles along with five NL pennants, but those Braves were (ahem) wannabes compared to Jeter’s teams that even defeated those Braves twice for world championships.

In contrast, those Braves grabbed just one world championship (1995) despite a clubhouse with four Baseball Hall of Fame players during much of that stretch (pitchers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz and third baseman Chipper Jones). Those Braves also had Baseball Hall of Famers at manager (Bobby Cox) and general manager (John Schuerholz), and they featured multiple All-Star guys such as Fred McGriff, Andruw Jones and David Justice.

But back to the present. Even though these Braves looked nothing like their usually efficient selves Tuesday in Atlanta at Truist Park, where they fell 7-6 to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, these Braves already have moved closer to those other Braves with five consecutive division titles, one NL pennnat and that world championship.

These Braves will move closer than that with stuff like this: They signed Strider Monday to a six-year contract worth $75 million, and it could become a $92 million deal if the Braves exercise the seventh-year option.

Strider delivered fire with his right arm from the mound to the plate so consistently that he became the fastest pitcher to strike out 200 hitters during a Major League Baseball season. He did so through 130 innings. Before Strider was sidelined in late September by that oblique issue, he was 11-5 with a 2.67 ERA .

And forget Strider’s vintage mustache. He’s only 23. So, he’s among the old-timers regarding that $359 million thing for the Braves and their management, slowly and then quickly signing its youthful talent to long-term deals with hopes of guaranteeing years of title contenders for the franchise.

“That’s sort of the motivation in trying to get something like this (contract) done,” Strider said during his news conference for his deal. “(It’s) just to be around the guys that (Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos) has put together and the commitment to winning not just right now but in the future with the guys that are in this clubhouse is very obvious and that means a lot to me. It’s very cool and humbling to have the opportunity to stay here.”

Earlier this year, the Braves signed Austin Riley and Michael Harris II — contenders for the NL Most Valuable Player award and NL Rookie of the Year honors, respectively — to long-term contracts. While Riley is 25 with a slick glove at third base and a clutch bat more often than not, Harris is 21, and he is on the verge of making Terry McGuirk a soothsayer.

McGuirk is the Braves’ CEO who told me weeks before the Braves promoted Harris in late May from Double A ball in Mississippi that this brilliant center fielder who ranks among MLB’s best hitters with men in scoring position would become the next Mookie Betts, the perennial superstar of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Harris is trending that way.

Then you have Matt Olson. Before the season, the Braves allowed first baseman Freddie Freeman as the face of their franchise to leave as a free agent for the Dodgers, and the Braves replaced Freeman with Olson, who is five years younger at 28.

Braves managemnet wanted Olson to grow with those others — the ones who joined Olson with salaries as part of that $359 million thing, which is the amount of money Braves management spent this year to secure that group for the future.

It’s really a $494 million thing for the Braves, but only if you go back to April 2019, when they signed second baseman Ozzie Albies to a seven-year deal worth $35 million. That was nine days after the Braves gave right fielder Ronald Acuna a $100 million contract over eight years. Not only are Albies and Acuna superb hitters and fielders, but Albies signed his deal at 22, and Acuna did so at 21.

That’s six Braves players — six splendid Braves players — signed through 2028, but first things first.

Right now, the Phillies couldn’t care less.