00:00I'm going to ask you point blank. Today, given all the information, would you sign Ronald Acuna Jr. to a
00:07long-term deal?
00:08All right. Wow, jinx.
00:13All right. Go ahead. Someone owes someone a soda.
00:16All right, and we'll take care of that off the air.
00:18This is what I look at with this, is there are a bunch of different factors,
00:23and the number one thing that I look at is not health, it's productivity, and it's the ability to replace
00:28a player.
00:29How do you replace a player capable of doing the things Ronald Acuna Jr. is doing?
00:33We got the answer in 2021.
00:35You bring in three or four guys and hope you catch lightning in a bottle.
00:38That is not a sustainable plan over five, six, seven, eight years, whatever this contract may be.
00:44The second question I have, and I just want to throw it out there, is that we are sitting on
00:48the precipice
00:49of perhaps the most contentious negotiation between the owners and the players' association that we may ever see.
00:56So buckle yourself in for 2027 based on the collective bargaining agreement that's ahead.
01:02I wonder what effect, if any, it's going to have on the face of the sport and what contracts look
01:06like.
01:07The third factor I'm looking at is we don't have to make this decision today because Ronald's under contract for
01:12another couple of years.
01:13However, I look at the player that he is, the player that he's capable of being, I'm not going to
01:19judge him by two down months to start 2026 and say that, hey, this is who Ronald is now.
01:23I watched the guy come back from his second major knee injury last year and put up rates and numbers
01:28that were equivalent to his 2023 MVP historical season outside of stolen bases.
01:34And I also look at the entire sport and say, how many other players out there are better?
01:40Who could we go get?
01:42Who are we going to replace this guy with?
01:45Do you want to have to replace this guy?
01:47The answer to that is, I have no idea and no.
01:50How much is Ronald going to cost?
01:52That's a totally different discussion.
01:53But, Bo, I'm all in on the camp of trying to keep this guy in an Atlanta Braves uniform for
01:58life, as you can see.
02:00And that's what he said he wanted.
02:02So, let's see if he'll put his money, proverbially, where his mouth is.
02:05For the record, just before I start the little bit of the devil's advocate conversation.
02:11Which is fair.
02:11I want Ronald Acuna Jr. to finish his career here.
02:14I want that to be stated because I don't want this to be misrepresented or twisted into, I hate Ronald
02:22Acuna Jr.
02:23and I never want him to play again for the Braves.
02:24But you have to get to the but.
02:26Yes.
02:26But, let me ask you a question real quick.
02:28Because you're a baseball guy, and it's harder for me to kind of pull a number on what I would
02:35consider a fully healthy season in baseball
02:38because there's so many games, there are natural off days that managers will give players.
02:42But, would you say 140 plus games would be a relatively full MLB season?
02:51Matt Olsen is an anomaly.
02:53He's an anomaly when it comes to this conversation.
02:55But would you agree with that number, or would you put a different number on it?
02:58No, I would say the 140 to 150 range is what you'd like out of your everyday players with the
03:02exception of a catcher.
03:03Yes.
03:03Ronald Acuna Jr. has done that twice in his career.
03:06Where he's had one, just, I would, really, the funny thing is, is the two years that he's had his
03:13best years,
03:15156 and 159, were the games played.
03:17One of those was the MVP year.
03:19That is a big deal to me because you have a great question.
03:23How do you replace a guy like that?
03:25The answer is, you do not replace generational players.
03:29Correct.
03:29It's a trick question, okay?
03:31Yeah.
03:32And you know that.
03:33Congratulations, you played yourself.
03:34Yes.
03:35Yes.
03:36And that's the thing.
03:37It's a trick question.
03:39There's no way to.
03:39But what I would tell you is, is I have been tasked as a GM and an organization, a manager,
03:46whatever, virtually every year to replace said player for 70, 80 plus games almost every single
03:58year he's on the roster.
04:00Do I want Ronald Acuna Jr. to finish his career here?
04:02Absolutely.
04:03Absolutely.
04:04I think there's two things.
04:05Allie said today, though, right?
04:07Today.
04:08Today.
04:08If it was today.
04:09So today, I would say no.
04:11The reason is, number one, what Grant just talked about with a collective bargain agreement.
04:18I need to know what contracts are going to look like, and I don't have to do anything
04:22with him right now because I have two more years.
04:24You have two team options for $17 million a year.
04:27You have him for $34 million for the next two years, keeping in mind he's probably going to
04:32make north of $34 million a year every year of a new contract.
04:36So let me get through a negotiation to where I know he's going to be playing for my team
04:41after said negotiation happens.
04:44And B, I need to wait to see where he is physically because a couple of knee surgeries, he's a,
04:52he
04:52reminds me in a lot of ways of Julio, Julio Jones when he was here.
04:59When Julio Jones was here, he was the best player on the field.
05:02When he stepped on a field, there was not a better player on the field.
05:06But he had a lot of little injuries.
05:08Now, Julio played games.
05:09He didn't practice, but he played games until a certain point in his career.
05:14But the fact of the matter is, is that he burnt out very quickly as an athlete because of the
05:21way he played.
05:22Much can be said about the way Ronnie plays.
05:25Ronnie runs the bases like his hair's on fire and the devil's chasing him with a pitchfork.
05:31All right?
05:31And that's, that's what I want my guys to play like, especially my star players.
05:37I absolutely adore that part of his game.
05:41But it also is hard on his body.
05:44It's why he's a couple of knee surgeries in.
05:45It's why he has those little hamstrings.
05:47I mean, the guy's in phenomenal shape, but sometimes when guys are in that great shape and they play so
05:54hard, they wear down.
05:57They break down.
05:58So I'd like to see a couple more years in him and see where he's at physically because I'm not
06:03the Dodgers.
06:04I have to be careful with signing guys late in their 30s.
06:06And that's a good point because there are some teams, and by some teams I mean really one team,
06:11that can afford to overpay for somebody and then not play.
06:14I mean, just look at the Dodgers rotation.
06:15How much money have they spent on Tyler Glass now and Blake Snell?
06:18And what are they going to get out of those guys this year?
06:20If that were the Braves, there would be, what are you going to do with $40 to $50 million worth
06:25of dead payroll?
06:27Well, you're going to be calling up young players and making trades and trying to find spare parts from other
06:31teams to plug it in.
06:32And it's not just the Braves.
06:33It's just about everybody.
06:34The calculus is different for the Dodgers.
06:36But I will say this in relation to trying to build up this team is the Braves did the really,
06:41really, really smart thing in 2020.
06:43They signed Ronald Acuna Jr. to a long-term contract that kept him in a Braves uniform for a decade.
06:48And I would say that by hedging their bets there, it has more than paid off despite the injury issues.
06:54And he is still a generational talent in my mind.
06:58In this first couple of months of the season, I would just caution people not to be a prisoner of
07:02the moment
07:02because I have seen this guy flip that switch.
07:05And I think it's a really good point.
07:08I just had to touch on it real quick.
07:09I'm sorry, Allie.
07:10It also is why I think the Braves need to come to the table in good faith because a player,
07:16look, he got paid.
07:18There's no doubt about it.
07:19And you can sit here and argue about $17 million and $25 million.
07:22Is there a difference?
07:23A lot of guys would tell you there is.
07:24But the reality of the situation is that he did you a favor with the deal he signed.
07:30So you should come to the table in good faith and say, look, I'm not going to say,
07:33and I'm not saying sign him to a deal just because, but you need to have the conversation with them
07:38and not just say, no, we're good.
07:40And I know Alex will.
07:41Right.
07:42And I do think that will be the case.
07:43And to put a bow on all of this, I would say in relation to his long-term contract,
07:49prior to Ronald Acuna Jr., guys in their first year in the big leagues were not getting the kind of
07:55deals
07:55that he was getting, $100-plus million contracts.
07:57The Padres are the ones that broke open the piggy bank on Fernando Tatis.
08:01And that, I think, is a deal that's aging a lot worse than this one.
08:04But if you want more conversations about this, you can join me on Sundays all season long on From the
08:08Diamond.
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