The Braves have suffered a terrible loss with Spencer Strider’s UCL damage, but baseball as a whole also has to take a hit.
Regardless of your affiliation, professional leagues perform best when their greatest players are on the court or in the field.
Competitively speaking, none of Atlanta’s opponents are pitying them.
Since no pitcher can match Strider’s effect, the Braves will have to replace him by committee and will instead need to rely on the depth of starting pitching that Alex Anthopoulos has amassed over the years.
A facet of the injury that has not been discussed is Strider’s deal and the danger that comes with awarding a player such a big extension so early in their career.
Before his first postseason ended, Atlanta offered the 2022 Rookie of the Year runner-up a six-year, $75 million contract. Rivals of the squad jeered at it, while Braves Country cheered them on.
The Braves, who have made the deal associated with Anthopoulos, saw it as just another team-friendly contract. However, Strider’s injury serves as a sobering reminder of the inherent risk a club puts on when entering into a long-term agreement.
Many refer to the contracts that Ronald Acuna, Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, Sean Murphy, Matt Olson, and Austin Riley have signed as “team-friendly.”
The Braves are taking a lot of risk, which is readily overlooked. Every sport has injuries, and in baseball, regression is the name of the game. Teams have attempted to emulate the Braves’ actions.
The distinction is that each player who has signed a long-term contract with Atlanta up to this time has kept up All-Star caliber play. The Braves are not the norm; they are the exception.
You don’t believe that after his breakout 2019 season, Michael Soroka would have preferred to ink a $60–70 million six- or seven-year contract? Spencer Strider is expected to miss at least a year, so do you not think he is thrilled that he has already secured a $75 million guaranteed contract? Without a doubt, the answer is yes.
We’re all hoping Spencer Strider gets well again. He’s one of the best players this game has ever seen, first and foremost.
Second, without him, the Braves’ rotation prospects are dire, and the team has committed a considerable sum of money to Strider.
Leave a Reply