<img alt="Kansas City Royals v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WAGUUsQvSRIK5GaoIIArY87Bu8Q=/0x0:3608x2405/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73696010/2174603690.0.jpg">
Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images
Braves rework the contracts of two standout hurlers to shuffle money around a bit Never a dull moment with these Braves, apparently, even if the move itself is mostly just shuffling money around:
#Braves Sign LHP Aaron Bummer & RHP Reynaldo López: pic.twitter.com/ETkHDJgVLb— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 2, 2024
It’s hard to think about these new contracts without the context of the prior deals. After all, both Aaron Bummer and Reynaldo Lopez were under contract for the 2025 season already, assuming the Braves wanted Bummer back at the price of his club option. So, let’s go player by player.
Bummer’s services for the Braves going forward were subject to a series of club options: $7.25 million for the 2025 season with a $1.25 million buyout, and then $7.5 million for the 2026 season with the same $1.25 million buyout. Essentially, the Braves could have paid Bummer $14.75 million for 2025-2026, or $8.5 million for 2025 alone, or $1.25 million to have him go away. Now, they’ll pay him less than would-have-been 2025-2026 amount, or $13 million, but at the cost of guaranteeing both years. The move also moves cash around, with Bummer making much more in 2026 than 2025 (though this does not have substantial Competitive Balance Tax implications).
Bummer was phenomenal in 2024, with 1.1 fWAR accrued in 55 1⁄3 innings (86 ERA-, 57 FIP-, 63 xFIP-). It’s maybe a little strange to see the Braves commit guaranteed dollars to a guy they were hesitant to use in high leverage despite his pitching success, but a similar thing happened with Joe Jimenez last offseason, so we can mostly just hope that maybe Bummer gets leverage assignments commensurate with his pitching quality in 2025 and 2026.
Lopez signed a three-year, $30 million deal last offseason that included an $8 million option for 2027 (with a $4 million buyout priced into the $30 million). He earned just $4 million of that $30 million in 2024, meaning he essentially had $26 million left across two years (or $30 million across three years, were the 2027 option exercised). His new deal does almost nothing other than guaranteeing the option: it simply moves $3 million from his old deal that would’ve been paid in 2025 into 2026. In other words, his old breakdown was 11/11/8 (or 4 if bought out), and his breakdown is 8/14/8.
Lopez was a revelation for the Braves in 2024, finishing with 3.5 fWAR across 135 2⁄3 innings with an absurd 48/74/85 line. While he benefited from some serious HR/FB variation in his favor, and had a couple of injury scares that meant that he missed about a month combined, he avoided any serious decline in performance and never really hit a wall. While he did slow down in July, he bounced back after his time on the shelf to pitch really well.
<img alt="Kansas City Royals v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WAGUUsQvSRIK5GaoIIArY87Bu8Q=/0x0:3608x2405/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73696010/2174603690.0.jpg">
Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images
Braves rework the contracts of two standout hurlers to shuffle money around a bit Never a dull moment with these Braves, apparently, even if the move itself is mostly just shuffling money around:
#Braves Sign LHP Aaron Bummer & RHP Reynaldo López: pic.twitter.com/ETkHDJgVLb— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 2, 2024
It’s hard to think about these new contracts without the context of the prior deals. After all, both Aaron Bummer and Reynaldo Lopez were under contract for the 2025 season already, assuming the Braves wanted Bummer back at the price of his club option. So, let’s go player by player.
Bummer’s services for the Braves going forward were subject to a series of club options: $7.25 million for the 2025 season with a $1.25 million buyout, and then $7.5 million for the 2026 season with the same $1.25 million buyout. Essentially, the Braves could have paid Bummer $14.75 million for 2025-2026, or $8.5 million for 2025 alone, or $1.25 million to have him go away. Now, they’ll pay him less than would-have-been 2025-2026 amount, or $13 million, but at the cost of guaranteeing both years. The move also moves cash around, with Bummer making much more in 2026 than 2025 (though this does not have substantial Competitive Balance Tax implications).
Bummer was phenomenal in 2024, with 1.1 fWAR accrued in 55 1⁄3 innings (86 ERA-, 57 FIP-, 63 xFIP-). It’s maybe a little strange to see the Braves commit guaranteed dollars to a guy they were hesitant to use in high leverage despite his pitching success, but a similar thing happened with Joe Jimenez last offseason, so we can mostly just hope that maybe Bummer gets leverage assignments commensurate with his pitching quality in 2025 and 2026.
Lopez signed a three-year, $30 million deal last offseason that included an $8 million option for 2027 (with a $4 million buyout priced into the $30 million). He earned just $4 million of that $30 million in 2024, meaning he essentially had $26 million left across two years (or $30 million across three years, were the 2027 option exercised). His new deal does almost nothing other than guaranteeing the option: it simply moves $3 million from his old deal that would’ve been paid in 2025 into 2026. In other words, his old breakdown was 11/11/8 (or 4 if bought out), and his breakdown is 8/14/8.
Lopez was a revelation for the Braves in 2024, finishing with 3.5 fWAR across 135 2⁄3 innings with an absurd 48/74/85 line. While he benefited from some serious HR/FB variation in his favor, and had a couple of injury scares that meant that he missed about a month combined, he avoided any serious decline in performance and never really hit a wall. While he did slow down in July, he bounced back after his time on the shelf to pitch really well.
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