Chipper Jones Agrees To Extension With Braves

this would be great. i like guys staying with a team their whole careers. it was great seeing biggio do that with the astros. i guess bagwell too, for his ML career.

I heard someone say on DOB's blog that they heard the average salary is about 14 million. That's significantly below market value. I'd be pumped if that's true.

PWH, Im hoping its between 10-12 per year. I think at $14 per its not a discount. I cant think of one person (outside of pitchers) who only play 120 games per year making that kind of money.

120-130 games, one of the best hitters in baseball, fans love him, will be 40 at the end of the contract. Tough deal to try to guess at

This might just be the best news i've heard all offseason since adding both Lowe and Kawakami within 2 or 3 days. Chipper is an icon and should end his career with the Bravos.

First trading anderson to let the schafer era begin and now extending chipper, GREAT job Frank. You can stay in Atlanta for sure and i appologize for any unkind words over the winter. =]

I noticed that Kinsey and asked the poster to cite the source of the 14 million speculation.

I would be quite relieved when this is announced. Kind of surprised by how much value (from Fangraph) Chipper have been worth in the last few injury plagued years.

This is a good baseball move (no future 3B in the system and Chipper has been productive) and very good PR move by the Braves.

I can't imagine giving Chipper a 1 yr deal at 14 million, let alone a 3 year deal. They will be lucky to get 750 ABs over the life of that contract out of him. He can't ever be counted on to be in the lineup because of injuries. He is still a solid bat when in the lineup, but thats quite the question mark

3/45 seems reasonable, considering he will miss about 30 games each year. But he'll retire a Brave, and he'll remain productive any time he's in the lineup.

this would be great. i like guys staying with a team their whole careers. it was great seeing biggio do that with the astros. i guess bagwell too, for his ML career.

Posted by: stephen | March 30, 2009 at 10:11 PM

Like Smoltz did with the Braves, ri--oh wait.

:3

This move shows the respect that Jones has for the Braves organization, and vice versa.

Something around $14M per season is pretty reasonable when you consider how unreal Jones has been the past two seasons.

I doubt anyone actually thought Jones would leave Atlanta, but getting it done before the season keeps everyone more relaxed.

Great offseason for Frank Wren.

Chipper has been one of my favorite players since his rookie season, but I'm not sure this is a wise financial move for the Braves considering he consistently misses a month of the season with injuries.

"Chipper should be a no doubt Hall of Famer when his time comes up on the ballot. Few guys have combined the ability to hit for average and power with fantastic plate discipline like he has."

We will never know how many more numbers he would have put up if he stayed on the field a lot more.

I have always liked what Wren was doing but this just puts the icing on the cake. Maybe now all the Wren haters will shut up.

A+ Grade for the offseason Braves FO.

Thank the baseball gods for giving the Braves two classy vets this offseason in Chipper and Glavine. The same cannot be said for a certain John S.

as a phillies fan this makes me sick. As a baseball fan I am glad he stayed one place his whole career. Now for Braves fans he can "tutor" the Heywards, Schaefer's of their system on how to play the game right.

I can't imagine giving Chipper a 1 yr deal at 14 million, let alone a 3 year deal. They will be lucky to get 750 ABs over the life of that contract out of him. He can't ever be counted on to be in the lineup because of injuries. He is still a solid bat when in the lineup, but thats quite the question mark

Posted by: coltholt | March 30, 2009 at 11:38 PM

This is just an incredibly stupid comment. 750 ABs over the course of 3 seasons?

"I have always liked what Wren was doing but this just puts the icing on the cake. Maybe now all the Wren haters will shut up."

I really don't get where the Wren hate was coming from anyways.

Overpaying Burnett at 5/80 would've been a mistake, and the Lowe deal is better anyways. Not to mention that they landed a great starter in Vazquez while giving up just a single top prospect.

Even if this team doesn't win the division this year, they're definitely in line to contend for the next 5-10 years, and that's the big goal.

Took long enough. We need Chipper. .335 AVG., 20 homers or more? Hell yeah! Not to mention he is kinda the conerstone of the franchise.

I was never frustrated with Wren, just frustrated at the constant "almosts" we had to deal with this offseason (Burnett, Furcal, etc.). But I never wanted Burnett and I always thought Lowe should have been target #1 from the beginning, so all the close calls aside, I think he's done a stellar job, and this extension caps it off.

Chipper playing for the Braves until age 40/41 is perfect, and it's not overly expensive. And come on, Mets fans should be happy to have the opportunity to chant "Laaaaaarrryyy... Laaaaaarrryy..." for a little while longer (before he jacks another bomb off your scoreboard. MAN does he always hit the Mets or what?) :)

Are all the Wren haters finally laid to rest?

My assessment of the Atlanta off-season: We were so far removed from the free agent market and we were so far removed from such a dismal season, the fan base and media members were very excited about the off-season. We (fans) didn't know how to handle the free agent market and the media didn't help by following every move of Wren and reporting every near-miss that may have gone un-reported in other camps. Overall, we were just way too excited and had way too much information this off-season. Teams go through near-misses all the time, they usually don't get reported, though. Thankfully for us, despite the media making Wren look a bit incompetent at times, we were able to get everything done we needed to. Up next: long-term deals for Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur, Jair Jurrjens, and Yunel Escobar while unloading some of our excess talent for some prospects.

I don't want Wren to sign him long-term, but he probably will. And scribbletone, he's very optimistic about this new approach he's been working on. So far it's paid off in ST, he's only struck out 4 times and walked 7 times. (2 of the strikeouts were against Daisuke Matsuzaka) Though I'm not believing anything until I see it in a real game.

I'm not convinced he'll be able to produce, but I'm pulling for him, and things are looking up. We'll see.

scribbletone, don't know how many Braves ST you get to watch, but so far, he has dramatically changed his stance and his approach.

To me, though, it's kinda' like dealing with an alcoholic or addict... you're always a little scared they'll go back to the old ways. So far, though, Jeff is a changed player.

Agreed scribbletone. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I too will say I am sorry to Wren who I have bed mouthed all winter. WAY TO GO! Chipper is a Brave and will always be...that is the way it should be. To all the doubters out there all I can say is watch and see. Yes he will get hurt and miss a few games, but he will still have his consist numbers.

As for Frenchy, he will be fine. He is a good player with a ton of talent. His arm may as well be a cannon!

Braves will be in the running for The Series.