The Braves announced an agreement with utilityman Orlando Arcia on a two-year, $3MM contract. He’ll earn successive salaries of $1.6MM and $1.3MM over the next two seasons, per the team. The deal also contains a 2024 club option valued at $2MM that comes with a $100K buyout.
The contract extends the Braves’ window of club control by a season, as Arcia had been controllable through 2023 via arbitration. It’s a bit of a surprise to see the Braves commit any long-term money to Arcia at first glance. He only tallied 78 MLB plate appearances after Atlanta acquired him from the Brewers in April, with a poor .214/.282/.343 line to show for it. Arcia has been a below-average hitter in all five of his MLB seasons, with a .260/.317/.416 showing during the truncated 2020 campaign the best line of his career.
Arcia is coming off a very strong showing with Triple-A Gwinnett, though. Over 322 plate appearances at the minors’ top level, he hit .282/.351/.516 with 17 homers, only striking out in 11.8% of his tallies at the dish. By measure of wRC+, that offensive output was 29 percentage points better than the Triple-A East league average. And Arcia’s a valuable defensive player who generally posts decent numbers at shortstop and began to expand his versatility this past season.
Clearly, the Atlanta front office believes in his ability to contribute over the coming seasons, even if just off the bench. The $1.5MM average annual value is a minimal investment, and it’s actually a bit less than the $2.1MM MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had forecasted Arcia making in 2022 via arbitration.
That’s not to say Arcia and his representatives at World Sports Agency made a mistake in signing the deal. At that previous figure, he’d look like a non-tender candidate. The Venezuela native instead locks in some guaranteed money over the coming two seasons. Arcia is out of minor league option years, but it seems likely he’ll stick on the active roster out of camp given the team’s investment in him.
Jon Heyman of the MLB Network first reported the Braves and Arcia were in agreement on a two-year, $3MM guarantee with a 2024 club option.
Waste of a roster spot
Well – personally – I won’t be judging the Braves front office moves. Plenty of posters panned Anthopolous’ moves last trade deadline. Hell, a lot of fellas on here were claiming they should sell.
& look how that turned out.
I am hoping this is a minor league contract. It is somewhat rare to have a guaranteed minor league deal but it happens. The Red Sox had some outfielder in the minors named Rusney Castillo last season who was guaranteed an AAV of over $10.3M. He was signed to a fully guaranteed 7 year/$72.5M contract. Over the first 3 seasons of that deal he made less than 340 total plate appearances. Over the last 4 years of that deal he never got called up and spent the entire time in the minor leagues. They paid him over $41.2M the last 4 years of that contract even though they never called him back up. So it’s definitely possible to have fully guaranteed multi-year multi-million dollar contracts that buy out free agent years. I’m not sure if that’s what’s going on with Arcia. I hope so. I would have rather had the Braves keep him for 2 years and be able to demote him. Maybe they are thinking $3M for 3 years is nothing so it’s low risk. He has been so bad at times that he isn’t even worth the spot. If they can’t send him down and he is so bad they end up cutting Arcia before the 3rd year even starts this contract is going to look bad. He used to be considered a good prospect and the deal is cheap.He can also play almost anywhere on the diamond. $1M per year isn’t much for that. I just hope it is a minor league deal. I would hate to have this guy blocking someone or forcing the Braves to cut someone better if it is a major league deal. I thought he was a non-tender candidate.
Liked him as a Brewer but he definitely disappointed. Great glove, some power, some big moments, great teammate, but overall never lived up to the billing. I think this is a good deal for Braves and Arcia.
This guy is a great defender. Even if he never plays except for a few late innings or rare starts, the Braves are paying him very little. every team has players like this who don’t get many at bats but are defensive replacements.
We dont know if it is a major or minor league contract. IF its a minor league contract it is not a roster spot , Correct me if I am wrong.
It clearly says GUARANTEE.
To be fair, you can have a guaranteed minor league contract.
But without options he can’t be shuttled back and forth, so what would be the point of a guaranteed MiLB contract?
If you read the article fathead, there is mention of much improvement at AAA? He’s depth at the very least, with possible upside? Sounds like the identified a flaw in his swing and made adjustments and it worked at AAA.
@Hippyripper: I’m not sure how much you watched the Braves this season but they called him up to the major league squad for a pretty long time after he put up those AAA numbers. If he fixed anything in AAA it fell apart when he came up. He was absolutely terrible at the plate for a long time after putting up those AAA stats.
After finding out he is out of options I’m not sure how I feel about this deal. That means by default it’s a major league deal. If he ends up being terrible I would have rather the Braves signed him to the slightly higher AAV so they wouldn’t be stuck owing him anything in 2023. Either that or just cut him to save the little $ and keep a roster spot open. I didn’t see much worth keeping last season. He looks like a AAAA player to me. Not talented enough to make it in the majors but experienced enough to handle the minors. He could end up surprising me but I feel like that roster spot could be used more efficiently. I actually like Johan Camargo better and I don’t like Camargo at all. At least Camargo had 1 good MLB season. I would also rather the Braves keep Richard Rodriguez. I keep hearing people say Rich-Rod is a non tender candidate at $3M but I would prefer we spend this money to keep him over Arcia. At least Rodriguez was really good the first month he was in Atlanta.
In my opinion this 100% means goodbye to Camargo. The salary is relatively cheap, and as a known quantity to the team already the Braves must have liked his overall make-up (defensive versatility, and positive attitude).
There is no guarantee he is playing actually with the big club either. He could be sent down to AAA once again even with a major league contract.
I have no problem with this move.
yeah, there’s no room for both Arcia and Camargo. Hopefully he’ll land with a team that will give him a full time chance at 3B.
Did they edit the article or did half the commenters just miss “he is out of minor league options”?
For all that say he is a waste of a roster spot…if Dansby has an injury next year, he will not be as easily replaced as the Braves OF’s at last years trade deadline. Arcia can field. Hopefully he can get the bat going. Not to mention Dansby is in the last year of being arbitration eligible and the Braves don’t have any prospects ready to step in anytime soon, this move should not be surprising.
It’s not a ton of money but I still don’t see the point.
Swanson insurance-lite
…Or a Swanson trade? Lots of teams needing a SS and Dansby is making $10M if I’m not mistaken. Could save some money toward other needs.
No. Arcia is not a Swanson replacement. Just no.
I hope you’re joking, lifer.
Sorry, Arcia is not a starting SS.
No way!
Signing Arcia makes you think a Swanson trade might be coming and is NOT a depth move? If the Braves signed Maikel Franco would you think they might be trading Austin Riley?
I said the same thing and was ridiculed…
Since when are opinions dumb?
Sorry. We’ll make this your safe space. There are no dumb opinions in this thread.
Try making statements that you’d make to a strangers face without worrying about getting thumped?
I would absolutely say that to your face, internet tough guy.
Whatever man, it’s a comment section of a trade rumors about baseball. Most of these articles are about “opinions” and 100% of the articles are “opinion”. YOU are being an ass for no reason.
Better than being a puss
Meh, I just enjoyed the good ole days when everyone wasn’t a dick, amirite?
“Since when are opinions dumb?”I guess…when they ARE dumb.
I’ll take it. Not a waste.
Not bad for a few years of decency.
No thanks.
Nice security for Arcia. The Braves are still just rearranging the deck chairs, IMO. Get ‘er done, Alex.
He was projected to make roughly 2.1 mil in arbitration. If he has a good year, even off the bench, that value could go up for next season if no remain the same. So they basically saved at least $1 mil if not more assuming he’s worth keeping as a bench bat. What this does say, is Camargo might get non-tendered if I had to guess. I haven’t seen news about those yet today
I’d bet that means Johan is gone.
Let”s hope.
Right. That’s why I said he’d get non-tendered lol
Trade him to the Rockies for Freeland or to the Reds for Gray
I don’t see it but guess having some infield insurance can’t hurt…. in limited at bats showed little to nothing. He is only 27 at least.
These types of signings are necessary.
He must be the new 1st baseman.
If not Arcia who is going to be Swansons back up Camargo? I’ll take Arcia!
Anthopoulos knows a solid signing when it’s available.
Talk about unnecessary. It is however insurance. Not like they spent lots of money on a player. Freeman hopes are still alive.
I don’t understand why people rag on Camargo. Some people just don’t respond well to being bench players. He raked as a starter at Gwinnett. Someone like the Orioles will pick him up and make him a starter again, and he’ll rebound to his 2018 form.
Im a big fan of Camargo but he is just not hitting in the MLB. And i agree he needs a starting job. but there’s no starting job available with the Braves.
And that very thing might indicate why Atlanta seems to favor Arcia over Camargo. They don’t need a starter. They need a bench player. Camargo has struggled in that role.
The Orioles would be a good place for Camargo to get a second chance at a full time 3B
Scherzer countermove?
That joke never gets old does it? Actually, yes, it gets very old.
Say goodbye Johan Camargo.
I feel like this means Adrianza is out. Thats a shame, he was the perfect utility infielder
or Camargo
They can non-tender Camargo.
This is a backup infielder and can even spell in outfield. People chill.
This means carmago is probably gone. As a braves fan I always pulled for him to breakthrough.