By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

If we’ve learned anything from the 11^th hour contract signings of Manny Machado and Bryce Harper and the fact that Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are spending time with their families nearly a week into the new season, it’s that free agency is not the sure-fire promised land it once appeared to be.

In fact, players all across Major League Baseball seemed to have realized that in the past few weeks.

The Harper and Machado deals were followed by a slew of contract extensions, pushing back free agency for the likes of Alex Bregman, Jacob DeGrom, Blake Snell, Paul Goldschmidt, Xander Bogaerts, Justin Verlander and of course Mike Trout.

These are all players who would make a killing on the open market, with teams fighting over them to the tune of escalating contract offers, or at least that would have been the case a few years ago.

The cold stove of 2018-2019 seems to have put ballplayers off of free agency altogether, opting to agree to terms with their current teams instead.

For Braves fans, that trend reached its glorious zenith on Tuesday, as Atlanta inked Ronald Acuna, Jr. to an eight-year, $100 million-dollar extension, with team options for years 9 and 10.

The details of the contract, briefly, are this: it starts this year, when Acuna will earn $1 million, then bumps up to $5 million in 2021 before a nice raise to $15 million in 2022 and settling in at $17 million from 2023 to 2026. The team options are worth $17 million for 2027 and 2028 with a $10 million buyout before the ’27 season.

For a young kid who’s got only one year in the majors under his belt (a Rookie of the Year, mind you), that’s a lot of scratch. On the other hand, based on this kid’s potential ceiling, it might end up being a steal for the Braves.

I was reading MLB end-of-year award predictions last week, and one of them put their money on Acuna to win the National League MVP in his second season. His prediction didn’t begin with “now this seems crazy.” That’s because it’s not crazy. What Acuna showed in 111 games in 2018 is that he can be an elite player at the big-league level.

For the sake of comparison, here’s what some former MVPs are going to be making in 2019:

Mike Trout – $36 million

Clayton Kershaw – $31 million

Bryce Harper – $30 million

Miguel Cabrera – $30 million

Justin Verlander – $28 million

Albert Pujols – $28 million

Giancarlo Stanton – $28 million

Let’s also not overlook the fact that Acuna’s teammate Josh Donaldson, who is 33 and coming off an injury-plagued 2018, is making $23 million this season.

Now I have no idea if Acuna will win the NL MVP this year, but if he does, he’ll be making nearly $30 million less than the average of the eight guys I just mentioned.

If he wins an MVP award at any point during the next eight seasons, he’ll be making at most $13 million less than that average.

So, at best the Braves are getting a bargain on Acuna’s potential production. As much as baseball players get paid, this deal is a good one even if Acuna’s rookie campaign turns out to be his ceiling.

A good defensive outfielder who hits around .300 with 25+ dingers and a handful of stolen bases to boot is worth $17 million easy.

Andrew McCutchen (another former MVP) is making $17 million with the Phillies this year and he’s beyond the days where he can put up those kinds of numbers.

And let’s face it: Acuna has not come close to hitting his ceiling. Good deal.