Braves Make Logical Move with Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies

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The Atlanta Braves wasted no time ensuring two key members of the lineup stuck around. The team announced Thursday evening that it had exercised the options on Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies.
Acuña will make $ 17 million once again, and Albies will once again receive a check for $7 million.
It’s two of the easiest decisions that the Braves will make all offseason. Both will stick around at what is considered well below market value.
Spotrac values Acuña at $36.5 million per season and Albies at $12.2 million.
Normally, the Braves tend to wait to make these decisions on club options. However, knowing that these were the only two club options to settle, there was no reason to delay anything.
Albies was an All-Star during the 2026 season, and he was voted to be the starting second baseman for the National League. Acuña had a strong finished to what started off as another injured-plagued season.
Now, their focus can go into trying to re-sign key free agents they feel can help them during the upcoming season. Not having to pay two players their market value in a sense helps give the Braves flexibility to go make more additions.
This is a team that needs starting pitching badly, and would benefit from another bat in the lineup. The shortstop situation is once again another question mark. That'll have to be solved.
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Harrison Smajovits is a reporter covering the Atlanta Braves and the Florida Gators. He also covers the Tampa Bay Lightning for The Hockey Writers. He has two degrees from the University of Florida: a bachelor's in Telecommunication and a master's in Sport Management. When he's not writing, Harrison is usually listening to his Beatles records or getting out of the house with friends.
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