Over the course of this offseason I have been discussing whether or not the Braves should sign some of their young players to a long term contract. So far we have discussed Jair Jurrjens and Jason Heyward in previous articles.

Today, we are going to be turning our attention to the Braves’ young, Cuban shortstop, Yunel Escobar.

Of course, there is a large part of me that is surprised that I am even writing this article. After all, in the early to middle part of the season, Escobar was a mess. By some estimations, he cost the Braves at least four games by mid-July simply because of mental mistakes.

However, by the end of July Escobar seemed to have turned a corner and was playing much better baseball.

What happened, I don’t really know. But I’m not going to argue with the results.

After the All-Star break, Escobar managed to bring up his batting average to .306 and hit half his home runs in 38 less at-bats. However, the stats don’t tell the whole story because Escobar also seemed to have a better head on his shoulders and was playing more like he was the member of a team.

So, with things having improved, should the Braves look into signing their young shortstop to a long term contract?

Now is the time in the article when I would take a quick look at some comparable contracts to try and figure out a good market value for Escobar. The problem though is that I haven’t been able to find a contract that I really deem to be comparable.

There are of course the three big National League East shortstops, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, and Jimmy Rollins, all of whom signed long term contracts before they hit free agency. Quite frankly, though, they were all significantly better when they signed their contracts than Escobar.

Of the three though, Reyes signed the most affordable contract, so we’ll consider him to be the most reasonable comparison.

It was the middle of the 2006 season when Reyes got his deal. Buying out his three arbitration years as well as his first year of free agency, Reyes signed for $23.25 million over four years. There was also a team option for 2011, valued at $11 million.

Of course, Reyes also was coming off a 2005 season in which he stole 60 bases and hit .273. He then proceeded in 2006 to hit .300 with 19 home runs and 64 stolen bases, all while playing top tier shortstop.

Comparing that to Escobar is a little difficult. While Escobar is certainly an above average fielder, he isn’t exactly the top of the order threat that Reyes was and is. For example, in 2009, Escobar hit .299 with 14 home runs and only five stolen bases.

So, while Escobar isn’t nearly the player that Reyes is, yet, the contract that he signed was done over three years ago, when Reyes was in a similar place in his baseball career that Escobar is in now.

So, with the ever increasing contracts which are dolled out around baseball, would a guaranteed $19 million contract over five/six years work for Escobar? If it did, it could look something like this:

2009: $500,000

2010: $2 million

2011: $3.5 million

2012: $5 million

2013: $7 million

2014: $10 million, $1 million buy-out

This would provide the Braves with the financial flexibility over the next few seasons, but would also keep Escobar in a Braves’ uniform for a while; Buying out his first year of his free agency up and giving him financial security.

In my opinion however, the Braves would be much better served in waiting until at least mid-season to approach Escobar with any such offer. After all, considering his mental struggles from early in 2009, I would like to see the Braves wait and see if he has in fact turned a corner or if it was just a temporary improvement in his attitude.

While I am certainly hoping that my fears are unfounded, I would still like to see a little more from Escobar before the Braves make such a big financial commitment to him.

But, what do you think Braves’ fans? Should the Braves pursue Escobar and sign him to a long term contract now or should they wait, even if that means paying him year to year until he reaches free agency in 2014?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 9:53 am and is filed under Jim Cheney, Most Recommended, Right Column. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.