There’s been a lot of discussion out there around Atlanta Braves’ star second baseman Ozzie Albies (seen above celebrating a home run Wednesday) signing an extension for an average of $5 million per year for seven years, something dubbed everything from “insanely cheap” to “among the worst ever for a player” to ” among the most team-friendly in recent baseball history.” With the Braves facing the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday, Fox Sports Ohio Reds’ analyst Chris Welsh decided to add his two cents to the Albies conversation during the game, and he did so in a way that annoyed a lot of people.
Here’s the video:
“It’s funny, I’ve read a lot about it and I’ve read opinions on both sides. A lot of people are blaming the agent for letting him sign a deal like that. But Albies came from a very poor background, he’s from Curaçao, and when somebody offers you 35 million dollars—I mean, he may not know the difference between 35 million dollars and 85 million dollars. It’s going to have a tremendous positive effect on his family and himself. Maybe the people in his immediate family or extended family. It changes the lives of so many people.”
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“It’s a very complicated thing. I’m not very anxious to go blame the agent on that because I doubt very much that he went out and persuaded him to sign that contract that was a team-advantage contract. And then the other thing you’ve got to remember is that there are a lot of players right now who are shifting agencies, leaving one agency to get to a different agency. So the existing agent may be in a hurry to get that guy to sign a contract before he shifts and moves to a bigger agency. So there’s a lot of little things behind the scenes going on that we don’t know anything about, but that kind of money can change your life. And more power to him, he’s a pretty good ballplayer.”
Update: Welsh apologized to Albies Thursday.
Our original post follows:
A lot of that is the same sort of discussion and speculation about why Albies would sign this that’s been advanced elsewhere, but it’s the “he may not know the difference between 35 million dollars and 85 million dollars” in particular that really drew backlash. And there was a lot of that backlash:
#Reds commentator said the following about #Braves star Ozzie Albies: "He came from a very poor background. He’s from Curaçao..and if somebody offered you $35M, I mean he might not know the difference between $35M and $85M.”
What a disgrace. Get out of the booth.
— Dustin Smith (@Xdustinx1) April 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/1121212210683031552
#Reds announcer with some pretty inappropriate comments regarding #Braves Ozzie Albies.
“He came from a very poor background. He’s from Curaçao..and if somebody offered you $35M, I mean he might not know the difference between $35M and $85M.” pic.twitter.com/47dkstwkya
— Steve Frederick (@_SteveFrederick) April 25, 2019
This is some of the dumbest *@!&*@ I’ve heard…. Mr. Reds Announcer needs to go to Braves clubhouse and look Albies in the eyes and apologies https://t.co/1hANKNgp9c
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) April 25, 2019
“Albies isn’t smart enough to know what a good deal is” @Reds broadcasters are SCUM insulting his intelligence and love for the game and Braves organization. https://t.co/jcTos5lJ1g
— J (@the_soccerfield) April 25, 2019
This is ignorant. Bet Ozzie Albies can tell Chris Welsh where to shove it in about four different languages. https://t.co/AHgniGHmEE
— The Snorting Bull (@TheSnortingBull) April 25, 2019
A lot of what Welsh said isn’t that different from the general conversation that’s been out there about the Albies deal, and even the comment about his poor background might have not caused this much of a stir if it had been framed differently. And it’s not necessarily wrong to suggest that Albies might prefer to take a guaranteed smaller amount of money now rather than gamble that he’ll be healthy and able to cash in in free agency later, or even to point out that the money he did get here can make a difference for him and possibly his family. But “might not know the difference” seems like a pretty insulting way to say that, and it’s understandable why that drew criticism.
[Justin Russo on Twitter]