Austin Riley’s extension had a major impact on Braves’ deadline plans

Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley has been renewed with a huge contract. This, in turn, affected the club’s schedules.

That Atlanta Braves renewed Austin Riley to a 10-year, $212 million contract. This is the largest contract in franchise history, so Atlanta had a lot to think about before making any major trades this season.

general director Alex Anthopoulos spoke to The Athletic and explained how the Riley deal affected what they planned to do ahead of Tuesday’s close.

“Part of (the importance of) getting Austin’s extension, knowing whether we were going to make it or not – we had a lot of deals we were exploring that involved commitments of (several) years that would affect our future. ‘ said Anthopoulos.

Atlanta stuck to low-key deals, including landing Jake Odorizzi, Robbie Grossman and Ehire Adrianza, until they renewed Riley and were sure who to add to the veterans list.

With Riley’s difficult extension taking a long time to figure out, they traded for closing pitcher Raisel Iglesias just minutes before the deadline.

Austin Riley’s extension prompted the Braves to make a big trade just before the deadline

Atlanta waited until the last minute to make key decisions, which was a smart move considering they still have Riley, the rest of their young core, and now Iglesias too.

This season, Riley is hitting .300/.360/.599 for a .959 OPS and was a legitimate NL MVP contender this season, making him worth every penny.

Iglesias was also a worthy deal. So far this season, he has a 4.04 ERA versus a .216 batting average and a 1.07 WHIP.

The Braves are sure to be there again this year 99.2 percent FanGraphs playoff odds. They make great decisions regarding players.