As disappointing as the last two seasons have been for Atlanta Braves fans, the memory of the magical 2021 World Series championship will live on forever. After battling multiple injuries throughout the season, general manager Alex Anthopoulos made moves at the trade deadline that paid major dividends and resulted in a run to title.
Outfielders Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson and Adam Duvall all joined the Braves in the middle of the season, and all played a major role in their success. All four have long since moved on from Atlanta, and while the first three players have found jobs this spring, Duvall remains a free agent — and may continue to be, unless he gets more realistic with his asking price.
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Adam Duvall is looking for $3 million deal or he'll retire
Since 2021, Duvall has quite frankly been mediocre at best, with last season being the worst of Duvall’s 11-year career. Although Duvall has never really been one to hit for average, his .182 mark a season ago was downright atrocious. And it also came without his usual power: Across the 104 games he appeared in, Duvall only hit 11 home runs and had 30 RBI.
Additionally, Duvall’s defense in the outfield can be questionable at times. There is no doubt that his experience and leadership is something that a clubhouse would love to have; but at the same time, there has to be some level of on-field production to justify signing him. It is really unlikely anyone is going to do that for his asking price.
The Kansas City Royals offered Duvall a contract that would have had him earning a base salary of $1 million, with the ability to earn an additional $1 million through performance bonuses. Duvall turned this contract down, and recently told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that he'll retire unless he gets at least $3 million.
Duvall seems to be making the same mistake that fellow veteran Anthony Rizzo has made this offseason. Rizzo bemoaned MLB's unwillingness to hand roster spots to players with significant experience, telling The Athletic recently that "if teams are not going to want to pay a few million dollars for veterans, I’ve seen it the last 10 years of my career."
"It’s what happens to the older guys," Rizzo continued. "They kind of get squeezed. You’ve seen it happen more and more. I’m not naive to it,"
"Getting squeezed" is one way to put it, but the fact remains that neither Rizzo nor Duvall have performed in a way that would convince any competitive team (and veterans like this only want to play meaningful baseball) to hand them guaranteed money and a guaranteed roster spot.
At this point, we should probably go ahead and expect Duvall to retire from baseball in 2025. But while his on-field production has decreased drastically, his knowledge of the game and experience still has value and we very well could see him going directly into a coaching role soon.