Report: Braves had five-year offer on the table for Edwin Díaz

Prior to landing Robert Suarez, the Braves were among the teams interested in All-Star closer Edwin Díaz before he ultimately signed a three-year, $69 million contract with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers — along with the incumbent Mets — are always going to be difficult to beat in bidding wars, but this wasn’t a case of Atlanta being unwilling to compete. Jorge Castillo of ESPN reported that the Braves actually had a five-year deal on the table, a longer commitment than either Los Angeles or New York was willing to offer.

“Díaz had already received two contract offers — one of three years from the Los Angeles Dodgers and another of five years from the Atlanta Braves,” Castillo wrote. However, the Braves were unwilling to meet Díaz’s other contract demands, most likely his desired annual value.

“But Díaz, who turns 32 in March, wanted an annual average value of at least $20 million after deferrals were taken into account and less deferred money spread over a shorter period,” Castillo continued. “The Mets, according to a source, refused to meet those terms. The Braves, though offering more years, also declined to meet the criteria.”

That approach is somewhat atypical for Alex Anthopoulos, who generally prefers shorter-term deals with higher AAVs, similar to the one-year contracts Raisel Iglesias and Ha-Seong Kim signed to return to Atlanta. That said, he has shown in the past he’s willing to stretch when he believes the player is worth it, as evidenced by the Braves’ pursuits of Aaron Nola and now Díaz.

Ultimately, the Braves should feel perfectly comfortable having pivoted to Robert Suarez, who comes at a lower cost and is coming off back-to-back All-Star appearances of his own. Still, this new detail — combined with Atlanta’s aggressive spending over the first six weeks of the offseason — suggests Anthopoulos may not be finished.

Perhaps Braves chairman Terry McGuirk wasn’t bluffing when he said at the start of the offseason that the goal is to field a top-five payroll in baseball.

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Photo: Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire

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