Martin Prado. Fan favorite. Team Player. Widely considered the 2010 Atlanta Braves MVP. Third baseman of the future.
Martin Prado is the reigning NL Player of the Week. He's hitting the ball all over the place right now in "typical Prado fashion", if I may borrow a phrase from Chipper Jones.
So what about his future with the Braves? He's scheduled to hit free agency after the 2013 season, but Frank Wren can't possibly let that happen. He needs to be signed to a long term contract, and I'd do it as soon as next offseason.
Prado is 27 and is coming off of a season in which only seven third baseman had a higher wOBA than him. His numbers also took a big hit in September when he was playing hurt, and not doing it very well. Coming into September his wOBA was .366, but that fell to .352 before the end of the season. Had he been able to maintain the numbers he had prior to being injured last year, he would have had a more productive season than both David Wright and Alex Rodriguez.
At his age, Prado's power is only going to increase over the next couple of seasons. His ISO last year was .152, which is right in line with his career mark, but prior to his injury he had an ISO of .171. This is a guy that's going to be hitting .310/.360/.480 with 20 homeruns for the next few years. This is solid production from a left fielder, it's a lot more than solid from a third baseman.
Signing Martin Prado to an extension needs to be one of Frank Wren's top priorities. I wouldn't let him get close to enough to hear the rolling of the waves on the ocean of free agency, much less dip his toes in the water.
Buy out the two years of arbitration he has ahead of him and sign him for four more years after that. That will keep Prado in Atlanta through the 2017 season. He'll be 33 that year, and he's a pretty safe bet to continue producing into his mid-thirties. Seeing as how Nate McLouth and Kenshin Kawakami make over $13 million between them, and Chipper makes $13 million by himself, there will be money available to sign Prado long term.
