With the outrageous contracts being given to free agents this year, thank God we have Jason Heyward under team control for five more years. With Jason Werth getting $126M for 7 years in DC and Carl Crawford getting a huge contract, the price tag for good outfielders has gone through the roof.

Is Heyward even going to be extendable for his arbitration years? He's so young, he could sign an 8 year extension next off season and still be a free agent by the time he's 30. Would 8 years, $80M interest him? There was a time I thought it would be no problem to keep him in Atlanta, with his home town ties and family and friends nearby. Maybe that will play a part. But by the time he's a free agent, he could be looking at $25-30M a year pretty easily. That would be tough for the Braves to do with the current ownership.

I'm assuming Heyward continues to improve and be the player we all envision. Injuries could derail that of course.

Can the Braves keep Heyward with salaries exploding like they are ?