Mailbag: Filling the Hole in Center

January 2, 2008 – 9:27 am

Katie recently wrote Mailbag and asked:

Do you think that the Braves are going to sign another CF or use one they already have (Anderson, possibly?) Pitching wise, do you think they are going to get another starter, or bullpen help?

Well Katie, this really depends on who you ask.  The AJC reported months ago that the Braves were most likely to (and they quoted Wren) trade for a veteran to fill the gap for a year or two while the prospects matured.  Now, since then we’ve acquired Josh Anderson, and he may be viewed as the answer, at least at first glance.  After all, he hit .358 last season for the Astros.

However, remember that we also have Jordan Schafer and Brandon Jones in the farm system.  Both are great prospects in the Braves’ system, and we should expect them to come into spring training full-steam to try and claim the job.  I think we’ll stay in-house for this job - we shouldn’t give up prospects to try and go outside when we have the talent internally.

As far as starting pitching - I doubt we go get another pitcher for the rotation.  Hudson, Smoltz, Glavine, Hampton/Jurrjens, and James make a pretty good rotation.  I know we haven’t seen Jurrjens, but if Wren was willing to give up Renteria for the guy he has to have knowledge backing himself up.

We could use another arm or two in the bullpen, but I think we’re looking pretty good there too.  Let Soriano close and we’ll be fine.  Gonzales will make a fine setup pitcher, as will Will Ohman - a left-handed reliever recently acquired from the Cubs.  Fill in our other guys and we’re in pretty good shape.  Sure we could use another arm (Ron Mayhay would have been nice to keep), but we’ll survive.  We may see Wren add another pitcher, but it’s quite possible he leaves it as is, too.

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