Mailbag: Too Many Outfielders?

Written by Colin on January 17, 2008 – 8:52 am

Cheyanne wrote the Mailbag yesterday with the following question:

With the Braves acquisition of Mark Kotsay what is the chance that Willie Harris or Brandon Jones is traded to get some more relief pitching?

Well first off, Cheyanne, thanks for asking a question - you get two entries into the Kelly Johnson autographed ball contest, as do all mailbag participants. We don’t think Willie Harris has much of a chance of being traded - he was released by the Braves after the Will Ohman trade (signed by the Nationals, by the way).

However, I think your question bears some teeth here. We have a ton of outfielders. With Francoeur in right and Kotsay in center, we have one open outfield spot to platoon with Diaz in left. Here’s the list of young outfield candidates we have:

• Josh Anderson - Played around half a season for Houston last year, hit .356.
• Gregor Blanco - Played AAA ball last year, hit .282. Solid player overall.
• Brandon Jones - Brandon is a favorite to fit in left with Diaz. He played at the AAA level too last season.
• Jordan Schafer - The center fielder of the future for the Braves organization - we’ll see him move up in the farm system this year.
• Gorkeys Hernandez - Received from Detroit in the Renteria trade, this guy is a 4 star prospect, even though he was only at the Class A level last year. It’ll be a while, because he was born in 1987.
• Jason Heyward - He won’t be around for a long time, but he’s been tagged as one of the Braves’ best prospects.
• Omar Infante - Infield/Outfield utility player, will likely see his spot on the roster this year as an infield utility player.

So you tell me, do we have too many outfielders for the positions available? I think we will end up trading a few of these guys for talent we need. Our young talent looks great - and I’m not just talking about the outfield. I think we’ll see someone go at some point, but whether or not it’s this off-season for relief pitching is another issue. If I’m not mistaken, the relief pitching market isn’t great this year, though.

As to who gets to platoon with Diaz, it’s likely between Anderson and Brandon Jones.

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