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Trade Rumors Circle Optionless Players
Written by Colin on March 25, 2008 – 10:19 amFrank Wren let loose this past weekend with a couple interesting tidbits regarding roster options heading into the season. Firstly, there are trade talks surrounding many of the out of options players. Secondly, the Braves have the payroll flexibility to add a player with a $3-4 million if necessary. This puts us in a good position as Bobby and Frank finalize the 25-man roster.
Wren has said that teh Braves will take whatever player is the best fit for the team, and shop the other players around. If the Braves don’t trade their out of options players, they’ll likely lose them on the waiver wire with no compensation. What do other teams want with our leftovers? Let’s break it down by player:
Brayan Pena
Corky Miller looks to be the favorite to win the backup catcher position, leaving Pena without a place. He’s a switch hitter and can play first and third as well as outfield, which will make him in demand and valuable to other organizations.
Scott Thorman
Thorman has at times shown power potential that is interesting to some teams. I’m really not sure what we’d be able to get for him – he’s not been very successful (putting it lightly) in his time in the big leagues, not to mention this spring. He’s hitting .140 this spring.
The bullpen is congested – seven spots are available, but five of them appear to be spoken for. Soriano, Moylan, Acosta, Bennett, and Ohman appear to be locks. This leaves Blaine Boyer, Royce Ring, Chris Resop, and Tyler Yates competing for two spots. Ridgway will likely get sent to AAA as he still has options left. Boyer and Resop have been impressive and likely are the leaders for the last two spots (Resop has averaged a strikeout per inning, and Boyer has a 2.25 ERA in seven outings). This leaves Yates and Ring.
Tyler Yates
Yates has been unimpressive so far this spring. He’s walked 10 in 7 innings. He’s also given up 7 hits. But he’s a steady arm and will likely settle down once the season is moving. For a team that needs depth in the bullpen, he could be an important addition.
Royce Ring
Royce Ring has immediate value to many bullpens because he’s a lefty, and left-handed specialists are in short supply. This is the same reason the Braves may keep him – if they want another lefty to join Ohman, they may not want to wait for Mike Gonzalez to get healthy mid-season. We’ll see what happens – he’d be useful to a lot of teams out there.
For one, I appreciate that the Braves are leaving enough room in their finances to be able to spend money going into the season. I also appreciate that Wren isn’t just going to ship our guys through waivers and hope they make it to the minors. We won’t know the magnitude of the goings on until the trigger is pulled on the trades, but as we hear it, we’ll report it.
Tags: Blaine Boyer, Brayan Pena, Chris Resop, Jeff Ridgway, Royce Ring, Scott Thorman, Trade Rumors, Tyler Yates, Will Ohman
Posted in Roster Moves, Speculation | 8 Comments »
By Akshay Amaraneni on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
I’m pretty sure we’ll hold on to Ring. We traded a pretty good pitcher in Will Startup (and Wil Ledezma, but you know, Ledezma was one of the forgotten guys of last year for good reason). Plus we won’t know when Gonzalez will be back at 100% even if he is added mid-season.
By JB in ATL on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
I was sure Yates would’ve locked it up but he’s been falling apart lately. He and Thorman may be throw-in’s but there’s definitely some space to be cleared up and they may do well with another club.
I’d hate to see Pena go of all our backup’s but he’s probably got the most trade appeal of the candidates.
I’d keep Royce Ring. I know he hasn’t dominated but until Gonzo is back I like having a second lefty to go with Ohman.
http://bravesblog.net
JB in ATL
By Jonathan on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
I’d love to see Thorman to go . . . I’d exchange him for a batboy or batgirl . . .
Pena would be sad to see go, but it’s hard not to see the potential he has to other teams in trade terms.
We’ll see how it all pans out.
By Smitty on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
I got no love for Thorman. I know Bobby Cox thinks highly of him, but to me, he has just never lived up to the hype. All hat and no horse.
I think he is gone, along with Pena (how many back-up catchers do we need?) and Yates. I don’t think we could get a warm bottle of spit for Yates, but Thorman and Pena have some good trade upside.
For some reason, I see Ring staying around, at least on the minor league level.
Smitty
By Akshay Amaraneni on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
I'm pretty sure we'll hold on to Ring. We traded a pretty good pitcher in Will Startup (and Wil Ledezma, but you know, Ledezma was one of the forgotten guys of last year for good reason). Plus we won't know when Gonzalez will be back at 100% even if he is added mid-season.
By JB in ATL on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
I was sure Yates would've locked it up but he's been falling apart lately. He and Thorman may be throw-in's but there's definitely some space to be cleared up and they may do well with another club.
I'd hate to see Pena go of all our backup's but he's probably got the most trade appeal of the candidates.
I'd keep Royce Ring. I know he hasn't dominated but until Gonzo is back I like having a second lefty to go with Ohman.
http://bravesblog.net
JB in ATL
By Jonathan on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
I'd love to see Thorman to go . . . I'd exchange him for a batboy or batgirl . . .
Pena would be sad to see go, but it's hard not to see the potential he has to other teams in trade terms.
We'll see how it all pans out.
By Smitty on Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
I got no love for Thorman. I know Bobby Cox thinks highly of him, but to me, he has just never lived up to the hype. All hat and no horse.
I think he is gone, along with Pena (how many back-up catchers do we need?) and Yates. I don't think we could get a warm bottle of spit for Yates, but Thorman and Pena have some good trade upside.
For some reason, I see Ring staying around, at least on the minor league level.
Smitty