Braves, Lowe Get Serious
Written by Colin on January 13, 2009 – 9:48 amThe Braves are in the thick of the race for Derek Lowe – SI reports today that the Braves have offered something akin to $60M over four years. This beats the Mets offering, which is around $36M for three years. Lowe, if you didn’t know, was 14-11 with a 3.24 ERA last season with the Dodgers.
If you think the Braves are done this offseason, it looks like they’re finally ready to play ball with the biggest pitcher left on the market and have a pretty decent rotation by the time September rolls around. Imagine Lowe, Jurrjens, Kawakami, Vazquez, and Hudson. We’d have Morton and Hanson, in the wings. I’d think that maybe Campillo goes back to the ‘pen this year as our long reliever. The Braves still need to add a bat to replace the hole left by Mark Teixeira. I pray to heaven it doesn’t involve Andruw Jones, as some suggest. If we can muster enough offense to make it to the postseason, we’ll have a mean rotation IF we land Lowe.
The Braves also signed Omar Infante to a two-year deal, with a team option for a third year. Omar was pretty good for us as a utility player last year. He hit .293 with 24 doubles and 40 RBIs.
Remaining shopping list:
- Big bat
- Sign Will Ohman
- Extend Chipper’s Contract
C’mon Braves, sign Lowe so we can be somewhat optimistic about the upcoming season. Mets fans, you can go sit on a tack.
Tags: Braves courting Lowe, Chipper Jones, Derek Lowe, New York Mets, Omar Infante, Will Ohman
Posted in Roster Moves, Speculation | 3 Comments »
By Jonathan on Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
Andruw's definitely having a struggle right now. Batting around .100 and recently got cut from his Venezuelan winter ball team. I don't really know what it'll take for him to get it back together, but it looks like he's pretty much at rock bottom.
I know it's not high on the front office's mind right now, but I couldn't agree more about extending Chipper's contract. Especially after everything that went down with Smoltz, I think it would go a long way to ensure some confidence at this point. I can't imagine seeing Chipper end up elsewhere as well.
By josh on Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
We should consider putting Abreu in right field. I know french boy is popular but if he doesn’t bounce back it might be an opportunity missed.
By Sheryl on Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
I guess that helps a bit with the sting of losing Smoltz–but if we sign Andruw after NOT signing Smoltz….well let me say that would just stink. YES on resigning Chipper before season starts. Maybe they should bring in Manny Rameriz…at least he'd bring in the fans that will probably depart because of Smoltz