]]> http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/08/18/the-impact-of-derrek-lee-to-atlanta/feed/ 2 http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/08/18/braves-to-move-for-derrek-lee-good-idea/ http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/08/18/braves-to-move-for-derrek-lee-good-idea/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:57:40 +0000 Jonathan http://www.bravesblast.com/?p=1845 With every at-bat or play at first base, it’s quite apparent that Braves first baseman Troy Glaus is in a lot of pain and unable to play up to his full potential.  Gone are the days of May where he was hitting everything in sight, whether it was over the plate or not, and now, the best we can do is hope he doesn’t hit into a double play at the wrong time.  Rumors have begun circulating that the Braves are close to making a move for Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee.

In his day (he’s been around the league since 1997), Derrek Lee produced some solid numbers from the plate.  He’s had 9 20-HR seasons and is 5 shy of 1000 RBI in his career.  To date in 2010, he has 16 homers (4 of which came last weekend) and 56 RBI.  In the month of August, Lee is batting .306 and slugging .694 with 4 homers and 8 RBI.  By contrast, Glaus is hitting .208 and slugging .375 with two homers.

On the surface, it seems like a logical move.  It would give Glaus time to get healthier (although I doubt that can truly happen until the offseason) and would add a little more pop to the lineup.  The kicker however, is that Lee is injured as well.  His performance has been hampered by a bulging disc in his back, which, after receiving an injection for the pain, has him sidelined until today or tomorrow at least.

Lee would definitely be a rental, as he is a free agent at the end of the season, and would have to waive his no-trade cause, which he would likely do as Atlanta is contending for the NL East.  The rental issue doesn’t bother me however as he would serve as the next step in the bridge to getting Freddie Freeman into the majors (which I still maintain the  Braves don’t have to rush to do).  The question is, is sitting one injured first baseman for another injured first baseman the right thing to do.  With Troy’s performance as of late, I’d say it’s an option that we seriously need to consider.

Now the question arises: what happens with Medlen’s rotation spot for the start that he’ll miss? Since he just won the fifth rotation spot from Kawakami, do we just let Kenshin back into the rotation? He has only pitched once since being taken out of the rotation – we don’t want to use him – and there are rumors that we might want him to accept a minor league assignment (though it might hurt our chances with signing future Japanese players). Or do we promote Mike Minor, the top pitching prospect at the AAA level.

Minor is having a great first full pro season – in 118 2/3 innings at AA Mississippi and AAA Gwinnett, he’s posted a 3.41 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and 144K’s with only 44 BB’s. He’s part of the rotation of the future and has been starting regularly unlike Kawakami.

My plea to the Braves is thus: Please make Minor the fifth starter. Kawakami has had his chance and blew it – send him to AAA for some regular pitching and let Minor fill in on the back half of the rotation in the bigs.

Bring Minor to the Majors.

-Braves get Rick Ankiel, Kyle Farnsworth, and cash considerations reportedly worth around $2 million .

-Royals get Gregor Blanco, Jesse Chavez, minor league LHP Tim Collins

When evaluating a deadline move such as this there are three main points to analyze.

1) Did the team improve its chances of getting to the postseason/making it further into the playoffs? If so, by how much?

2) What did the team give up in the deal and was it worth it?

3) What are the financial ramifications from this trade in the coming years? Or in other words, does the trade affect Atlanta’s payroll in 2011 and beyond?

Of course the first two questions are subjective and can be answered in any number of ways. The third question attempts to answer if the trade restricts the organization’s ability to go out and sign free agents/draft picks in off-seasons to come.

1) Let’s start with the obvious. Replacing Jesse Chavez with Kyle Farnsworth is clearly an upgrade for the Atlanta pen. Of course we all remember an 18 inning game back in 2005 where Farnsworth gave up a game tying homerun to Brad Ausmus in the ninth, but he is clearly the better pitcher. The main point of debate centers around whether or not Rick Ankiel improves the Atlanta outfield, specifically in centerfield where he will be playing primarily. Simply put, is he better than Melky Cabrera/Gregor Blanco?

In Cabrera’s case it is not even close. He was a pretty awful hitter when Wren traded for him, and he seems to have gotten worse. Coming off of a career best season, in which he posted a pretty average .752 OPS (most likely thanks to Yankee Stadium), Melky has been nothing short of horrific at the plate this season for Atlanta. Neither are anything special defensively. UZR does give Melky the slight edge in centerfield defense but still shows that he is below average at fielding the position. Overall, Fangraphs calculates that Melky has been slightly worse than a replacement level player this season.

An argument could be made for Blanco over Ankiel, but that argument would likely overvalue his mere 66 plate appearances at the major league level this season. While Ankiel gets on base less often, his impressive power numbers make him more valuable to a Braves’ lineup that lacks pop and is currently 10th in NL slugging. Blanco has been much better defensively this season than in years past, but for his career has a UZR of exactly zero in CF, meaning that he is just average. Also, Blanco may have better speed but isn’t much of a base stealer. Ultimately it comes down to needs, and the Braves need power. Ankiel gives them an increase in that category.

The Braves got better but very marginally so. Bullpen depth helps, but Farnsworth may only add about twenty innings over the course of the next two months. Likewise, Ankiel is only a marginal upgrade over Blanco. Neither he nor Cabrera can hit lefties very well either, something the Braves’ lineup has struggled with. Either way the trade helps to counter the Oswalt move, slightly improving the teams’ chance of winning the NL East.

2) No tears will be shed over losing Jesse Chavez. Blanco may be missed by some, but he was already twenty-six years old and never showed the ability to be a valuable everyday starter in the major leagues. LHP Tim Collins is barely pushing 5’ 7’’, but he has been a strikeout machine in his minor league career. Minor league relievers, however, typically do not carry much value and giving Collins up to make the current team better (even barely) makes sense.

3) The $2 million sent to the Braves along with Ankiel and Farnsworth more than covers their 2011 option buyouts for next season. Ankiel’s option is a mutual one worth $6 million and will almost certainly be declined considering the Braves will have to pay Nate McLouth more than that next season as well. Farnsworth comes with a club option worth $5.25 million next season, and it will be interesting to see what Frank Wren decides to do with it. Either way, the trade does not restrict the Braves financially for 2011 and beyond.

This trade in no ways jeopardizes the Braves’ future while making the club at least somewhat better. If Ankiel can play passable defense in CF, the team will clearly be better off. If not, he should at least break even with his offense upgrade, and Farnsworth makes our bullpen stronger. The bottom line is that Wren did a good job helping the club when the market did not present him with a whole lot of options.

Now, let the debate begin.

]]> http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/07/30/oswalt-to-phillies-will-the-braves-counter/feed/ 1 http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/07/28/final-countdown-to-the-trade-deadline/ http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/07/28/final-countdown-to-the-trade-deadline/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:37:01 +0000 Kent http://www.bravesblast.com/?p=1823 In his latest “Fried Baseball” audio blog, Kent Covington discusses the possibility of another pre-deadline deal for the Atlanta Braves. Throw in your 2 cents in the comments area below… or leave a message with your questions or comments for a future commentary at 888-669-5368 (ext.701.)

]]> http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/07/28/final-countdown-to-the-trade-deadline/feed/ 0 http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/07/27/nate-mclouth-optioned-to-gwinnett/ http://www.bravesblast.com/2010/07/27/nate-mclouth-optioned-to-gwinnett/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:52:16 +0000 Jonathan http://www.bravesblast.com/?p=1821 It appears that Nate McLouth’s days in Atlanta are done for the time being.  After going 1-for-15 in his five games back from the disabled list for a concussion sustained in a collision with Jason Heyward, the Braves front office has decided to give Nate more time in Gwinnett to figure things out.  They will likely continue to look for possible trade options for McLouth as the July 31st trade deadline approaches.

McLouth was held out of Sunday’s final game against the Marlins after failing to provide offensive production in the previous five games.  Large points of frustration with McLouth were a soft groundout with the bases loaded in late innings on Saturday and a game-ending double play in extra innings on Sunday.  Additionally, with runners in scoring position, Nate was 0-for-6 during the three game series with the Marlins.

Brent Clevlen has been activated from a rehab assignment and is expected to join the squad mid-game tonight.  Gregor Blanco, who was sent to Gwinnett, is required to spend 10 days in the minors before being eligible to be called up.  He will be eligible on July 31st.  In 58 at-bats in Atlanta this season, Blanco has hit .310, but the Braves front office has not yet decided if Blanco will end up back in Atlanta in the next week.  At this point, the Braves are still in search of the answer to a long-term solution in center field.

I don’t know what’s going to happen next for McLouth or the Braves as a whole in center field, but here’s wishing McLouth the best.  If we don’t see a move for a center fielder at the trade deadline, I’d love to see Gregor back in Atlanta ASAP.

Here are a few key numbers to keep in mind for this discussion:

Matt Diaz got off to a very slow start and then of course spent a lengthy period of time on the DL. But his numbers last year against left-handed pitching were insane. And it was no fluke, as his numbers over the last 3 years clearly indicate. You will see those numbers below. We have also scaled his vs-lefties numbers out to 550 at-bats, just for perspective. It’s difficult to overstate how good he’s been against left-handed pitching.

Below are projected post-all-star numbers of potential Left-Field trade targets vs. a Diaz/Hinske platoon (based on first-half production – and 242 expected post-all-star at bats):

Yunel has been regarded as a strong defensive shortstop for the Braves but has struggled at the plate in 2010.  Combining that with a perceived negative attitude and the Braves were willing to look for other options at the shortstop position.

Let’s do a little statistical comparison of the two this season:

It’s hard to refute that this is an offensive upgrade in power for the Braves.  Gonzalez will strike out more and walk less, but produces a lot more excitement and power from the plate to help the Braves out in much needed situations.   I’m not sitting here and arguing that the Braves aren’t selling low on  Escobar.  They absolutely are, but with the chance of a playoff run in sight, the front office is doing what they can to put this team in a position to win this season.  Will we end up regretting sending Yunel on his way?  Time will tell.  The biggest question now for Bobby Cox is, where do we put Gonzalez in the lineup?

The deal is a five-player deal in total.  The Braves will also acquire minor leaguers Tim Collins and Tyler Pastornicky from the Blue Jays.  I’m excited about the trade and adding a little more power to the lineup.  Let’s get the second half underway!

Atlanta officials are considering Josh Willingham (Washington), Corey Hart (Milwaukee) and Jose Bautista (Toronto), but it doesn’t appear that any deal is imminent.

All three players will be free agents after the 2011 season. So, for the time being, their current teams aren’t under extreme pressure to move them.

But they are earning reasonable salaries, making them attractive to Atlanta and other suitors. Bautista has roughly $1.2 million left on this year’s contract; Willingham $2.3 million; Hart $2.4 million.

I can understand why we’d want to add any of the three. They’re all going to hit 30 or more homers this year. They’re all on track to knock in at least 90 runs – more on a good team like the Braves. They’re power outfielders – and yes – they’d be more potent either in center than McLouth or left than Diaz/Hinske.

I like the idea of having more power. Imagine how much more potent a lineup of Prado, Heyward, Chipper, Hart, McCann, Glaus, Escobar, and Diaz would be than our current lineup. If I have to pick, I’m going with Corey Hart, who is hitting .306 with RISP and 2 outs and making $2.4M this season (not a fan of giving up prospects in-division to the Nats for Josh, and Baustista’s average is only .253, though with 20 HR/50RBI). We’ve got the salary room to add any of the guys mentioned above – our estimated payroll this year is around $83M, down from $96M last year.

I will caution (strongly) against giving up too much for a rental – any of these three are only under contract until the end of this season. But if we can give up a decent (not top) prospect and in return add a 30+ homer, 100+ RBI guy to the lineup, we should do that. If any season is worth doing that to “push us over the edge,” it’s this one. Short-term moves like this have bitten us in the ass before.

We need to make sure that this isn’t something we’ll regret as much as the JD Drew and Eli Marrero for Jason Marquis and Adam Wainwright trade, or the time we gave up Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz for a year of Mark Teixeira. But another hitter to provide some significant punch in the middle of the lineup is only going to ensure that Prado, Heyward and Chipper are getting good pitches.

This is the year I’ll be OK with a rental. Let’s just not give up too much – I’d rather pay way more cash than give up the wrong prospect.

Man, am I glad we didn’t pay $8M for an outfielder that can’t field or throw particularly well, is hitting .269 with 18 RBI and 3 HR.

Eric Hinske is doing just fine by me. For contrast, we paid him $1M and he’s batting .308, has knocked in 28 runs, has 5 homers, and has struck out 33 times to Damon’s 40. The only thing that Damon is better than Hinske at is walking. Damon has more than double the number of walks Eric’s landed (37 to 15).

In hindsight, I’m so glad we didn’t pay out $8M for a player who is underperforming one of our bargain retreads. Damon’s simply not worth the money the Tigers are paying him.

Plus, we’ve got the salary room to make a move if we decide to pull the trigger on a deal going into the second half of the season.

Why?

What we have here is an excellent defensive shortstop with an average bat that shows flashes of brilliance and a Hanley Ramirez-esque attitude. No, we don’t have a particularly awesome minor league prospect waiting to come step into his shoes, but we also don’t have the All-Star caliber shortstop we thought we had.

Now, I’m not saying that the Braves should trade Escobar for two sacks of baseballs and some sunflower seeds. What I am saying is that we should listen to trade offers and see if we can land a sweet deal. I doubt we’ll get anything good with the way he’s playing though…

I also would really like to see Escobar get over his childish self and become the offensively and defensively productive shortstop we all saw a year ago. Time for him to grow up or get out of Atlanta – we don’t have time for an immature shortstop to work out his mental lapses when we’re in the middle of a damn good year. We need all cylinders firing this year.

Grow up or get out, Yunel. It’s time to mature.

• #10 – The decision to start Jason Heyward in Atlanta in 2010
• #15 – The decision to get rid of Kelly Johnson and start Martin Prado
• #17 – Resigning Tim Hudson

Now while I’ll agree that all three of these have been absolutely crucial to the Braves’s success in 2010, I’d add a couple more to the list.

• Signing Troy Glaus. Without Glaus in the middle of the lineup to provide some additional protection for the top of the lineup, where would the Braves be? Would Heyward be doing as well if the lineup weren’t as potent behind him? Glaus has been the offensive key the Braves have been missing in past years, and his .400 batting average (and .600 slugging percentage) with 2 outs and runners in scoring position has him a near lock for the comeback player of the year.
• Signing Billy Wagner. Wags (or The Sandman, if you prefer) has been absolutely dominant this year. If you haven’t seen him pitch in person this season, you’re missing out on how dominant he is. Having Wagner at the back of the Braves’ bullpen has certainly been one of the keys to success this season.

Those are the other decisions I’d put with Heyman’s three to round out the top five decisions of 2010. Ranking which decisions are most important to the Braves’ current success is difficult though. How would you rank ‘em?

…the Braves could improve by adding an outfielder before the trade deadline. Few Braves fans would argue that GM Frank Wren shouldn’t consider players like Luke Scott and David DeJesus if the price is right.

Well, let me be the first Braves fan to argue against it. We do NOT need a corner outfielder. We’ve got plenty of those. There’s not a better option than Heyward in right and left field is currently taken care of as well by Eric Hinske. Matt Diaz is coming back from the DL shortly and will platoon in left with Hinske, and Melky Cabrera is holding down center much better than Nate McLouth was.

Eric Hinske was signed as a bench bat for the Atlanta Braves – and nobody really thought he’d do much more. Instead, injuries to Matt Diaz and horrible play by (and a merciful injury to) Nate McLouth has allowed Hinske to step into a starting role, at least for the time being. I like him there, too. When Diaz returns we’re going to have one hell of a duo in left field – Diaz absolutely kills left handers (.337 career average) and Hinske is hitting .311 on the season, .317 against righties.

When Diaz returns from injury I’d like to see Hinske and Diaz split time in left, Cabrera stay in center (if he keeps pulling his batting average up), and send McLousy to Gwinnett, where he can split time with Jordan Schafer. If the Braves tire of Melky in center, we could call up Schafer or recent re-addition speedster Josh Anderson.

We need another corner outfielder like we need a hole in the head.

Once Jurrjens returns, he gets his starting rotation slot back. That’s not negotiable. But then who goes to the ‘pen and who stays in the rotation? Chris Resop helped matters by going 2 innings last night and giving up 5 earned runs. There’s no doubt HE isn’t our fifth starter. So does Medlen go back from whence he came or does Kawakami get the boot? Let’s look at some stats stripped of their owner.

Pitcher 2 has gotten a little bit unlucky with run support, yes. But overall, Pitcher 1 is better across the board. Any of us would pick Pitcher 1 (who I’m sure you’ve figured out is Kris Medlen) over Pitcher 2. And Medlen is in his stride – he was absolutely dominant against the Twins in his last start. Medlen’s K/BB ratio (not included above) is 4.40, and Kawakami’s is 2.00. The bottom line is that Medlen is a better pitcher, more solid, and even though Kawakami has been unlucky, just a better pitcher. Medlen deserves the fifth starter slot. Period.

I’ve made the argument that we should be patient with Kawakami because we want to be able to sign other Japanese players, but I think we’ve been patient enough. It’s time to go with the best option we’ve got, and that’s not Kenshin, for all his effort.

And he’s still starting for us. Every night.

Now, I hope he wasn’t seriously injured, but this has got to stop. It’s madness. To put it in perspective, Jordan Schafer performed more than 0.25 points better than this last year with Atlanta before being replaced (Schafer batted .204 in 167 at-bats). So it’s about time for what’s coming next. We’ll start by looking at former Atlanta players.

Bring back Andruw. Or Francoeur.

Let’s start with Andruw. He’s batting .40 points higher than Nate. Only 7 more homers and 7 more RBIs, sure. But he’s got more power and a higher average than our current center fielder. Don’t like Andruw? What about Francoeur? Francoeur, by the way, batted .250 last year with the Braves and was considered so undisciplined that we traded him IN THE DIVISION for a player we didn’t want and dropped at the end of the year. Yes, we got rid of him for NOTHING in return. Now he’s batting .268 with 33 RBI. Definitely a better 8 hole hitter than Nate right now. Unfortunately for us, wishing for Andruw and Francoeur is not going to get us anywhere. So what to do about this awful situation?

At the very least, send Nate to AAA to beat up on some minor league pitchers. Let Omar Infante play center field for the time being. He’s capable of playing the position and is hitting .328, almost 90 points higher than Melky Cabrera. Not to mention the one obvious advantage to the others: he’s actually already on our roster.

1) Signing Troy Glaus to replace Kotchman/LaRoche

While Glaus has improved on his horrific start (.601 OPS in April), he is still a below league average first baseman. What I mean by this is if NL teams were conducting a draft for THIS season only, with salaries being equal, I believe Glaus would be selected somewhere between 9th and 12th. Having said that, salaries do matter, and Glaus’ (1 yr/ $1.75M) was virtually zero risk. Still, attempting to sign LaRoche for a contract similar to the one he has with Arizona would appear to have been the better move. He is tearing it up out west (an .879 OPS) and has traditionally gotten better as a season goes along (career second half OPS of .909). Although he was never anything special defensively, Glaus looks much worse at first base so far. Wren probably feared blocking first base prospect Freddie Freeman by signing LaRoche to a multiyear deal, but Freeman is only twenty years old and does not have great numbers above “A” ball so far (not everyone is Jason Heyward).

Verdict: Glaus is likely to continue his solid offensive play, but LaRoche would have been a better option if we had the coin to sign him. Freeman will likely start by 2012, but there are no guarantees. It makes no sense that the Braves did not at least attempt to negotiate with LaRoche.

For the Record: The NL first basemen that I would for sure take over Glaus this year (salaries equal) are Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez, Joey Votto, Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Lance Berkman, and Derrek Lee.

2) Trading Vazquez and signing Huddy

Both Vazquez and Cabrera have been terrible (and I mean really terrible) so far this season. The difference is Melky has a pretty average to mediocre track record while Javy is likely to turn things around. Either way Tim Hudson has more than filled Javy’s shoes so far this season and for a couple million dollars less. While I believe Hudson’s numbers will come back down to earth eventually (his 2.24 ERA is over two runs less than his 4.50 xFIP), it appears that keeping him over Vazquez was the right move. Perhaps more importantly is the fact that the Braves received the nineteen year old Arodys Vizcaino in the deal who has pitched brilliantly so far in his minor league career.

Verdict: Good, possibly, great trade. Even though we did not get the power hitting outfielder Wren may have wanted, we are better off in the short term with Hudson over Vazquez, and Vizcaino looks like he is going to be a stud.

3) Replacing Garrett Anderson with Hinske

This was a good move for dozens, if not hundreds, of reasons. Two weeks ago I wrote that Hinske should start in left but not to get too excited. While I still support my statement, he has been exceptional to this point and here’s to hoping it continues all year.

Verdict: You are an idiot if you do not think this was a good move and please never comment on this website again.

4) Replacing Gonzalez/Soriano with Saito/Wagner

This may have been Wren’s riskiest off-season move(s). Saito and Wagner are not getting any younger but have pitched very well this season. Between the two of them, they have 39 IP with 48 SO to only 15 BB while giving up only 12 ER. That’s good. Also, Mike Gonzalez’s arm may fall off any second now, and while Soriano may have pitched well so far, Wagner has matched him.

Verdict: So far so good. If these two keep the ball in the yard and stay healthy we are going to win more one run games than we lose.

Wren’s moves have ultimately made this team a little better, and I believe this combined with the promotion of Jason Heyward has made them significantly better. If this assessment is correct, this should be team that wins ninety plus games. It sounds weird to say that and injuries always have the possibility to derail teams, but I am feeling pretty optimistic right now.

Bobby, I’ve got the fix. Just trust me and do as I say.

First of all, we’re going to bench Worthless and Strikeout. That’s right, Melky and Glaus are being benched for at least a week. Hell, let’s just drop Melky from the roster. Hinske gets the starts at first and Matt Diaz gets the starts in left. Diaz may take a little bit to spool up but that’s OK. We must remember in this situation that ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN MELKY. I mean really, there is more than one page of results when you search twitter for #melkysucks.

Next, we’re going to restructure the lineup. We’re going to put the guy with the highest OBP – here’s a noble idea – IN THE LEADOFF SPOT. That’s right, Prado gets the leadoff slot until McLouth comes around. Heyward gets the second hole because he’s batting better than anybody else who could go there AND it puts him in front of Chipper and McCann so he has to see good pitches. Here’s the new batting order.

1. Prado (.426 OBP)
2. Heyward
3. Jones
4. McCann
5. Diaz
6. Escobar
7. McLouth
8. Hinske

That should do it. All we’re going to do is change up the batting order so our solid players aren’t spread throughout with guaranteed outs trying to drive in runners in scoring position. We’re not going to let Heyward be protected in the batting order by Nate McLouth and the pitcher any more. It’s time to make some changes. I should mention that Glaus can come back after a week, but Melky should not be let back in the lineup under any circumstances.

So, what do you think of the fixes? Would this do it? If this wouldn’t fix the issue, what would?

With Hinske signing a one-year, one-million dollar contract earlier this week, it looks like the Braves are pretty much done with new signings for the offseason.  That’s not to say that Frank Wren won’t still come up with some trade (I can think of a few that I wouldn’t mind seeing), but as far as allocating money for new players, we’re pretty much spent.  Look for something to happen with Brandon Jones in the next couple of days; he was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man for Hinske.

As expected, we didn’t see the front office go after a  big-name offensive power, but instead spread the money around on a few different players.  Melky Cabrera for $2 million, Troy Glaus for $4 million and Hinske for another million.  Was this a good use of our available $7 million?  To be determined.  The success of these moves hinges heavily on Glaus managing to stay healthy and Hinske’s ability to produce from the bench.  I’m confident he’ll have a solid year in a backup role.

In other news, Mark McGwire did steroids…..who knew?!

But anyways,  it looks like this is pretty much the squad the Braves will be taking to Florida in 36 days when pitchers and catchers report.  Thoughts on the offseason moves to this point?  I think we’re better off in a couple of spots, worse off in a couple, and there is a ton that is yet to be determined.  It’s getting to be that time of  year when we’re all just itching to see baseball start back up again.  I know I can’t wait.

Thanks, Scotty. We knew that. While we’d all like our offense to go to 11, I’m not sure I’m super thrilled with the options. Mark DeRosa is off the table, Matt Holliday is likely signing with the Cards soon, not many people are thrilled with the idea of Uggla coming in, and Xavier Nady is the other name that gets tossed around a lot. And yes, he’s good for 25 homers and 100 RBIs when he’s healthy.

But he’s had some issues and is just coming off not his first, but his SECOND Tommy John surgery. And yes, he’s just an outfielder – not a pitcher – and is being acquired more for his bat than anything. And yes, he’s probably cheaper than before his second TJ.

But he will still have to make throws. And when will he be back to 100%? How many runs will we give up because people will run on a weak-armed, twice-rebuilt robo elbow in left field?

Sure – we have doctors and if we sign him then I’m sure we think he’s a good deal and good upside and all that. I get that. But I’m just a little bit worried. Just sayin’. That’s TWO Tommy John surgeries, dudes and dudettes. Just not so sure about that.

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology…”

Who should we go for instead? What about Johnny Damon or a one year deal for Vladimir Guerrero? Jermaine Dye?