The Braves Of The Future

July 8, 2008 – 8:49 am

One of my favorite things to do as a baseball person is to think about what is next for teams. Coming up for the Braves regardless to whether or not they are buyers or sellers at the trading deadline are a ton of free agent departures at the end of the year that will clean out the books. Mike Hampton (15M), Chipper Jones (15M), John Smoltz (14M), Mark Teixeira (12.5M), Tom Glavine (8M) and Mark Kotsay (7M) are all either free agents or in their option years. The options belong to Chipper Jones and John Smoltz and each give the players less money in 2009 than what they currently earn (Jones - 8M to 11M; Smoltz - 12M). Glavine, Kotsay and Hampton are unlikely to return, all of which will clear around 36 million for all intensive purposes. With this money, I expect the Braves to be one of the most entertaining clubs to watch this winter.

First, there has been a lot of talk as to whether or not Mark Teixeira will be returning to the Braves in 2009. Assuming that he makes it to August, with the extra money that would be freed up, the Braves will absolutely be able to make a competitive offer on Teixeira. I’d guess Teixeira will command 15-18 million dollars over 4 or 5 seasons. Roughly, around 30 million dollars will be available after that contact and as much as 60 could be available if Smoltz and Teixeira will not return. That is a lot of money to piece the team back together with and here are some of the new names to think about:

The needs that the Braves will be looking to address are offensive depth, starting pitching and potentially an arm for the bullpen. I think that the player that every Braves fan should be pulling for is new Brewers lefty, CC Sabathia. While I worry about how ell an overweight pitcher can hold up for the duration of a long-term contract (ex. - Bartolo Colon), I find this to be too perfect of an opportunity. The Braves have long been known for their dominant starting pitching and a 1-2, lefty-righty punch of CC Sabathia and Tim Hudson would quickly become one of the leagues top end of the rotation. From a marketing perspective, bringing in Sabathia, an African American, would be great for the Braves, the city of Atlanta and Major League Baseball. This because Atlanta is very proud of its African American heritage, yet the Braves do not have a player that identifies as African American besides prospect Brandon Jones. In a city with such a great history for African Americans, Sabathia would be a huge addition for the Braves in more ways than one. The rotation would shape up to be Sabathia/Hudson/Jurrjens/Morton/Reyes/Campillo. With the amount of injuries that have befallen the Braves this season, it would be smart to have another pitcher to be versatile. These types of cheap options can be available even through March and the the list of free agents that fit this mold are Paul Byrd, Josh Fogg, Mark Hendrickson, Jason Jennings, Esteban Loaiza, Carl Pavano, Brett Tomko and Kip Wells.

With the deluge of outfield prospects that will be raining into Atlanta over the next few seasons with Gorkys Hernandez, Jordan Schaffer and Brandon Jones on the way, it would be a good move for the Braves to have a veteran outfielder around to ease their growing pains. Earlier this season, Raul Ibanez’s name was thrown around as a trade option. I loved that idea then, and I’d love to see the Braves pick him up in the offseason. Ibanez, 37, is an aging player, but is still very productive. Since 2002, his lowest RBI total was 62 in 2004, a season in which he missed 39 games. He has eclipsed the 100 RBI total three times in his career as well. Having him around will push Matt Diaz into the super sub role once again, where he is best suited. Gregor Blanco and the rookies can share time in center-field. He would be an excellent player to have around to increase the depth and fluid nature of the team.

The additions of Sabathia and Ibanez as well as the signing of Teixeira would put the Braves in excellent position to be favorites in the NL east in 2009. Most important to me is that these are three durable players that can be counted on to be on the roster for most of the season. The direction that Frank Wren takes this offseason could very well define his career as Braves GM.

- Dan


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Summer Hot Stove Heating Up - Trade Rumors

May 29, 2008 – 10:03 pm

The Braves are playing amazing baseball at home, but not performing so great on the road. They’re also 2-14 in one-run games, a number that should improve once Smoltz, Soriano, and Gonzalez are all active in the bullpen (I shamelessly stole that line from Jayson Stark). But with the Braves moving John Smoltz from the rotation to the ‘pen, they’re short a starting pitcher. And even though Jo-Jo Reyes and Jorge Campillo are standing in admirably (Campillo more so than Reyes), the Braves are reportedly looking for a starting pitcher.

There are a couple rumors here - one mentioned by the announcers during today’s game involved the highest profile free agent on the team. Reportedly the Braves would send Mark Teixeira to the Cleveland Indians for starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia would provide the depth to the rotation the Braves need (he’s won an average of 15.3 games each of the last three seasons), but the Braves would lose Teixeira and much of the needed protection behind Chipper, who is powering the offense. Sabathia is only 28 and would possibly be harder to resign at season’s end than Teixeira will be - and we can’t count that out. Plus, who would play first? Other rumors include either a top pitching prospect or Jordan Schafer for Sabathia - neither of which make sense for a pitcher with under a year left on his contract.  Don’t forget that if we trade Tex, we have nearly no chance of re-signing him.

The most popular rumor has Greg Maddux coming to Atlanta - something that I don’t think will happen. Frank Wren was very adamant pre-season that he wasn’t looking for a reunion tour of the big three. Now Maddux would be a very popular choice, but he’s older and may not be available for re-signing at the end of the year (no telling when he hangs up the cleats).

Jayson Stark offered his opinion on this earlier today:

“Clubs that have spoken with the Braves say they’re more focused on trying to find a younger starting pitcher they can hang onto for [more than] just the last few months of this season. So think more along the lines of the non-free agents who could pop onto the market…”

Stark goes on to mention Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, Bronson Arroyo, and Jeremy Bonderman - but stresses the Braves could be after any pitcher in this category.

I think that the Maddux thing is a bit of a pipe dream as opposed to reality. He’d offer us a good fifth arm in the rotation if Reyes isn’t working out, but I think we’d have to give up too much to get him. I’d much rather see us trade a younger prospect for a pitcher with plenty left in the tank and a few years on his contract. It’s time we start stacking our rotation for tomorrow.

Who would you like to see come to the Braves? Chime in with your opinion and comment below.

Other tidbits: East Coast Bias had a great article today on the Braves one-third of the way through the season. Take a look - very good read.


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Posted in Speculation | 16 Comments »

2008 Preseason Awards

February 25, 2008 – 7:48 am

We’re going to dig into this year’s preseason and hand out some of our own awards and make predictions as to the end of season awards.

Preseason Team Awards

Best AL Team: Detroit Tigers
Best NL Team: New York Mets (I said it, but I’m not happy about it.)
Most Hyped Team: New York Mets
Worst AL Team: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Worst NL Team: Florida Marlins (this was a no-brainer.  The state of Florida is apparently cursed.)
Best AL Division: The AL East beats out the Central for this title with the Blue Jays being the determining factor.
Best NL Division: The East is strong (and beats out the West) with the Mets, Phillies, and Braves all looking for the division title.  We should see some great baseball out of this division all season long.
Worst AL Division:  The West is going to be ugly with Oakland, Seattle, and Texas.  Texas should be on the rise, but Oakland completely disassembled whatever they had last year in their fire sale.
Worst NL Division:  The NL Central has a couple teams that are decent (Chicago and Milwaukee), but Cincinnati, Houston, and Pittsburgh bring the division down to the worst in the NL.

This year is going to be fun to watch in several divisions - the AL East and Central promise to be intriguing, as do the NL East and West.  The Tigers and Indians are going to create some great story lines, and we’re all familiar with the NL East and the competition we’ll see there this year.

Preseason Individual Awards

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
NL MVP: Matt Holliday
AL Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy
AL Batting Title: Ichiro Suzuki
NL Batting Title: Matt Holliday
AL HR Title: Alex Rodriguez
NL HR Title: Ryan Howard

There we go - our projections for the individual awards in 2008.  No, we don’t think Johan Santana will win the NL Cy Young award this year - he’s a great pitcher, but I think Peavy will pull it out this year.  The others don’t have many surprises - Matt Holliday is a very solid hitter that is only helped by the fact that he plays in Colorado.


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