Trade Rumors Circle Optionless Players

Written by Colin on March 25, 2008 – 10:19 am

Frank 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 |

Ridgway Flounders, Braves Fall

Written by Colin on March 25, 2008 – 7:02 am

The Braves will likely want to forget this one.  Despite a strong start by Buddy Carlyle (1 run in four innings work), the Braves fell 8-0 to the Indians.  Not only did the offense never get off the ground, but Jeff Ridgway (the left-hander acquired from Tampa Bay in exchange for Willy Aybar) gave up six runs (four earned) in just one inning.

Ridgway didn’t just give up six runs - he walked two, balked home a run, had a throwing error to first base, and four hits.  If I had to guess, I don’t think Ridgway will start the season in Atlanta, unless we trade away one of our other lefties.  This outing was not something the Braves wanted to see just before the season started.

Carlyle is looking for that long relief spot and put on a good show - pitching four strong innings, giving up only one run, walking two, and striking out three.  We’ll see whether or not Bennett or Carlyle gets this job heading into spring.

As for the Braves at the plate?  We didn’t get started until Chipper hit a double in the 7th inning.  Jake Westbrook of the Indians is one mean pitcher.  Other than that, there’s nothing to report.

Apparently there are trade rumors out there regarding one or more of our out-of-options players.  We’ll keep you updated on the goings on as we hear more about it.

Tags: buddy carlyle, Cleveland Indians, Jeff Ridgway, Preseason
Posted in Game Analysis |