Moves The Braves Won’t Make

Written by Colin on January 17, 2009 – 12:46 pm

We’ve gotten a lot of comments and suggestions over the past few days on the Braves’ next move(s). Here’s a few that have been suggested that I don’t see happening. I could always be wrong, but I don’t see these moves fitting into the Braves’ plans.

Sign Ben Sheets / Jon Garland

Why? Why do we need another pitcher? We have Lowe, Kawakami, Jurrjens, Vazquez, Campillo, Morton, and Reyes. Yes, Buddy Carlyle is still on the 40 man roster. Sheets and Garland would be great, but we need to promote some youth within the organization. That means Morton and prospect Tommy Hanson need somewhere to pitch and need to eventually get into the rotation. If we sign Sheets or Garland, where are the young guys going to pitch?

Sign Manny Ramirez

This would be fun (I suggested it originally), but there’s NO WAY the Braves sign a self-centered personality like Ramirez to a long-term contract with the kind of outfield prospects we’ve got lined up. That’s Jordan Schafer, Matt Diaz, Josh Anderson, Brandon Jones, Gregor Blanco, Gorkeys Hernandez, and Jason Heyward. Why sign Manny?

Sign Barry Bonds

I floated this last year just to get a reaction. It got a reaction, all right. Still, NO WAY IN HELL.

Move Kelly Johnson to LF

I don’t see this happening. They’ve spent a lot of time and money training KJ at second. He’s coming along. He’s not as horrible defensively as people think. We’ve actually got our chief KJ fan, Akshay, working on a post about him as we speak (or sometime soon). I think KJ stays at second because the Braves need a power bat. They’re not going to sign a power hitting second baseman. Plus the Braves don’t need more outfielders.

Those are the moves I think the Braves won’t make. We’ll see what happens with regards to Andruw Jones, other outfield bats, and Tom Glavine. What do you think? Am I way off base?

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Posted in General | 8 Comments »

Peavy Rumors And More

Written by Colin on October 16, 2008 – 8:24 am

Greetings folks – it’s Thursday and time for some random updates.

  • The AJC’s Braves blogs appear to be abuzz with the possibility of trading for someone like Jake Peavy, who would certainly be fitted for the Braves, who need an ace for the upcoming season.  The 2007 Cy Young winner was only 10-11 last year, but he did play for the Padres, who, for lack of a better phrase, absolutely sucked. Apparently Peavy is available for the right price, though a proposal has probably not been put on the table yet. Do you think he’d be a good fit?
  • Maybe Furcal is cheaper after committing three errors on the Dodgers’ way to the showers for the season, eh? I’d take cheaper.
  • What sort of power outfielder do you think the Braves have more chance of landing?  A Matt Holliday type? A Manny type? Xavier Nady? Or should we trade our best box of toothpicks for Andruw (I’m kidding, I’m kidding).

To me, I’d love to see Peavy on the team – but no way of knowing if we can swing it. We NEED an ace. Is Peavy the dude for us?


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Posted in General, Speculation | 8 Comments »

Back Off, We Want Manny (and Furcal)

Written by Colin on October 7, 2008 – 9:08 am

I have to write this.

The Ropolitans wrote recently that the Mets must sign Manny at all costs in 2009.  I see where he’s coming from, but I have something to say about it.

The Braves need to line up for long-term success. The Braves need a power bat in the outfield, and they need it now. The Braves need Manny to push their offense from good to absolutely pummeling. The Braves should also spend some cash and re-sign Rafael Furcal to play up the middle of the infield with Yunel (sorry, all you KJ lovers). That’d be just fun to watch.

Imagine the lineup:

Rafael Furcal
Yunel Escobar
Chipper Jones
Manny Ramirez
Brian McCann
Gregor Blanco / Josh Anderson
Casey Kotchman
Jeff Francoeur

That’s a scary lineup from a power aspect. That’s a scary lineup from a speed aspect. That lineup could just plain rake.  And, we’d still have some money to get some young pitchers and an ace (hopefully) to bolster the rotation.

Have I mentioned that we have TONS of money to spend this offseason? Let’s get creative and build a fun-to-watch Braves team in 2009. Watch out, Mets. You have competition (I hope).


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Posted in Speculation | 8 Comments »

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