Francoeur, Church Debut With New Teams

Written by Jonathan on July 12, 2009 – 9:01 am

Last night saw Jeff Francoeur and Ryan Church step onto the field in their respective new team colors.  Francoeur, who admittedly was a little stressed about starting to play for his once division rivals, calmed his nerves early with a decent night at the plate for the Mets.  He got his chance early in the game to make an impression on the New York fans.  In Francoeur’s first at-bat in blue and orange, he came to the plate with one-out and the bases loaded.  Fighting off a pitch, he dropped a single just inside the line in short right field, plating two runs.  This was all that the Mets and Johan Santana would need as they cruised to a 4-0 victory over the Reds.

It wasn’t a completely flawless night for Frenchie however, when he got caught stealing second in the seventh inning.  He took off for the base a little early and, Reds’ pitcher, Carlos Fisher turned and threw him out at second.  The Mets shouldn’t have to look to do much for Francoeur fielding-wise.  He’s a one-time Gold Glove winner (2007) and is respected around the league for his powerful arm.

Ryan Church’s debut for Atlanta wasn’t quite as good as Francoeur’s, who ended the game 2-4 with 2 RBI.  Church went 0-4 and left a couple runners in scoring position.

Overall, I think this trade will work out for both teams for the time being.  A fresh start for Francoeur might be what he needs, but I’m concerned that he’s getting that fresh start as a member of a division rival.  You don’t want him to find himself and his abilities inside the division and start making you pay for it.  Church looks to be lined up to work a right field platoon with Matt Diaz for the Braves, which should work out well from the plate.  Let’s just hope that he can avoid getting another concussion from Escobar in the coming weeks.

So now that the trade has had a little time to sink in, how is everyone feeling about it?  I’ll admit, it will be a little strange seeing Francoeur in a Mets uniform, but he just wasn’t performing like the Braves needed him to.


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Josh Anderson Traded To Tigers

Written by Colin on March 30, 2009 – 1:51 pm

Josh Anderson won’t be making the major league roster out of spring training this year – at least not for the Braves. The center fielder was traded to the Detroit Tigers for a hard-throwing right-handed minor league pitcher named Rudy Darrow. Anderson started the spring as the favorite for the center field starting spot, but Jordan Schafer has performed very well this spring. He’s expected to land the starting job now that Anderson is no longer with the organization.

Rudy Darrow spent last season at the A and AA level, where he had a 2.02 ERA in 47 appearances. He had 57 K’s in just over 63 innings, with 23 walks. He’ll probably start out at AA in Mississippi.

What are your thoughts on the trade? We essentially turned Oscar Villarreal into Rudy Darrow. Good trade? Bad trade?


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Posted in Roster Moves | 8 Comments »

Braves End Peavy Talks

Written by Jonathan on November 14, 2008 – 7:10 pm

As reported by the AJC this afternoon, the Braves have ended negotiations with the Padres for pitcher Jake Peavy.  Frank Wren personally informed the Padres’ GM that Braves were actively pursuing starting pitching for the 2009 season and could no longer wait on the Padres to make a decision regarding the trade offer that was on the table.

Wren also stated that adding a couple of new starters to the rotation remains the top priority for the offseason.  The question is, what are the next options for Wren and the organization to pursue in the coming months?

Today marks the deadline after which all teams can begin making offers to declared free agents that were previously signed by other teams.  We’ll see what develops in the upcoming weeks, but it’s time to move on from the pursuit of Peavy to see what other options are available. 


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Posted in Roster Moves | 3 Comments »

10 Reasons To Throw In The Towel

Written by Colin on July 10, 2008 – 8:28 am

Yesterday we looked at 10 Reasons To Pull Out The Stops and go for broke in a quest to make the playoffs.  Today is time to look at the opposite side of the coin – with nearly an even split in our “Should we trade Mark Teixeira” poll, it’s clear fan opinion is split. Without further ado – 10 Reasons To Throw In The Towel.

  1. A Mark Teixeira trade would bring in young talent to build into the next few years.
  2. The entire outfield has been a bit of an offensive disappointment with Kotsay being the hot spot.
  3. The Phillies are rumored to be looking for ace-quality pitching talent.
  4. We’ve had 9 different starting pitchers, and Charlie Morton has as many starts as John Smoltz.
  5. The Braves going on a winning streak seems synonymous with Mike Hampton and his trip back to starting big league games.
  6. There is practically no winning record on the road.
  7. We’ve been starting Greg Norton in left field.
  8. John Smoltz will be back next year if he has anything to say about it.
  9. We’re too bogged down with big contracts on the DL ($37M) to make any legitimate moves for talent that would put us in serious contention (Hampton – 15M, Smoltz – 14M, Glavine – 8M).
  10. All of our starting position players except Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann have missed time due to injuries.  To boot, three of our starting pitchers are on the DL and at least two of those are done for the year.

There ya go – 10 Reasons To Throw In The Towel.  Should we be done with the year?  Speak up – I know 43% of you (at time of writing) think we should trade Tex.

Please jump in and comment and critique my thoughts – I’m sure I left some out and made up others in a poor attempt to be witty.  Speak up especially if you want to throw in the towel this season.


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Norton To Braves

Written by Jonathan on May 5, 2008 – 3:25 pm

The Braves have announced that utility player Greg Norton has been acquired from the Mariners for a to-be-named player.  We expect the rest of that announcement later this afternoon.  Norton is expected to fill the role that Scott Spezio was originally acquired for as a veteran utility man on the bench.  He has batted .253 over a 12-season career and .235 in pinch hitting situations.  As soon as we have the rest of the details of the trade, we’ll bring those to you.


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Posted in Roster Moves | 8 Comments »

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