ajc.com | Braves | Braves to acquire lefty Hampton
That’s the story. Supposedly the Braves will give up Tim Spooneybarger and “a mid-level prospect” for Hampton, and the Marlins will pick up about half of the remaining salary. (Hampton is going to be paid by three teams!) He’s under contract for six more seasons, with the Braves paying him about $6.5 million a year.
No word on who the prospect is yet. Sending Spooneybarger away is a surprise, in that he was one of only three top relievers (with Smoltz and Ligtenberg) that the Braves had under contract. I can only guess that the Braves plan to re-sign Darren Holmes, at the least.
Tom Glavine’s days in a Braves uniform appear over. Presumably he will stay in the NL East, as the Phillies and Mets have been the teams showin the most interest. The Braves never seriously have negotiated with Tom.
I don’t know, however, how this effects Greg Maddux. With Hampton making relatively little, something like $3.5 million less than Tom made last season, the Braves might be able to re-sign Greg. We’ll see.
Hampton started out very strong with the Rockies in early 2001 (he was actually an All-Star that year) then hit some sort of wall, and really hasn’t pitched well in the last season and a half. He was even worse on the road than in Coors Field last season, so presumably that isn’t it. If he pitches well, it’s a steal, but he can potentially weigh down the team for six seasons if he’s not.
One of the interesting things about this deal is how they’ve structured the salary swapping. The Braves are on the hook for Hampton’s full salary for the next three seasons, while the Rockies and Marlins will pay Hampton’s total salary in the last three seasons of his contract. I’m not sure how that will play out in the Braves short-term spending plans.
This deal seems to reduce the chances of John Smoltz returning to the rotation, since Spooneybarger has been talked about as the heir apparent at closer.
If the team doesn’t convince Hampton to spread the $36m over all 6 years, then this seems to me a really bad deal. At least getting it spread out would leave some opening to re-sign Maddux or (very remotely) Thome.