If you were Scheurholz, and the Yankees called you up and offered you Kenny Lofton for essentially free — they’ll pick up all salary but the minimum and will only ask for a nonprospect in return — would you take him?
17 Comments
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Sure, where’s the risk in taking a free player? It won’t happen though.
If he can’t play infield, you don’t need him. You don’t want to move Chipper back to 3rd until you get really desperate (which is almost the case).
Remember, we already have a guy who is fast and can’t hit (Wise).
Frank, the Yankees are going to dump someone, and Torre doesn’t like Lofton. They’ll take pennies on the dollar.
Bwarrend, I was thinking of him as a replacement for the Immortal DeWayne Wise. My real question is if we’d want his personality around.
Mac,
Bobby hates him even more than Joe Torre. No way. In his season with the Braves he had a pretty good year. He really stunk it up in the playoffs but his stock sank to the point that he had to take a below market deal back with the Indians. I think a lot of it was the reputation he got for being a lousy club house presence with the Braves.
Would he perform better than Dewayne Wise in the chipper/drew backup spot? Most definitely.
Would it be worth the bad vibes? Not hardly.
I have to think Bobby and JS dont remember him fondly and wouldnt want him even for pennies.
Yes, it would be a good move. He’s a career .800 OPS guy who put up .800 just last year. This would be a huge upgrade from Wise who is getting plenty of action.
Poison in the clubhouse? How happy a place do you think it is right now? This is a very different situation from the last time. I think Cox and Schuerholz would take that risk.
Yes, at this point we need players who don’t totally stink. What do we have to lose by trading for him. We need to try something…as long as it doesn’t hurt our future.
Now that I have read the question carefully, no I wouldn’t. I have to take Bobby’s feelings and how he likes to run the clubhouse into account. I also know that Lofton just ain’t that good anymore. Better than Wise? Sure but Hollins might be better than Wise and I at least own him. At this point 4th outfielder is low on my priority list anyway. Right now I have to decide if we can contend or not. If not then possibly we become sellers of talent not acquirers of talent.
There is a story (I don’t know if it is apochryphal or not), that during the playoffs in the year that Lofton was a Brave, the team was sitting around watching the Indians in their playoff game. Grissom, of course, was the Tribe’s CF.
At one juncture in the game, there was a screamer hit to the gap that glanced off Grissom’s glove. Lofton reportedly laughed aloud, chided Grissom’s ability, and said “he would have had it.”
Rumor is, the team turned toward Lofton in unison with icy stares. I don’t know if this is from the Book of Terence Moore, but I heard it somewhere.
Of course, all those guys are gone now. He’d be better than Wise in that he could hit some, but I don’t know if Lofton has the inner fiber to be a bench player.
I’ll be in the minority and say I would take him. I tend not to worry about the clubhouse cancer thing, but even so, I think his cancerous effect would be far lessened this time around, for two reasons:
1) He’s older, and a bench player.
2) There’s no leadership vacuum among the position players as there was in ’97. Javy, Chipper, Andruw, and Klesko (and Tucker) were just getting established, while McGriff, Lemke and Blauser weren’t the type. This is plainly Chipper Jones’ team, and I think he’d tell Lofton where to stick it if necessary.
Sure if he’s free. If you don’t want him then unload him for a prospect or two near the deadline.
Nice hypothetical Mac. Have you been looking at rosters looking for possible free talent?
I’ve made the observation that several unexpected events had to happen for us to contend. Losing Giles for a month an a half wasn’t one of them.
I’d really like to be a fly on the wall in John Schuerholz’s office now. Does he still think we can contend or is he looking at acquiring talent for the future?
FYI Paul Byrd, while playing in Greenville, has just been lifted with an injury after going 4+ allowing 4 runs so far.
Update: Byrd is said to have a “sore” arm and will be examined tomorrow.
>> Update: Byrd is said to have a “sore” arm and will be examined tomorrow.
I hope that Byrd is ok…but not ok enough to pitch this year. Is that really evil of me?
It’s not evil, but it is kind of dumb. Byrd was pretty good when he was healthy — not as good as the money they’re paying him — but above average nonetheless. He’d help the Braves if he was healthy.
Chipper is putting up Dersoion-type numbers in May (4/32). The most glaring stat is Strikeouts. Chipper has 13 in those 32 at bats. He’s the culprit in the Braves’ bad May.