Hopefully, there will be no winner, but here’s the thing: Predict on what day the Braves will officially call it a season by trading one of their upcoming free agents. I’m actually offering a prize here. A Gmail account invitation will go to whoever comes closest.
A second Gmail account will go to whoever predicts which free agent (Smoltz, Drew, Ortiz, Alfonseca, Byrd — there may be one or two others) is traded first and to which team. There are enough players and teams out there that there’s a chance no-one will win, though.
An actual cash prize (all the pennies in my house) will go to John Scheurholz if he can find a taker for Hampton.
July 19, Russ Ortiz, Texas.
Could the Braves even legally trade Hampton, what with all the who-pays-what cash convolutions in his deal?
Woohoo! Russ Ortiz to the Twins on July 25th.
August 2nd, JD DREW, Red Sox
July 28th, Russ Ortiz… hmmm… to the Yanks?
And I believe that the Braves could trade Hampton, but who would want him?
July 31st – El Pulpo to the Rangers for Drew Meyer.
Drew to the Dodgers. July 15th.
Alfonseca to the A’s July 21st.
July 23 – J.D. Drew shipped to S.F.
August 1–Smoltz–to the Cubs
Smotlz to the A’s on July 31st…
…for Barry Zito. I wish.
Okay, we have a duplicate (Rockantansky and Pat, both on July 31.) I’ll use a tiebreaker of whoever’s closest with the pick. If nobody stands out, I go with Rockantansky because that entry was posted first.
August 2 — Smoltz to the Red Sox for Kevin Youkilis
awb got my initial thought and my guess is it will be Russ who travels. So I will say Russ to the Chisox for Neil Cotts and another prospect on July 24. I wouild really like it to be Ortiz for Morneau, or perhaps Kubel, from the Twins.
They threw in the towel the day they announced Giles would be out two months and made no moves.
The trade, when it comes, will be a three way–one team will get Ortiz, another team will get Drew, the Braves will get some kids. All this excellence will end with a whimper, not a bang. I figure the only reason people are choosing late July is too avoid the embarassment of trying to name an All-Star if Drew’s already gone.
Well, it won’t be Youkilis. Leaving aside that he’s “not the Braves’ type of player” (because he’s not athletic and walks a lot) he plays third base and that should be set for years to come.
You’re probably right, I’d just like to have him. And anyway, he’s young enough to learn 1B or LF, unless he’s Brooks Robinson at the hot corner, which I tend to doubt.
It’s not as though the Braves are philosophically opposed to acquiring a player who’s never played 1B, then installing him there. In fact, if Youkilis were to grow a goatee and take a few steroids, he might begin to resemble such a player from the recent past….
Russ Ortiz for Justin Morneau… bahahaha. I wonder if the Twins are stupid enough to do that. They’ve got him in AAA because of Jose Offerman, so you never know 🙂
Alfonseca to Houston July 22nd. He’ll be needed to fill spot in bullpen after Dotel is traded to A’s.
JD Drew to Houston for Roger Clemens’ Orange Hummer on July 31 at 3:57pm. Also, Smoltz for Jermaine Dye and cash on July 25.
Smoltz to the A’s July 7th
Andruw to Los Angeles, July 12.
And while the Smoltz to Oakland deal would be the best thing for all parties involved, I don’t think Billy Beancounter is willing to spend that cash unless the Braves offer to foot most of it. The A’s would consequently become my favorito AL team if it does happen though.
Marrero to the Cardinals on july 9th.
How about Chipper and LaRoche to the Rangers for Teixeira and an outfield propsect? Chipper could DH and we get a hot young 1B who played for Ga Tech.
I live in Minny and I honestly don’t know what the Twins are going to do with Morneau. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be the everyday DH right now. Dougie M. is signed to a 3-year deal (at a reasonable price), so he and his non-run-producing hitting style are probably a fixture, leaving Morneau’s future at DH.
The sure thing about the Twins is that if they win the division, which they probably will, they simply don’t have enough pitching depth to be a serious championship contender. Ortiz would give them another quality horse and could facilitate movement of Silva to the bullpen in the post-season (although he’s been pretty steady in the rotation).
But I’ll admit Morneau is a wish for me. It would more likely be Restovich in the offer and he’s probably glorified Hessman. Mike Ryan wouldn’t be a bad consideration and Jason Kubel is putting up some great numbers in 2004. The Twins can’t trade them all because Jacque Jones will be gone after this season, but these three names would probably be the Twins’ most likely candidates for a ticket out of Minnesota.