He’s probably not coming to Atlanta

4 Comments

1. 

   sansho1 on July 24, 2004 at 12:57 pm

   I’d like to see Olerud in a Braves uniform. I don’t think he’s finished, although he’s hit poorly this year. He’d still get on base more often than LaRoche, and he has a good defensive rep.

   He’s expensive — we’d end up paying him about $3 million for the rest of this year. But that’s mitigated by the fact that we don’t have to give up anyone to get him, now that he’s been released. (Incidentally, what are the Mariners doing? Why just release Aurilia and Olerud, when they could get at least a little something for them?)

   All of this is moot, of course, if he doesn’t want to come East to play….

2. 

   Mac Thomason on July 24, 2004 at 1:18 pm

   Actually, I don’t think that the Braves would have to pay him anything more than the minimum. If they picked him up on waivers, yes, they’d have to pay his contract. But in this case, he’s been outright released and the Mariners are on the hook for the rest of it.

   Olerud’s numbers are depressed by his park (he has a .388 OBP on the road) and by hitting against lefties (he hits .245 or so against both, but with few walks and no power against lefties). Platooning with Julio in a more-or-less neutral park, he might hit something like .260/.370/.420 even if he didn’t “really” improve at all. That’s not great, but it’s serviceable compared to what LaRoche has done.

   I expect he’ll sign with the Dodgers or Giants, though.

   I think they did get something for Aurilia, though nothing much. They shopped Olerud for ten days and got no takers, presumably because everyone figured they could try and get him for free at the end. I assume money isn’t a problem there, though I can’t imagine they needed the roster spot that badly.

3. 

   Marty Winn on July 26, 2004 at 1:52 pm

   Please forgive me, I’t testing out the new TypeKey thing to see if I did it right.

   Marty

4. 

   Marty Winn on July 26, 2004 at 1:53 pm

   Test