Oy. He passed the physical, and apparently they didn’t give him a formal mental, though Bobby talked to him.
“We are very excited to add Raul to our club,” Schuerholz said. “He has proven in the past that he can be one of the premier outfielders in the game.”
Yeah, and so has Willie Mays. You signing him next?
great job mac. I knew we were gonna get him but I didn’t know when.. I wanna know something, what is with Schuerholz and 1 year deals.. I think this one is a good idea cause Raul has problems a lot and hasnt had a good year for a while but we keep getting guys signed to 1 year deals.. why can’t he just make a 3 or 4 year deal once in a while?.. gosh..
For some f’ed up reason, Im going to take the “glass is half full” philosophy here and say I think this will work out. Let’s give Bobby and JS some credit here. Since ’91 they really haven’t screwed us too bad. The last real crapper was Nick Esasky. Guys like B Gilkey, O Nixon, V Castilla, The Big Cat, even Sheffield came with a lot of question marks. They all seemed to work out the way we needed then to. So here’s to another brilliant move by our boys, and another NL East title. Now if we could only have a repeat of ’95!
I’d like to know what some of Mondesi’s incentives are. Perhaps he’s been away from the game long enough to think about his actions and get his act together, though those comments about Guerrero don’t inspire confidence. No doubt Bobby and Schuerholz will keep him on a short leash. One tantrum and that’s it! He’s gone.
Uhhh, Rico Brogna doesn’t count as a real crapper? And didn’t we sign Fick for about the same deal that the Red Sox gave some former Twin named Ortiz? Never did get that one.
Not to knock JS and Bobby – the vast majority of their moves work out for us, and i think they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt . . . let’s just not convince ourselves that they turn water into wine every time out.
I have a sick feeling that Bobby is going to bat him 4th just because he was a power hitter.
Furcal
Giles
Chipper
Mondesi
Estrada
Andruw
LaRoche
Langerhans?
Pitcher
I wouldnt be shocked if Giles hit third, but there isnt a good 2-hole hitter in the bunch. Laroche and Estrada are too slow and would clog up the bases.
Laroche and Estrada are too slow and would clog up the bases
Given Mondesi’s recent play, I have to agree that won’t be a problem.
unlike everyone else…i am excited about this signing. raul is a relatively cheap player with an arm. hopefully he can be a 20 HR and 80 RBI guy. i still think they will try and bring brian jordan. the idea of kearns is nice but giving up furcal, no way. i would rather put furcal in LF. the braves still have 5 or 6 million left to acquire some more help.
I think we are fixing to miss Reggie Sanders’ esteemed tenure as an Atlanta Brave.
I had forgotten about Brogna. Remembered Fick. The hitter for the cheap thing hasn’t really worked out has it? Ben, I wouldn’t have given ole Raul a one year contract much less a 3. The 1 year contract represents ‘just be a good boy hit .270 20 hr 80 rbi to get us through 2005’ and then Andy and Jeff will be ready.
Schuerholz must be at plan f by now. I’m sure that plan a was re sign Drew. He probably was surprised by the Hudson thing and had to scrap plans b and c. Then the darn Reds wouldn’t let us take them to the cleaners and that left him with Mondesi.
I guess viewed objectively this is better than trading a pitcher or your starting ss for a rf. Jeff had better improve a lot next season.
The way I figure it, the Braves already have a 46-year-old Dominican who plays like he’s 34. Now they’ll have a 34-year-old Dominican who plays like he’s 46.
i’m going out on a limb here and say that this move is great for raul and great for the braves. i feel with the positive dominican influence the braves have in the clubhouse, it could be a life changing (not just a career changing) year for raul. maybe raul has had some time to humble himself and realize his position. please, raul, for the love of all things holy, don’t make me eat these words later.
Looks like Mondesi’s serious. Here’s what ESPN has to report:
“Mondesi, listed at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds last year, appeared to be in trim condition Friday.
‘It’s a validation that here is a guy who has already committed himself physically and mentally to get back to the condition he needs to be,’ Schuerholz said.”
Hopefully, Raul’s GIDP tendencies will be reduced, simply because he won’t bat until after Andruw hits into a 6-4-3. *rimshot*
I know Mondi has a great arm, but according to UZR he’s not a good outfielder. Here’s hoping that management sticks him in left and lets Langerhans play right.
Mondesi was a mainstay on my Strat team. He’s got a great arm (-4, -3…that kind of arm) but his range isn’t as good as it used to be (I think last I played strat which was ’00, he was down to a 4.)
Sorry for all the Strat talk. 🙂
I like this move. One year deal, no muss, no fuss. They’ll drop him if becomes one iota of a distraction. And of course, he is a very talented player if he ever decides to bring his talent to the game with him.
It’s a low risk deal, this move should be commended. It also doesn’t prevent JS from making another move, and it might even increase that possibility down the road. All I wanted was a solid, veteran bat to complement the obvious move towards youth in the corner outfield. Mondesi works fine. There isn’t much better out there, and those outfielders who are better come with a much higher price tag. Bobby should be able to milk his abilities for all their worth.
I wouldn’t mind it so much except that he’s very unstable and might decide to run off at any time. It’s a lot harder to make a move during the season. I just hope that if he cracks, he waits until Marte’s gotten enough games in the outfield in in Richmond that he can step in.
Maybe JS actually said, “Raul has committed himself!
What are the rumors about Mark Teixeira of the Rangers coming to the Braves that MLB.com was talking about?
Supposedly, the Braves were talking to the Rangers about a deal that would be Teixeira and a prospect for Furcal and either Ramirez (who the Rangers wanted) or Thomson (who the Braves would prefer). I didn’t post it here, though it came up in comments, because I didn’t really think there was anything to it.
Marc, did you read on MLB that the Braves is rumored to sign Brain Jordan to play left field along with Langarhan. Imagine that!!!
So, who do people think will have a better season, Mondesi or Burnitz?
Call me biased, but I think I’d pick Mondesi even before the Braves signed him.
Barring injury, ballpark adjusted, I’d say Mondesi.
This is just Bobby Bonilla, version 2. Older player who was talented as a youngster but pissed it away as a head case. Bonilla, in 2000, gave the Braves a decent year as a platoon LF and pinch hitter while appearing to shed his image of a clubhouse poison. Mondesi is not a building block around which the Braves can form a strong club and I think it would be a mistake to give him 500 PAs; but as a 4th outfielder and lefty masher, he would be acceptable.
I think Bonilla is a fair comparison, but if Mondesi is as young as he says he is, his age would put him a year or two ahead of where Bonilla fell off a cliff.
Allen, I agree but I’m not sure I’d want to bet much on that assumption.
For what its worth, Bonilla’s last year as a productive regular was 1997 as a member of the Champion Marlins at age 34. Mondesi will be “34” this year, but he has had two poor years out of the last three and was never quite as good a player as Bobby Bo was at his best.
Fair enough, won’t dispute you on the Bonilla call. The point I was really trying to make was that I’m at least glad we signed Mondesi and not Burnitz, ’cause no matter how bad Mondesi might be, some team is probably going to pay Burnitz much more money (and probably for more years) to be just as bad or worse. That’s what I was driving at.
The whole comparison between nut cases seems impossible. You may be able to compare similar baseball players and their career paths performance-wise, but when you get into psychological behavior and the situations inside their heads, that’s when I can’t compare, unless you’re one of those people that think every single person is basically the same. It’s between Mondesi, his psychiatrist, and God as to whether or not he’ll be mentally able to live up to his potential. Bobby Bo may not have, but that doesn’t mean Mondesi everything. You just can’t know.
I still don’t get why everyone is so down on Mondesi. Considering what the Braves could have done, they did well in getting Mondesi. As of this point, it’s a good signing given the financial circumstances and his track record. Yeah, he did have a few bad seasons recently, but Jaret Wright wasn’t exactly Cy Young material when the Braves picked him up last September. The same could be said for Chris Hammond, Darren Holmes, JD Drew, Kerry Lightenberg (unproven), and a ton others. It would have been nice to have kept JD or been able to sign Beltran, but we only have certain financial perimeters. Mondesi fits in those. Have some faith guys.
I predict something of the .260 avg (somewhere around 750 ops) 17 hr 65 rbi type of season from Mondesi. 10 to 15 SBs. 400 at bats or so.
Hitting him 4th would be a big mistake.
Check out the recent deals. These are a little pricey, but not too unreasonable.
Furcal & Kolb deals.
Apparently, I blew the html. Here is the link for the Furcal & Kolb deals: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1968902
Amazing. Reitsma for $1.65 million! What in the round world?
Did anybody notice the raise ex-Brave Spooneybarger got for doing nothing last year? Those smart Marlins.
“I still don’t get why everyone is so down on Mondesi.”
I’m not sure who you are referring to here. Seems most people here understand the move, and while it may not excite anyone, most seem to approve at some level.
The nature of the arbitration system is such that if you want to hold onto these guys you have to give them a raise. Which is why you let the Gryboskis of the world go, but let’s not start that again.