Chipper to restructure contract | ajc.com
The deal would (the doctors for the insurance carrier have to sign off) save the Braves $6 million next year — his salary would go to $11 million from $17 million. The two option years, 2007 and 2008, will become guaranteed, but he was going to meet the option terms there anyway, and the salary for each of those years would go from $15 million to $11 million. You have to get something back or the union won’t sign off on these restructurings; Chipper gets an option for 2009 with terms that I’m guessing he’ll meet easily, and a $4 million signing bonus.
Now, will this actually allow the Braves to keep/get good players? Let’s hope so.
i like chipper jones more and more every year. he seems to be somewhat cocky, but for him to contribute in this way to help the team out (and better his chance to end his career a brave) says an awful lot about his character. i know this might help him financially in the long run, but if he can give 120-150 games/year over the next 4-5 and produce then i am all for this decision. GREAT NEWS! Bring the braves Adam Dunn!!!
Yeah, I’m giddy. And I’m a bigger Chipper fan than ever. The guy just wants to win and he’s a great teammate.
If the signing bonus is $4mil, isn’t the savings more like $2mil for next year? Or will that count agains this season’s payroll? Even so, it’s a major contribution by Chipper to keep the team competitive.
I still doubt that he would be willing to make the move to first base to make room for Marte. If the Braves think Marte is the real deal, they have to do something to create playing time for him. Or trade him, something I would not like to see.
Why would you not like to see a Marte trade? He is actractive trade bait. We don’t need him at 3rd.
With him and McCain/Estrada, JS should be able to deal them for some pitching or mabye a shortstop without drastically hurting the team.
This is good news. Just to reiterate what I said in the last thread, Chipper is now completely unhateable if you’re a Braves fan. If he moves to first base to make room for Marte, I nominate him for sainthood. I don’t think the Braves will even ask him to move, though.
As Dave Laster posted in the previous thread, Scott Eyre looks like a very real possibility. This is also good news.
I wonder if this extra Chipper money really will go toward a larger offer for Furcal. All of a sudden, we may be able to throw a name or two around here that previously seemed impossible. All of a sudden Dunn is possible, though still not likely. Barry Zito or Javier Vasquez might be in play. Schuerholz’s trade flexibility really improved.
Chippah!
From braves.scout.com:
Right-handed pitcher Brad Baker is the first addition to the Atlanta Braves? roster this offseason as the team signed the six-year free agent to a 2006 contract. Baker was added to the 40-man roster. He replaces outfielder Billy McCarthy, who missed most of last season with injuries.
Baker spent last season with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. He saved 27 games in 37 opportunities and had a 4.75 ERA in 59 games. Baker allowed 69 hits in 66.3 innings pitched, with 35 earned runs allowed, 32 walks, and 75 strikeouts.
He began his career as a starter, winning twelve games for Augusta in 2000. The Padres switched him to a closer in 2004 and he was the Southern League?s Pitcher of the Year after posting 30 saves for Mobile.
Baker just turned 25 in early November. The six-foot-two, 180-pound right-hander has an outstanding changeup, along with a fastball that is in the 88-91 range. Baseball America had Baker rated as the Padres? ninth best prospect before the 2005 season.
This is great news–way to go Chipper!
Quick question for Aram (And others who have advocated this)–Why such high interest in Javier Vasquez and Barry Zito, especially when the starting pitching situation looks to be fairly sound compared to the bullpen and the offense? I like those two SP’s, but I don’t believe what they would cost in prospects and salary justifies the Braves acquiring them. Wouldn’t that money and energy be better spent on improving other areas of the team?
Guys, these are the terms of the original contract signed by Chipper in 2000 according to http://www.mlb4u.com/atl.html:
“signed 6-Year worth 90M thru 2006 in August 2000- will make in 2001- 9M + 8M signing bonus, in 2002- 10M, in 2003-12M, in 2004-$15.333.333M, in 2005- $16,008,539, in 2006- 17M and in 2007- Team option worth 15M or 5M buyout and in 2008- Team option worth 15M or 5M buyout- + 2M deferred of 2005 and 2006 salary- + 2007 and 2008 options can vest with 450PA OR making All-Star team in the previous year- + if the club exercises both the 2007 and 2008 options, then he receives a 5M bonus- + he has a complete NO-TRADE clause, as a 10 and 5 player”
So, if the contract is not restructured, Chipper is supposed to receive $17M in 2006, $15M in 2007 and 2008 plus a $5M bonus for having the 2007+2008 options vested, which totals to $52M.
Instead, he is now receiving $11M in 2006, 2007, and 2008 plus a $4M bonus, which totals to $37M. So, Chipper is practically giving the Braves an extra $15M to play around in the next three years. That $4M signing bonus is irrelevent as his original contract already included a $5M vesting bonus, and the bonus will be spreadout evenly over the next three years anyway because nobody of earth accounts of thing using cash method nowadays.
The way I look at it, the money offered back by Chipper will be enough to cover the payraise of Furcal and Marcus in 2006. If Furcal is still not happy with the Braves’ offer, there is enough payroll to add a Brian Giles or trade for someone like Dunn now with the new flexibility.
In addition, there is no way the Braves will ask Chipper to move to first now that he has “sacrificed” for the club twice, once for moving to leftfield and another one for restructuring this contract. If Marte is staying with the Braves, his future looks to be at first base more than third base.
One more thing, if the Braves are able to pull the Eyre signing, I am sure we will finally see the end of Reitsma! Bobby will probably use Eyre the same way he used Remlinger few years back as the eighth inning man. The Braves are on a roll!!!
Hooray for Chipper. Now, if we can only get his hamstring under contract, we’ll be golden.
No link yet, but the Cubs are announcing that they’ve signed Eyre: two years guaranteed, player option for a third, dollar value undisclosed.
My thinking is the Jorge Sosa moves back from the rotation to the pen, potentially becoming as good as any of the free-agent setup men out there, at a much cheaper cost. Then, instead of having a possibly great 3rd starter, you can get a guy who is possibly a great 2nd starter, when they’re on. I’m betting on the Braves being able to get the most out of them. I just think that if injuries hadn’t forced Sosa back into the rotation, where he admittedly performed really well, he would’ve gone a long way to stabilize the bullpen.
The Cubs are quicky becoming a more and more hated team for me.
I think next year, Laroche, Marte and Chipper could be a 3 headed monster at the corner positions, with Julio finally let go off. Given Chipper’s increasing proclivity to getting injured and LaRoche’s sucking, trading away a can’t-miss prospect would be stupid. using a platoon would help ease him into the major leagues…
Only concern being, Marte is an extremely streaky player, basically andruw light. Wonder how that is going to work out.
And yea..hoorah for chippah!
wow, i second the sainthood nomination. don’t sainthood nominations have to be seconded to be acted on?
Noone is really speaking about this, But with the money let off By The Almighty Chipper, What do you see JS doing with it?
Re-Signing Furcal and pursuing lesser impact relievers, or signing a high impact reliever and finding a SS elsewhere.
Re-Signing Furcal and pursuing lesser impact relievers, or signing a high impact reliever and finding a SS elsewhere.
Furcal’s agent is asking for the moon and I’m starting to become afraid that the Braves are preparing to give it to him. I like Rafy and all, but I don’t like him at $11-12 million per. Hopefully, JS has something else in mind for these savings.
It’s official: Scott Eyre’s a Cub. Link here.
This is a bad market to be bidding for free agents. Could be a good market to be trading in, though.
As I said, I think JS is planning to use the money offered back by Chipper to cover the pay raise for Furcal and Marcus. I think Marcus will be getting an additional $2M maximum on top of $2.35M he made last year. So, I am guessing the maximum the Braves will offer to Furcal is $9.5M per year ($5.5M for 2005 + the remaining $4M). Of course, I am not sure how that will fit into the Braves’ plan beyond 2006 as Marcus will be getting expensive as well.
If Furcal is asking for $11 mil per, then I would love to tell Furcal to take a hike as there is no way he is as valuable as Chipper.
I realize Eyre had a fine season last year, but dhe had 86 appearances. That number jumped out at me, since such high totals usually result in blown arms the next year. So to me, anyway, I’m not too bothered by letting someone else sign him. I hate to spend lots of money for a D.L. candidate… Just my two cents worth, however.
FWIW, Furcal’s cousin thinks he’ll stay in Atlanta. That probably means absolutely nothing as they haven’t spoken in years, but they share genes so maybe they think the same way?
Ha. Yeah right. I just like bragging that I know Furcal’s cousin.
The Cubs are so freaking stupid. They are paying Eyre the same amount of money as they are paying Dempster, who is supposed to be their closer. $5.5M per year for a middle reliever? This is why the Cubs will never win anything.
Mac, I don’t know where I read it from. Theo Epstein came to the same conclusion as you mentioned above. He thinks the Red Sox will be better off improving the team through the trade market, but Larry Lucchino wants to over-pay bigger name free agents for marketing purposes.
KC, don’t you know anything? The Cubs will never win anything because they’re cursed. And now that the Red Sox have won back-to-back, the Cubs have even less of a chance–because everyone knows lightning never strikes the same place thrice.
AAR, I am sure you meant the Red Sox and the White Sox winning back-to-back right?
Yeah, you are probably right. If Jerry Reindorf’s team can win a championship before them, the Cubs are definitely cursed!!!
Sorry, KC. You’re right. I meant to say cursed Sox teams winning back-to-back.
Does anyone know what position the Braves have Marte playing in the Dominican Winter League? I have looked all over the net and even have the question in at Braves.com and have not been able to find the answer. I think this will go a long way in determining his Braves future as I don’t see Chipper switching positions again until his health dictates it. I also don’t see Marte learning a new position in ST only with the emphasis BC/JS put on defense.
Cubs fans went from being thrilled at landing a great setup guy, to being aghast at the money he’s getting.
I would laugh, except I just realized how much this is going to skew the market. If Eyre is getting 2/11, how much is Hoffman going to raise his price by?
Way to go Chipper.
The braves were willing to offer furcal 8million and he wants ten. So as i see it chipper will cover that other 2mill. So we have four mill from chippers deed to work with. I would sign a guy like bj ryan. he may go over 4 mill but we were going to spead some on a closer anyway.
I have a great trade ideal that could free some money up also.
braves trade w/ the angles.
John Thomson, Chris (i sux) Reitsma, and Johnny Estrada for reliever scot shields. that would free around 6 million and get us a great set up man. then we could go after a power hitting outfielder to hit behind aj (marcus’s brother sounds good)
Hey its me again if my dream idea comes through our lineup would look like this.
furcal ss
marcus 2b
chipper 3b
aj cf
b.giles lf
laroche 1b
francoure rf
mccann c
rotation: (smoltz, hudson, sosa, ramirez, davies)
bullpen: (bjryan, shields, boyer, devine, mccbride, thomas and lerew)
Does anyone know what is happening in the Hampton salary situation. We are suppose to pay him 11million in 06′ but is insurance paying any of it so do we have some free money to spead out there? nobody has addressed this issue, but in a weird way his injury could help us if that is 11million more dollars we could spead. sounds like the way we are being stiff with furcal that we still have to pay mh i just don’t know!!!
Jay, I just did a small sample of games in the Dominican Winter League for the Azucareros Del Este–the team Marte plays for–and it appears he is playing 3B.
Great for Chipper. Both he and Smoltz have stepped up to help out and that has to be appreciated.
I agree with whoever said the market for FAs really stinks, but that it may be a good market for trading.
Eyre isn’t all that special. The Cubs just can’t help themselves.
Drew, Ryan will get more than $8M if Eyre can get $5.5M, especially with the fact that both the Yankees and the Mets are going after him. There is no way the Braves will get Ryan. I am happy with the Braves just keeping Farnsworth.
I’m going to live up to my namesake and start using caps. The idea of paying Rafael Furcal $10 million a year is patently ludicrous.
We SHOULD NOT pay Rafael Furcal more than $8 million a year to play for us, and even that’s pushing it. We already have $10 million contracts for Hudson, Jones, Jones, and Smoltz, and we need to put 21 other guys on the roster.
Farnsworth or Hoffman would be great. The proposed trade for Shields seems a little out there, but I do love the notion. I’m sure JS can find someone out there of value. I think I would much rather see in the Braves bullpen one of the dominant lefties, Ryan or Wagner, but this FA closer market is so deep, I’m sure JS will figure out something great. Also, what’s wrong with Langerhans and Johnson in left field? Just keep this same basic team as 05, add a bullpen, and we have a 100 win team.
“Restructuring” is kind — Chipper appears to be leaving money on the table. I’m torn about the wisdom of this. I have an inherent mistrust of our corporate overlords — the edict to hold salaries steady in the interest of financial constraints is balanced by their suspicious refusal to open the books, especially in the case of a media company owner. There are myriad ways in which revenue can be hidden by a company with such diverse holdings, and in some way I feel that Chipper is sacrificing the terms of a mutually agreed-upon contract to an entity that has a vested interest in poormouthing the financial condition of the team.
Wisdom aside, though, it seems plain that Chipper’s motivation is to ensure that the Braves continue to be a winner. Bravo to that, sir, and for your sake I hope the money is spent wisely.
AAR, I agree with you, I have a hard time convincing myself why Furcal deserves that much money. However, seems like both Chipper and Smoltz want Furcal to stay. Maybe it’s another move JS needs to make to keep the two old men happy.
With the depth of the Braves organization and the additional $6M to play around, this will be a very interesting offseason for us to see how JS will build another championship team!
The Hawks just lost another game. Boy, I feel so sorry for them, they can’t even buy a win…
Well, sancho1, I agree with you completely. That’s why I never want to work for a listed company!!!
Congratulations, kc, on deciphering that salient point from all the mess in the Boston media, that must have taken work! Funny thing is, I heard Jed Hoyer saying the same thing in regard to trades on CBS a few nights ago, and he’s still working there. Sounds like they still have philosophical differences; the spirit of Epstein remains.
Everyone keeps mentioning how weak the free agent market is this year; trades are pretty much the only good option, given the mediocrity of the free agent pool and the inflated salaries they’ll be demanding. I’m having trouble believing that JP Ricciardi would be dumb enough to offer Burnett a 5/50 contract, because I think that’s way overpaying for a guy with such a long injury history. I also thought Toronto didn’t have that kind of money?
You are right we probably won’t get giles in left he will cost too much with signing furcal and a closer. but i still think we need another power bat in the 5th slot any suggestions. adam dunn is probably more of a salary hit then brian giles.
Now we can get a bullpen.
What if the guys in the pen start to suck? Do you think Chipper will go up to them and say, “I am paying your salery, bitch!”
No SMITTY because if our bullpen stays the same Chipper will be in it.
I heard Dan Kolb was willing to restructure his contract as well.
YA KOLB WILL PAY THE BRAVES INSTEAD!!!!!
Does Kolb even have a contract? The only restructuring I would be happy to see him sign off on is:
a)He PAYS the Braves $5 million. For this he can pitch in blowouts.
b)He physically restructures his contract by altering its structure from a piece of paper to a pile of smoldering ash.
Why is it that when you get to college, you work better at 2AM? I didn’t find this to be true in high school…
For some unknown biological/chemical reasons, everybody gains an ability to live without any sleep during their time at university. So, you are not unusual Jenny.
I think Dan Kolb will be better off playing for the Hawks.
According to AJC, there will be even fewer games being on TBS in the coming years. I am sure Mac will be very “happy” to learn this.
http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/1105/18bravestv.html
I think the “biological/chemical reason” could be the fact that I just drank a bottle of Mountain Dew. Just a thought…looks like I won’t be up until 1PM tomorrow, just like today.
The mental image of Dan Kolb in a basketball uniform is nauseating.
I don’t think Mac will care. He gets Turner South.
Jenny, Mountain Dew’s good for starters, but you’ll need an upgrade soon. During exams, try Red Bull and speed.
Glad to see Chipper do this again. He’s really proved that it means more to him to be on a winning team rather than just sitting back waiting for the big checks to come in.
I bet it really irks the other MLB teams to see chipper showing yet again that the braves have superstars that remain team players. Smoltz and Chipper really show their colors when they sacrifice to help the team. I dare not mention the “G” name, but….
I think the union wont mind. With his injuries, those options werent exactly guaranteed with the minimum PA. But then again, if one factors in TVM, the braves save a lot of money pusing that off to 2009.
Also, does anyone else not think Giles is a prime juicer candidate. I’ve never got any discussion on this issue.
Honestly, I don’t, doubledawg. I can kind of see your point, but Giles didn’t really show any significant dropoff in power, did he? He still hit a bunch of doubles and almost as many homers as he was a couple of years ago. To me, it just looked like it took a while for him to regain all of his strength after breaking his collarbone. And, as to your implication that the Giles brothers both did it, well, I think Petco Park explains a lot of Brian’s power outage in the last couple of seasons. I dunno, maybe I just want to think Braves players are clean.
I dont doubt that he’s a great hitter. He has a good eye and should hit near .300. But he’s no El Sluggo, which the braves need if we are throwing money at a corner outfielder. Brian was unspectacular in clevelands minors for years, until a mid-late 90’s power surge. Even with the Petco effect, he only hit 9HR’s on the road. Thats 9 HR in 80 games. So, we would realisticall be getting a .300, 22hr, 85RBI player for Big Slugger money.
How many corner outfielders are you going to find who have a .489 slugging percentage over the last three years, two of which with worst hitting park in the major leagues as their home field? Giles slugged .545 on the road last year, which is actually higher than Andruw’s was at home in ’05.
Sure, he probably won’t hit 40 home runs, might not even hit 20, but his gap power more than makes up for any lack of home runs.
sorry, my stat analysis hasnt progressed far beyond my baseball card collecting days. I still rely heavily on tripple crown numbers and the handful of plate appearances I see each year when someone plays the braves. so, if you think giles is still a class A slugger, I’ll trust you. Personally, I still like to see the long ball from my teams sluffer. I also cant avoid laughing at monkeys. Perhaps I’m too simple.
we already have a Giles with really good gap power and limited HR production.
Yeah, and you can rent gap power fairly cheaply.
What does that even have to do with anything?
Any team in the league would love to have a lineup full of hitters of the ability of either Giles.
Giles detractors point to the low home run totals and say “Cuidado!” A fair point.
However, Giles has the second-best batting eye in the majors (after Bonds). In only ONE full season has he had more strikeouts than walks; that was back in 1998, when he batted .269/.396/.460 with the Indians. He’s a career .293/.413/.542 hitter, which is basically the same as Chipper (Giles has a slightly lower average, slightly higher OBP, and VERY slightly higher SLG). If he had been playing full-time in the bigs since his age 23 season (when he hit .313 with over a .400 OBP and .470 SLG in AAA), he would likely be a Hall of Fame candidate when he retires.
Brian Giles is a fantastic player. He would help our lineup tremendously and take pressure off Francoeur should he stumble early. I would rather see Chipper’s deferred money go to Giles than to Furcal, if I had to pick one. We’ll see what happens.
B. Giles would definitely help the Braves, but I don’t think that they can match what the Yankees and Cards are willing to pay.
What if we get brian and the first game of the year. on the first pitch, shollow pop fly, and brian and murcus run into each other and murcus starts bleeding everywhere and they both die?
kidding.
Does anybody realize that Brian Giles is
OLD?
Sorry, but it’s true.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051118&content_id=1269882&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
Updates on all of our players playing winter ball – Betemit and Orr are tearing it up, while Marte is beginning to show he still isnt ready. Another year at AAA will do him some good. I mean .275 w/ 20 HR’s last year at Richmond is decent but its not good enough.
Small sample size. Marte will be fine. He doesn’t need any more time in AAA, but if we have no other place for him he may go there anyway.
I think that Furcal is a better player then marcus. marcus is a more consistant player but doesn’t have the tools wich furcal possesess. u could get someone to fill in for giles. who out there is as good as shortstop as furcal with his arm strenght, speed, quickness and now his glove work. I would say jimmy rollens but oh furcal has him beat. I think giles maybe the best 2b in baseball but shortstop is alot deeper position. look u have tejada and jeter are the only ones better then furcal. giles is the best 2b all around in baseball. But he is replacable.
I think we will keep both of them because they work great together.
ss: tejada, jeter, furcal, rollins, renteria
2b: giles, kent(old), roberts (1year), soriano (horrible defensivly)
Forgetting a Mr.Utley are we?
Weeks is going to be up there pretty damn soon too.
Wait a minute. Edgar RentAError is on your list of best shortstops? Hmmm. I would have put Michael Young, Jhonny Peralta, and maybe a few others above him. And you can’t leave Luis Castillo off the 2B list.
I don’t think Furcal is better than Marcus. I think their skills are different and they’re both about the same. It’s kind of hard to compare.
Thanks for the tip on the Mountain Dew, JoeyT, do you know any speed dealers?
I think you can definitely leave Castillo off of THAT list. If you’re doing top 7 or so, he’s there, but he’s not even close to Utley or the 4 listed by Drew.
I agree about Rentaria being too highly ranked there, although I hate the RentAError nickname. It was one bad year. Please don’t let the Boston media shape your view of players (or teach you stupid nicknames).
I know this is going to sound bad and some people are not going to like it. I would take Furcal over Giles. In fact I think we should trade Giles for some pitching. I think he has reached his peak and we could put Betemit at second for a lot less money.
Giles does bring a good energy to the team. He is a tough guy and a scrappy player. I just think he has hit his peak and we should trade him now and see what we can get for him.
That is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
“Small sample size. Marte will be fine. He doesn’t need any more time in AAA, but if we have no other place for him he may go there anyway.”
I dont think a little more time would be bad, after all he didn’t dominate the league. If he had dominated the league then i’d afraid that if we sent him back down he’d stagnate or regress as it seems alot of guys who don’t have anything left to prove do. they just get bored or frusterated i guess. I’d like to see him in ATL in April but i wouldn’t mind if we send him down till June or July and call him up after he’s putting up some stupid numbers. if the braves do even start to think that he’s becoming bored or frusterated down there though i want him moved up
“I think he has reached his peak and we could put Betemit at second for a lot less money.”
hmm? i really don’t think Betemit could play 2b well. he’s way too long and lanky and doens’t seem agile enough to make the quick pivots, i tihnk he’s 3b/ss only
I thought he looked good at second this season (small number of games) I would think it would be easier to play second than short. Sure you have a pivot on a DP, but I think he could get to a few ball Giles can’t because of his size. I think they both have around the same speed too. Like I said, it is just a thought.
Jhonny had a great year last year, and so did Felipe Lopez, but they haven’t established that they’ll continue to be that good. I’m not saying they’ll both undergo an Angel Berroa-like devolution, but they’re not necessarily that good. Rollins had a great end to the year last year, but he’s still a maddeningly inconsistent player, and he’s not better than Furcal either, no matter what some idiot columnists think.
Right now, Furcal has the track record. So does Michael Young. Furcal’s better than the three free agent shortstops from last year, Cabrera, Renteria, and Eckstein. But he’s no Tejada, and no one in the world is Alex Rodriguez, and he’s not worth 8 figures a year. But then again, almost no player is…
Jenny, you go to a small liberal arts college. Three guys on your hall are speed dealers. They probably have caffiene tabs, too. Basically, look for the people who have a lot of traffic in and out of their rooms all night who DON’T stink of marajuana. Those are the speed guys.
MALONE has a good point. B. Giles is entering the declining phase. He’s still good, but not worth a huge long-term investment. Not unless we can sneak him on an illicit steroids program.
Also Jenny, the people who have shoe’s thrown over the pwoer line outside their window, are also slingging something.
Oh, and the RA is a narc, but you probably know that.
Well, Luis Castillo is second in baseball in OPS and was an All-Star, so I think he belongs on the list. Sorry you don’t like the RentAError nickname, Stu, I just find it funny 🙂 He wasn’t very good by any stretch of the imagination, and for the contract he got, he was downright awful.
AAR, if you want to take Peralta off the list, OK, but since Brian Roberts was on the 2B list, I figured it was appropriate.
As for ranking the shortstops, I’ll stick with what I said in the Red v Blue article. It’s Tejada, Young, Jeter, then a long way down to Furcal in fourth. The difference between third and fourth is greater than fourth to tenth.
Apparently Toronto offered a 5/50 deal
Sorry for the brain-fart, they made the offer to Burnett. I forgot to include that
CSG, it’s not your brainfart. That’s a Paul DePodesta-style dumb move for J.P. Ricciardi to make, on the order of signing J.D. Drew to a 5-year $55 million deal.
What is it with Billy Beane assistants signing injury-prone free agents to huge undeserved money?
Haven’t they read Moneyball?
does anyone think that Orr/Johnson could possibly be trade bait for another reliever or outfielder.
I’d be all for that, but I think the only way another team would take a package of Johnson/Orr would be as a salary dump. They’ll be cheap, useful role players, but nothing more.
I think its funny that Toronto saw last year how Burnett acted after loosing and they still want to pick him up. Toronto has a tougher time winning than Florida, especially being behind Boston and New York.
Prediction Burnett pitches a fit and his arm falls off next year…that might be extreme, but one of the two will happen! Guaranteed
Why is it that when you get to college, you work better at 2AM? I didn’t find this to be true in high school… Get use to it Jenny. I, by far, did my most productive work during those hours.
On other matters, if we could get Giles it would be wonderful, but it’s not going to happen. He will be a Yankee.
I am most productive after two beers.
Orr/Johnson/Estrada – for a corner outfielder or a solid reliever, someone could use these 3 guys, but I dont know who!
Braves add 5 players to the 40-Man Roster
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20051118&content_id=1270195&vkey=pr_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
I hope those five guy can come through for us this week, we are going to need them. Oh wait…
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/stephen_cannella/11/18/burnett.rant/index.html
Good article comparing Burnett to Chan Ho Park, both of who are a waste of money. Burnett lifetime as a starter 49-50, never won more than 13 games in a season. That’s got to be worth 10mil per year
I am not entirely sure that Toronto will have a hard time being “behind” Boston this year. The Red Sox are kind of a mess. 3 of 4 infielders are free agents, they have no starting pitching and no bullpen, their CF is a free agent, their LF wants a trade, they are reorganizing all their coaching staff, and, oh yeah, they don’t have a GM and their front office could potentially be destroyed in the next few weeks. I have no problem seeing Boston in 3rd place next year, or even 4th depending on what Tampa Bay does this offseason.
That being said, I thought Ricciardi was smart? A 5/50 contract to AJ Burnett is not smart. It is indeed comparable to the JD Drew contract, except that Drew didn’t have an attitude problem (although DePodesta took care of that elsewhere). Methinks Ricciardi may be a tad intoxicated by this pretty massive payroll increase ownership is giving him. Sort of like when I found $100 in my backpack last week while looking for a dime for the Coke machine.
Here is what we do with that money.
1 sign FURCAL 5years 45 mill
2. get a closer 4 years 20 mill
3. my trade get shields for estrada reitsma and thomson….anaheim will need a catcher when they lose monlina and a starter when washburn leaves makes sense for both sides.
this trade along with chipper will give us the cash to get a closer and furcal….
I have a problem with my proposed trade with the angels. It would make Estrada and David Erstad teammates.
by the time texas signed park he had walked 100 batters twice in his career, had given up twenty home runs four times, thirty once, all at Dodgers Stadium. He also had a career high k/bb rate of 2.40. He also had a full season with an ERA over five and a half just two years before his huge contract.
Burnett has pitched four complete season at the Major League level. His highest ERA in those seasons is 4.05. In the last two seasons his k/bb ratio has been 2.97 and 2.51. He has never walked 100 batters. He has never given up more than 20 home runs. He’s bigger than Park, and, last time I checked, Park never threw 100 mph.
Burnett is as comparable to the young Randy Johnson as he is Chan Ho.
How bout we get in on the hank blaylock trade and steal him from the marlins. since chip reduced his salary for the team we keep him at thirld and move hank to first.
trade: estrada, thomson, laroche, marte, reitsma
for: blaylock and cordero.
it will costs: blaylock and cordero (7.75mill)
braves players: (-around 7mill)
I think it would be a good deal b/c we could use cordero as a setupman, have money to sign a closer and furcal…(and screw the fish to)
What are the marlins thinking? i know they want to drop lowell’s contract on another team. he was prob on roids before last year. but thats besides the point why trade an ace for hank blaylock pitching wins, is this the rangers actually making a move for a pitcher. thats new for them. the marlins are also shopping delgado (why) and pierre (why).
Speaking of RAs, Rich Aurillia is a Free Agent. Possible alternative to signing Furcal. With Elvis and Escobar in the minors, I don’t think I’d sign Furcal long term. But if the Braves don’t sign Furcal, who hits leadoff?
drew, i can tell you why the marlins are shopping delgado… oh, just about 39 million reasons why… with the money that they are going to have to spend on getting a new stadium and with the amount of their payroll that delgado’s contract takes up, it’s time for him to go.
thats why
then explain why did the marlins even get delgado in the first place. for one year that price tag, what a dumb move. the marlins are doing some stupid crap. the only player they will have left this year is dontrell. he cannot win the division himself.