Nothing happening right now. I still expect the Braves to add a reliever and to move at least one of last year’s rookies from the Langerhans/Johnson/Betemit bunch.
I’ll start putting up player analyses soon. Last year, I started in mid-January, but it depends upon when I get the mood.
The Braves have some payroll still kicking around, since Renteria comes in cheap and there’s Hampton insurance money to add to the money from Chipper’s restructuring. I expect them to trade for either a starting pitcher or a LF or 1B (I don’t see them viewing LaRoche as a full-time 1B).
Mac,
Good luck to Bama in the Cotton Bowl.
P.S. War Eagle!
I am not sure we’ll trade for a starting pitcher – the rotation will be Smoltz, Hudson, Thomson, Sosa and Ramirez, which in my book isn’t bad. We still need relief pitching – the only decent guys we have are Boyer and Devine (still potential – you wouldn’t want him to close). Reitsma is too inconsistent, especially as a closer. Still two or three short in my view.
Agreed on 1B though as LaRoche isn’t good enough unless he is on a streak which is about once every two years!
It’s just a hunch on my part that they’ll go after a starter, and you may be right, but I just get the feeling that they’ll want one more veteran. If they can trade ramirez or Sosa for an expensive one-year rental I think they’ll do it.
Here’s an idea… If the Orioles do trade for Clement, maybe we could ship Sosa and something up to Baltimore for him. Sosa could keep working with Leo, and the Braves would have their veteran third or fourth starter.
re: Monte Burke
I have been to both of these Blogs mentioned in the Story and I have been to yours as well. So without leaking too much too early of my first site to read, unabashed starting point for relevant, current and great discussion of Braves news. I ask, is it worthwhile to heap admiration on the author publically, if he should already have no doubt as to his own excellence, and the certainty his readers already have of this solid commitment to a fan’s perspective. That’s why they are here reading and participating in these discussions themselves. So while perhaps the author has purposely tried to ignore you. The true fact remains for those that know and so then who cares really?
You might be right – Sosa in inexperienced and pitched out of a lot of jams. He isn’t a strikeout a pitcher but is getting better and showed pretty good controlled power at the end of the season. Ramirez on the other hand sucks. I’d love to see him traded for a vet.
I’d package Ramirez and Sosa both for whatever I could get. Sosa had a heckuva year, but reminds me of ramirez’s good (albeit limited) 2004. Though Sosa seems to have better peripherals, I think I’d be looking to sell high, and then plug Davies in as fifth starter (he doesn’t thrill me either right now, but I imagine he’d give Horacio-level performance).
Sosa had very weird splits last year:
270 AB with no one on: .278/.359/.433, 37 K 34 BB 6 HR.
236 AB with runners on: .199/.282/.305, 48 K 30 BB 6 HR
124 AB with runners in scoring position: .199/.282/.305, 31 K 23 BB 1 HR
There are probably two things here: regular old hit luck, but also Sosa bearing down and trying for strikeouts with runners on. If he can continue like that he can be effective, but it might also signal that he’d be better suited to be a closer and only throw about 70 innings all in pressure situations.
One problem: Clement has a stupid contract. 3/25.5. I’m not sure what Epstein was smoking when he picked that figure out of the air, but I don’t think we want to pick up that much salary. We appear to be on an EXTREMELY fixed budget.
Also, Leo is apparently high on Clement for some reason. I doubt he’d be traded.
Maybe Sosa just pitches better from the stretch.
Yeah, I am not sure about Clement – I don’t see him as an upgrade on what we have, and he costs more money. It is difficult to see where quality starting or relief pitching is going to come from. If only we could pick up someone like Felix Hernandez then a quality rotation would be guaranteed for years ….. (I’ll stop dreaming now)
Heck, I don’t want Clement at all.
I like Clement; he was having a fine year before he got hit. If the Orioles were to pick up some of his contract I’d get him.
But it is very unlikely that the O’s would get Clement and then ship him on to us while forking out for half his contract. I agree – if we can get him on the cheap (ie 4.5m a year – same as Thomson – then it would be great
I’d personally be comfortable giving Laroche a full time shot at first. If he can’t handle it, trade, platoon, or promote from within at the all star break. He made some good defensive picks at first last year, and I think his bat could benefit from some steady use, not part time.
Question: Does anybody have a guess as to where the payroll stands as of now? Just how much money do the Braves have to play with?
Clement was already going downhill before he got hit in the head. The same thing also happened post-All Star break in 2004. The tag attached to him is that he’s worse in the second half of the season. The 2004 and 2005 numbers bear this out, although before that, I’m not so sure. But it wasn’t the injury.
It’s hard to find an exact figure but here are some of the salaries that the Braves are responsible for next year.
Andruw Jones 13M
Smoltz 11M
Chipper 11M
Renteria 6M
Hudson 6M
Thomson 4.75M
Reitsma 1.65M
Pratt 750,000
Giles 2.35M
Sosa 650,000
Reitsma, Giles, and Sosa are due for arbitration I believe so their numbers are not totally accurate.
Hampton is due over 14 million I think but I don’t know how much insurance will pay.
Betemit, Cormier, Diaz, Devine, Francouer, Foster, Langerhans, LaRoche, McBride, Johnson, Orr, McCann, and Ramirez all made between 300 and 400k and I don’t know how much their contracts will increase.
Right now I have them at about 74M but they stand to increase that with the arbitration eligible players.
So perhaps room for another $4m reliever …..
I think that JS is more likely to wait now than to make a trade, possibly till a couple months into the season. Or at least until Spring Training is in swing.
Dec 24. Rumor mill on ESPN has the Braves close to trading Langerhans to the Indians for unspecified return. Indians would then play Langerhans in LF and flip Coco Crisp to the Red Sox. Imagine the deal’s contingent on getting the Crisp trade decided (says the Indians are sure to be asking for Marte in return, maybe the Sox haven’t been quite willing to flip Marte yet), but would seem the Indians would be a good fit to get either a right good bullpen arm like Rafael Betancourt or Fernando Cabrera, or a right handed platoon bat for 1B. Hopefully one of the first two guys. Either way, deal could be close and on hold for holidays / Red Sox bargaining. If it does: good luck Ryan.
So… we’ve all just decided to ignore kalisi’s post? That’s fine with me because I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I’m just checking.
I would rather have Crisp….couldnt we just sweeten our deal to get him?
Thank you for your correspondence, Kalisi. Sadly, tragically, I was unable to understand what the eff you were going on about, so I very skillfully took your message and translated it to Dutch (using Alta Vista’s Bable Fish). Sadly, tragically, I am unable to speak Dutch, so I took your translated-into-Dutch correspondence and translated it once again, though this time back into English. While I do speak English, I must admit that I was still unable to understand what the Eff you were going on about, so I then very adroitly took your English-to-Dutch-back-to-English message and retranslated it to Greek.
Sadly, tragically, I am unable to speak Greek, so I took your translated-into-Dutch-back-to-English-to-Greek message and translated it back to English again. Here, for your records, it is:
I can’t read but these Blogs are cool. So without leaking too much, I use depends. If Mac should have any doubt as to his own excellence, just ask me, I’d say, I think he’s cool. So then, who cares really?
The Langerhans deal is rumored to be for David Riske. I wouldn’t mind getting Crisp either.
The earlier post (my 10:39 am post on this thread) was in response to the:
December 25, 2005 05:41 PM
“Now I’m bitter” post by Mac Thomason
sorry for the confusion
Could we get(or would we even want?) Casey Blake or Ben Broussard for Langerhans? Not sure if Blake/Broussard would be able to fill the 1b/LF platoon either. Or are we working on bullpen help from them?
Jenny, if you compare Clement to Burnett, you wouldn’t find Clement’s contract stupid at all.
I am not sure if I want Crisp guys. While he is improving every year, I think Kelly Johnson can reach Crisp’s production very soon (maybe not at the SB department). I am fine with the outfield of KJ, Andruw, and Francouer. I would much rather seeing improvement at first base. It does not look like Adam will be another Olerud or Grace, rather he seems to become a slower version of Sid Bream. Yes, his swing looks sweat, but it’s too long.
Of course, I wish I am wrong on Adam, but his second year is very disappointing.
chill, what is the difference between Ben Broussard and Adam?
Other than about 40 lbs:) Not much. And being right-handed. He did play some LF a few years ago. Was he any good?
That Crisp is significantly better than Langerhans is not readily apparent. I think he’s a little bit better. Crisp will hit for a higher batting average, Langerhans has better secondary skills. Langerhans’ minor league batting averages are much lower, but his OBPs and SLGs are about the same. (Admittedly, Crisp’s minor league numbers are all from when he’s younger — again, he’s a better player.) Crisp is a better basestealer. He doesn’t actually help the team (since he’s only about at the 2/3 “break even” point) but Langerhans is a bad one. But Crisp has been in the majors since 2003, while Langerhans only has a year and a little bit of service time (even though he’s just a couple months younger) and Crisp is about to start making real money. The advantage isn’t as great as you’d think, and wouldn’t be worth the payroll.
Broussard has different enough skills to be interesting, and first base is more of a trouble spot than left field to my mind.
kc, I still think Clement’s contract is stupid. Which, logically, must mean I think Burnett’s contract is absolutely insane, which I do. Also, I don’t remember the market being quite so ridiculous last year, which means that Clement’s contract, relative to last year’s market, was, well, still stupid 😉
Most overplayed human interest story of the BCS coverage: Ohio State lineman dating Brady Quinn’s sister. WHO CARES? They must have talked about this and showed shots of Laura Quinn for at least 15 minutes.
Well, Jenny, if you compare Clement’s contract to Kristin Benson’s and Pavano’s, Clement’s contract still looks pretty good. So, it’s really not that bad of a deal. Unfortunately, he did poorly for your Sox rather than the Mets and the Yankees!
I wouldn’t mind seeing either Sosa or Ramirez starting. Either is a decent bet for 180 innings of league average in the 5 slot. But neither is good for much more than that. Sosa at least strikes people out. Ramirez just scares the bejeezus out of me every time he releases a pitch.
If they can flip Langerhans for a solid reliever and/or a RH half of a 1B platoon, they should. Johnson/Diaz should make a good platoon in left.
Mac, I remember the idea of using Sosa as the closer was first brought up by Alex late last season. Obviously, the bullpen should be stronger with Sosa late last season, but Hampton and Thomson were not healthy enough to take that third spot in the rotation. However, the idea of using Sosa for next season should at least be entertained. In my opinion, Sosa is a much better option as closer than Reitsma. His fastball/slider combination should also be better suit for that role.
Also, I believe the Braves are keen in putting Davies in the rotation next season, so moving Sosa to the bullpen will sort out the problem. If the Braves can indeed acquire Riske from the Indians for Langerhans, the bullpen of Sosa, Reitsma, Riske, Boyer, Foster and McBride with Lerew being the long-reliever looks pretty good to me. Use the remaining budget to upgrade first base!!!
KC, since you brought up the Mets, I feel I should come to Kris Benson’s defense. He has two mitigating factors in his favor for why he sucked for the Mets:
1) He sucks–the only reason he keeps hanging on in the majors is a high draft position, and
2) He pitches for the Mets, who have a causal effect of increased suckage.
Taking these into consideration, it’s easy to see that it’s not his fault for sucking.
Sosa was less than inspiring in the bullpen. Both in Tampa Bay and Atlanta. He rarely used his breaking ball in short appearences, had control problems and didn’t seem to pitch out of jams as well. Perhaps, mentally, he is more suited to starting. Knowing days in advance you’re going to pitch and waiting in the pen for the call must be very different ways of working. Once he was in the rotaion, he florished. His starts got deeper down the stretch and it made me wonder what he would’ve been like had he started in the #4 or 5 slot in April. I’d love to see him there this year, unless we can get a good deal on him.
Guys,
my heart has been stepped on by a hognail boot….
I’m pretty sure that’s a hobnail boot, NMS (which is normally applied to the face, of course). But anyway, I’m sooooo with ya. Even I could see that they were going to try the fake punt, I mean, C’MON RICHT!!!! I guess he didn’t fast on Sunday or something. Gah.
can any1 explain why this diaz character we acquired is not drawing more attention? he seems like he has had incredible seasons in the minors and no real chance in the majors. in 3 stints at AAA he was ridiculous, and he had some speed. is there something i am missing?
Well the only knock against him is that he was 25-27 when he put up those numbers in AAA, which is a little old. Also, he doesn’t draw a whole lot of walks but he has hit for a high average in the minors.
I’m kinda with you ryan. He hasn’t really gotten a shot despite his great AAA numbers. I think TB and KC might have wanted a little more power from a corner outfielder who doesn’t walk that much. Or they were afraid he was a AAAA player because of his age.
That was a hell of a ballsy call by Rich Rodriguez. I love the Dawgs, but the Mountaineers played a great game and deserved the win. Congrats to Bama on its win as well.
What would you guys think about trying to aquire Kevin Mench from Texas? What would it take?
Would you give up Johnson/James/or Lerew for the trade? Or would he just take up space in the clubhouse?
It looks like the Orioles are incompetent even when it comes to ineptitude. Jeromy Burnitz has turned around and told them he’s going to Pittsburgh instead.
As to Mench, he’s a nice player, but he’s 28. I definitely wouldn’t trade James or Lerew for him, and wouldn’t want to trade Kelly Johnson for him either. I’d give up Langerhans for him, although the Rangers wouldn’t do it in a million years.
I just think that Mench is too old to be getting much better, and so it’s not worth our giving up a young player who WILL be getting much better. Anyone else disagree?
Sorry, Mench’s 28th birthday is January 7th. So technically he’s 27 for four more days. But he’ll be 28 all season long.
Mench is one of the Rangers’ better players, especially because, unlike guys like Blalock, he hits decently away. But the Rangers would make us pay through the nose for him: they know they have to overpay for pitching to get anyone good in that park, so they try to make up for it by making others overpay for their hitters.
I don’t see why Cleveland would swap Crisp for Langerhans. I think the whole point is that Boston’s need for Crisp as a CF makes him valuable, and JS I think adroitly sees a good fit, giving them a solid LF replacement. I suspect he’s after either Betancourt or Fernando Cabrera (29/11 K/BB, 1.47 ERA, 24 H in 30.2 IP last year) as righteous bullpen help with Closer potential, but Cleveland may not want part with such guys. Wickman’s not the Energizer Bunny. Thought of the RH platoon 1B possibility as an afterthought.
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I’ve been behind giving LaRoche a shot full time, but just looked at his L/R splits and he really has been Not Good. Against LHP: 68 ABs, 14 H for a .206 avg and a .299 OPS. Mondesian. I also looked at Craig Wilson’s, and he’s actually been more effective against LHP than RHP. In his career vs. LHP: 425 ABs, 113:64 K/BB (not great, but a little better than 2:1), 27 HR and 22 doubles. .301/.409/.558, for a .967 OPS. The pirates got Sean Casey / Joe Randa and Jeremy Burnitz / Jason Bay at the corners. Wilson is arb eligible this year, expected to draw around 4 mil per. If we’ve really got 4 mil to play with, having him platoon with Adam seems like a good match, if we can find something we have that the Pirates want. If we can move Langerhans for one of those Indians arms and an attractive other piece from the minors (Lerew? You always want something solid back for a near-major ready arm, but it might take someone of that ability, cause I don’t see another good match) for Wilson, I’d be pro those trades. What do y’all think?
Sosa also seemed to have a problem with BB to LH batters last year.
Relief
LH 9.1
RH 18.0
Starting
LH 56
RH 50.2
Overall
LH 65.1
RH 68.2
The Braves already have the best Closer in the NL on the roster (not that it’s going to happen)and I don’t know if his shoulder can hold up to another year of 200 IP (if the Braves had gone any farther in the playoffs Smoltz would have been unavailable). Some sort of trade with one of Sosa/Ramirez/Davies plus prospects for another proven SP could make this happen.
When did Gagne sign with the Braves?
Gagne only pitched 13 innings last year. I would take Smoltz or Lidge ahead of him *right now*. Next September might be a different story.
To stick to my Langerhans-to-the-Tribe musing, just looked at Riske’s stats (http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/riskeda01.shtml). He’s pitched better than I realised. Younger than Betancourt, older and more prooven than Cabrera. Still not sure he’s worth Langerhans, but they may want another more veteran player out there in the pen to help steady and focus the kids.
You can forget about the idea of Smoltz becoming closer again. He’s repeatedly said he doesn’t want to close, all through out last season, and I doubt anything has changed. And the Braves aren’t likely to just make him become one again.