Pirates Notebook: Fifth starter might come from a trade with Atlanta
Seems reasonable, though I wouldn’t want Salomon Torres. First impressions and all. Torres would just about make up for the salary difference between Wilson and Thomson if that’s a concern.
I’d rather trade HoRam but the Pirates don’t need a lefty. Pick up Carlos Pena? I dunno. He’s not actually that good — actually, he’s a lot like LaRoche, minus BA, plus walks. I would have given Hee Seop Choi a chance, but nobody asked me.
13 minutes to the fantasy draft.
Juan Cruz is gone to the Diamondbacks.
Juan Cruz no longer available—- To D’Backs.
Speaking of live drafts – last call for my Yahoo draft at 3:30 p.m. EST- League Name: The Shirtless Bible Salesmen; League Number 30474; password: jesusfingers.
Torres is my least favorite baseball player, ugh
I think Wilson would be a good pickup if he can start hitting to all fields, he has some pop, but pulls the ball quite a bit. Well I guess it did work for Ted Williams.
We still owe Torres a big favor for the tank job he did for the Giants on the last day of the season in 1993.
So much for getting Juan Cruz back from Oakland, if that was ever really considered. He just got dealt to the D-backs for Brad Halsey.
Oops, already posted. My bad!!
Twice!!
wouldn’t it be more likely that the Braves are after one of the many young LH relievers that the Pirats have, and to equal up the salary the Pirates are tossing Wilson into the deal as they have no need for him? What would we do with Torres?
Go Mason!
I don’t know much about Salomon Torres, but my most memorable Torres moment is the broken helmet with Sammy Sosa that I happened to see on TV. Judging that he played for the Pirates for 4 years probably means that not too many teams actually want him because quality players don’t seem to stick around with the Pirates. George Mason’s going to win it all!
My favorite Tores is in 1995 when he was crying in the duggout after Tom Glavine one hit the Tribe to bring the Word title to Atlanta!
That was Julian Tavarez.
I thought you meant Preston Wilson and I almost killed myself. Fortunately for you all I didn’t, and now I’m back for the new season.
Boyer looked good today. Too bad we have a good crop of setup men and no set closer. I’m hoping Devine emerges and takes the role. I also hope he earns it and doesn’t get it because of veteran failures.
Just the rumor of a trade of John Thomson for Craig Wilson is a welcome indication of the lack of confidence Schuerholz has in Adam LaRoche.
Anything to get that kid off the sack!
LaRoche is a decent player but we already have enough .250 hitters on the team. I know nothing about Craig Wilson except for the fact that he sounds like an asshole.
SEC roolz, Big East droolz.
Actually, far from being an asshole, Craig Wilson has flowing blond locks (or at least he used to) that, when he went into a home-run trot, would blow behind his head, making him look like a hair metal singer in a music video.
Having him on the Braves would make me happy.
Until ten minutes ago I didn’t know anything about Torres except the last day of 1993. Of course he was just a kid then. I just looked at BR.com, though, and note that he’s had ERA+s of 155 and 157 in 70-80 games each of the last two years. Not a ton of strikeouts compared to innings, but he seems useful out of the pen, which would be nice.
Wilson kills left handed pitching. he’d be an excellent choice to platoon at 1B or a bat with an ending contact to move in season who could return more RP help if we need it and if LaRoche is handling it. Dunno who we’d have to include to get Torres, but probably have to be a low level projectable arm, or maybe Pena, since thye don’t know if Doumit is gonna work out yet and we’ve got Salty coming on?
Umm….who is this Torres guy? From the sound of what you all are saying is that he is a VERY old reliever; old relievers scare me with the exception of some like Smoltz. Is he even any good still?
As old relievers go, he’s not that old; he turned 34 this month. Salomon Torres was a hot prospect for the Giants in the early nineties. In 1993, he was supposed to be their savior in the epic last pennant race, but didn’t do exceptionally well. He wasn’t actually that bad, until his last two starts, in which he got knocked out early, taking the loss both times. The last was the last game of the season.
He pitched poorly in 1994, was traded to the Mariners (for Shawn Estes and Wil Delgado) early in 1995, and washed out of the big leagues in 1997 without ever pitching as well as he had in those first games in 1993. I believe he went to Mexico, and eventually resurfaced as a starter with the Pirates in 2002. He was pretty good, but struggled in 2003; since moving to the pen he’s been a good setup man type, not enough strikeouts to be a closer. More than He Who Shall Not Be Named, of course.
And if the Braves do trade for him, I’ve just written my player profile.
His last two season’s he has pitched a lot and pitched well, I think he would be a solid pick up, better than some guy named Ray “Bobby” Hill
I wanna apologize for this hijacking, but I’d like a little advice here. In my non-Braves Journal fantasy league (8 team, H2H) there is a pending trade, Curt Schilling and Bobby Crosby for Trevor Hoffman and Ramon Hernandez, and I have to decide whether or not to accept it.
Schilling and Crosby probably have higher upside, but both are injury risks. I dunno. This is my first time in a league, much less as commissioner. And sorry again for the fantasy hijacking, I’ll try to refrain from such uncouth behavior in the future.
Boyer looked awesome today. His curveball today is completely different than any curveball I’ve seen him threw last season. Seems like there are very good velocity and movements on his fastball as well as with good command of location. Overall, I am very encouraged by Boyer’s performance. Bobby didn’t hype up this time, all the positive reports written on Boyer’s performance today are very accurate.
ermoore, I think it all depends on the kind of commissioner you want to be. It is a pretty lopsided deal, but it’s not a blatant dump. Does your league have the ability to vote against trades?
Either way, the question is: how permissive or controlling do you want to be?
never vote against a trade unless it’s obviously done to fix the league. i don’t think that trade is lopsided at all.
I agree with david — you don’t want to put yourself in the position of judging trades too narrowly. Even if it is uneven, the players may be trading surplus for need.
Why oh why are the Braves looking at right handed releivers? Isn’t there a need for a lefty? If the DBAcks were willing to part with Halsey, couldn’t the Braves have offered Thomson? i have no idea who Halsey is, by the way, and maybe the Braves did offer Thomson and the DBAcks said no, who knows….my oint is, he’s a lefty releiver.
Geez, if the Braves are going to get a releiver along with Wilson, I say get Matt Capps…..not only is he a decent young releiver, but he’s a Georgia boy as well.
Any thoughts that the Braves may rush Will Startup to the majors this season? I’m guessing if he does well at Myrtle Beach (assuming he starts the year there), he’ll be in Mississippi by June, then Atlanta soon after if things go well there. I like Startup a lot, but I hope the Braves are careful with him. If we still need a lefty in the pen, though, and if he can handle it, I bet he’ll get the call….
Of course, i meant ‘I’, and I had a point, not an ‘oint’….
Oh, only 34? That’s not that bad at all. Im sorry, I just thought we were getting a RH Remlinger back….
Wilson’s blond locks would look great in a homerun trot, like the second coming of Bob Horner.
As for Julian Tavarez, I never liked the guy on the field, as we often see him in the playoffs. But, no one can argue with his performance in Last of the Mohicans. Great big screen villain. However, I do think its disrespectful that he insist on calling Bobby “Grey Hair”.
Also, whats the diference between Hee Sop Choi and LaRoche? I dont want to be “racialist”, but the only true difference I see in those guys is one’s a tall white lefty that’s going to be a mediocre hitter other than the occasional towering homerun, and the other’s going to be a tall asian lefty thats going to be a mediocre hitter other than the occasional towering homerun.
I actually like Torres. Versatile, lively arm. He has suffered from lack of definition, since he has closed, started, been long relief and setup man.
Choi, Pena, LaRoche – there’s not much difference in any of the three – they each have shown flashes of being very good defenders without really delivering on that promise, have big platoon splits, and need to up their batting averages. LaRoche is the youngest (26 – Choi is 27, Pena is 28) and walks the least. Choi is the best hitter of the bunch (LaRoche the worst), but not by a huge degree.
Question for the group: Craig Wilson in his career has hit .301/.409/.558 vs LHP (489 Plate Appearances). Thomson is a decent to good starting pitcher with a forgiving pricetag that doesn’t take him out of anyone’s budget. Wilson makes 3.3. Thomson made 4.25 last year, I think this is an option year at around the same price, so Thomson costs about a mil more. Would you rather see us pursue left handed pitching like Jeremy Affeldt or Gobbles from KC (I can’t believe they wouldn’t jump on an affordable veteran starter, but maybe we wanted both guys…) or Wilson’s bat and Torres, and if we want to get Torres and the Pirates need us to throw in someone else, who else do we throw in?
I say we part with Obermuller or who ever it was we got for you know who. Time to get the bad Brewer blood out of the system
If we still had Leo, I would jump on Affeldt in about a minute; I’m convinced he’s a major talent being screwed up by an organization that from all appearances is actively trying to lose as many games as possible. But I don’t know if without Leo we’re up for another rehab case, what with all the kids already in the bullpen.
I wouldn’t throw much of anything in with Thomson to get Torres. A miscellaneous live arm, perhaps.
I would have no problem trading for Wilson, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Didn’t Matt Diaz emerge as a decent platoon partner for LaRoche? Why burn our best trade bate on something we don’t really need? I realize that we’re loaded with SP, but is Craig Wilson really what we need?
That said, his career OPS vs. LHP is .966, but it’s only over 425 ABs, many of which were when he was younger. He’d certainly be good insurance. I’m just not sure if he’s worth a quality veteran arm signed to a pretty good deal. MAYBE if we got a good lefty reliever in the deal as well….
i think we are just fine at first base. not excellent, but fine. LaRoche could win a gold glove one day. will he? probably not. but i think if he stops trying to pull everything, crouches down a little bit, and gets rid of that damn looping tiger woods swing of his. That should be pendletons next project, though andruw is far from complete. Diaz may not be the strongest fielder, but i think at 1st base he will be adequate and his bat is very appreciated. Jurries is just impressing the hell out of me, and Brian Jordan provides a clutch bat off the bench. So, should we get Craig Wilson? I would disagree. If we do get a batter though, i was thinking of possibly thomson for carl crawford…i believe his name was tossed around abit at the beginning of the offseason