Glavine, Braves reportedly reach deal | ajc.com
Bad idea. The marginal cash (something like $1 million works out only about $600K over the minimum) isn’t a problem. The roster spot is.
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Yeah, but how long will he be using the roster spot? If he only pitches in April and May, then injures himself out of the way for Hanson I think we’re good.
The roster spot is most valuable NOW. Glavine will cause someone (Boyer, most likely) to be DFAd. If Blanco is DFAd because of this, I may take hostages.
@2–What he said
That is the shortest article I think I’ve ever seen on the AJC. I’m guessing more than one Brave has been muzzled.
Muzzled and straitjacketed.
Blanco sucks anyways. I would rather have Josh Andersen.
terrible
No way it’s Boyer.
I’m in the minority on this one, but I’d rather have Glavine in the rotation this year than Morton or Reyes.
Reyes might have nothing left to prove at AAA, but I think Morton probably does. Dude has 79 innings there and a good fall league performance to hang his hat on, and that is absolutely it. And does anyone really believe Reyes is worth developing?
I have no idea who’ll lose the roster spot. Were we waiting to sign Glavine was to delay the decision on who to drop?
It could be Lerew. I don’t think anyone would lose any sleep over that.
Or, less likely, maybe we trade a couple people off the 40 man to acquire an outfielder.
Here’s what the Griffey writeup would have looked like…
Normally, I would do a career retrospective about a new player. But this guy’s pretty familiar, I expect, and he’s been in the majors for 20 years, so as to not drown this in data, a few high points…
The expectation is that Griffey would platoon in left with Matt Diaz. This is wise, because he was helpless against lefthanders in 2008 (.202 .299 .350). He was a lot better against righthanders (.272 .379 .462) and if Diaz recovers to his 2006-07 level, left field, at least, looks in good hands.
The questions are if Griffey has anything left, and if he can stay in the lineup. I always like to use comparable players, but the problem with Griffey is that there aren’t any comparable players (lefthanded home-run hitting gold glove outfielders), at least not since Barry Bonds entered his transhuman phase. Most of his comps are either righthanded hitters from the fifties and sixties or the steroids triplets (Bonds, Sosa, Palmeiro). Gary Sheffield, who is one year older and basically fell apart last year, is also on the list. Griffey’s most-similar player is Frank Robinson, who didn’t do much of anything after turning 39, but was player-managing in Cleveland, hardly an ideal situation. Willie Mays had a couple of good years after turning 39. Reggie had his last good year at 39. Griffey is an all-time great, and I’m reluctant to count out any all-time great until they’ve shown for certain that they don’t have it anymore. My guess is that he’ll hit for a fairly low average, but with more than enough walks and power to make up for it.
Staying in the lineup is harder to predict, though he’s been healthier the last couple of years after finally giving up the pretense that he can play center. The problems in Chicago may have been because they moved him back there, probably because their manager is insane. His range factors in right field were pretty good, his plus minus pretty bad.
Ken Griffey Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com
1 million guaranteed,
2 million if he makes the roster,
3.25 for 30 days on the roster,
4.5 for 60 days on the roster.
Sweet hometown discount.
Ridgway. Please drop Ridgway off the 40 man. Bats Right, throws Left, I don’t think he’s even a real lefthander.
Where is the love for Campillo? I would’ve preferred to save the money and stick him the 5 spot for now.
The roster spot is most valuable NOW. Glavine will cause someone (Boyer, most likely) to be DFAd. If Blanco is DFAd because of this, I may take hostages.
What is up with the Gregor Blanco fixation? He’s Willie Harris. He’s Chucky Thomas. He’s not that damned important.
What’s the rotation depth chart now?
Lowe
Vasquez
Kawakami
Jurrjens
Campillo
Reyes
Morton
Glavine
Parr
Somebody after Jurrjens but before Glavine is going to another team in return for an outfielder.
Are there any position battles this spring? Center field and left? Not really, we know who Bobby will trot out there.
I bet Schafer could go out and hit .800 and 15 home runs in spring and not make the team.
Smitty, if we dont sign another OF’r Im guessing we’ll see Schaefer, Anderson, Frenchy, and Diaz as our 4
Reyes/Morton + Boyer for Ludwick
The Cards wouldn’t do that.
Mac, you left out “Was voted to the players of the century team (along with Greg Maddux).”
How could you forget such a monentus occasion when the tool from NBC asked Pete Rose about betting on baseball in front of a live worldwide audience from none other than Turner Field?
Would people rather have an Anderson/Diaz platoon or Diaz playing everyday in left field? I think I’d rather have Diaz playing everyday.
My head hurts. I just read where we are giving Francoeur 3.375 million on a one year deal AVOIDING ARBITRATION. Are you freaking kidding me? The guy was the worst regular outfielder in MLB and he gets a raise that’s substantially better than Kelly Johnson? At least let Jeff hear it from an arbitrator that he doesn’t deserve that kind of money based on stats. Does Frenchy have the photos now? Here’s to a “rebuilding” year (read: dead last).
This is simply not a good signing. The Braves would have signed him if his arm was attached, so you can pretty much pencil him in for the Opening Day roster. So there’s $2M for NOTHING so far. Then, unless his arm no longer is attached, he’s gonna get at least several starts to find out if he has anything left. At that point, you’re looking at $3.25M. At that point, if he makes it a month, the Braves aren’t going to “Frank Thomas” him and tell him to go fly a kite before he gets his sixty days in, which will get him in the $4.5M territory. Absolutely stunning.
Why a million for the Opening Day roster? Why another $1.25M for making in 1/6 through the season? Then ANOTHER $1.25M for making it a 1/3 of a season. He could be done by June and make all of his incentives. That’s ridiculous.
The whole thing behind letting Smoltz walk was that they didn’t want to pay him big money not to pinch, but Smoltz could end up making less in Boston while doing MUCH more than Glavine will, while Glavine still makes all of his money. That’s absolutely ridiculous.
Keith Law is right; this is freaking charity. You let Abreu head over to LA for peanuts, you let Dunn go to a division rival for scraps, and then you throw four and a half million to Glavine for pitching for two months. Unbelievable. Why not throw more money at Griffey if you’re gonna do this kinda deal? Why don’t you double Seattle’s offer (which they could have done) to make Atlanta irresistible to Griffey, someone who can actually hit like a major league baseball player?
Absolutely incredible.
Scouts thought he could probably still break 80 so he was a must re-sign.
Gregor Freaking Blanco.
Omar Infante.
Martin Prado
Josh Anderson.
Brandon Jones.
Tom Glavine.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
As I’ve said, this franchise will finish last again before it even sniffs first place.
So I guess we are done huh ??
CF-Anderson,ss-Escobar,3b-Jones,C-Mccann,Rf-Francour,2B-KJ,LF-Diaz and 1B-Kotchman.
Reserves – Infante,Ross,Prado,Schafer and Norton.
Starters – Lowe,Vasquez,Kawakami,Jurgins,Glavine
Relief – Camplillo,Boyer,Acosta,Logan,Moylan,Soriano and Gonzalez ..
THATS 25 and a 4th place finish in EAST .. Not enough OFFENSE !!! Need a Right handed bat in middle of lineup and there are just none available unless we pull a LUDWICK in a trade.
So long as Jim Bowden has a place in the Nationals’ front office, we won’t be finishing last.
I have no problem with the list of guys (except Glavine) you listed, Chief. All of those guys (except Glavine) are major league players. Infante and Prado are being utilized exactly as they should be (solid INF backups). One of the Blanco, Anderson, Jones trio will probably be used effectively as a backup, whereas the other two will fill at least some version of a starting role. But all three of those guys would be excellent backups on a major league roster. The problem is that we don’t need all of those guys, and none of them belong as starters.
The Marlins will probably screw up too.
Um what ? Did he go after DOB ?
‘Pitcher Tim Hudson got into a heated argument in the clubhouse with a newspaper reporter, claiming his story angered Griffey and led him to back out of dealings with the Braves. A team official had to step in and lead Hudson to a back room.’
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/19/sports/BBN-Braves-Griffey-Fallout.php
Rob,
I don’t agree with some of what you said.
A) Griffey can still hit (righties), but he can’t field at all and would not have helped us very much, at least on the field.
B) Saying Glavine is not a major leaguer is ridiculous. I agree that the signing is poor and he’s not what he used to be, but were talking about Tom freaking Glavine. He’s as major league as they come.
All in all, I love the pitching staff we have assembled (even with Glavine) and I think it will keep us competitive. The lineup is a bit more tricky and I’m certainly not as confident.
This is cool
http://www.unitedcountriesofbaseball.com/images/UCOB-1280×960.jpg
Mike,
A) Griffey would have hit righties better than Diaz and played left just as well. He would have helped our team on the field. He wouldn’t have cost us a draft pick, and he will help our team much more than Glavine.
B) At this point, Glavine is not a major league pitcher. One of Reyes, Morton, Campillo, or Hanson are pretty much guaranteed to give us better pitching than Glavine will. So by signing Glavine and guaranteeing him innings even if he’s bad, you make your team worse just based on nostalgia.
Mac,
What makes you think Boyer would be DFA’d? Lerew and Ridgway look like good candidates to me. Why is Luis Valdez on the 40 man? Does anyone know anything about him.
Great the beat writer and the hurt team ace getting into it.
Luis Valdez is a 24yr old closer. I didnt look this up recently but I believe he had over 25 saves last season and put up a sub 3 era with good K numbers
I am less unhappy with this year’s Glavine fiasco than last year’s. When the Braves went after Glavine last season, they spent more money and showed a complete lack of understanding of their situation.
Why? It should have been obvious that they had mighty Tex for just one more year–either they should have traded mighty Tex when their return would have been far greater than in late July OR they should have done all they could to put together as strong a team as possible to try to win while they still had mighty Tex.
What happened? Little Frank Wren went to the winter meetings to find a backup catcher (and once we saw Corky I could understand why) and then the Braves went after Glavine. Tom Glavine became the centerpiece of their efforts to improving starting pitching and we went into the season with Smoltz, Hudson, Glavine, Hampton–which would have been great at the beginning of the decade. To some of us, it was pretty obvious from the outset that the 2008 Braves wer probably doomed.
Adding Glavine at this point does not cost as much–but I would have preferred to see Morton/Reyes given some chance to develop into a #5.
But one has to wonder: between what the Braves had to pay Jeffy, the money they have now ponied up for Glavine and the amount that they overpaid Lowe, might well have been enough to sign Abreu.
At least Little Frank Wren got his man….
Sorry about the long post–now I can begin my day….
@35
Will you be watching the Braves this season on MLB.TV?
Yeah–local bandwidth permitting….
I’m going off to the Netherlands this summer for school and picked it up for that occasion. Hopefully the wifi on campus and the rest of the hotels in europe has the strength. I’m not missing a game.
Get a grip, Huddy.
#19
I was at Turner Field that night & what was disgraceful was how the Atlanta fans gave Pete Rose a much louder cheer than they gave Hank Aaron.
I’ve done a lot of apologizing for Atlanta baseball fans over the years, but I still haven’t gotten over that one.
Jesus, things are already falling apart and we haven’t even started playing exhibition games yet. One wonders if we’ll have our head in the Georgia/Georgia Tech game (I don’t know which one we’re playing this year) with all the distractions. Once again, since apparently none of the players were able to figure this out, the Griffey fiasco is not DOB’s fault. At all. He did his job. It’s not why Griffey didn’t sign, either. It is an excuse being used by the Braves front office to cover for Frank Wren’s incompetence. And it is apparently working, which is kind of sad. But even if it did cause him to go to Seattle, is that really DOB’s fault? If Griffey is such a baby that he takes his ball and goes home when a media report jumps the gun, I mean, I don’t even know what to tell you.
As far as the Glavine signing goes, I don’t hate it as much as everyone else seems to. I think from a purely baseball perspective, it’s probably a decent move (if you ignore the whole Smoltz situation). I really don’t think that either Morton or Reyes would be a better choice. They both hopelessly suck. Reyes is useless and should be dumped on the curb (or traded if someone is stupid enough). Morton has potential to be a back of the rotation starter, but he needs more seasoning in the minors, so he won’t be better than Glavine would be this year. I really doubt Campillo can duplicate last year, as well. And I think we all know that Hanson isn’t seeing the light of day until at least midway through the season if at all, Glavine or no Glavine. So if we’re just going on who’s the best choice to be our fifth starter, it’s Glavine. I mean, if it turns out he can’t go, we’re back to Reyes, Morton and Campillo again. It’s not like we’re any worse off than we would have been, and we might be better.
The problems with it were expertly broken down by Rob (who I gather really doesn’t like this deal…that’s about as much fire as I’ve ever seen from him on here). We’re wasting money for no reason when money is apparently an issue. We’ve just retardedly spent a million more bucks than we had to on Francoeur to keep him from getting all upset and throwing a little shit fit. We had a chance to sign any number of outfielders, all of them very cheap, and we didn’t get any of them (hell, we didn’t even try for most of them), because we supposedly can’t afford to spend $5 million to keep our outfield from being the biggest joke in baseball again, yet we’re about to spend almost $5 million potentially on our fifth starter when the players we could have had for this money at a position where we actually need help include Ken Griffey, Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell, not to mention the whole John Smoltz situation, who I think we all would have rather had as our fifth starter than Glavine. If you look at it that way, it does seem a little silly.
#39
Yeah, sounds like posturing on the part of Hudson. Heaven forbid that roster implications get discussed. Did he have a candle lit for Gregor Blanco or something?
Just to put it out there once more:
Morton shaky. He had a lot of hype in spring traning last year, but he needs some more time to get himself together.
Reyes sucks.
The Braves like Campillo better as the long man out of the pen.
Hanson really shouldn’t make it up for the first few months of the season for a number of reasons.
Also, most of Glavine’s incentives are deferred. So he’s not taking up much of this year’s payroll and we’ll have some money to make a deal at the deadline if we need to.
That said, Glavine might not pitch well this year. But he says he can, and I guess I believe Tom Glavine when he says he can pitch.
Chief, you’re one pleasant dude.
@30
that’s pretty cool.
although I think the South Florida portion should be divided into NYM/NYY/BOS since they have more fans down here than Marlins fans
I don’t have a problem trying to slip Lerew or Ridgeway through waivers. Neither of them are very good, and neither of them will likely ever be very good. I don’t mind seeing if Glavine can use the year off to play solid baseball. This is in no way a crippling commitment. Just figure he gets hurt, Jurrjens spends some time on the DL at some point, etc., and then we get to call up whichever of Morton and Reyes has been doing well in AAA. Seems reasonable to me.
I didn’t realize that were going to bailout failing baseball players as well…I’m looking right at you, Frenchy. I can just hear him during negotiations: “Hey, although my stats absolutely sucked last year, I was swinging harder than I had in a long time towards the end of the year. That has to count for something. Also, I’m with Delta on contract. Did I mention I’m from Lilburn?”
The problem isn’t that Glavine is a bad 5th starter. It is that there is no way if they don’t pitch the 5th starter regularly that he is ENOUGH better than the “last man standing out of spring” among Campillo, Reyes, and Morton to justify using EITHER the roster slot OR the money (let alone both).
Plus, Morton might be helped by starting at AAA. Neither Reyes nor Campillo (is he out of options?) would be helped. And, if Campillo is the long man, then that means Carlyle and either Bennett or Boyer are toast.
Hopefully we will hear that Glavine’s contract is a guaranteed minor league contract, thsu giving us to the end of spring training to move somebody.
DOB is hardly blameless in the Griffey affair.
Actions have consequences – not all of which we can thoroughly understand.
I think you gotta admit that it didn’t help?
hankonly,
I don’t buy it. Griffey was all set to come to ATL. Terrence Moore knows Jr.’s dad and lots of other close in people. Everything DOB was getting in Orlando was consistent (Griffey came back to Orlando, rather than flying from Monterrey to Seattle on Monday as Seattle papers had said he would, Griffey was talking to Chipper, money sounded similar to possibly higher for the Braves).
If anybody in or related to ATL blew this it may be the Hammer himself.
In the end the money (long term personal services contract) and the adulation / rock star status turned the deal.
If Griffey is really so thin skinned as to get upset at reporting an imminent deal, then we are well off that he has gone on. Maybe he thought we had our quota of thin skineed outfielders.
I found more details about the agreement here….
http://www.rbimagazine.com/2009/02/braves-and-tom-glavine-reach-agreement/
In this article they quote “Glavine is no longer the dominant pitcher he was for most of his career” – you have to agree with this…Cliff I’m not sure they will pitch Glavine regularly, last year he only threw in 13 games..which isn’t bad..he can be like the Jamie Moyer of the Phillies in some ways…
I think I’m finished getting worked up over it. Just gonna sit back trust in the work the minor league coaches have done and look for someone to break out.
The pitching will keep us in games, but someone will have to step up for us to win them. I think we know what we have with the infield, but regardless of Griffey, someone was going to take significant ownership of an outfield position for us to be successful. That part hasn’t changed.
It’s ridiculous to blame DOB. No matter what people would like to think, it’s not the job of journalists to “help” the team they cover; their job is to provide information to the public. It’s pretty obvious that Junior used the Braves to get more money out of the Mariners; to that extent, I suppose you could argue that the article made a difference but presumably Junior’s agent would have told the Mariners about the offer. If Junior’s anger at a newspaper article leaked apparently by people close to him was really what caused him to go to a last place team, he is a nutjob anyway.
Hudson was way out of line. He should be fined. Players like to think that the media exists for their convenience and to help their team win, but it’s not true–although the use of blogs tends to blur the distinction between journalism and fandom. I’m sure the Braves players don’t want to acknowledge that Junior played both the Braves front office and the Braves players.
As for Glavine, I’m indifferent. I wish he had retired after last season. But maybe he can pull a Jamie Moyer. The real issue with this team is offense, especially the outfield.
Watching inning 3 of the Ken Burns doc tonight. Would much rather watch a real game, but it’ll do for now…
It is silly to continue to lament the Jr. debacle, if one should call it such. He may have been a piece of the puzzle but its still possible to find that. I think it’s time for me at least to recognize that this team is in firm rebuilding mode. With many of our studs at least another year away, we will be lucky to contend this year and perhaps even the next. We may get lucky, but I can’t get too worked up right now. Dunn, Abreu, etc. wasn’t going to take us to the series this year anymore than Griffey.
The rotation we have will keep us in games and I think the best we can look for this year is a wild card spot depending on how the rest of the league/division plays. But we still don’t have the offense/lineup we need and who knows what type of injuries we’ll face this year. When Chipper goes down (and you know he’ll miss a few games at least) we’ll be treading water just like last year.
We go to war with the team we have, not the team we wished we had. And who knows what magic Bobby might be able to create with this team. I’ll remain positive…at least through April. And the upside is in the next year or two, Liberty will be looking to dump the team and perhaps we’ll get an owner willing to pump more money into the team right about the time we’ll be ready to truly contend. That’s the good news.
I agree that the notion that Griffey changed his mind based on the reporting of the story is ludicrous, regardless of whther it’s true or not. Having said that, I thought DOB was being pretty weaselly about it by saying “hey – it’s just an opinion – you should know that” and “I don’t control the headlines that go with my story”. You can’t have it both ways by claiming something is so, and then stating I was only passing something along afterwards. If you go for the scoop and it doesn’t pan out, just own up to it and let it go. Hiding behind fig leaves just makes you look like a bum.
I’d love to see video of Hudson and DOB going at it
It is true that the authors of the stories don’t write the headlines. The desk editors do. And, depending on the publication, those headlines don’t always match the full spirit of the story.
That’s a huge issue here in New York, specifically with the tabloids & especially with the New York Post (America’s least-principled newspaper). A lot of times you’ll see a back page with a big picture & a juicy quote in 100-point type. Then, you’ll read the story & say, “Huh?”
At this point, I’ll just consider Ken Griffey baseball’s Norma Desmond, going for his last round of slavish attention. Enjoy it, Junior, but I don’t think I’ll be pining for you.
I agree that he doesn’t write the headline – but I didn’t find it that unfair given the content in his story. As I said, the dustup is stupid – but the beat writer was just plain wrong this time (hey – it happens) and should just hold still and take a punch than go with the non-apology apology.
Agreed, spike.
@46 – I’m willing to spend 1 million to keep Reyes out of the rotation. It’s an added benefit that Campillo will be the long man – I think that’s a good role for him anyway.
We’ll disagree, and that’s fine.
He’s taken plenty of punches the last couple days. He’s certainly done some explaining, but he doesn’t have to apologize for Griffey’s departure.
It’s one thing to say the writer got the story wrong (which DOB acknowledges). It’s another for Tim Hudson to go after him (or someone) for supposedly scotching Griffey coming to the Braves. Even if the story is what caused him not to come (which I doubt), it’s not DOB’s job to look after the Braves’ interest. He doesn’t work for the Braves.
On Glavine, I think a mountain is being made out of a mole hill. Would we be fine without him? Probably. Is $1 million in 2009—remember, everything besides that initial million is being deferred—a big deal? Probably not.
He’s a smart guy, and he’s left-handed, so he’s not useless. He won’t be taking the roster spot of anyone critical to the team’s success, and Bobby won’t leave him in the rotation with a 6.00 ERA.
I don’t know, I just think it’s sort of…meh. Why worry about $1 million and the 5th starter?
But Stu,
If why worry about the 5th starter and 1 million (actually, somehow, they have to account for the incentives as well) then why are the Braves worrying about getting one?
It is not really 1 million, it is a possibility of 4.25. and, the roster spot could be worth something. Not major, but something.
The bigger thing is the continuance of trying to solve less important problems before solving more important problems.
We go sign David Ross and, in light of market as it developed, probably over paid and probably over committed in term. But, more importantly, it was not one of our 3 bigget needs (per Wren and per most of us) wich was AT LEAST 2 bona fide starters and maybe a third and an upgraded outfield bat. You take back up catcher money and 25 start 5th starter money and put those with other money on hand and maybe that closes a deal for a bat.
I saw something in comments on a Yankees blog the other day where the commenters were speculating on a trade of Nady to the Braves in exchange for Gorkys, with the Yankees taking all of the salary back.
How do you guys think that would be? Fair?
They’re accounting for the incentives by deferring them over the next four years, as I noted. Yeah, the money is something, and the roster spot is something, but, you know, like I said…meh. I just don’t think it’s a big deal.
I’d do that in about six seconds. Gorkys would be more valuable to the Yankees than to us anyway.
I wouldn’t–the Braves do have lots of talent in the minors–but most of it is pitching. If the Braves have to trade prospects, then it should be from strength–which means young arms.
Also, Nady is a rental and when the Braves make deals they need to think not only about 2009 but beyond….
The Braves would get the draft pick compensation for Nady too.
We really only (hopefully) need a year or two rental for the OF. One of Schaefer/Heyward should be ready by then, and if not, well it seems like a good time to sign good FA’s to a one or two year deal. The elephant in the room here is Frenchy of course. He either needs to get good or get gone, and since neither of those things looks likely in the immediate future, it’s tough to start planning for fixing all 3 OF spots when you are going to only realistically have two that you can alter.
I don’t get the Nady thing, honestly. Even if we didn’t have to pay him anything, is he enough better than Diaz to make it worth trading a valuable prospect? I tend to think not.
Swisher, with his switch-hitting and positional versatility, however…
#68–Correct me if I am wrong, but we would have to offer Nady arbitration to get a draft pick. If we did get the pick in the 2010 draft, the player might be able to directly help us in 2014 or 2015….
#69–I think that I did read that the Braves have fantasized about an outfield with Schafer in CF, Heyward in RF and Hernandez in LF–but then, of course, there is the elephant in the room…
Was the Post the paper that printed the classic headline:
Headless Torso
In Topless Bar
?
I don’t thihk Gorkys will ever be a good enough offensive player to play left field for an upper division club. He is either a slight plus offensively and defensively in center, or he is a 4th outfielder.
I prefer Swisher to Nady. I guess we could get Swisher for Gorkys with 6 million in salary relief (2 each year). But I don’t think the Yankee fans would be as keen on that.
If Gorkys ever hits for power, then he might just realize his high ceiling–at which point he could probably play LF. Of course, thats a BIG IF….
Gorkys looks like a guy who won’t slug .400 on a regular basis. In other words, he’s only useful if he’s a centerfielder. And most people I’ve seen say that Schafer is the superior defensive player. Gorkys has more value to a team like the Yankees, that really doesn’t have a centerfielder (Melky, the only real CF on the roster, is now a .268 .329 .374 career hitter and declining) than to the Braves, who have lots of centerfield candidates but no corner outfielders to speak of.
Stu – the Nady thing only makes sense if we are actually trying to compete for next season. He’s a better hitter than both of our corner OF’s, and appears to be available. Swisher MAY be available, and would be my preference too, all things being equal. Nady would make sense only if A) he’s signigficantly cheaper than Swisher (or some other quality LHB) to acquire, and B) the team develops the balls to sit whichever of Diaz or Francouer is hitting worse.
Better hitter than Diaz? More power, maybe.
Now, if we’re talking about Right Field …
Swisher makes more sense because of his versatility and the fact that we could use him in a platoon with Kotchman and Diaz.
I’m really glad we didn’t get burnett, I can’t stand that guy.
I wouldn’t agree that Swisher is more versatile than Nady. Swisher isn’t really a centerfielder, and Nady has played 82 games at first base in the majors, plus three at third, his position in college.
I think both of them have value to our team. Nady could come cheaper via trade and wouldnt block anyone and you dont have to worry about his contract. He could also be a type A FA so we’ll likely get our value back from him.
Swisher would cost more via trade, but allows us to have a switch hitter in the cleanup spot. He’ll play better defense, can handle LF/RF/CF/1B, and is under control. We may have to worry about the back end of his contract if the economy doesnt turn around
both are better than in-house options, but what do you do with Diaz.
Agreed 81,
If you want Diaz to get ABs, then it makes more sense to get swisher, but Diaz aside Nady probably makes more sense from a trade and financial standpoint. Here’s what I like about swisher:
vs LHP.
L Anderson/Schafer/Blanco(whomever wins out in spring)
R Escobar
S Chipper
S Swisher(1B)
L McCann
R Diaz
L Johnson
R Francoeur
vs RHP
L Anderson/Schafer/Blanco(whomever wins out in spring)
R Escobar
S Jones
S Swisher(LF)
L McCann
R Francoeur
L Johnson
L Kotchman
New post. FYI, there is a Glavine press release out now.