Odds and Ends: Gallardo, NPB, Braves

How about Roy Oswalt or Aaron Harrang for Kelly Johnson, Brent Lillibridge, Jo Jo Reyes, Heyward, and a low level prospect with the Astros eating some of Oswalt's salary this year. I know a lot of Braves fans will rip me for how much would be given up in my proposal but starting pitching, especially when an ace under contract is in the discussion is very valuable. Just see what the DBacks gave up for Haren. And last I checked the DBacks were doing pretty good. The Braves new lineup would be:

Blanco
Escobar
Chipper
Texeira
Mccann
Francoeur
Kotsay
Prado
Rotation: Hudson, Harang/Oswalt, Jurrjens, Glavine, Bennett/Reyes/James/Hampton
Bullpen by the end of May: Smoltz, Soriano, Gonzalez, Boyer, Acosta, Campillo, Ohman

First off Scribe is correct...

Second off, Neither Pitcher is anywhere close to being worth that bounty....

Third off, the best target is Millwood, he probably will cost the least in both money, and more importantly, in prospects....

If Wren wants to make a move in which he does not have to wait till the All-Star Break, why not go after Jackson from the Rays

Harang makes 6.5 million this season and Millwood makes 8.5 and he's younger and a better pitcher. The Braves are probably going to have to acquire a number 1 or 2 pitcher next season to replace Smoltz and Glavine's production so they might as well take care of that right now while also filling a void to get an innings eater. Harang fits the bill as a legit number 2 who can eat innings, and has a reasonable salary. Yes it would take several good prospects but as we saw with the Renteria deal trading a productive major leaguer that plays a postion that the club has depth at can easily restock the farm system. Lets say 2 years from now that Heyward, Schaeffer, and Gorkys' Hernandez all prove that they are legit then the Braves could see Francoeur as expendable and then ship him off for 2 or 3 top prospects to restock the system. This is of course if the Braves elected to give up several prospects in order to fill a rotation spot

Umm..this build your bobblehead link is awesome.

hmm...I postred this in the other "griffey, dunn" post, but I'll post it here since I doubt anyone we'll see the other one (considering i just posted it...been on vay-K) If Dunn and Griffey are traded, even kinda soon....and ____ is not signed....then obviously you got Bruce to call up...but then could u see the reds signing bonds to some small deal??? I can...w/ the dusty connection, and cincy having a background of cheaters..I see it as a possibility

Too bad you can't download those bobbleheads as a moving .gif picture file.

"Lets say 2 years from now that Heyward, Schaeffer, and Gorkys' Hernandez all prove that they are legit then the Braves could see Francoeur as expendable and then ship him off for 2 or 3 top prospects to restock the system. This is of course if the Braves elected to give up several prospects in order to fill a rotation spot"

Remember what organization you're talking about. Francoeur is a home-grown talent & the Braves are loyal to their players (especially ones drafted & from the GA area). I'd be shocked if Francoeur ever got traded.

Ugh, Mike Hampton. He won't have an option to retire because he's not going to get a contract. Good riddance.

As for Oswalt/Harang, I really don't see either team giving them up. Arroyo MAYBE, but not Harang. I'm not going to even speculate on how much it would cost.

"...Wonder where Rocker is…"

Roid raging on the season finale of Pros vs Joes.

I've emailed Tim with this one, so here's a name for you Braves' fans to consider . . . Joe Blanton. Right now, he's 2-5, but he's had some hard luck this year, as his ERA is right around 4, and he threw 230 innings last year. I think, and I welcome opinions on this, that Frank Wren will try for Blanton, and land him at the deadline. It may very well cost one or two stud pitching prospects of the Braves (they've got one in A ball), but I can see this happening--and the Braves dueling the Mets for the division and wild card. If this happens, the Phillies can pretty much start building for next year, IMO.

I didn't see his name here--so I figured I'd throw it out there. It's been a while since I looked in. With Blanton in the rotation and Smoltz in the pen closing, the Braves are going to be tough.

If I'm just stating the obvious, well, . . . that one's on me. Things happen. Other than the stud at A ball (the name escapes me at the moment), who else would Wren offer? I'm certain that Pat Gillick has a package, too.

Blanton is the "hard luck" pitcher on that staff.

I don't think that the Yankees will get into the pitching market, because Brian Cashman's whole rationale in the offseason was to "stick with the kids," and not trade them away to Minnesota for Johan. For the Yankees to abandon that strategy now would end Cashman's career in the Bronx, because it would be an admission that the strategy was wrong all along.

There was a thread on the board about the Braves scouting the Cardinals, a couple of days ago. I'm sure that the asking price for Anthony Reyes would be a lot less than either Blanton or Millwood.