Chipper Wants To Stay With Braves

Glad to hear this. This was really the only reason I got mad at Wren for not signing smoltz, since it made Chip mad.

hearing that he wants to come back is good to hear

I really don't think we gonna be that far behind barring injuries. It goin to be a good season if you ask me

Then sign the man already. Heck give him the key to the city if you have to.

Not to be cynical, but I wonder if Smoltz said the same thing last year.

I have never been a Braves fan, but I can still admire a player like Chipper. He is one of the greatest hitters of this generation and seems like a great guy. Not to mention his defense! Probably the greatest switch hitter of all time. Good luck Braves fans. If you change your mind Chipper I'm sure we can find a spot for you in LA!

"Probably the greatest switch hitter of all time."

Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray might want a word with you.

andruw jones is a bum no need for any team to sign him.

Sign Chipper. The dude is more productive in 124 games than most are in 162.

"Probably the greatest switch hitter of all time."

Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray might want a word with you.

Posted by: AA | January 23, 2009 at 04:08 PM

Chipper has them both in average and has Murray in OBP and SLG. He has a chance to at least make it close to both of them as far as HR and will never never get close to their SO totals.

Add all this up and I think he makes a legit case for best switch hitter of all time. If you just want a hit out of those three, Chipper is the most likely to do that.

Raymond - Yeah I can't agree with you there. He is getting older, but check out his BAs the last 3 years....324,.337,.364. He doesn't have the power that he used to, but he's as good a hitter if not better than he's ever been. 2nd best hitter in baseball behind Pujols in my book.

Raymond he just won a batting title... plus we have no one to replace him as of yet. true we could get one thru trade, or free agency but there is a problem with that. we will have to give something up for that 3b from trade and we don't know if a team will be looking to unload one for what we willing to give up

and here is the 3b free agent list for 10
Adrian Beltre (31)
Geoff Blum (37)
Aaron Boone (37)
Pedro Feliz (35) - $5MM club option with a $500K buyout
Chone Figgins (32)
Troy Glaus (33)
Chipper Jones (38)
Mike Lamb (34)
Melvin Mora (38) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout
Pablo Ozuna (35)
Robb Quinlan (33)

now they all only a few years younger than chip beltre being the youngest at 31. now how much will we have to pay for one of these guys? personally I think I'd take Chipper over most names on here. just my opinion.

As far as switch hitters go I didn't look up the stats just going off my opinion and memory (which I know are not considered reliable sources). Maybe should have said "arguably the greatest switch hitter of all time."

cutme... yeah, Chipper's in the conversation for best SH of all time. I really don't think his numbers will ever overtake the Mick. I do think he's got the potential to be considered "better" than Murray, but there are a lot of ways to decide that, so who knows?

But as a switch-hitter and a third-baseman... pretty amazing what he's done already, and where his career numbers might end up.

Raymond - Yeah I can't agree with you there. He is getting older, but check out his BAs the last 3 years....324,.337,.364. He doesn't have the power that he used to, but he's as good a hitter if not better than he's ever been. 2nd best hitter in baseball behind Pujols in my book.

Posted by: paulyicecubes | January 23, 2009 at 04:33 PM

I wouldn't go so far as to say he doesn't have the power he used to. His last three SLG totals have been .596, .604, .574...the only two times he's done better than that are when he won the MVP back in 1999 and in 2001 when he arguably should have won the MVP. The fact that he put up his highest OPS+ ever last season at the age of 37 is just one of many reasons why I would be willing to...well, I'll stop myself there. I do agree with you that he's the 2nd best hitter in baseball behind Pujols.

give him 3/40 extension. then next year, they should trade kotchman or move him to the bench, move chipper to first and bring in adrian beltre (great glove, so-so streaky bat, some speed). that move to first could also let him play an extra 2-3 years, so if he moved now he might get 5 more solid years in.

Mickey also did that when the league average slugging was like .393

Chipper is arguably the 2nd best switcher hitter of all time (hard to say right now as the last few years of Murray's career hurt his overall avg/obp/slg) but there is no argument over THE best, it's Mantle, hands down.

Agree with the post suggesting the switch to first. That being said we do have an excellent prospect in Freddie Freeman, who by the way had better numbers than Heyward. I love Chipper and the free agent third baseman market will be slim, but can the Braves with this glut of talent coming up give that kind of money for 100-130 games.

give him 3/40 extension. then next year, they should trade kotchman or move him to the bench, move chipper to first and bring in adrian beltre (great glove, so-so streaky bat, some speed). that move to first could also let him play an extra 2-3 years, so if he moved now he might get 5 more solid years in.

Posted by: dudeman | January 23, 2009 at 05:12 PM

Chipper's said several times that playing 1B would be harder on his legs/feet than playing the hot corner.

just saying ,there's life after Chipper,yea your right there is nobody to replace him,because we keep trading the farm to get other allstar players that wont stay,Tex,Sheff etc.........

I mean yea we have a few guys in the minors with power that could replace chipper if they continue to develop Eric Campbell is solid and Brandon Hicks can move to 3rd since he is blocked by Escobar.

Even still though i would love to have Chipper for a few more years. just give the guy a 3 year contract. to make the best out of the investment just make them all incentive based.

something like 7mil base salary with another 8 mil in incentives based on games started/plate appearances/ days on the active roster etc.

and as far as his power numbers go the guy has power he just doesnt use it. he already talked about how he used to swing for the fence on every pitch kinda like an adam dunn and he started hitting to the gaps more just to be a better all around hitter. if he wanted to he could still knock some out of the park but its not needed with the addition of a true cleanup hitter his 20+HR's a year are just perfect.

This topic compelled me to post for the first time on this site.

Frank Wren really needs to get this done soon(resigning Chipper). For all of the reasons stated above, no replacement in minors(or free agency for that matter), he's had some of his best seasons recently and last but not least it would be a crime not to give him the opportunity to retire a Brave.

Sentimentality aside, this really needs to get done...

that is the ages of the players after this season. in april he is 37.

You've heard it first. If the Braves trade Chipper or don't resign him, I will NEVER watch another Braves game again. In fact, I will NEVER cheer for the Braves again. The way that fucktard Frank Wren is, I won't be a Bravesfan for long!