Odds and Ends: Smoltz, Crede, Burnett

Oh yeah. Jeff Marquez apparantly reminds scouts of Jon Garland. Yeah, the Sox got better long term, when you realize that Garland is not a good pitcher.

And I actually like South Side Sox's comp system.

Poor O-Dog signs for just over $3 million guaranteed when he could have had $24 million. At least he and new teammate Randy Wolf can now argue who is this generation's Jody Reed.

This is from the O'Brien article on Burnett:

"I knew ahead of time where I wanted to go," Burnett said, "or at least I had a pretty good idea."

Funny, there were reports out of the Winter Meetings that the Braves were really confident about signing him.

It certainly looks like with the new regime the Braves were the popular choice for driving up the price of free agents.

"Wasnt O-dog looking for 4/50 or something like that?"

Yeah, he was, but it even when that first came out, it seemed absurd to most people. Obviously the DBacks felt that way too.

sox07, does he really deserve another chance?
to make a comparison... your 09 sox have jeff bailey and john van every that are both about the same age as mcpherson... id personally say they both had better OVERALL 2008 seasons than mcpherson did. you dont think they wouldnt kill to have played in 100 mlb games by now?
128 games is a pretty good example of what kind of a player youre going to be.. ecspecially over 4 different seasons considering he was probably called up HOT.

he's going to get another chance because of the team he plays for... but not because he deserves it. the sox version of chris carter and the two i mentioned before are bigger victims of not enough opportunities to shine than mcpherson is.
sympathize with them...

""I'm not going to make any qualms about it," McPherson said. "I'm here to win a starting job. Being in the big leagues and coming off the bench to help a team is better than being in Triple-A. Making this club is the number one goal, but make no doubt about it, I'm here to win a [starting] job. I want 500 at-bats.""

I don't see where he said he deserves to have a starting job. Actually, it seems like he said all the right things about playing from the bench if need be but still being hungry for more. Isn't that what you'd want to hear from him? Would you rather he say he doesn't deserve to be there? I think you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Bailey has been good for one year of his minor league career while McPherson has raked at every stop except The Show. There's a difference. Van Every's never topped a .881 OPS at AAA. I'm sure there are better comparisons than those out there though.

elmedius I guess thats true. I guess what I'm saying is I never have been that convinced of Mcpherson, but maybe he has somethin left that we havent seen yet. anyways...can't hurt to atleast throw him on the bench. 42 homers is 42 homers in my book

wright is my boy,

Clearly you're a Mets fan that doesn't like the Braves, but come on man. First, you seem to insult the Braves for trying to convince players to take less money to play for them by using creative methods (i.e. Alan Jackson's song)...Not every GM has the freedom of an Omar Minaya when it comes to offering free agents contracts. Second, Lowe's only signed until he's 39 and he's coming off of 4 straight years of good #2 to adequate #1 production, with last year being the 2nd best of his career. He's clearly a far superior pitcher to Oliver Perez and has actually proven that he can be worth his new salary over the course of his career. As a starter, Lowe has been worth over 15 MM (his salary) 3 times, has never been worth less than 9 MM, and has an average value of over 14 MM. Compare that to Perez, who has been worth over 12 MM (his salary) just once...in fact he's been worth over 9 MM just once. Did I mention he has 2 years with negative value and an average value under 5 MM over the past 5 years? You're right though, it was Lowe that robbed the Braves.

Now, since you clearly don't understand the Braves plan to get younger, let me try and explain it slowly to you. The Braves are planning on using their own prospects to fill their long term holes. While they may not be ready yet, they have a bunch of guys who should be ready to contribute within the next year or two. At that point, you will see older short term fixes like Garret Anderson, Diaz, Glavine, and Vazquez replaced by the younger prospects from the Braves system. This would not have been possible if the Braves emptied their systems to trade for a guy like Peavy.

You really want to hear a fan's take on what the Braves have become? How have they changed? They have rarely ever relied on free agency (this year was an exception) and have always tried to develop their own talent. That's exactly what they are doing now by refusing to trade young prospects for a guy like Peavy when they can get Lowe for similar money without any cost in terms of prospects.

Oh. Jake Peavy is an injury risk.

nixa... wright is my boy is 11 years old and doesn't even know what the minor leagues are. Don't mind him.