Heyman On Teixeira, Melvin

As a Ranger fan, I can't thank Teixeira enough for turning down our extension offer!!!

Am I the only one who thinks the Braves farm system is overrated? It's really bottom-heavy IMO and that just is more risk that they don't pan out.

"Am I the only one who thinks John Heyman is overrated?"

Nope. Heyman is a bum

"This says a lot about the Braves farm system. They currently have a top 5 system shortly after emptying the cupboard for Tex."

Agreed. I think they're up there with the Twins and Angels as an organization that consistently develops talent.

Sure, venn177, the Twins system doesn't have many success stories of power hitters. But considering the premium for young pitching talent, I'll take that as the priority.

I'd be curious to see the hard numbers, but I'd be willing to bet it's easier to acquire a 27-yr old hitter than a 27-yr old pitcher of equal relative talent.

While the Rangers did get a lot for Tex, I don't think it was the steal of the century or something. If I recall correctly, the Angels had offered Wood, Adenhart, Saunders then one of Weaver or Santana. I think that would have been the trade to accept and Texas would have come out on top last year with a solid pitching rotation and would be set for years to come, instead of forever chasing the Angels.

I think it's a bit premature to congratulate Daniels and the Rangers on their haul. Has one of those guys accomplished anything yet? They may get 1 or even 2 all-stars out of it, but let's wait and see.

Where WasianCU was that trade offered to the Rangers? All the Angel offers I saw for Teix were dramatically underwhelming.

Oops or Jered Weaver for that matter.

At this point Saunders is better than any of the guys from Atlanta. Cheap, young, controllable lefty sporting an ERA under 3.

That's not to say that the Atlanta haul might be better over time. However, in the past 1+ years the Rangers would have been much better off doing the Angels deal.

I am a Braves fan and I think our farm system is somewhat over-rated. But we're not bottom heavy by any means. Heyward, Freeman, Hanson, and Gorkys are as good of a top 4 as you'll find anywhere in baseball (except maybe Texas, San Francisco, and Tampa).

"At this point Saunders is better than any of the guys from Atlanta. Cheap, young, controllable lefty sporting an ERA under 3."

Have you ever heard of the term "luck"?

I know that Saunders has posted great ERA's in nearly 250 innings now.

Opponents' BABIP versus Saunders in 2008: .267

And their BABIP's against him this year: .249

Saunders would have a substantially higher ERA if balls were dropping in for hits at a normal rate.

He's still doing this while striking out less than five batters per nine innings, and a good but not great GB/FB ratio.

Everything about his performance just screams REGRESSION over the course of this season, unless Saunders has figured out something about pitching that nobody has never realized.

Texas definitely came out ahead, but Atlanta didn't lose as much as people seem to think. Andrus and Salty would've been blocked by superior players (Escobar and McCann) for years. Feliz hurts, and so does Harrison to a degree. But the emergence of Hanson and Medlen softens the blow. Wish it would've been JoJo Reyes instead of Harrison, but...

Anyhoo, the point is that Salty and Andrus were never going to be anything other than trade chips for Atlanta, and how much better could they have done than 1-1/2 years of Teixeira? He was awesome that second half of 2007. Granted, he only stuck for a year, but they got back Kotchman for a lot of years and Marek. The Angels lost big-time on that end. Kotchman's been awesome this year.

It's called SAC.

Another complete game winner from Harrison.