Braves Rumors: Soriano, Gonzalez, Hudson

Pay Huddy whatever he wants, Give Roachie a 3 year deal, trade KJ & Lowe to the first bidder, bring back Gonzo...

...and last but not least - GET A F*CKING OF BAT!!!

Kelly Johnson and Derek Lowe to the Cubs for Milton Bradley and someone from the Cubs bullpen, maybe Caridad or Justin Berg?

Lowe and KJ for Bradley and Caridad?

I would do that even if we just take the 5/5/15 in salary relief and pawn Bradley off for as much as we can (salary or specs) and keep Caridad. Not sure Hendry would do that though.

I think Dan Uggla can be had for cheap, so let Roach let walk, trade for Uggla and move him to first. RH bat solved and we still keep the table-setter at the top of the lineup. Later, when Chipper retires, move Uggla to 3rd and the Freeman era begins at 1st. GO BRAVES!!!

Dye and Abreu on the corners = team ERA rise by at least 1.00.

I like the idea of Uggla though I'm not convinced he'll come cheap. I like him in LF or maybe 1B though he may not have the reach for 1B.

The reason I think he'll come cheap is the Marlin's cheap-@$$ owner isn't going to want to pay his arbitration order. His reach is a legit concern, but he could be both cheaper and more productive than LaRoche so I think it evens out (but I know FW prob doesn't).

I prefer the plan where we sign Laroche to 3 years and make an under the radar trade for an outfield bat. If Freeman is ready before Laroche's contract ends then trade Laroche for what we can get. Its the safest and possibly most productive plan. Plus it should leave some money for one of those relievers.

I like the idea of swapping Lowe for Bradley. If they can give him half a season to rebuild his value and be a good boy, then they could probably send him to a contender who's desperate for a bat. It would allow them to leave Heyward in AAA a little longer, and they could get out from under Lowe's salary. Plus when Bradley isn't a headcase, he's actually a pretty good hitter.

It'd be a risk for sure, but it sounds better than keeping Lowe around for 3/45. That's only gonna look worse over time

"OK what about Kawakami + prospect for Ben Zobrist?"

Zobrist led all AL position players in WAR, and emerged as a superstar this year.

Sorry, but Zobrist is pretty much untouchable.

"It'd be a risk for sure, but it sounds better than keeping Lowe around for 3/45. That's only gonna look worse over time"

I'm not sure.

His xFIP's were nasty from 2005-2008: 3.53, 3.80, 3.50 and 3.43

It jumped to 4.18 in 2009, but that's still above-average, and he's still worth close to $15M per when you factor in his durability and some likely improvement next year.

Lowe on a 3/45 deal certainly isn't ideal, but that's better than 2/24 on Perez.

before we go out and sign a big name closer, does anyone know just how far away Craig Kimbrel is from being ready to close? and if we sign 2 outfielders, what are we going to do if Jordan Schafer decides to find his stroke and starts killing AAA again? He is not done, he will become a very good MLB player, and i just hope its for the braves and not someone else

"before we go out and sign a big name closer, does anyone know just how far away Craig Kimbrel is from being ready to close?"

Kimbrel still has a ways to go. He's got electric stuff and ridiculous K numbers, but he walks too many guys at this point to be an effective MLB reliever.

"and if we sign 2 outfielders, what are we going to do if Jordan Schafer decides to find his stroke and starts killing AAA again? He is not done, he will become a very good MLB player, and i just hope its for the braves and not someone else"

The Braves won't acquire two outfielders, I'll almost guarantee it. They've got McLouth and Diaz in the majors now, with Heyward right around the corner and Schafer on the mend. Look for them to bring in one outfield bat, most likely a left fielder.

Maybe I'm the only one here, but I think not taking a serious look at Mike Cameron would be irresponsible, he hits for power and by putting him in CF you upgrade 2 positions defensively, and my guess is he could be had for 1 yr 8M or maybe 2/14, either way he's the most concrete performer your gonna find on the free agent market not named Holliday or Bay. I say get Cameron and swap Kelly for Delmon Young. If Young hits great then we can swap him for whatever need has emerged when Heyward is ready or if he doesn't all we gave up was a DFA candidate. Then trade Lowe for whatever salary relief you can get and offer arb to Gonzalez to bring down his price. If Gonzo accepts you have a good pitcher on a 1 yr 6M contract if he declines I can't see anyone paying more than 2/10 and a top draft pick. So we could have him fairly cheap either way. I'd really like to see a push made for Heath Bell, maybe with a trade built around Schafer, I don't know what it would take but Nick Masset would be an interesting target as well.

"before we go out and sign a big name closer, does anyone know just how far away Craig Kimbrel is from being ready to close"

Not very. He's got great stuff, but he has huge command issues, and he needs to work on that a lot before he'll even be ready to get a job in the majors, let alone close.

WS,

I think Moylan would be better suited for the set-up role with the Braves because of Bobby Cox. There were times with Soriano and Gonzalez when he'd put whoever the closer was on the mound in the ninth inning when they could have been better used in the eight (and the opposite is true as well). With Moylan as a set-up man he wouldn't have such a defined role and could come in to get out of jams, which he seems to be excellent at doing.

As for Dye, he wouldn't be my first, second, or even third choice for a LF. However if the trade market doesn't produce a bat at the price Wren is willing to spend, I believe he'd sign Dye because of his promise to get a right-handed power bat. In that scenario I'd prefer a McLouth-Schafer-Heyward outfield though.

Honestly, as long as he gets outs I'm not concerned with how many he strikes out or how overpowering he is. IMO, one of the main assets of a late-inning reliever should be the ability to keep the ball inside the ballpark. Moylan is one if the best at that, he was THE best last year. A late inning homerun, and the game could be lost. I know he's not the best option, but he should be given a shot. I don't think we need to focus on the bullpen situation too much, maybe add one closer and a middle relief type guy.

Bbxxj,

I don't think Moylan should close, but rather SU. I know I said something about him closing in my first post, but I would much rather see him come on in the 8th, and bring back Gonzo or Soriano to take care of the ninth. I think one more middle relief guy to take Moylan's spot if he were to move in the setup role is all we need. Someone unspectacular, not a Valverde or Wagner.

I dont want to spend huge money for a bat.... If we can trade Lowe or KK im all for it but i am very very against trading vasquez. Why cant we get a guy like Jake Fox who can play just as bad defense as GA did in left last year but can mash and give us the right handed bat we need???? Vasquez JJ Hanson Hudson and either Lowe or KK sounds pretty damn good to me. a full season with McClouth leading of will help and if we could add a RH bat like fox i think all the other moves needed would be minor. The only other thing i think we really need is 2 or 3 lefties available at any time in the bullpen and thats mostly for the phillies

"Oh lord! No way do we trade for Matt Joyce!"

Yes, way to put down his stats in like 40 PA with Tampa, ignoring his great numbers in AAA and his above -average performance in over 250
PA with Detroit in 2008.

Joyce could be a great, cheap acquisition for some team, but Tampa probably values him pretty nicely, as they dealt Edwin Jackson for him last year.

I'll be mad if he doesn't have an everyday job next year though, because he's earned one.

Matt Joyce? Jake Fox? Milton Bradley? If that ends being the best Wren can come up with, then he might as well squash it and stick with Schafer/Mclouth/Diaz. The Braves do not need stop gap players, they need a legit power hitter to put in between Chipper and McCann to get this team over the hump.

Really, I'm just getting tired of this half-*ssed “well if everything falls into place…IF this one produces…..IF that one produces….” philosophy Wren has when it comes to the offense. The Braves needs to go into next season with proven upgrades in some areas, not the usual "pray to God this player works out" improvements.

I'm not saying Wren needs to go hard after Holliday or Bay, but he can't go into another season signing Garret Anderson/Mark Kotsay type players and claiming that the offense is going to be "fine."

Homeofdabrave, with all do respect, you are wrong. That kind of brash thinking gave us the 3/45M contract we still owe an aging Derek Lowe. And if you don't want to go after Bay or Holliday and don't consider Fox an upgrade, then what the heck do you want, do you want to give up half the farm for someone in a Teixiera type trade, thats moronic, I'm sure you'll see that trade posted on this site in the next couple days in the "trades of the decade" list. The fact is our offense was more than adequate after adding McLouth and LaRoche and putting Prado in full time. Doing something extreme will only screw up the future. Cameron, Fox, LaRoche, DeRosa maybe even Dye are the options the braves SHOULD be looking at. We need a stopgap at first and in Left, and if Schafer gets traded maybe a long term solution in Left (meaning McLouth moving there not Schafer). The Garret Anderson signing was with out a doubt stupid, and the Kotsay move was idiotic, and they were both made because ownership wasn't willing to fork out a few million to sign better free agent options, but make no mistake I'd rather see them make a hundred of those mistakes than one more Teixiera trade or hamstring us with a Wells esque aberration on our payroll. Also comparing Fox and Joyce to Kotsay and Anderson isn't very inteligent either, niether appear to be future superstars, but either could be solid contributors and they are both young (well youngish in Fox's case) and cost controlled.

"I agree the "Oh lord! No way do we trade for Matt Joyce!" comment was a little extreme, but an .855 OPS in AAA is hardly a guarantee of major success, but mostly the fact that he as well as all of our other top level prospects is a left hander makes me think he won't be on Atlanta's wish list. He definitely deserves a shot somewhere, but I don't see it being Atlanta or Tampa that gives it to him"

Joyce didn't come out of nowhere to post that .855 OPS though.

Not only did he show a developed approach at the plate in AAA, posted great BB/K numbers, but he also posted a .252/.339/.492 line in 277 plate appearances with Detroit in 2008, so this is a guy who's continued to thrive in AAA after playing quite well in the majors in 2008.

You can think what you want, but when I look at Matt Joyce, I see a very talented young outfielder that just needs a shot to emerge.

Every single team with a hole in their outfield should be taking a look at Joyce.

I like the idea of acquiring B.J. Upton from the Rays. He has declined considerably the past two years since OPSing nearly .900 in 2007 -- when he was only 22. He is due a raise through arbitration and the Rays are considering offers. The Braves could use an upgrade in outfield defense anyway, Upton plays a better CF than McLouth, who I feel is better suited to left field. I know they want a big righty bat to put behind chip for protection, but if we keep LaRoche and he performs well all year we might not need anything else. Also, I would move chipper to cleanup.

And to the guy who suggested a 2010 outfield of G. Anderson, McLouth and Bobby Abreu -- that would be the worst defensive outfield in the history of the Braves. And also they're all left handed. The Braves need righties.

I hate to break it to you bravesac, but the only way the Rangers consider that trade is if we eat Lowe's entire contract. They are seriously strapped for cash, they have talented pitching prospects, and therefore aren't about to spend big on pitching. I'd love to have Cruz, but I can't imagine him being worth 15M a year plus his arb numbers. At best Texas would eat maybe 5M a year, and that would involve Wren actually admiting he botched the Lowe signing only 25% of the way into the contract.

Personally, I don't think there is any way that we can speculate on who that power hitting outfielder will be. I believe that Wren will address this need with someone who is not too old, who can play some defense, and won't cost much--which discounts just about every free agent.

I think we will all be pleasantly surprised at who it turns out to be. Wren has already shown--other than with Lowe (but he was kinda backed into that one unfortunately)--that he can make sound decisions. Our staff may have turned out a bit better than we all expected. We had a huge need for decent starters who could be relied on not to break down. Pretty remarkable taking an almost ZERO staff in 2008 into one that was one of the best this past season. You don't often see teams pick up 3 effective starters in an off season then get another one via injured list. Let's just see if he can turn around the offense.

If you ask me, I think we not only need a power hitter in LF but we also need someone who can bat lead off. Having two guys at SS and 2B which are prime positions for speed who can't run worth a darn is not good. I'd like to see an upgrade here.

Since we are likely to lose one of Soriano or Gonzo, I'd like to see the team pick up a decent middle reliever. Every one of our relief pitchers is limited to same side batters. Odd that Moylan took a step back since he was effective with both RH and LH in '07. Maybe he'll come back and will serve as an effective part time closer with Gonzo or Soriano. It's possible that his arm is still not 100% up to this point. Gonzo's wasn't until 2 years out.