Braves Sign Scott Proctor

Geez, Seeing him pitch with the yankees and dodgers made me throw up....WHY?!?!?!?!

I don't really understand this move????

this is gonna be like the Tony Armas Jr. thing, prolly just gonna send him to the minors to rehab and be a possibility later in the year if we need bullpen help

and keep any matches or lighters away from him, he has a pyromaniac background

He had some good years with the Yankees. Like he said, this is a low-risk signing; no big deal. He will absolutely not be used to replace Soriano or even Mike G., nor could he.

Oakland has a surplus of relievers

RHP: bailey/devine (if healthy)/ziegler/wuertz/gray/casilla/hrod/brown

LHP: blevins/kilby/breslow/marshall

So maybe a trade can happen

MPM, because the world series is boring.

This move has little financial impact on the Braves and could pay off in the long run, so good for them.

Folks, all this is is a depth signing. We are taking a chance on a guy who had success in the past...If it works out, and proctor can be a reliable piece of the pen, savvy move for us getting a lot of bang for our buck. If he does not work out, then nothing is lost. We have done this a lot in recent years, Tanyon Sturtze, John Halama, Arams Jr., Rodrigo lopez. Yea, none of those moves worked out, but they also did not make any negative impact either. I do know the braves have had interest in Proctor for awhile, as he was mentioned as a trade target for us back in his Yankee Days. I say its a good idea to roll the dice on a few more bullpen pitchers whom have had success in the past but are coming off injuries...if you sign 2 or 3 of these projects, good chance at least one will work out.

Good Point BF91, and I also like the Oakland A's as a trade partner idea...could see a nice swap there. Maybe one of those pieces for matt young, but Double B probably has a the speedy, light-hitting OFs he needs.

Funny to see fans get worked up over these types of signings. It's not like the headline read "Braves Sign Scott Proctor to Three-year Deal: Cox Says He'll Close".

We're just responding to the article which includes the sentence "the Braves may need to accumulate relievers in the event Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez both depart via free agency." While the Braves will certainly need to make some kind of move(s) to replace Gonzo and Rafe, Proctor won't be one of them. He's filler not a candidate to close.

To go along with Ron, if Proctor does come along and winds up pitching well enough to be considered a reliable late-inning option, this filler move worked out beautifully.

ok im as big a braves fan as anybody but seriously....those people who are all about signing capps, you cant talk about how he can bounce back cause it is "just one bad year" and then want to trade Lowe because "it was the worst year of his career". Seriously, Capps is a one pitch pitcher who closed for a crappy team and honestly didnt do it that well. Lowe had a OBA that was 50 points higher than an average season for him and a jump like that usually doesnt happen and i think it can be contributed to a braves defense that didnt get to many balls outside of their zones, especially at the corner outfield spots. If your worst year as a starter is a 15 win season, no matter what the circumstances thats what you want from your pitchers is a chance to win. Im not saying that im against capps either (although i think we could do much better), and i do hope we can trade Lowe because for 4 years 60 mil i didnt want him last year anyways, im just saying you cant use the excuse to go FOR one player and go AGAINST another. If you dont like somebody thats fine but if you arent gonna admit it, atleast use valid points as to why you want to get rid of him.

"you cant talk about how he can bounce back cause it is "just one bad year" and then want to trade Lowe because "it was the worst year of his career" -asajr

Sure we can. The difference is all in the level of risk. Lowe's sudden decline would be a huge blow to a mid market team. Sure, he might bounce back, just like Capps might. But if he doesn't, we're in big trouble.

If the Braves had just signed Capps for 60 million, I'm sure the emphasis would not be on him possibly bouncing back. We'd be furious.

See?

OK seriously, say Lowe doesnt bounce back and we still have him after trading vasquez. we have a rotation of JJ hanson hudson KK and Lowe. Say Lowe is our 5th starter. 15 mil is a lot of money for anybody besides an ace. But JJ and Hanson are both getting paid ridiculously low salaries for being potentially our top two starters so i say that it balances out if worst comes to worst and we cant keep him. if this past season was a sign of things to come....10-12wins from a 4th or 5th starter is more than acceptable. Im not saying that Lowe is a stud or desrves to be free from any kinda blame. But who wouldnt sign a contract like that. If you want to blame anybody blame Wren or blame the fans who just wanted us to sign anybody after whiffing on so many other names. If somebody takes on Lowes contract, we will either have to eat a lot of it or take on another bad contract back. If thats the case ill keep Lowe and his 12 wins based on the fact that the top of rotation is so cheap. Every team has bad contracts. If our bad contracts are Lowe at 15 mil per giving us double digit wins and Chip at about 14 mil a year (with no pop, i dont understand why nobody is bringing up Chips contract), id say we are doing better than most teams considering some of the other cheap talent we've got and have coming. Pretty much Braves fans need to take a step back and breathe and realize it really isnt that bad.

It's true that if you think of Lowe + Hanson + Jurrjens as 16 million dollar worth of pitching, it seems possible to absorb Lowe's decline.

But if your objection is to folks being okay with a low-risk contract based on the idea that the player might rebound, but not willing to take the same attitude with Lowe, surely you can see the difference.

I, too, think that keeping Lowe is a decent idea, unless some crazy GM will absorb 12 million per... and throw us a minor leaguer.

MPM - (November 4, 2009 11:31 AM EST)

"Why are transactions being reported during the World Series."

It hasn't been announced by the Braves or MLB or officially announced in any capacity. This is simply Proctor's agent flapping his jaw to a newspaper and the newspaper spitting it back out. And MLB has nothing (and can't legally have anything) to do with what the newspapers say.

I'm glad the Braves aren't distracted enough by signing a big bat and fixing the rotation to focus on the bullpen issues. Scott Proctor is a cheap risk worth taking. You have the possibility of a workhorse being able to fill in middle innings and pitch the occasional 7th or 8th. And the Braves aren't novices when it comes to dealing with pitchers with arm troubles (Soriano, Gonzalez, Moylan, anyone?). Gonzalez and Moylan's IP's were WAY up there too. Like many of you said, it's a really low risk signing that if it doesn't pan out-- then oh well. Hopefully Wren re-signs Gonzalez and looks into the trade market for a cheap closer replacement for Soriano. Capps is a good idea and shouldn't command that much. I hope ATL finds someone that will be around for years to come whether it is on the market or in-house. The Braves have been playing it year by year for too long and need some chemistry back there. With Heyward coming up and guys like Hanson, Jurrjens, Escobar, McCann, and McLouth around for awhile, this team is incredible to build around.

"He'll probably need all of April in the minors, meaning the Braves could retain Proctor for 2011 as an arbitration-eligible player if he has a successful '09 campaign."

---'10

This is good. Its a depth signing is all and it gives us a pretty decent arm to go in the BP. If he could get back into form he would be like a 3.8 ERA kinda guy. His only problem is walks.

For that reason he will prob be middle relief. I also like that with this we could possibly put Medlen back in the Minors as a starter upon calling up Proctor.

As far as Matt Capps goes what do we trade? It would be nice to have him in our BP but he would require a nice piece in a trade that we cant really afford to give up.

If we are trading we need to focus on a bat. However IF we end up going after a cheaper FA option like Nady then we should focus on dealing Lowe for salary relief to be able to retain Soriano.

Gonzo is to dramatic as a closer for me lol. Never makes it look easy

Capps actually seems like a fairly solid option. He's only going to cost around 3 million for next season, the Pirates cannot realistically ask for much back in a trade, and his stuggles last year can be mainly explained by a rather unlucky ~.370 BABIP, 71 points above career avg, while actually lowering LD%. He also posted his highest walk total, and I'd be willing to bet that stands as the anamoly going forwards not the new baseline for capps. If these numbers return to normal, Capps should and would return to the ~3.00 ERA pitcher he was in 08

a low risk deal got to love them

i love kimbrel but i dont want to rush him the way we did devine.....