Atlanta Braves: What if… the Braves HADN’T given up on pitchers like Wainwright, Marquis and Millwood?
From the Braves Vent …
“Millwood, Wainwright, Marquis 16 games over .500 this year. Kawakami, Vazquez, Lowe 3 games over .500 this year. Love the way we trade the bad pitchers.” and “The Cardinals have 16 game winner Adam Wainwright and the Braves have memories of overpaid J.D. Drew.”
YOU TELL US: While hindsight is always 20/20, how do YOU think the Braves’ history of trades and offseason dealings — especially regarding pitchers at both the major and minor league levels — has come to impact the club? Are the Braves less interested in cultivating young arms than in going after offense? Which would YOU rather have?
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62 comments Add your comment
taxman kenneth
August 31st, 2009
7:32 pm
The trade for JD Drew was a bum trade. The braves gave up entirely too much for him. With Adam and Jason on the team that is 30 more games won and where would the braves be with that many more games won. JD was a rental l ike Tex was and the trade for Tex will go down as the most lopsided trade in history and the JD trade was about as bad. I agree that neither of these pitchers might not win as many games with the braves with no offense but with pitchers this good the other teams won’t score as many runs either so that would help. I think both trades stunk to the core and the braves will pay for it for a long time to come.
taxman kenneth
August 31st, 2009
7:39 pm
Management knew in advance that they could not keep either JD or Tex after one year. The money just was not there for that to happen and they knew when they made the bum trades that it was a 99% chance that both would be rentals for one year. JD even jumped ship from the Dodgers for more money and Tex can say what he wants to but GREED put him in a NY uniform. They are only interested in the millions they can get out of a team. There is no loyalty anymore in baseball and the Yankees and the Mets have ruined baseball and I am glad the Mets are paying for it and the Yankees will too down the road. Watch and see. Look at what is happening to the Mets with all those long term players.
Coach (2010 or Bust)
August 31st, 2009
7:39 pm
The moment I heard about the Wainwright/Marquis trade for J.D. Drew, I felt the distinct urge to vomit. My gut was right.
Wainwright and Marquis have a combined record of 122-87 with an ERA of 3.99 since leaving the Braves. Wainwright won a WS ring with the 2006 Cardinals.
J.D. Drew hit .305 with 31 HR’s and 93 RBI with the Braves in one season. We got one of those metal division placards in the outfield and were promptly ousted from the playoffs.
Anybody in baseball with half a brain will agree that pitching is the number ONE commodity in the game. Outfielders are by far the easiest position players to replace, especially corner OF’ers. This is and remains the most lopsided trade in the entire history ( Teixeira notwithstanding) of the Braves.
Kevin Millwood was a contract dump due the unexpected surprise of Greg Maddux excepting salary arbitration. Ownership was solely to blame.
taxman kenneth
August 31st, 2009
7:40 pm
Enter your comments here
Caleb
August 31st, 2009
9:05 pm
how about giving up on Greg Norton? Why is Kelly Johnson or Brooks Conrad not pinch-hitting?
George Deuel
August 31st, 2009
9:41 pm
Your comment: Kawakami, Vazquez, Lowe 3 games over .500 this year. My comment: With average run support they would be 20 games over .500 this year.
Braves above .500?
August 31st, 2009
11:19 pm
All I keep hearing from this blog is how our pitchers would have Wainright numbers if we had an offense like the Cardinals. What offense?? Look at the numbers…As of tonight the Braves have scored 596 runs to the Cards 586. Opponents have scored 528 against us, 514 against the Cardinals. Run differential: Braves +68 Cardinals +72. Team Batting average: Braves .266 Cardinals .259.
We’ve had good trades and bad trades…EVERY TEAM HAS. JS gives us 15 incredible years on top and now that we’re three years removed from the playoffs he was buffoon? Incredible. Typical armchair managers and GMs. How many Cub fans would give their right arm to have the kind of history we’ve had since ‘91?
Decatur 4 Life
September 1st, 2009
9:05 am
They should’ve traded Bobby Cox then, he cost us the first World Series. He and Lonnie Smith
Batcork
September 1st, 2009
3:40 pm
Fisher for Cerone
Matthews for Walk
Butler, Jacoby, Behenna for Barker
As bad as some of the Braves moves lately may have been, they don’t hold a candle to those blasts from the past.
BRAD
September 2nd, 2009
3:22 pm
With the addition of Hudson, the Braves have the best rotation top to bottom in baseball. Hell, they dont know who to send to the bullpen. 6 very good starters. Escobar will be the SS for years to come, so how was Andrus gonna play? Salty is no where near the level on McCann. Feliz throws 100, but why is he not in the majors on a team fighting for the wild card spot?!? They took a chance with Tex, but didnt have the pitching. Much rather have GMs that want to win, than GMs that sit on their “prospects”.
slow roller
September 2nd, 2009
6:06 pm
Geez!!! I cringe everytime someone mentions Lonnie Smith…..what a base running genius he was. He could hit great, but boy what a terrible baserunner…cost us the series. And what a bunch of cheaters the Twins were that year. Who was their firstbaseman? I hate that guy. And, I still hate the Twins.
Channel 17
September 3rd, 2009
5:29 pm
As I remember it, the Phillies gave Millwood crazy money and the Braves could not pay him ace money when he was a fourth starter. On Marquis, look at his ERA for the years between the time he left and this year. I think it was over 7 last year. Wainswright is the only one that could be considered a bad trade, but as I remeber Drew had 30/100 season which if the Braves had someone like that now, they would be leading the wild card. On another note, where would Andrus and Salty be playing? Please let the Texas trade go people.