As Braves talk trade (Pence?), Ross says ‘We need a piece’
Teams like the aggressive Hunter Pence (sliding) but Phillies may have an edge on Braves.
Good morning. No trades yet.
The pursuit of Houston outfielder Hunter Pence by several teams, including the Braves and Philadelphia, is what’s creating a logjam in the trade market, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. From his latest blog (which requires an Insider subscription).
… It is clear that right now, [Pence] has the greatest market value of any available player. The Astros’ initial instinct seemed to be to play conservative and hang onto him, but they probably will never again get the kind of offers they’re getting for Pence — the Phillies’ package of pitcher Jarred Cosart and first baseman Jonathan Singleton, or Atlanta’s offer, which presumably includes young pitchers they would not consider trading for Carlos Beltran. For the Braves, the stakes are high, because they already are faced with a postseason in which they may have to face Beltran, and now their most prominent division rival appears to be the front-runner to get Pence.
… [Pence] does not fit the profile of an elite offensive player, with his unorthodox swing and playing style. But he’s a good player greatly respected for how hard he plays, and unlike Beltran — a pure rental — the team that acquires Pence could have him for the next two years and beyond. He’s the type of player the Phillies could use now; he’s the type of player the Braves could use now.
… At some point, the rest of the dominoes behind Pence will fall: Ryan Ludwick, perhaps to Cleveland or Atlanta; Coco Crisp, maybe to the Braves; Carlos Quentin, perhaps if somebody will pay to pry him away from the White Sox, although Kenny Williams wakes up today just three games out in a very, very winnable division.
You know where I stand: general manager Frank Wren would be playing a dangerous game if he did nothing of significance.
I spoke to Braves catcher David Ross after Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Pirates and he did nothing to hide his belief that the Braves need help. The team’s run totals in the last six games are 2-3-1-4-2-2.
From Ross: “I think we all know we need a piece. I don’t think we’re desperate for a piece. But another presence in the lineup would be nice. Especially being as left-handed heavy as we are, a right handed bat [is needed]. [We hear] the rumors. Wren hasn’t actually talked to me. He’s not really blowing up my phone, asking my opinion.”
Chipper Jones acknowledged the team could use another bat but he cautioned against players being distracted by the trade talk.
“I’m confident that we’ll do something,” he said. “What it is? I don’t know. To what magnitude? I don’t know. I’m pretty confident we’ll better our ballclub in the next couple of days. But the guys in here need to worry about the Florida Marlins [the next opponent]. And we’re confident we can win games with what we’ve got. So everybody’s kind of been instructed to stay tunneled in on what our goal is every day and not worry about Frank Wren’s job.”
When asked if he believed the team needs to make a trade, Jones responded, “I’m not going to alienate my current teammates. All teams can probably benefit from an injection of new blood when it’s a quality player. But we don’t have 60-plus wins for nothing. We’re a pretty good ballclub. We do it our way. As long as we pitch, we’re going to win. If we don’t pitch, we’re going to struggle.”
David O’Brien weighed in on the benefits of the Braves dealing for Quentin, but some remain skeptical that Chicago is serious about dealing him.
That’s it for now. We’ll let you know if anything serious develops.
Who would be your first choice for the Braves? Pence, Quentin or somebody else?
By Jeff Schultz
♦
Earlier: Braves would be taking a risk without major move
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414 comments Add your comment
Jon
July 29th, 2011
3:09 pm
According to ESPN, the Astros and Phillies are trying to find a third team to make the Pence deal work….(that third team would obvioulsy NOT be the Braves)…..oh well…its gonna be a long rest of the season.
Skyrider
July 29th, 2011
3:09 pm
97.5 out of Philly reported that their sources stated that the Braves offer that was turned down by the Astros for Pence was Mike Minor, Stephen Marek, and Dustin Richardson.
Lance
July 29th, 2011
3:10 pm
braves just traded for wallingham,more to come
FEAR
July 29th, 2011
3:11 pm
submariner – gonna say the same thing…..FW will pull some medicore move at the last minute…..we’ll end up with coco crisp and some jobber RP
Larry
July 29th, 2011
3:11 pm
Enter your comments here
southgabrave
July 29th, 2011
3:11 pm
@larry
I mis-printed earlier. I think if the Phils Braves played and everyone on both teams are healthy,(no trades) it would be a 7 game series and Philly being the favorite.
As for San Fran all they did was replace Posey’s bat. Their pitching has not been up to normal for them all year. Yes they are still very good but look at the Freak. Anyway yes I think we take them in 6.
Now so far as you taking a 2 week sample of stats and saying they would lose because of them, maybe it is a trend maybe a slow start out of the break. Also if you throw out Proctor, Sherrel and Linebrink those stats change a lot too. If you are going to go on 2 weeks of stats for the year though lets wait until mid to late August.
My other point was that if we could pry Boun away from the Stros then Philly doesnt get Pence.
jmor
July 29th, 2011
3:15 pm
The Braves need to pull Lowe out of the rotation and bring up Teheran
FEAR
July 29th, 2011
3:16 pm
jmor – I’d give a kidney if they did that…..aint gonna happen though
jmor
July 29th, 2011
3:20 pm
It was pathetic watching Lowe go 0-2 on a pitcher batting .079 and runners in scoring position then allowing a hit…The guy has no velocity and hangs the ball over the plate so any hitter can crush it. I am tired of watching him labor throwing 25 pitches an inning and allowing 2 out nobody on scoring rallies. This team will never score enough runs to win with Lowe on the mound.
the secret identity
July 29th, 2011
3:22 pm
quentin would be the best fit he has the most power and is a right handed bat and that is what we are looking for.
Since bourn and pense on the market give a minor mclouth and one of the good young pitchers and get both of them in one trade
murf4hof
July 29th, 2011
3:22 pm
how about Heyward and a pitching prospect for pence.. it would solve 2 problems.. a RH bat in the lineup and JH’s automatic out out of the lineup.
jmor
July 29th, 2011
3:23 pm
Nobody wants Nate McClouth
mike
July 29th, 2011
3:25 pm
bench heyward, eric hinske is our solution
mike
July 29th, 2011
3:25 pm
bench heyward, eric hinske is our solution
The Dude Abides
July 29th, 2011
3:26 pm
Heyward is not going anywhere
Larry
July 29th, 2011
3:29 pm
no whats pathetic is this team cant score any runs,lowe gave up 3 runs…..whopeee,a win for 29 other teams
jtb3
July 29th, 2011
3:29 pm
How long are JJ and Hanson under contract? We cant afford to re-sign them so Wren isnt going to trade away good prospects. Chipper needs to either retire at end of season or restructure deal. Lowe needs to be traded at end of season. Those 2 are eating up close to 30 mill. Lose Mcclouths 10 mill at end of season. That gives 40 mill to work with by practically giving up nothing !
the secret identity
July 29th, 2011
3:29 pm
heyward is just a young player they arent giving up on him yet
Mike
July 29th, 2011
3:30 pm
Why…why…why would ANYONE trade for Coco Crisp? He doesn’t hit for power and as bad as his average is, he would just be a right-handed Nate McClouth….
the secret identity
July 29th, 2011
3:30 pm
i do agrr if they do anything bench heyward play hinske
The Dude Abides
July 29th, 2011
3:30 pm
The only way we trade Teheran is if we’re getting a Matt Kemp/Justin Upton.
jmor
July 29th, 2011
3:31 pm
Lowe gave up 3 runs in 5 innings…5.40 ERA
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:31 pm
yahoo sports is confiming the willingham trade as well
jtb3
July 29th, 2011
3:32 pm
i would trade anyone in the braves organization for justin upton
the secret identity
July 29th, 2011
3:32 pm
they wont trade tehran but maybe one of the others he will be in the starting rotation next year
pete
July 29th, 2011
3:32 pm
Heyward will never be a star but they will never trade him. I would trade Minor and Heyward for Bourn and Pence
Bourn
Pradi
CHipper
McCann
Uggla
Freeman
Pence
Gonzalez
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:32 pm
jimor
TEAM STARTING PITCHING LAST 17 GAMES 4.57 GET A F LIFE
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:33 pm
BRAVES 4 RUNS LAST 37 INNINGS
DA
Lone Wolf
July 29th, 2011
3:34 pm
If the Braves just got Willingham, Something besides the press box should catch on fire. Maybe the whole stadium this time. Wren is clueless.
jmor
July 29th, 2011
3:36 pm
nic–Your comment makes no sense. Lowe has been awful and it seems to me that 5.40 is a lot worse than 4.57. Also, I have a great life, drive a porsche 911, big house on a golf course, kids in private schools, hot wife,etc.
JRW
July 29th, 2011
3:36 pm
southgabrave, if the Braves play San Francisco it would be in the 1st round which would be a 5 game series with the Braves traveling to the west coast for the first 2 games against Cain, Linsicom or Baumgardner depending on the rotation. That is a tough hill to climb.
jtb3
July 29th, 2011
3:37 pm
willingham isnt a bad pickup if we didnt give up much. hence is NOT worth giving up major prospects. hes good but not great, let the phillies throw away their future for him.
Mister Frisky
July 29th, 2011
3:38 pm
Willingham would lock down second place in the NL east and Wild Card.Hey Wren you tool I don’t think this was the big piece Ross was talking about.This line up will be as attractive as an old southern pig screw.
raw
July 29th, 2011
3:38 pm
this team blows,and always will
prado-mommy here now still cant hit
lowe-drinks too much onto dragracing
heyward-tweets too much now worry about whether kobie signs with turkey
moylan-has now told braves he wants to be a woman,likes dressing up in womans clothes
chipper-cant quit going to hooters
agon-it worked for norton,why not me
KB
July 29th, 2011
3:38 pm
Is Kemp even available? If there’s a possibility of grabbing him, I’m a BIG proponent of this trade but am under the impression he’s pretty locked up in LA.
Go for Pence. I’d give up Minor and Delgado…and possibly another non-pitching prospect. Houston needs pitching to really build back their team. We need a bat AND to keep Pence out of Philly. This trade would be a double-win especially since we’d have Pence for awhile. DO it FW.
Skyrider
July 29th, 2011
3:38 pm
The Braves haven’t signed Willingham. That post is garbage.
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:39 pm
yahoo sports says we gave up delgado
Southpaw
July 29th, 2011
3:42 pm
The Pence deal looks like it might be done with the Phillies, depending on a third team. I certainly disagree with those who threw Heyward’s name in there as trade bait. He will continue to grow as a ball player, and I predict become a star. McClouth obviously is a ball and chain; his bat is punchless, his salary is way too high, and his arm seems diminished. He is a good fielder; he does have some speed, and he can be a good contact hitter, but other teams don’t seem to want him. Schafer has to be one of the players that probably will go in the trade. We need someone better than McClouth. We will have to eat most of his salary to make him part of a deal. I think Pence is gone, which makes it even tougher. Frank Wren now needs to go get that strong right-handed bat and outfielder yesterday.
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:42 pm
skyrider 97.5 is garbage thats not what the braves offered i turn that shyt down to
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:43 pm
raw
BEST DAM POST OF THE DAY IM STILL LAUGHING
jtb3
July 29th, 2011
3:43 pm
no chance wren gave up delgado for willingham that has to be bogus
Mister Frisky
July 29th, 2011
3:44 pm
Willingham another 220 hitting piece of dog squeeze.Guess 5 220 hitters plus the pitchers spot wasn’t enough had to add one more.
Skyrider
July 29th, 2011
3:44 pm
Nic – You calling me out? That’s what was reported out of Philly. Your report of us signing Willingham isn’t true.
nic
July 29th, 2011
3:44 pm
Skyrider
made you look and research huh stupid?
GOTCHA!!!LMFAO
jason heyward
July 29th, 2011
3:46 pm
Damn!!! Im tired We sign anyone yet?Im going on dl when we do.
Texas Braves Fan
July 29th, 2011
3:47 pm
Nothing on Yahoo about a Braves trade
Skyrider
July 29th, 2011
3:48 pm
Yo Nic – Actually, I didn’t go research that. I knew you made it up.
Lance
July 29th, 2011
3:48 pm
Braves have backed away on pence,turn there interests to ldwick
BOURN IS THE ANSWER
July 29th, 2011
3:50 pm
bourn.
Rob
July 29th, 2011
3:50 pm
you guys ARE CRAZY!!!!!!!!! we are 6-6 with the phillies AS IS! so tired of the “we can’t compete with philly” crap from some of you desperate for a blockbuster trade…thank GOD our players haven’t felt like that this year.