Audience participation time! Rate Braves’ offseason moves!
This was where we left it. Two of these guys play elsewhere now. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Pitchers and catchers report tomorrow. Those words make some folks get all misty-eyed, but I have to confess they leave me unmoved. Probably because I hate watching teams practice in any sport. Give me real games!
But I digress.
The offseason is almost officially over. The Braves made some moves, as you know. (Say this for Frank Wren: He’s a movin’ man.) Here’s what I think of this club as currently configured, but I’d like a little audience participation, too. Tell me which transactions you liked, and which you didn’t. Unless you happened loved them all, which I guess would make you Frank Wren.
You’ll note that Johnny Damon’s name is not included below. Speculation is rampant that he’ll sign with either the Tigers or the White Sox, though speculation has been known to be wrong. He still might land here, I guess, but I’d be surprised. Though I’m often surprised.
And I didn’t include the Braves’ cutting of Ryan Church or Kelly Johnson because frankly I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with those moves. But I am including everyone’s favorite pinch-hitter in our mix.
So here it is, our veritable Murderer’s Row of polling. You can vote once in each, and I encourage you to do so. And I thank you in advance.
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221 comments Add your comment
Robert
February 18th, 2010
10:41 pm
“Any normal organization would have fired my dumb-azz after blowing the 1996 World Series”
that’s being generous. Cox shouldve been fired after the loaded Braves, on tghe heels of losing 2 consecutive WS due to poor fundamentals and horrible in-game strategizing by their manager,were outplayed and outmanaged by a good but clearly inferior Phillies team in the 1993 NLCS
hank savage
February 18th, 2010
11:00 pm
Enter your comments here
hank savage
February 18th, 2010
11:04 pm
to things wrong with braves not all but many have no idea about running the bases. the second thing is bobby cox has no idea how to handle a pitching staff. sincerely hank savage
dawg 4 u
February 18th, 2010
11:08 pm
The only two former Braves with more negative vibes than Greg Norton that I can remember are Dan Kolb and Dave “Chopper” Campbell (a reliever in the late ’70’s). Honorable mention to Kenny Lofton and Brad Komminsk.
dawg 4 u
February 18th, 2010
11:11 pm
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Navigator
February 19th, 2010
12:23 am
BVILLEBARON: You’ve called me out, and I will be here and admit that I was wrong about the has been Hudson, who takes the next pot of money. If I’m right and he goes back on the DL, I fully expect you to man up and admit you’re wrong. Of course that’s the end of the season, none of that 1/2 season miracle stuff.
Jeff
February 19th, 2010
2:15 am
For those of you who support the subtraction of Gonzalez and Soriano and support the addition of Wagner and Saito, can I please remind you of this? They are OLD!!! This is not the Billy Wagner with the Astros of 10 or 15 years ago… hell, this is not the Wagner of 2006 when he saved 40 games for the Mets. This is a guy who only appeared in 45 games two years ago and 34 games last year… his saves have gone 40, 34, 27, 0 over the last four years… basically, his best days are behind him. I think Soriano and Gonzo were proven entities and MUCH better fits for this club.
As for Saito, this dude is now 40 YEARS OLD and he’s only had four years in the majors… his saves have gone from 39 to 18 to 2. I’m sorry, I don’t trust an aging Japanese league pitcher to be worth crap… see Hideki Irabu (came over from the Chiba Lotte Marines, and had a whopping 34-35 record and a 5.1 ERA in 6 MLB seasons. Yawn.)
Glaus has seen his best days, as has Wagner… probably Saito, and I am sorry, players like Hinske don’t push ballclubs over the edge to a contender. I think we should have re-signed our PROVEN performers like Vasquez, LaRoche and Gonzo and Soriano.
Bottom line: I don’t see THIS Braves team being an ounce better than last year, unless everybody in the lineup has career years.
And can I ask a question: Why, aside from Hanson and Heyward, is all our minor league talent? I look at other clubs and they develop or sign young talent like Jason Bay, Joe Mauer, Josh Beckett, Mark Buehrle, Zack Greinke, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedrioa, Justin Morneau, Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Tim Lincecum, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Justin Upton, etc….. and the only superstar talent Atlanta has developed and kept over the last 15 years is Chipper, McCann, Hanson and now Heyward. We mortgaged our entire minor leagues for Teixeira, and now we can’t seem to replace them.
We need to SERIOUSLY look at our minor league development and find out why we don’t have 2 or 3 rookies every year that are ready to step up and contribute… the Atlanta Braves should have MORE than just 1 or 2 All-Star caliber players every year.
Go Braves!!!
Notso Fast
February 19th, 2010
4:39 am
That means that the Braves will have a “so so” year.
RayDawg
February 19th, 2010
4:40 am
Same ole cheap Braves doing a lot of talk in the offseason and letting us down.
Brave New World
February 19th, 2010
6:13 am
The Vasquez move cannot be assessed fully in 2010. Short term Yanks probably win, but if that young pitcher we got becomes something, long term the Braves win BIG TIME.
Glaus move is not a high risk, but it could be a steal – Glaus when healthy is a thumper.
With Billy Wagner it’s all about health – he is one of the most dominating closers of al time, so it’s worth the risk, and he looked pretty good at the end of last year.
The biggest “if” is with Chipper – if he can hit .300 with 20-25 dingers and 90-100 rbi’s we’ll be ok for 2010.
I look to this team to win about 90 games in 2010 and take the wild card.
Senator Blutarski
February 19th, 2010
6:54 am
I do feel down on the Vasquez trade right now, but who knows?–maybe it will be kinda like the Doyle Alexander-John Smoltz deal?–or sort of like the deal where we gave up prospects for Tex? Or Renteria for Jurrjens?
Bill
February 19th, 2010
8:25 am
Another cheap and patched up team. If all the pieces stay healthy and produce we probably have a chance at the wild card. We have basically had the same type of problems (except for the improved pitching)for about 5 years now. The players favorite manager and cheerleader will cost us about 10 games as usual. Nothing is going to change about this team until we get a new manager. The business like attitude (its just one series) and lack of fundementals is also killing the team. Hopefully Heyward will be on the team so we at least have something to look forward to.
Hewitt Poll
February 19th, 2010
8:33 am
Mark,
How about a Paul Blewitt poll? Keep him? Fire him? Keep him, but hire new assistants?
Do one poll now.
One after the ACC tournament.
One after the NCAA tournament.
Move the Team to Gwinnett
February 19th, 2010
8:50 am
At best this is a Triple A farm team with a minor league owner and management team. I long for the days at Fulton County Stadium where our expectations were low when we were the joke of the Western Division. At least we enjoyed watching the team play and occasionally treated to brilliance from Hammerin’ Hank. Give us a team that we can cheer for and owners that care. Until that happens, this Braves organization will be nothing more than an expensive farm team.
ProScout
February 19th, 2010
9:03 am
Jeff- you can’t name 15 players from appx 7 different organizations and argue that the Braves should be developing the same amount of prospects. The talent is their they just need to hold on to it. Look around the league and look at how many players came from the Braves farm system.
The store bought Yankees are usually the only team with multiple All-Star representation. Most teams have 1-3.
bvillebaron
February 19th, 2010
9:53 am
Jeff:
Just for the record Wagner only appeared in 17 games last season. He also didn’t have any saves because he was returning from TJ surgery. By the way, the “great” Rafael Soriano only pitched in 14 games in 2008 because of his own arm injuries. As for Wagner only having 27 saves in his last season as a closer that’s the same as Soriano’s career HIGH last year. Even at 40, Saito’s numbers last year were very comparable to those of Gonzalez. Saito also only had a couple of saves also last year because he was not used in the closer’s role because the Red Sox have this guy you may have hear of named Papelbon. To say or even imply that Gonzalez and Soriano are “proven” performers and Wagner and Saito are not is absurd.
As far as Atlanta developing “superstar” talent, I notice that, with the exception of Mauer and Morneau, there were not two players from the same team on your list. I think McCann is every bit the “star” player as a catcher as Morneau is as a first baseman. Unfortunately, some of the players that the Braves drafted and got rid of are or may very well be stars such as Adam Wainwright, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz. Funny how people who make a living following the minor leagues have consistently rated the Braves farm system as one of the best during the past 15 years. But then again, they couldn’t be nearly as informed as you, huh?
dangerousdan87
February 19th, 2010
10:02 am
What about Omar Infante? He is still on the team, right? This dude was hitting like .350 before he got hurt last year and may be the best utility player we have since he can play the infield or outfield. Bobby will play him somewhere if he’s hitting well again.
Steven Lemon
February 19th, 2010
10:32 am
I have been warm on the Braves and ice cold on Bobby Cox since the blown World Series of 1996. I have still managed to bring myself to root for them every year since then, even though they drove me to the Yankees as my HOME team in ‘96. After watching the lousy moves of the last two years, I’m done. Maybe I’ll come back next year when BC will join Greg Norton in retirement (from Atlanta). Meanwhile I can always hope the Braves and Yanks meet in interleague play so I can watch Cox’s face as the runs mount up against that super duper pitching staff.
Old Timer Brave Fan
February 19th, 2010
11:01 am
Cox retiring ? Bring on Joe Torre who is in his last year of his contract with L. A..
Don’t be surpised if Terry Pendleton isn’t given a shot as the top dog.Good guy but not head coach material.Hated the Vazequez move.He was the iron man on the Braves staff.
Can Hudson make it thru an entire season after going thru surgery ?
Should have kept Johnson . He can play any where.Glaus is a 3rd baseman
Use him at third when Chipper stubs his toe.
Hayward will start at Gwinnett but will be on the main roster before the All Star break.
Should have kept LaRoche. He had a good enough season in 2009 to be given another shot at first . Braves Baseball was fun to watch when Ted Turner owned the team. He had the bucks plus it was worth the price of a ticket to see his wife Jane sleep thru the game in her front row seat when she made her appearance with Ted at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.
Of course back then we all took naps when the Braves wasn’t playing well
Clip file 2.19.10 — NYFSBlogs
February 19th, 2010
9:45 pm
[...] The AJC’s Mark Bradley reviews Atlanta’s offseason moves. You can vote. It doesn’t say Mets fans are [...]
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March 8th, 2010
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