Sunday, July 27, 2008

Trade Deadline Thoughts...

I have always been a big fan of the trade deadline in baseball. This week is certainly shaping up to be an interesting one for the Braves. After yesterday's debacle, it is quite obvious Teixeira needs to go now. I speculated last week that the Dodgers made a lot of sense as a trade partner because they have the cash to re-sign Tex and a young 1st baseman to send back as a replacement. However, it looks like Loney is not going to be available and other rumors (Youkilis, Conor Jackson) have died down and appear dead.

The one team that I think makes the most sense now is the Angels. They need bats and would be scary good if they got Tex. If they gave us one of their 2 stud pitchers at AA (O'Sullivan or Mendoza) along with first baseman Casey Kotchman (.290-11-52 and not FA eligible until 2012) I would pull the trigger immediately.

I don't think the Braves need to sell everybody that is an upcoming free agent - they can do some re-building now for next season by acquiring major league talent that comes at an affordable price. I am still on the Francoeur + prospects for Jason Bay train. Bay would give us the right handed power hitter we have missed since Sheff left. The Braves desperately need a big time hitter in the outfield. This group Cox is throwing out there now (Francoeur, Kotsay, Blanco, Infante, Norton, etc) is pathetic.

It also makes no sense to hang on to Kotsay and Ohman. They better be gone by Thursday as well.

Whatever happened to Matt Diaz? He was playing in Mississippi when Frenchy was down there.

The one thing I am scared about is speculation that if Atl doesn't get top prospects for Tex, they will just let him walk and take the 2 draft picks. Those could be good picks - if the Dodgers sign him, we could get something like the #18th pick #35th picks along with our 1st rounder. But, if he decides to go somewhere like his hometown Orioles, the picks might be #35 and #62. The top 15 picks in the draft are protected so we would have to take Baltimore's 2nd rounder. Not exactly fair compensation for an all-star. Move Tex to LA and focus on developing some young guys and preparing for next season.

This Manny Ramirez thing sure did escalate quickly. After pulling himself out of the lineup the other day, Epstein and company are ready to put him on waivers and maybe even release him and eat the remainder of his contract. He is still productive (on pace for .300-30-100) in a town where he is beloved and the team is a WS favorite. Unbelievable.

It looks like the Mets will end up with Raul Ibanez and Philly was done trading after getting Joe Blanton. Neither move will help either team that much - unless one of those 2 gets Manny I don't think they can get to the NLCS. Look for Milwaukee and the Wild Card winner Chicago to fight it out for the pennant.

How can Tampa stand pat? Reports are that they don't want to give up a ton of prospects for a hitter? You have been terrible for 10 years and don't expect to compete year in and year out with NYY and Boston in your division. Give up some players and go get somebody. Nady and Blake are gone and you are running out of options. How cool would it be if Tampa got Manny and he hit a walk-off in late September to knock Boston out of the post season?

How could Steve Bartman turn down $25,000 to sign a photo of his unfortunate incident? Cash in on your mistake! Those fans forced you to sell your house - at least get rich off of this.

2 comments:

@Doks_Daddy said...

Another thought I just had...How are the Braves #2 in the NL in pitching and not have a winning record. There is no excuse for not scoring runs with the players they have. Do you realize they have #34 (Escobar), #27 (Blanco), #14 (Texeira), #12 (McCann) and #1 (Chip) in the NL in OBP? They are also +34 on the year in run differential - Milwaukee is only +35!

Anonymous said...

Run differential don't matter much when you lose every one run game you are involved in. We blow dude. Face it. Bye bye Tex. We can lose without you.

Kwame Brown to the Pistons. Smoove traded to __________...