Lots of Braves fans are upset this week for several reasons. First, long-time Brave stud John Smoltz has left Atlanta for a larger contract in Boston. Should the Braves have made a stronger offer? Maybe, but we weren't getting into a bidding war to keep him. We certainly wanted him back at a fair price with incentives, but matching what the New York's and Boston's can offer was not an option. Smoltz was only going to stay if he gave the Braves a discount, and he apparantly did not want to do that.
Now, on to the '09 rotation. It is way too early to mail in the season already. While the Phils and Mets have already addressed roster issues, there is still time for Frank Wren to tweak the ATL roster. Right now, only Jair Jurrjens and Javy Vazquez are set in the rotation. Wren needs two more #2-#3 starters to make this rotation effective. According to Mark Bowman, several major league sources tell him that a deal for Ken Kawakami is already in place and he could take a physical as soon as Monday. For those of you who haven't seen Kawakami pitch, here is a clip...
Also, according to Dave O'Brien of the AJC, an offer for Derek Lowe will be on the table early next week. It will probably take at least 4 years to land Lowe, but the Braves need to make a splash soon to ensure their opening day rotation doesn't have names like Reyes, Morton, and Campillo in it.
If they end up spending the type of money it will take to land Kawakami and Lowe, a free agent outfielder like Adam Dunn would now be out of our price range. A trade would be more likely, and the Yankees are actively shopping Xavier Nady. While it may take a good bit to get Nady for a 1 year rental (Boras guy), he may give us the best chance to compete in '09. I would imagine one of our CF prospects (Hernandez) and a young pitcher or 2 (Locke, Morton) may be enough.
How many games would this team win in '09? Over/Under is set at 85
SP - Lowe
SP - Jurrjens
SP - Vazquez
SP - Kawakami
SP - Hanson/Campillo
RP - Gonzo
RP - Soriano
RP - Boyer
RP - Logan
RP - Moylan
RP - Bennett/Carlyle
Lineup
Escobar
K.Johnson
C.Jones
McCann
Nady
Kotchman
Francoeur
Blanco
UI - Infante
UI - Prado
UO - J. Anderson
UO - B. Jones
BC - Ross
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1 comment:
I'm going under only because our division is going to be crazy sick again. I wouldn't hate this rotation/lineup though. Has baseball always been about (renting) players as you said it? It aggravates me??
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