Saturday, August 1, 2009

Trade Deadline thoughts...

We've discussed here what Pittsburgh has been doing and it certainly looks like Philly secured themselves a post-season birth by getting Cliff Lee, but lets take a quick look at some of the other teams that made some last-minute moves...

First off, I am still uncertain about the Braves move. It seems lateral at best, with Kotchman being under control for 2 more years. I know he is up for arbitration, but how much can a .280/12/65 first baseman command? I assume this means that Freddie Freeman is penciled in next year at 1st base. Now, the next big move for Wren is what to do with Hudson/Vazquez next year. It makes sense to pick up the Hudson option and trade Vazquez for a hitter and a closer (Gonzo and Soriano are FA's). I guess LaRoche has more power and is a better 2nd half player, but it is still a bit odd...

I am really shocked at what Ken Williams did in Chicago. Giving up four really good pitching prospects for Jake Peavy. Peavy hasn't pitched in 2 months and is owed almost 20 million a year the next 3 years. It is certainly high-risk, but giving up their #1 and #2 prospects in the minors (Poreda and Richard) is rolling the dice at best. Also, Adam Russell is almost ready to be in a big league bullpen and Dexter Carter is throwing really well in single A and at 6'6 with a great arm, projects as a front line starter.

After attending the Braves game last night, the Dodgers also made out well by getting George Sherill. He looked really good in relief setting up for Broxton and solidified the Dodgers bullpen.

The Red Sox got V-Mart without giving up Buchholz. Their lineup is now even more deadly and with the Yankees virtually standing pat, seem likely to win the AL East once again.

Back to the Braves to finish up, looks like the lineup for 2010 will look something like this...

Hudson
Jurrjens
Hanson
Lowe
Kawakami

McLouth...CF
Prado.....2B
Jones.....3B
McCann....C
Escobar...SS
Heyward...RF
Schafer....LF
Freeman...1B

Still a little lefty heavy, but for now this is what I think Wren has in mind...

3 comments:

@Doks_Daddy said...

Looking at some off-season possibilities, here are some right-handed hitting outfielders I would look at in a Vazquez/Schafer trade

1) Torii Hunter
2) Jason Kubel
3) Juan Rivera
4) Nelson Cruz

Beezbo said...

Neftali Perez just had his major league debut:

2 perfect IP, 30 pitches (21 strikes), 4 Ks (including the first 3 he faced), and threw 101 mph

http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090804&content_id=6233246&vkey=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex

Beezbo said...

Neftali Feliz

one of my customers I just talked to is Perez