Interesting blog today from Mark Bowman, who mentions that any team that was interested in acquiring Derek Lowe wanted the Braves to eat half of the 45 million that remained on his contract. Thus, it is easy to see why Vazquez was moved instead. Also, speculation is that no one other than the Yankees were interested in taking on Vazquez and pay his entire 11.5 million salary (Angels??). So, I guess getting a 4th outfielder, bootleg lefty, and a top 3 prospect from the Yankees wasn't so bad after all.
Now to today's developments...The Glaus signing (2 million for 1 year with incentives) makes me think the Braves didn't want to give LaRoche a multi-year contract and are intent on giving the job to Freddie Freeman as soon as next year. An Adrian Gonzalez trade is now likely off the board, but the team is far from set. Thinking Glaus will be a middle of the order hitter and stay healthy the whole year is not realistic. That would be comparable to signing Raul Mondesi/Brian Jordan to fill a corner outfield spot...
It is becoming more apparent that Mark DeRosa is the perfect piece to finish off the team. He can play the outfield with McLouth and Heyward/Cabrera/Diaz, first base if Glaus is hurt, or 3rd if Chipper is hurt. Also, Glaus could play 3rd in the case of a Chipper injury and DeRosa to 1st. He is also another right handed bat that would balance the lineup well.
McLouth
Prado
Jones
McCann
Escobar
Heyward
Glaus
DeRosa
That's a pretty good lineup with some right handed power at the bottom. Throw in Diaz who lights up lefties and you have a pretty deep team.
With that said, the team still has work to do before spring training. The 10+ million available to Wren needs to be used wisely. Either sign DeRosa, trade for Uggla, or do something outside the box - like the Glaus signing...
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DeRosa was the first name I thought of this morning when I heard about the Glaus signing but he's gotten to be a pretty hot commodity (good and versatile enough for the big market teams, affordable enough and good enough name recognition for a small market team) so it wouldn't shock (or upset) me to see Xavier Nady get a deal. He can cover the OF and 1b roles and with Infante already on the team we don't necessarily need another backup for Chipper. Its another risky move on a guy coming off injury but it might be the risk they have to make.
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