Braves Back in Bidness
ESPN LIED TO ME
After over decade of spoiling their fans with automatic playoff bids, the Ted Turner-less Atlanta Braves regressed mightily over the past two seasons, paving the way for hilarious Met collapses and a Philadelphia Phillies World Series win. The Atlanta pattern of trading away top prospects for veteran presence at the deadline finally got to them when the winning stopped, as a youth movement gone overboard resulted in lineups starring Martin Prado, Gregor Blanco and Casey Kotchmann as the heart of the order. With Chipper Jones and possibly John Smoltz as the only relics remaining for the decade and a half of extravagance, the Braves looked to be sliding into mediocrity. They may well still be, but at least some moves are being made to rectify the situation and react to the inexplicable fact that the Braves are suddenly the worst sports team in Georgia.
The off-season took a surprising turn today when Rafael Furcal reportedly agreed to a deal with the Braves, shunning rest of his suitors and condemning the Athletics to another year of Bobby Crosby hell. Coming on the heels of the Javier Vasquez deal and re-entering the Braves into the bizarre Jake Peavy derby, the Furcal signing could mean a great deal to a team that never seemed completely out of contention. He may love drunken driving, altered birth certificates and injuries, but Furcal is also one of the few legitimate lead-off men left in the game. He manages to combine both the speed and power of the coke-and-meth era and the patience and discipline of the Moneyball abomination that led to the lesser Giambi being considered a remotely acceptable lead-off hitter.
The Braves have been desperate for a table-setter since the Dodgers, in their off-season tradition, overpaid for a former Atlanta all-star and were met with disappointing returns. Marcus Giles was nothing short of disastrous, Kelly Johnson was a much better fit at the 2-hole, and the myriad of suspect outfield prospects never satisfied the lineup. Assuming he can stay healthy (just apply that to 90% of the Braves lineup at this point...sigh) Furcal provides a spark at the top of the order that could re-energize a sluggish offense.
Also important with this deal is the fate of Yunel Escobar. Along with Jeff Francouer, Kyle Davies, Chuck James and Jo-Jo Reyes, Escobar has anchored a core of miserable prospects whose hype and early returns failed to foreshadow a precipitous drop into obscurity. Yunel is the most curious of these, as his detrimental influence is less visible than Francouer's .275 on-base percentage and Jo-Jo's signature "straightball" pitch. Yunel received All-Star mumbling and was a constant fantasy sleeper despite the fact that he absolutely epitomizes empty-batting average. He hit .288 last year with 10 homers, a .402 slugging percentage and was 2 out of 7 on stolen base attempts. He had a good fielding percentage, which was undoubtedly aided by the fact that he has terrible range. Yunel is locked into to being a slightly above average player, a guy who can get you a .300 average, 15 homers, 5 steals and no big plays or defensive takeaways. The fact that he's a young switch-hitter with a high average gets him a lot of hype for a singles hitter with no range. His best-case scenario is a short fat Sean Casey. If you've followed baseball at all over the past decade, you know that no one is happy when Sean Casey is starting for them. Yunel's destiny is to be one of the great utility men in the game, not the star of team, as he's being pushed. With Furcal taking over short, the move everyone should be hoping for is a trade of Yunel and a package of prospects for Jake Peavy, a strikeout machine in the prime of his career, locked up to a reasonable deal for several years.
With the Mets foolishly buying into the fallacy that spending big money on bullpen is in any way a good idea, thus dooming themselves into another season of Johan, Maine, pray for rain, the Braves should only have one major competitor in the NL East. Are the Braves better than the Phillies even after a Peavy deal? No. But Frank Wren has money to spend and still may not be done making moves. With Hudson getting Tommy Johned and Smoltz and Glavine's futures uncertain, and a Maddux/Smoltz/Glavine reunion down the drain thanks to Maddux calling it quits, there are still a lot of questions. But, is the new season suddenly more exciting and interesting, with a potential Peavy/Vasquez/Jurrjens top of the rotation and a Furcal/Kelly/Chipper top of the order? Absolutely. And honestly, if he's not completely mortgaging our future, that's the job of the GM. On paper, the Braves could contend, something we could never have said two weeks ago.
After over decade of spoiling their fans with automatic playoff bids, the Ted Turner-less Atlanta Braves regressed mightily over the past two seasons, paving the way for hilarious Met collapses and a Philadelphia Phillies World Series win. The Atlanta pattern of trading away top prospects for veteran presence at the deadline finally got to them when the winning stopped, as a youth movement gone overboard resulted in lineups starring Martin Prado, Gregor Blanco and Casey Kotchmann as the heart of the order. With Chipper Jones and possibly John Smoltz as the only relics remaining for the decade and a half of extravagance, the Braves looked to be sliding into mediocrity. They may well still be, but at least some moves are being made to rectify the situation and react to the inexplicable fact that the Braves are suddenly the worst sports team in Georgia.
The off-season took a surprising turn today when Rafael Furcal reportedly agreed to a deal with the Braves, shunning rest of his suitors and condemning the Athletics to another year of Bobby Crosby hell. Coming on the heels of the Javier Vasquez deal and re-entering the Braves into the bizarre Jake Peavy derby, the Furcal signing could mean a great deal to a team that never seemed completely out of contention. He may love drunken driving, altered birth certificates and injuries, but Furcal is also one of the few legitimate lead-off men left in the game. He manages to combine both the speed and power of the coke-and-meth era and the patience and discipline of the Moneyball abomination that led to the lesser Giambi being considered a remotely acceptable lead-off hitter.
The Braves have been desperate for a table-setter since the Dodgers, in their off-season tradition, overpaid for a former Atlanta all-star and were met with disappointing returns. Marcus Giles was nothing short of disastrous, Kelly Johnson was a much better fit at the 2-hole, and the myriad of suspect outfield prospects never satisfied the lineup. Assuming he can stay healthy (just apply that to 90% of the Braves lineup at this point...sigh) Furcal provides a spark at the top of the order that could re-energize a sluggish offense.
Also important with this deal is the fate of Yunel Escobar. Along with Jeff Francouer, Kyle Davies, Chuck James and Jo-Jo Reyes, Escobar has anchored a core of miserable prospects whose hype and early returns failed to foreshadow a precipitous drop into obscurity. Yunel is the most curious of these, as his detrimental influence is less visible than Francouer's .275 on-base percentage and Jo-Jo's signature "straightball" pitch. Yunel received All-Star mumbling and was a constant fantasy sleeper despite the fact that he absolutely epitomizes empty-batting average. He hit .288 last year with 10 homers, a .402 slugging percentage and was 2 out of 7 on stolen base attempts. He had a good fielding percentage, which was undoubtedly aided by the fact that he has terrible range. Yunel is locked into to being a slightly above average player, a guy who can get you a .300 average, 15 homers, 5 steals and no big plays or defensive takeaways. The fact that he's a young switch-hitter with a high average gets him a lot of hype for a singles hitter with no range. His best-case scenario is a short fat Sean Casey. If you've followed baseball at all over the past decade, you know that no one is happy when Sean Casey is starting for them. Yunel's destiny is to be one of the great utility men in the game, not the star of team, as he's being pushed. With Furcal taking over short, the move everyone should be hoping for is a trade of Yunel and a package of prospects for Jake Peavy, a strikeout machine in the prime of his career, locked up to a reasonable deal for several years.
With the Mets foolishly buying into the fallacy that spending big money on bullpen is in any way a good idea, thus dooming themselves into another season of Johan, Maine, pray for rain, the Braves should only have one major competitor in the NL East. Are the Braves better than the Phillies even after a Peavy deal? No. But Frank Wren has money to spend and still may not be done making moves. With Hudson getting Tommy Johned and Smoltz and Glavine's futures uncertain, and a Maddux/Smoltz/Glavine reunion down the drain thanks to Maddux calling it quits, there are still a lot of questions. But, is the new season suddenly more exciting and interesting, with a potential Peavy/Vasquez/Jurrjens top of the rotation and a Furcal/Kelly/Chipper top of the order? Absolutely. And honestly, if he's not completely mortgaging our future, that's the job of the GM. On paper, the Braves could contend, something we could never have said two weeks ago.
posted by MisterT3000 at
11:29 AM
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