The Many Problems with a Tex - Salt Trade

by gondeee on Jul 27, 2007 9:50 AM EDT in Trade News Comment 15 comments

In all the trades and rumors being bandied about the baseball-verse, no one's really thinking about the human impact of the rumored Jarrod Saltalamacchia - Mark Teixeira trade.

It would be a devastating blow to many fans and some announcers, including Skip Caray, who just learned out to properly pronounce Saltalamacchia. The butchery of Salty's name by so many is priceless:

Samatalachia
Saltamalachia
S'lamacchia
Saltalmlachia

The fans and Skip would now have to go through weeks of learning how to pronounce Teixeira.

Texeyera
Texara
Tiexra
Teraxera

Perhaps for the sake of some fans and some announcers this trade shouldn't be made. I can only imagine what version of either of these names would come out of the mouth of Skip's father, Harry Caray.

On the rumor front, this little tidbit at the bottom of the New York Post's baseball notes column is rather interesting:

Several executives believe the Rangers have an acceptable package for Mark Teixeira with the Braves in place - centered around switch-hitting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia - and are just waiting to see if another club (the Angels and maybe the Dodgers) will do better before Tuesday's deadline.

That means it's close. The World Wide Leader's Buster Olney brings up some good points about why this trade could turn out to be a blockbuster:

The Braves would get a middle-of-the-order slugger who theoretically would give them a lineup comparable to that of the Mets, and the fact Teixeira went to Georgia Tech would ease his transition to the team. (I would be shocked, though, if the Braves trade Salty without getting some kind of pitcher back in the deal; they need a staff upgrade, and the catcher gives them the best chance to get that.)

Over at Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal seems to think we're giving up our top three prospects for Teixeira:

The Braves, major-league sources say, have made the Rangers a whopper of an offer for first baseman Mark Teixeira.

The Rangers evidently would receive three highly regarded young players -- catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Class AA left-hander Matt Harrison and Class A shortstop Elvis Andrus -- while sending the Braves only Teixeira.

True rumors or not, I just have a feeling something's going to happen. I just hope I'm happy with it when it does.

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I wouldn't do the Harrison/Andrus deal

Braves get: Tex, CJ Wilson, Eric Gagne, and Cash
Texas gets: Salty, Yunel, Dan Smith, and Bob Wickman

then trade for Noah Lowry:

Lillibridge, Ascaino, Thorman

http://blabberinbraves.blogspot.com/

by Chipper on Jul 27, 2007 12:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nice

If you could make that happen, I would do a backflip off the big drum at turner field.

by surge on Jul 27, 2007 7:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Getting Mark

adding a bat like his to the lineup does a few things for you, first and foremost, Saltalamacchia would almost have to play First for him to get into the lineup as McCann is obviously going to be the Braves starting Catcher, putting in Mark Teixeira at First makes having Salty around redundant Yunel Escobar has too much upside to be let go in a deal as the Braves seem ready to part with Edgar Renteria. A steady bat like Teixeira's also makes losing Andruw at the end of the year less of a blow. Gagne is not likely to be traded to Atlanta (despite the fact that they could use pitching) look for Atlanta to offer a 1 or 2 year deal to Brad Lidge in the offseason, and maybe tender an offer to Bobby Abreu depending on how much he's asking but due to lacking performance in New York may not be too much. I'm pumped for Mark Teixeira who could possibly put us over in the NL East and maybe even into the Series, with our current lineup and Smoltz and Hudson on the mound Atlanta could be a major force in October.

OH FUCK YEAH THE ATLANTA BRAVES!!!!!

by brokenstring on Jul 27, 2007 2:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Baseless Rumors.

The Giants need young players and we have several that we're not using and won't be using in the near future. Why don't we package Thorman, Davies and a solid prospect like Lillibridge for Noah Lowry and maybe someone like Steve Kline?

I still think the Braves would be best served by trading Salty and change to the Pirates for Snell AND I believe that maybe they could still be in on Tex with the remaining pieces. If that won't happen, then dealing for another 1B after acquiring Snell would be better than giving up everything for the farm. I still like Kevin Millar and think Dmitri Young could be had at a fair price.

by ejruiz on Jul 27, 2007 2:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dmitri Young

Salty and Yunel....
Reasonable?

http://blabberinbraves.blogspot.com/

by Chipper on Jul 27, 2007 2:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Too Much.

I believe they ask for Brandon Jones or Matt Harrison when we last spoke to them, but a Lillibrdge might do it.

by ejruiz on Jul 27, 2007 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's what they were asking for

http://blabberinbraves.blogspot.com/

by Chipper on Jul 27, 2007 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Texas

Walker, Texas Ranger wants a lot for Mark Teixeira and justifiably so, he'll put a solid bat on the 1B position that we haven't had for sometime. Except for last season when LaRoche tore it up. The Braves are going to get Teixeira which will put them into the postseason. If you remember in years past the Braves never had the lineup to go deep in October, and the bats they needed to speak loudest were hushed (i.e. Gary Sheffield). Teixeira makes the most sense because this is likely to be the last season with the Joneses, and you'll only have Chipper for a few more years at best. (I really wish the NL had a DH so we could keep Chip around longer.) Snell would be nice, but Millar is no better than what we have now, and Dmitri Young isn't nearly the defensive First Baseman that Teixeira is.

OH FUCK YEAH THE ATLANTA BRAVES!!!!!

by brokenstring on Jul 27, 2007 5:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Doubts.

Am I the only one that thinks Salty being as useful of a 1B as he is a trading chip is ridiculous? Am I alone in think that both Jo-Jo Reyes and Dan Smith are better prospects than Matt Harrison now? Am I crazy for not buying into the Elvis Andrus hype or forgiving him for his lackluster performances simply because he's young? Yes, this souds like a lot because of the hope and hype we've put into these players, but the only sure thing in this trade is coming to ATL in the form of Mark Teixeira.

Persoanlly, I think that having Tex at 1B instead of what we've had so far is worth at least the two games that are currently keeping us out of the playoffs and, once we're there, our lack of starting pitching depth won't hurt as much with our filthy line-up. I mean, Smoltz-Huddy is as good of a 1-2 punch as any in baseball and, while they won't blow anyone away, James has found his consistency, Carlyle is past the point of surprising people with his sucess and Reyes holds a lot of promise, what with his ever improving starts.

by ejruiz on Jul 27, 2007 2:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not so fast Buster!

I take exception with Buster Olney's summation of the Mets lineup superiority over the Braves.

Lets compare

McCann or LoDuca
Chipper or Wright
Reyes or Renteria
KJ or Valentin
Delgado or Thor,Salty,Franco
Mets LF platoon or Braves LF platoon
Beltran or Andruw
Green or Frenchyj

Now, the obvious big three for the Mets are Wright, Reyes, and Beltran. Delgado is next on their quality list but let's look deeper.

Chipper is playing as well as he has in years. Wright is obviously a tremendous talent but is he a clear cut leader over Chipper? Not for me.

Reyes is the most exciting player in the league but Renteria is hitting .330 with solid RBI totals from that position, defense and a clutch factor that gives him a clear cut advantage in that respect. Reyes, even with his growing skills still has those issues with plate discipline and hot and cold streaks. Is Reyes really better?

Second Base is a position that I think the the Braves have the advantage. KJ is compiling a very solid season and continues to improve while Valentin is just a solid veteran whose career will take it's natural course.

First Base is clearly to the Mets with Delgado, but just how much? Delgado is hitting in the .230s with 16 and 54. This isn't your father's Carlos Delgado. Thorman alone has 9 dongs and is less than 20 points off of that BA. Compare Kelly Johnson's .293-10-47 output from 2b to illustrate where we have a more balanced offensive team.

Left Field- This has been a vaccuum for the Mets this year. Compare Mets leftfielders to Spinal Tap drummers. Alou...gone, Chavez...gone, until recently "Victory Lap" Milledge...gone.

To compare center fielders is to do so with a pair of exceptionally talented underachievers. Beltran, who has been so highly coveted over the past three years, is enjoying a fair season but it isn't like his stat line reads like 330/28/95. Andruw's season of struggle is well documented. He has the talent to turn things around and is showing signs of doing so. Beltran, with the exception of a couple of years, is giving you what he always has...a pedestrian BA, moderate power and moderate RBIs. His 15 bags don't really do much to add to this.

In right field the advantage goes to the Braves. Give me an extremely talented young Francoeur over an aging vet like Green.

At catcher, McCann is the hands down winner here, even with his hand problems earlier he is close to full strength now. LoDuca is a solid vet leader who doesn't offer much more than leadership and a fair BA (.270).

To summarize, any advantage that the Mets have over the Braves at any position is marginal, at best. Any advantage the Braves enjoy over the Mets, is decided.

I have believed for quite a bit of the season that the reputation of the Mets can be characterized by the Wizard from the "Wizard of Oz".

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

by Mike de La Hoz on Jul 27, 2007 5:34 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hold on...to what you got

great song. and it applies to this topic. anyways...i say this is a good trade. but first we have to seperate the game of baseball, from the business of baseball.

from a standpoint of the game, ya, i agree with a lot of the people on this website, that the Braves should not be mortgaging their future by trading a big part of it away. down the road it appears that it is going to bite the Braves in the butt because they cant afford Tex right now, let alone in 2 years after the market has balooned even more.

but from the business aspect of the Braves, getting a big name to add to the lineup excites fans and causes them to fill the seats. the holy grail of baseball is the World Series. Reaching that is the best possible scenario for both aspects of baseball, business and the game of. i mean this isnt the first time that a team has given up the future for the present.

this is the way i see it. The John Schuerholz/Bobby Cox era is coming to a close. what better way to end that with a World Series ring. Once they leave the team for greener pastures I see the Braves pulling a Marlins and cutting payroll for propects to rebuild a team that will suit the new manager/GM. This makes the most sense to me and that is why i dont hate this trade, I welcome it with open arms.

by Braveheart on Jul 27, 2007 7:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Braveheart

Dude we are not gonna strip this team in 2009!!! We will have another batch of Baby Braves that will be Real good, and able to step in!!! And Liberty media made a deal with MLB that for at LEAST 5 years they cannot reduce payroll at all!!!

braves#1

by rockybull on Jul 27, 2007 8:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ok nice input

didnt hear about the 5 years thing, but i dont necessarily think it will happen in 2009. and i dont know how many of those baby braves will be left after the Tex trade. Yunel, Brandon Jones, Heyward, Hanson and possibly Kala seem like the only potential imnpact players that could come from the minors. I may be missing someone. i dont really think that they will gut the whole team but i think when that time comes around there will be no qualms of trading away established braves for prospects. what do you tihnk?

by Braveheart on Jul 28, 2007 1:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Braveheart

Possible 2009 team:

C- McCann
1B- Kala
2nd- KJ
SS- Escobar
3rd- Chipper (Campbell will be ready to step in when chipper hangs it up)
RF- Frenchy
LF- Brandon Jones
CF- Possible trade, or Heyward(Dont think he can play CF, but really dont know about CF)

Starters:

#1- Smoltz(probably his last year)
#2- Hudson
#3- James
#4- Davies
#5 JoJo Reyes
Hanson will replace Smoltz in the rotation in 2010!!!

Bullpen:

Soriano
Gonzalez
Startup
Devine
Gunderson
and probably some trades to fill out the rest!!!

You got to realize this is just speculation by me!!! Alot of those names could be traded by then, I dont know, BUT if they are not, That is a damn good team!!! I would have put Elvis in there somewhere, but it seems as though he will be traded!!!

braves#1

by rockybull on Jul 28, 2007 2:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs