Amen!

I would love to see us sign Sheets, but by this point I would not be at all surprised to see him join the Rangers….

The only way he would join the Rangers is after we came to an agreement and sent him a term sheet….oh wait was that someone else??

I think that this offseason so far may be a blessing in disguise. This team isn’t really close to winning even if all the best laid plans came true. The reason I say this is because it should temper some of the expectations around this team for next year, giving them a year to play without the burden of being expected to make the playoffs.

  This would also give the organization a chance to break in some young guys in low pressure situations. Push the arb clock even further back on Hanson. They could wait for the inevitable breakdown of a guy like Campillo and then throw Redmond or Medlen into the mix. They could also wait till July to bring up Shafer, allowing him to get his feet wet for 2010.

 It would also be another year of development at the big league level for Reyes and Morton to take some hard knocks and refine their games. Very reminiscent of the 89-90 seasons for Glavine and Smoltz.

Then in August Huddy comes back and you will know whether to extend him a new contract or not. It would also give them time to shop for that big outfield bat that is needed without being too desperate.

Dunn is just waiting on Teix to sign and then open up a bidding war between the teams that were left out in the cold. But he would be a good addition to team.

The average fans will bitch and moan because no big stars have been brought in, but it would actually be the smarter move to just bide time till ‘10. Now Wren has the mask that the front office worked extremely hard to bring in some big players, but it just didn’t work out. I’m just rambling now, so I’ll end it.

Sheets and Perez, sign them both and be done with it.

Is a true Ace unlike Burnett. We should be estatic that we lost out on Burnett b/c it would of turned out for the worst. Sheets is a real Ace and will cost less years and money. Plus if we sign Sheets, Smoltzie will more than likely come back.

Having Sheets, Smoltz, JJ, Vasquez is a complete transformation than what we have now. Plus the 5th starter can be another FA or one of our younger pitchers or go with Campillo. Since we do have young pitchers in Morton, Reyes, Parr, and Hanson they can get more time in the Minors and if we do have a injury to one of our Major League starters we can plug in our younger guys to evalute them and their future with the Braves.

along with WMG client Peter Moylan in exchange for Neftali Feliz.

we could use Sheets, when he is healthy he is better than AJ any day
we get him for alot less, and he would be great as our ace
sign him to a 2-3 year deal with opt. for 3, or 4 years matters how much he plays

he’d be great with us and cant wait to get him

Sheets is an interesting gamble for sure. I don’t think it’s the worst idea, but I think it’d be better to resign Smoltz, and get Manny. We could get him for a 3yr deal since nobody else is offering that length. Right now, our best trade chips besides yunel and kj are morton, reyes, and campillo. However, none of them are really worth much right now because they haven’t proven themselves. Why not go with a rotation of Smoltz, Vazquez, Jair, Campillo/Morton/Reyes, and let somebody develop some trade value. There will be other pitchers available at the deadline when some teams are out of it and willing to move guys with a year or two left on the contract for some cheap controllable pitching.

In the meantine, Manny would give us that power righty bat, he’s still a great hitter, for a few years, he still will be. He’s a proven playoff monster, and we’d all love to have Smoltz and Manny on our side in the playoffs. We’ve seen there aren’t any good options in FA, and Dye would cost us about half what Manny does, but with some prospects too, and he’s only signed for a year(/w mutual option). And he’s not nearly the difference maker Manny is. In both quality, and star power. Signing Manny would send the message that we aren’t to be toyed with. That if nobody is willing to give up value for our young guys, we’ll showcase them backed by the strongest offense the Braves have had in years.

Signing Sheets would be a nice upside play as well, but we’ve seen the Braves seem apprehensive about that chronic back injury. If we simply give Morton/Reyes/Campillo room to develop, we may be able to land a trade for another proven starter, when there are more available. And by then hopefully our guys would have some trade value by then, so we don’t have to give up yunel or kj.

And if theres any money left, get Ohman back too.