I just don’t see where the money is going to come from to sign Holliday. The Cardinals will be able to go to $15 million per. Their best offer will probably be 5 years $75 million. I don’t see the Braves being able to top that. Even if we somehow move Lowe’s $45 million for nothing in return it seems difficult. Bay will probably stay in Boston and he will probably resign before free agency starts. That will drive up the value of Holliday.
I think we will have to go the cheap route to find a bat.

Was Cruz a legitimate option last spring? For what?

I wanted the Braves to get Holliday during the summer, and I still want the Braves to get him. Its only possible though if the Braves can unload a massive contract and Wren is a genius but I doubt he can work the miracle of unloading Lowe.

I think this right handed/left handed distinction is pretty stupid. We need a good hitter simple as that, if he’s lefty i don’t see the problem as long as his numbers against lefties aren’t atrocious. I think the best option for us is Shin Soo Choo of the Indians. 4 years of team control left and he brings power to the table as well as being an all around good hitter. We’d have to give up some nice prospects to get him (R. Delgado?) but we wouldn’t have to “dump” players to afford him. Also allows us to go out and get some bullpen arms and bring back LaRoche

Who saw the Vazquez, McLouth or LaRoche trades coming? I think we’ll see a lot of speculation about one player, and then suddenly we’ll end up with someone better.

For Schafer, Medlen, B. Jones and Reyes.

We would then trade Lowe or Kawakami. The Angels and Brewers match up well. Maybe Kawakami to the Brewers for Gamel or to the Angels for Sandoval and Arredondo. The Angels deal would be better to me because it would give us a versatile guy in Sandoval and a good RP in Arredondo.

Then the Braves would probably sign a bat with the money saved from the Kawakami deal maybe Dye or Guerrero both of which are on the downside especially defensively, Dye being a little better on D. So I’d sign Dye.

Also we have a couple of possible non-tender candidates that we could deal as I mentioned in another thread. KJ and Acosta to the DBacks for Conner Jackson who may be non-tendered by the DBacks. Then there Ryan Church the White Sox need OF maybe we could send him and a prospect to the Sox for Jenks, who has been rumored of possibly being non-tendered as well.

Finally we re-sign LaRoche and Gonzalez, then extend Hudson and Vazquez

So let’s summarize what I just said:

1. Schafer, Medlen, B. Jones and Reyes to the Rangers for Cruz
2. Kawakami to the Angels for Sandoval and Arredondo
3. KJ and Acosta to the DBacks for Jackson.
4. Church and a prospect for Jenks
5. Sign Dye
6. Re-sign LaRoche and Gonzalez
7. Extend Hudson and Vazquez

Lineup:
McLouth – CF
Prado – 2B
Jones – 3B
Dye – LF
McCann – C
Escobar – SS
Cruz – RF
LaRoche – 1B

Bench:
Ross – C
Infante – Super Utility
Diaz – OF
Jackson – 1B/OF
Sandoval – IF

Starting Rotation:
Javier Vazquez – RHP
Jair Jurrjens – RHP
Tim Hudson – RHP
Derek Lowe – RHP
Tommy Hanson – RHP

Bullpen:
Carlyle/Campillo – LRP
Logan/Gomez – LOOGY
O’Flaherty – MRP
Arredondo – MRP
Moylan – SUP
Gonzalez – SUP/CP
Jenks – SUP/CP

If we really want to save money and make our team better, we should get an underrated defensive outfielder. Tommy Hanson is a fly-ball pitcher who would benefit from having someone suck up all those fly balls. Even if they don’t provide the bat we want, the defensive value would make up for it. In addition, defense is still undervalued so we could get a defensive upgrade for much cheaper than an upgraded bat.

we shouldnt give up on schafer just yet…..We should have signed bobby abreu last yr, that may have put us into the playoffs this year

The Yanks will likely still have a logjam in their OF next season, and might be willing to send him packing for a couple of pitchers.

That if the Braves somehow get Nelson Cruz, that Jurrjens will be sent packing to Arlington in return. This time of year always makes me nervous being a Brave’s fan.

I just hope Wren can work some magic this offseason : )

you should put up a new one. I’m sick of going through 300 comments

http://www.talkingchop.com/2009/4/21/846989/trade-ideajust-a-shot-in-the-dark

and this is when Cruz could have been cheap.

Why not Nick Swisher?

I wasn’t a big fan this past offseason, but he’s shown he can stay healthy (my main concern earlier) and hit like a hittin’ fool from both sides of the plate. He might very well be available if the Yankees retain one of Matsui or Damon, and while he’s not going to hit as many homers away from the Yankee Launching Pad, he’s a middle-of-the-order bat who can play good OF defense, especially if he’s in LF and not RF or CF.

My only concern is how many years he might be under team control, which I think is either 1 or 2… hopefully 2?