Man, I'm sure you guys are going to tear me apart for this one, but I had the idea of the Braves making the trade for Freddie Lewis or Juan Pierre.  Maybe it's because I'm from California, but I feel like both players would have their place in Atlanta.  Argument below:

For whatever reason Brucy Bochy absolutely hates Fred Lewis.  Case in point: Randy Winn, Nate Schieurholtz, and Eugenio Velez ALL got more at bats in 2009 than Lewis, despite Lewis having a superior line.  Furthermore, Brian Sabean and Bochy have come out and already said that Andres Torres and Eugenio Velez will be the LF platoon for SF in 2010.  It seems pretty clear that Lewis is the odd man out, and could be had for little more than a bag of baseballs and a Kelly Clarkson album.  Lewis will provide a decent OBP and above average speed for the position until one of the Jason's is ready.  Once they are, Lewis will serve as an above average 4th outfield option.  If he doesn't work out for the Braves, he will not bogg down the salary cap and, well to be frank, I don't like Kelly Clarkson anyway. 

Derek Lowe for Juan Pierre?  The Dodgers need pitching and Lowe's obviously pitched well for them in the past.  Seems like a reasonable swap of bad contracts.  Again, Pierre would add an above average speed and OBP element to the Braves game.  They'd also save what, 25mm over the course of the next 3 years? 

Either Lews or Pierre could replace McLouth at the top of the lineup, and allow him to slip into a run producing spot in the lineup.  Also, because of the money saving element of either deal, we'd be in a better position to resign Adam LaRoche.

Now, before any of you guys jump down my throat on this one, I'll be the first to admit that I'd rather have a Mike Cameron in the OF, too, but I'm concerned that that would hurt our chances for respectable production from the 1B position.  I'd rather have Lewis/Pierre and LaRoche over Cameron and, I don't know, Nick Johnson?  Basically the same offensive production only younger, cheaper, and with less injury risk. 

All this, btw, is on the assumption that Soriano doesn't accept arbitration.  Who saw that one coming?  If he does accept, would anyone else rather see them trade Wagner than Soriano?  For the same price, I'll take the guy who's the sure bet.  Too many ?'s with Wagner's age and injury recovery.  Oh yea, if we make the trade for Lewis or Pierre, we could most likely afford to keep Soriano...not bad, huh? 

Oh no! Rosterbation!  I know it's against the "talking chop" code of conduct, but hopefully you'll agree that I've raised enough points, good or bad, to merit this being a fanpost:

RF Freddie Lewis/Juan Pierre

2B Martin Prado

3B Chipper Jones

C Brian McCann

CF Nate McLouth

1B Adam LaRoche

SS Yunel Escobar

LF Matt Diaz

Bullpen:

Peter Moylan

Takashi Saito

Rafael Soriano

Billy Wagner

Last thing, on a non-baseball note, if any of you play the market, watch XMDC and ADLS, both should be moving in the next week or two.  Feel free to do your own DD for validation of that.  Maybe we can all get filthy rich and buy the Braves ourselves, or at least some nice Christmas presents.


Thanks for your time all, hope everyone's Christmas season is a merry one.