The Braves are interested in discussing a contract extension with Tim Hudson, and if they can make that work, they presumably will somehow fold the $12 million 2010 option into that deal. This, of course, would free up a starting pitcher for Atlanta to trade. There has been speculation that Vazquez might be that guy to be traded, but given that he is the Braves' best pitcher now -- a fact he affirmed again by shutting out the Cardinals on Sunday -- it seems more likely that another Atlanta starter would be dealt (Kenshin Kawakami?). The Braves could always trade Vazquez in the middle of next season if they were to fall out of contention.
Buster chimes in | ESPN.com
If you've been following this situation, this is no surprise, and nothing we really haven't heard already.
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what does the rotation look like for Boston or the Yankees?...
I’d be hesitant to ship him to the Mets, although they could certainly use a solid starter, and maybe you could land Reese Havens or Jefry Marte for him considering their need for an innings-eater. The Red Sox seem in good shape, especially if Daiske comes back and ends the year well, but maybe the Yankees would bite. You’ve got Burnett and Sabathia at the top, but Petite is getting older, while Ming-Wang is still a ? to come back, with Hughes possibly looking better suited for the bullpen and Joba still unable to pitch deep into games. With their lineup, even Lowe’s career ERA of mid 4s is enough to win 20 games, plus it’s not like their afraid to spend a little money and they could really use something they can depend on in that rotation besides their two big money free agents.
I was not joking...
he’s overpaid, but plenty of clubs are willing to overpay for someone who has pitched 180+ innings every year for 8 years with most of those seasons having an ERA in the 3s, and all but one under 4.50. The Mets and Yankees clearly could use someone of Lowe’s pedigree to help their rotation, among other possible big spenders who could use him.
by Mr. Sanchez on Sep 15, 2009 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions
I hope so, i love Huddy long term. He’s just one of those guys you love to have in your uniform. Matt Diaz is as well.
"Matt Diaz is a baseball player."-Joe Simpson
Trading Pitching
Yes, it’d be nice to be able to trade Lowe. His signing (at least for the dollars given) was motivated by keeping him from the Mets rather than actual baseball reasons. Vazquez seems to be the logical person to move, but Wren so far has not shown an ability to get top prospects for top talent as we saw with the Tex trade.
It’s been mentioned here before, but trading Jurrjens would get us a lot more. I know that the Brewers don’t like the rapidly escalating contract of Prince Fielder and he might be available. The problem with Prince is that more than his contract is “escalating”. He’s got two more years to go before he becomes a free agent and he’s improved as a hitter.
I’d hate to lose Jurrjens, but I’m not sure Vazquez and another player or two would be enough for Fielder. Even if the Braves to acquire him, I can’t see them being able to afford Fielder once he’s a free agent, but he’ll come with two compensation picks when he does.
Any thoughts?
I’d rather try to pry Braun away from them…Jurrjens, M. Acosta, and L. Valdez would be my first offer.
A man walks into a meat shoppe and goes to the counter. The cashier asks, "Thinking about buying some meat?". The man replied, "No, I'm going to buy meat, I was thinking about punanny."
by bwellnjonesco on Sep 14, 2009 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Agree
We need a RH hitter much more than a lefty at this point and Braun fits that bill quite well!
by Southern IN Chopper on Sep 14, 2009 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions
that would never happen. the brewers would laugh in your face at that offer.
Frank Wren for GM of the Year.
"Wait, bait and bash." - Jason Heyward's personal philosophy.
by Scott Coleman on Sep 14, 2009 1:32 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Probably so,
however, they might just frown and be like “hmmm…”
1. They really want/need someone up close to Gallardo’s level…Jurrjens is up there…
2. Matt Gamel can’t play third (McGehee has it now anyways), he should be in left (sounds similar to Braun, right?). They didn’t refuse to trade Gamel if they planned on finding a spot for him, somewhere in the lineup…Gamel makes Braun more replaceable than Fielder <<>>
3. Thats all I can think of right now…
A man walks into a meat shoppe and goes to the counter. The cashier asks, "Thinking about buying some meat?". The man replied, "No, I'm going to buy meat, I was thinking about punanny."
by bwellnjonesco on Sep 14, 2009 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m not saying Braun is more replaceable than Fielder in terms of general baseball, but in the Brewers case, they have a potential replacement for Braun in Gamel. Fielder doesn’t have a front-line prospect behind him.
A man walks into a meat shoppe and goes to the counter. The cashier asks, "Thinking about buying some meat?". The man replied, "No, I'm going to buy meat, I was thinking about punanny."
by bwellnjonesco on Sep 14, 2009 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Gamel is the front line prospect behind him… Gamel isn’t as athletic as Braun and the switch to LF would be a more difficult transition for him. Also, Financially Braun is easier for the Brewers to keep (because he is signed cheap for a long time)
Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?
by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST
Gamel can certainly play third, his defense isn’t as bad as everyone seems to believe
by McCann's the Man on Sep 14, 2009 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree… no matter how you look at it the Brewers wont trade Braun over Fielder (ever)… if that’s what you are gettin at.
Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?
by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST
yeah that’s where I was going with it sort of, also that Gamel potentially needing to move positions will never force braun out of town
by McCann's the Man on Sep 14, 2009 9:22 PM EDT up reply actions
The problem with trading Jurrjens
Yes, he would bring back the most in return, but trading him doesn’t free up salary. The problem isn’t really having too much pitching, it’s too much salary. To me, KK is the best trade option, because his contract isn’t overly long or expensive, and he’s pretty darn good. Unfortunately, I think trading him during the offseason will be selling low. He’s bound to pitch better in 2010, since he’s had a season to adjust to his surroundings.
"…aren’t worthy enough to hold his (Pujols) ass cheeks apart while Playboy models wipe him with thousand dollar bills after he craps out the cure to whatever previously-incurable disease." by royhobbs 1/7/09
Agreed on Kawakami, he has by far the least value of our tradeable starters (i.e. Vazquez, Jurrjens, Hanson, Kenshin).
I think there are a couple things to consider here.
1. We don’t just need a bat. We are staring a bullpen overhaul in the face. I doubt we will pay market price to Gonzalez and/or Soriano. Frankly, given their injury history (and Cox’s overuse issues), I wouldn’t touch Gonzo or Soriano at a likely 6-8 million annually for the next 2-4 years. It doesn’t make much sense for a team with our financial situation to invest long term in arms with the history of those two.
2. We are/could be freeing up nearly 10M in money out of the bullpen. Replacing those two back end guys with younger, less expensive arms could provide the savings necessary to retain the expensive vets of our rotation, while still pursuing a bat.
We have several areas that our starting “surplus” could be used to address. We could rebuild the bullpen, find an OF or 1B bat, or probe for potential infield prospects (Javy Vazquez for Josh Vitters anyone?- I wish).
It’s Vazquez or Jurrjens, whose it going to be?
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
Vitters?
Yuck. Cubs prospects are always overrated.
by blitzerlover on Sep 14, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions
He’s struggled with plate discipline but then again he just turned 20 and played well before his promotion. Point being, you can fetch some top level prospects, especially in positional need areas.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
so are Braves' prospects.
just sayin’
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Sep 15, 2009 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions
A bullpen overhaul?...
we still have Carlyle, Medlen, Moylan, O’Flaherty, Logan, Reyes, Kimbrel, Valdez, Acosta, and Campillo, among others, under control for next year. The 9th (and maybe 8th) innings are not certain, but that’s pretty good for middle relief and the bulk of your bullpen.
Replacing the two best relievers who pitch at the end of close games is about as close as a contender can come to overhauling their bullpen. Losing Soriano and Gonzalez would dramatically change our relief situation. That is a very, very large gap in production to fill.
Campillo? Carlyle? Logan? Reyes? Acosta? If those are the guys we are relying on, God help us. Kimbrel could help out but he has a long way to go in improving his command before he is ready.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
I’d say the 7 bullpen arms will look like
Moylan
Medlen
O’ Flaherty
Kimbrel
Logan
CL
7/8th inning guy
by McCann's the Man on Sep 14, 2009 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions
young arm§
Let’s not forget what gave the Braves all those Div titles 14 yrs in a row. Pitching. While its obvious we are in a good position with this surplus of arms and we need a bat I hope we don’t trade young pitching to get one. Jurrijens would bring the most of the above mention pitchers, but that’s because he worth the most to an organization in the long haul. He’s an established mlb arm who has cy young ability and is at the beginning of his career. Let’s not trade that gold mine. Also vazquez is having a career year and I think its obvious he is a good fit here, kk has proven he can compete at this level once he gets his feet wet but I see him as the only one who we can part from, but that’s only from a fans standpoint who wants to see them win not a GM’s standpoint who has to deal with$. This is a great problem to have
by chippeforprez on Sep 14, 2009 1:21 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
We cannot trade Vazquez
We will never get equal value, he is maturing like a fine wine, don’t think of him as the White Sox pitcher whose BABIP was through the roof, he has returned to earth and pitching like the great pitcher he is.
KEEP VAZQUEZ!!
Why do we HAVE to trade someone? I’m fairly positive fans on here remember last year when we thought we were fine and dandy with pitching, and then the bottom dropped out on our pitching staff due to injuries and overall suckiness. I know it’s a lot of money to commit to our starters, but I think it would be a big mistake to simply trade one of them away, a scenario in which we most likely won’t even get full value for the player for various reasons (different for every guy). Hold on to them!
"These two teams are constantly going at each other verbally. You know, win with class, lose with class. Just keep your mouth shut and go play your game."--Chipper Jones, commenting on the Muts/Phaillies verbal girl fight.
I really don’t want to get rid of Hudson or Vazquez but we can’t keep them both and improve the offense at the same time. Hudson will probably be the cheaper player next year. If a good offer came along for Vazquez then I think we would have to move him. We need to free up some money to be able to add a bat to this team.
The rotation for next year will probably be Lowe, Vazquez or Hudson, Jurrjens, Hanson, and Kawakami. One of Gonzalez or Soriano will be back. Our offense should be good everywhere but 1B, and LF. I think that Diaz and Church can handle RF until Heyward is ready. We still need a big bat for LF though. Thats where Vazquez comes in. If we could send him somewhere for prospects and then flip the prospects in a trade for a LF I think we could be very good next year.
Keep our young guns!
We shouldn’t even think about trading Jurrjens nor Hanson. We should also try to keep Hudson and Vazquez. I know that Jurrjens is the pitcher that will probably bring the best talent in return, but if you have a great young starter you shouldn’t trade him. Especially a smart high character person like Jurrjens. We should do our best to trade either KK or Lowe. They will not bring in as near as much talent as Jurrjens or Vazquez would, but we can free up some money. Then that can go towards resigning Soriano and or Gonzalez (or another legit closer). To help with a power outage we should keep Laroche (give Freeman another year to develop) and play Heyward in right. Then we should look for a power hitting corner outfielder via the trade market that we can use for a year. I believe that’s a good idea because it will give Jordan Schafer more at bats in the minors, since he has missed a great deal of action the past two seasons.
I wouldn’t consider trading Jurrjens or Hanson unless somebody offered a ton for one of them. I’m talking a very good hitter and a top prospect plus more.
Jurrjens and Schafer for J. Upton
I’d do it, too bad the D-Backs hang up.
60% of the time, it works every time
Upton and Heyward in our OF the next 10 years?
Yum :)
Frank Wren for GM of the Year.
"Wait, bait and bash." - Jason Heyward's personal philosophy.
by Scott Coleman on Sep 14, 2009 6:16 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
ummmmm...
more like
Jurrjens
Schafer
Freeman
for J. Upton
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Sep 15, 2009 9:44 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s a really weak market for starting pitchers and I imagine a lot of teams will be desperate for a solid arm. We should probably send out the wire that we are willing to consider ANY offers and then wait and see what comes knocking.
We also have to worry about the bullpen. Despite a great ERA and K/9 this group has blown a ton of saves this year – second worst in the NL, behind only the Nats. A great rotation of starters is worthless if your 7-8-9 guys can only close the deal 60% of the time. I blame a lot of that on Cox, not only for grossly mismanaging the pen but also for allowing our offense to go into a shell late in the game. It is incredibly frustrating to know that you are going to get a quality start every night and still lose about half the time.
More on Braves website
“[Hudson] has thrown really well during these first couple starts back,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said. “We know his makeup. We know his work ethic. We know his competitiveness. We’d like to have him pitching in Atlanta for a long time.”
Healthy Hudson Presents Choices
"Matt Diaz is a baseball player."-Joe Simpson
Add Wren’s quote up with this one from Hudson,
“I would be glad if they picked up the option. But it’s one of those things if they want to discuss not picking it up and maybe going a few years out at some kind of whatever hometown discount, that’s something I’d obviously be willing to discuss with them.”
…and you may find that a deal is pretty likely going to happen.
Really
would like to move Lowe somehow but Wren would have to get really creative. I wonder if the Yanks or BoSox would take him.
Other than that why dont we re-sign Hudson for cheaper and make Lowe the closer. Then we dont have to worry about signing one of those guys and just start Heyward in RF and from day one we have our new closer and our improved offensive bat
Why is Lowe so impossible to move....
the Yankees and Mets both look like they could really use a guaranteed 180+ innings man, among possible other big spenders (Orioles)?
I think we can move him
however the popular thought is we cant even if we eat part of his contract.
by drumzalicious on Sep 14, 2009 9:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Buster must have seen a different game than I did…Vaz gave up runs and didn not pitch a shutout…
either way, I think I have made myself very clear on this one – DO NOT trade Vaz. Heck, I don’t think we should trade ANYONE at this point!
"Actually, Justin was right."
by bigjoe on May 15, 2009 9:04 AM PDT
by justincredubil02 on Sep 14, 2009 5:57 PM EDT reply actions
34 turning 35 but he doesn’t rely on overpowering stuff so he ages better than most
by McCann's the Man on Sep 14, 2009 7:55 PM EDT up reply actions
trading quality starter when you're not that far from contending
gotta agree with deewill. we have solid reliable nucleus with Hanson,
JJ, Vasquez. they show different stuff which is a plus. Hudson bless his
heart may not come back fully, Lowe will sit a 4 or 5 on hope of
a comeback and complete absence of trade value. KK could end up
gone or a middle reliever swing man trying to earn a starting spot
following an injury or his improvement.
Kimbrel makes the team as a late inning guy groomed for closing. Soriano
gets re-signed. Moylan is a nice piece. A lefty reliever is a major addition.
Outfield looks great with Heyward in RF. Mclouth is fine for now. Diaz you
gotta love his heart and grit. Work in a leadoff guy, a lefty reliever, sign LaRoche
for now, move KJ and let GA go and we make the next step back to the future.
Keep every single damn one of um. Move Lowe to closer next year once we loose Soriano, sign Huddy long term and we have four aces on our staff. We don’t need a big bat just a consistent one or two.
Baseball is my life
The only way I can see myself being okay with trading Vazquez is if it were in a package for Prince Fielder. Javy, cash, and a few good prospects for Prince if the Brew Crew is interested would definitely help this team but otherwise trading him hurts us
by McCann's the Man on Sep 14, 2009 9:24 PM EDT reply actions
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