Hinske, Glaus, and Cabrera
by BenDuronio on Jan 6, 2010 1:01 PM EST
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Eric Hinske, Troy Glaus, and Melky Cabrera are the most recent additions to the Braves roster. All three have playoff and world series experience and it appears to be that the Braves have decided to rely on veterans in Bobby Cox's last season.
Hinske was signed today as a pinch hitter and insurance policy on the oft-injured Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus. He has appeared in the past three world series and has had amazing platoon splits throughout his career. If the Braves are unable to sign another outfielder a platoon of Hinske and Diaz would produce better than most expect.
Glaus missed nearly all of 2009 coming off of shoulder surgery and has had under 40 innings at 1B throughout his career. Fortunately, Glaus did not cost much and his contract is mostly incentive laden. With such a high percentage of his contract based off incentives and his opportunities to receive major league contracts dwindling if he does not stay healthy, it is reasonable to expect Glaus to come to camp in great shape. When healthy he is a threat to post an OPS over .850 and hit between 25-35 home runs.
Cabrera will likely serve as the teams fourth outfielder if he is not packaged for a more lucrative player. He had a plethora of clutch at bats as a Yankee in high pressure situations. Bobby Cox has a history of using these types of player extremely well and maximizing their performance in a Braves uniform. He should be able to fill in for injured outfielders without see a major drop off in performance, as long as said injuries are not of great length.
All three acquisitions give the Braves flexibility and experience. The Braves have lacked veteran leadership outside of Chipper Jones the past few seasons and players with world series rings, talent, and professionalism are exactly the types of players the Braves should be aiming to acquire.
This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.
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I agree and disagree.
We did bring in veterans in Glaus and Hinske. Hinske is a solid veteran bat with versatility who should be very useful in a bench role. Glaus is a veteran who is not that old, who has always produced when healthy. If healthy, he can be a big part of the team. Melky isn’t particularly a veteran; he’s still young, but he has the tools to be a good outfielder. While these signing were mostly veterans, most young players aren’t available in the offseason, at least good ones, so this is typical.
Still, I conclude that this does not mean we are going with veterans—-it means that we will quite likely have a 20-yr. old starting for most if not all of the season.
I'd disagree with the "relying" on vets,...
and put it more on relying on the depth.
If certain key guys go down, we’re screwed like anyone else. No one can deal with an injury problem like the Mets last year, or the Braves the year before, and expect to be a playoff team. But with what the Braves have, they have a lot of pieces that can succeed if others fail.
McCann and Escobar are probably the least replaceable, but then Ross and Infante have had their moments. Chipper has Glaus, Glaus has Hinske or Freeman, Prado has Infante, we’ve got Diaz, Schafer, Heyward, Cabrera, and McLouth to fill the OF and between the 5 you have to think at least 3 will produce. We’ve got deep pitching where if one starter goes down, we still have 4 pretty good ones and some good options to call on with Medlen, maybe Reyes is finally ready to make the jump or another from AAA. If Wags/Saito go down, we’ve got Moylan and Medlen, Dunn and Vasquez, Kimbrel and Gearrin waiting to step up.
I just like the pieces we’ve got, and while some of them could not perform to expectations, I think we’ve hedged our bets well enough with the depth between young and old that this team should be in playoff position come July 1. From there, it’s just hopefully make the right moves (or non moves), and get lucky.
Definitely Disagree
All along this post season, I’ve said that we’re hedging our bets on the present for a stream of youth due from 2011 through 2013. Temporary stop gaps until Medlen/Moylan is our closer, Freeman is our 1B, Heyward is RF aren’t going to kill our already slim 2010 division championship chances. Besides, our division window opens when the Phillies wanes (we’re going to see that gradual erosion of talent the next three years due to age and salary increases).
My feeling was that it’s better to plug with Hinske/Glaus/Melky and work for the wild card than to get into a long-term contract with a player with diminishing talent that we can’t deal when it’s time anyway. If Glaus hits 20/Hinske 10 and WagSaito save 30 we’re ahead of the game both financially and projecting for the future.
My qualms have been with acquiring a mediocre McClouth and an overrated Lowe to begin with.
Last Year
I think that last year Wren had one of the hardest jobs to do of any GM. He knew that he had to replace Glaving and Smoltz with some trustworthy arms. Saying goodbye to those guys made a lot of Braves fans angree, and he knew it. At the time he knew that he had to put a staff together, with little to work with. He brought Vazquez in who had a career year. He wanted Burnett, but had to settle for Lowe, and while he overpayed, he needed and inning eater. KK after his first month, settled in and pitched very well.
This year he had less to do, and while making more questionable moves, he went for some cheaper, yet potentially more profitable players. The Vazquez deal brought in a great role player in Melky, and another good arm that could be with Hanson and JJ for years to come, possibly solidifying a starting pitching staff for many years. Signed a bat in Glaus that could end up being the best deal of the offseason depending on his health. He brought in veterans to the back end of our bullpen making it what could be the most reliable in the NL.
My only real problems are Glaus is a short term solution, as well as Wagner and Saito. I would have liked to see him sign Gonzo to a 2 year deal in place of Saito. I know that would give us two lefties in the late innings, but Gonzo excells in the setup role, and might have been a multi year solution in my opinion. While he can address these problems in upcoming seasons, I wonder where the right handed bat will come from that we need. Freeman will secure firstbase, but swings from the left side. While it is not horrible to have our best hitters all being left handed, I would think that they could find that right handed bat to replace Chipper in upcoming seasons.
Chipper's a switch hitter.
How does that change anything? Brian being a lefty is where it makes the lineup awkward, but still doable.
by BravesRaleigh on Jan 7, 2010 3:52 AM EST up reply actions
Chipper has been the only sort of balance our lineup has had against lefties the last couple of years. Once he is gone, the middle of our lineup will be all lefties, gonna have get a righty in there somehow. I guess Yunel or Prado could step in, but I would rather have someone at the 3 or 4 hole that can hit for power.
Lefty/Righty debate
Although having a dominance on one side of the plate is never a good thing, it is better to have a lineup full of left handed hitters than right handed. Frank Wren alluded to this last year. The Cubs a few years ago had nearly all right handed bats and still produced one of the best offenses in the league. Right handed pitchers make up for roughly 75% of the pitchers you face each season, so it could be worse than having a lefty dominated lineup.
I think Wren's job might have been trickier this year.
While everyone has said we were maintaining payroll, it appears that everyone was counting wrong because Hudson’s salary didn’t count for much of last year, due to insurance. Thus, Wren really had to try to keep us as good as we were at the end of last season on less money than our final salary numbers. That’s tough.
Glaus is a short-term solution, but that is the idea. The hope is that Freeman will be ready at some point in 2011. And we got him cheap, so not a bad try. And maybe we’ll have money at mid-season for an acquisition if Glaus goes down, but at this point, who knows?
As for Saito, I think he was an average signing. Signing Gonzo along with Wagner just wasn’t possible—-look at the money Gonzo got; we don’t have that much extra payroll room.
All in all, for this off-season, I’d give Wren a B+. Tough situation, not badly handled, but possibly could have been better.
Agree.....but still dissapointed.
I agree that Glaus will definitely come to play this year. With his age, and a recently sketchy bill of health, it is a must to produce if there is any chance he will sign a decent contract before hanging them up.
As for Hinkse, I think he will be more than serviceable. In a stint with the Rays where he saw significant playing time in the outfield he proved he could produce. Obviously the numbers were not staggering, but at the price we’re paying; it’s a steal.
Now for the disappointment:
Although I am not completely pissed about the offseason signings, I am upset that Wren wasn’t “big game” hunting for some legitimate power. Going into the offseason it was “let’s build on this fantastic pitching staff by getting a big boy bat.” Instead, we send arguably our best pitcher off to the “Evil Empire” for a player with the type of numbers we already have in our lineup! I feel that the team is doing what they always do, get a veteran (Glaus) who is out of work, sign them for a year, and hope they produce. Not exactly a recipe for long term success if you ask me.
I feel your pain
At the beginning of the hot stove season alot of us were looking for the addition of that big sexy bat. However in hindsight I think Wren has done a good job. The biggest of the “big game” would’ve been a Holiday or a Bay which would have financially strapped the Braves w/long term contracts. I think Wren has done a good job of spreading the wealth and formulating a team, as Mr. Sanchez has commented, of depth. It seems he’ll have a little cash stashed back for a mid-season trade move as well. You brought up a good point about Glaus coming out motivated. I think this is true of the whole team. It’ll probably be Bobby’s last year & they’ll want to send him out a winner. Chipper will come out wanting to erase his performance from last year. Lowe will want to prove he’s worth the contract. The Braves may not have the big names but motivation/drive can turn men into heros. I’m optimistic about a season that I wish would hurry up & get here. 46 days until pitchers & catchers report.
The Braves have lacked veteran leadership outside of Chipper Jones the past few seasons and players with world series rings, talent, and professionalism are exactly the types of players the Braves should be aiming to acquire
Yeah, that’s it.
Or, players that hit home runs……….
Read more fire joe morgan.
http://www.capitolavenueclub.com/
haha agreed sir
with the above attitude, all the braves need to compete is derek jeter, the intangibles king
"Sometimes I wonder what'd it be like to be outside and not hear the birds chirping...I think it'd be kind of nice."
by alligatorimpersonator on Jan 9, 2010 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
damn...
i lost the lineup contest….i really thought’d be nady..
He's pretty good in 'The Show'....
by lemke2blauser2bream on Jan 9, 2010 5:17 PM EST reply actions
about leadership...
Chipper is not a lonely camper in the the leader area , what about Mc Cann, on the other no note i don`t wanna make a statue 4 Wren but i think at least he try, remember we are livin´ the worst era in baseball , even more sad than the roids fever era , we are now in the " i got more millions to spend than to your team era " , thinking that i guess we are pretty good…
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