Top-5 Off-Season Questions For The Atlanta Braves:  #1

He really wants to play the outfield again and we’re one of the few teams that can and would allow him to play there. Our defense there will be sub par whether Dunn is there or not, and he’ll likely take less money just for the chance.

If we can sign Adam Dunn, we should put him at a position where his defense can hurt us the least ( or at the position where his inept defense can be masked by positional necessity), and that would seem to be First Base (unreliable for a short sample size, but UZR of just -3.1 at 1B this year). Could Freeman play the outfield, where his younger and presumably healthier legs and athletic ability at age 21 would mask his own defensive ineptness?

This is my ideal (in realm of possibility, anyway- Colby Rasmus is well of out that) scenario for the upcoming season.

Rasmus is obviously the best option, since we also desperately need a CF… The problem is that I’m not sure he’s even really available. For instance, if LaRussa doesn’t return, there is no way that Rasmus is traded. And even if LaRussa stays, there’s a pretty good chance that they just mend their hard feelings. I would LOVE to get Rasmus, even if it meant trading some top prospects, but I just don’t think it’s likely. Wren should try everything he can to make it work, though.

As for the other options, I think none of the free agents is likely at all. Werth and Crawford are awesome, but out of our price range. Dunn can only play 1B, and we have a a first baseman (if we were in the AL, I’d be all over him, but I’m glad we’re not in the AL). Beyond that, we’re talking about guys like Cody Ross, who may be slight upgrades, but would hardly qualify as “big bats”.

I think Wren needs to think out of the box and make a trade for a player that no one is speculating about.

Give whatever neccesary to get any 2 of Rasmus, Kemp, Quentin, DeJesus, or Willingham. I might even be willing to part with JT for Ryan Braun.

So we can argue all day about what we should do, but the question is, what are we going to realistically get?

To be quite honest, I think that Wren sits pat mostly on offense and signs a platoon partner for Diaz to play with next year. I don’t want this to be all that ends up happening, but numbers say that even though all of those injuries hit (Heyward, Jones, Prado) and certain players lost any ability to play baseball (McLouth, Glaus, Escobar, Cabrera, Diaz to a certain degree), we still had a damn good offense last year. Up near the top in both metric styles: wOBA and runs.

Although I would love to get a true superstar, or even a star, or even an everyday player, this lineup has been shown to work over a long season the way it is structured. I think that the relative upgrades in the Outfield (hopefully the resurgence of McLouth, the continued development of Heyward, and the non-tender of the Chicken Tender, Melky), followed by consistency at 1B (Freeman) and restoration of our bench players to being bench players (Infante) will mean that we will become an even better offense than last year.

Hopefully.

I think that this is what is going to end up happening.

I wonder how much of Carlos Lee’s contract Houston would eat?

To me I think the most probable – though maybe not my favourate option – is Cody Ross. This is why:

1. He should be realtively easy to aquire compared to Rasmus or Kemp if SF tenders him a contract and there is a fair chace he gets nontendered anyways. He keeps us within budget to get more veteran pen help and allows us to keep all of our current starters and all of our top prospects.
2. He played for Gonzo and he may want Wren to bring one of ‘his boys’ in.
3. His defense in center is better than McLouth, Cabrera and from what I can tell Ankiel. His arm is much better than McLouth and with him in center and McLouth moving over to left you have a plus fielding left fielder.
4. He hits right handed and he has historically hit lefties well (career .946 OPSvsLHP and .883 OPSvsLHP in 2010) and a career .305 ISOvsLHP that is very solid and cleanup worthy vsLHP
5. In three full seasons to his name he has two 22+HR years while hitting in a pitching park in both Florida and San Fran.

Its not that I wouldn’t want Crawford, Werth, Rasmus, or Kemp its just that getting any one of those players would either drain all of our FA budget and then some or cost us dearly in top prospects and/or a current rotation member like Jurrjens or Minor.

Lets just stop the rosterbating idea of putting Freeman anywhere but first base. By all accounts, he was one of the best defensive first baseman in all of the minors so i see no reason to change that

Ellsbury of course, Justin Upton, Grady Sizemore, Hunter Pence, Beltran, Delmon Young, Marcus Thames

Me too, the Braves have a habit of taking injury prone players and making them work

does he play in the field? Prado is already at 2b

(sniffle)

A team like the Indians, Royals, or Orioles who are a few years away from competing anyway might take him.

but I really don’t think we’re going to see anything other than a replacement-level guy or two in LF.

what about Josh Hamilton in cf, jason werth in Lf, and Jason Heyward in Rf now that’s an Outfield.

We actually get a quality CF (don’t care which, Rasmus/Kemp/Gutierrez).

With the production boost from that spot, can the team afford to take on a reclamation project for LF??

Alex Gordon’s value has to be at an all-time low, but I honestly believe he can hack it with a change of scenery. Under team control for two years with what should be extremely kind arbitration salaries. Can double as a 3B if/when Chipper’s out.

With Moustakas a virtual lock for 3B next year and Butler/Kila manning the 1B/DH spots with Eric Hosmer coming up in a year or so, they have a real logjam at the corner IF/DH positions. One of those three will likely end up in the OF.

Best case scenario: cheap trade, successful comeback to his 1st round draft pick potential

Worst case scenario: waste of a middling prospect, very cheap 2010 McLouthian numbers, non-tender candidate.

-C

For a package centered around JT and another of our top prospects?

I’d love to see him get a chance.

Nick Markakis
Shin-Soo-Choo
David DeJesus

I doubt we get Rasmus without giving up Prado. Maybe the SS we got from the Blue Jays will have an awesome AFL and we can use him as trade bait.

How come nobody has mentioned any of the Orioles OFers? It’s not like they are within striking distance of the other 4 teams in their division.

Jurrjens, Freeman, Teheran, Salcedo, Lipka or Delgado. I would be content if we trade any other prospects. I would really like for us to make a deal based around KK and another prospect or two for Figgins and possibly Brandon League too. Figgins would most defiantly be an upgrade over McLouth. Next get an experience back of the bullpen guy to help Venters and Kimbrel out, preferably J.J. Putz . Obtain a big bat like Kemp, Rasmus, Choo, Crawford, Werth or Dunn to help solidify our offense. Re-signing Hinske would be smart and getting a guy like Ty Wiggington to help get Chipper some days off would be a good move as well.

How about Jose Reyes? We could trade Gonzales and maybe Minor and KK?

Infante + Vizcaino + Hicks + Proctor = Colby Rasmus
Jurrjens + Beachy + McLouth + Lipka = Jacoby Ellsbury
Kawakami + O’Flaherty = Brandon Wood
Gonzalez + Salcedo + Diamond = JJ Hardy

Shift Matt Diaz to 1B/LF
re-sign Eric Hinske 1/2.5 plus vesting option
sign Javier Vazquez 1/4 plus club option
sign Willie Harris 1/1

Ta-da!

if the the braves can find a taker for kawakami AND if they dont trade away any of their pen, AND use the strength from AAA to fill out their remaining bench (matt young and barbaro), the braves can probably choose 2 of the following players either via trade or free agency, and still stay in budget:

cf
1. cody ross
2. bj upton
3. matt kemp

lf
1. josh willingham
2. pat burrell
3. magglio