Jayson Stark at ESPN brings us this update on the Atlanta Braves' efforts to trade both Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado:
Teams that have spoken with the Braves report they're continuing to "float" Jair Jurrjens' name, even after their potential deal to send him to Kansas City fell through. "They're not really pushing him. They're floating him," said an executive of one team that spoke with them. "The impression we got is they've got to unload money. They want to get a bat, and the only way to do it is to unload money. The one guy they'd move, no problem, is Martin Prado. He seems like he's fallen from grace over there."
A few things. First, we need to unload money for a bat? Who might that be? Stark has a guess on that too:
One friend of Jimmy Rollins tells Rumblings he has more than a half-dozen teams interested in him. An educated guess on five of them: Phillies, Cardinals, Brewers, Braves and Giants.
Ah-HA! So J-Roll is interested in the Braves ... I wonder if that is who the Braves are trying to clear payroll for. He would fit with the Braves recent desires to add more speed. As a switch hitter he would fit perfectly in the number-2 spot in the lineup. As Rowland's Office said, I'd be fine with a three year deal, but anything longer and the Braves would be trying to unload him in a few years a la Lowe.
Second thing is that last line of the first quote, Martin Prado has fallen from grace? That seems way off to me. I get the feeling that the Braves believed that Prado was greatly slowed by the staph infection he was disabled for in the middle of the season. Maybe the Braves are just preparing the excuses for why they feel they have to trade him.
Perhaps there is a bit of self-inflicted crowding out going on with respect to Prado and the Braves. They bumped him from second base to make room for Dan Uggla, and now they want to bump him from left field to make room for "a better bat." If that's the case then there's not a position on the field for Prado to play everyday, and the Braves may deem him too expensive to keep on the bench for any length of time. None of us are sure what the front office is thinking, but given the recent developments that seems to make the most sense.
The Jair-Martin saga continues this off-season.