Archive for the 'Off-Season' Category

Most of the Braves’ struggles on offense in 2009 stemmed from their inability to obtain offensive production from the positions on the field where you typically expect the most production: the infield and outfield corners.

In right field, Jeff Francoeur was, well, Jeff Francoeur. Ryan Church didn’t provide the relief from Frenchy’s awfulness for which the Braves had hoped. Matt Diaz provided some late-season spark, but thinking of him as anything more than the short end of a platoon would be a mistake on par with, say, signing Garret Anderson to be your every day left fielder.

Oops.

The failures of the corner infield positions were a little more unexpected. Not even those dimmest on Casey Kotchman’s prospects expected him to be as bad as he was during his brief tenure with the Braves. But the Atlanta finally found their guy at first base in Adam LaRoche only to see him become a free agent at the season’s close. While it would be nice to be able to re-sign LaRoche, doing so will be costly and will likely keep Adam in Atlanta a good bit beyond Freddie Freeman’s ETA in the big leagues.

On the other side of the diamond, Chipper Jones’ inability to remain healthy presents problems of its own. Enduring Chipper’s frailty in order to enjoy his effective-when-healthy schtick is now a deeply ingrained part of Braves tradition. But the novelty has begun to wear thin, especially when he’s not delivering a 1.000+ OPS as he did in 2008 and 2007 and Martin Prado is the guy filling in for him a couple times a week. Don’t get me wrong, Prado is a serviceable second baseman with room yet to improve, but his bat doesn’t play at third base.

There’s a potential solution here that might allow Frank Wren to solve two problems at once: move Chipper to first base. Jones wouldn’t be the first player to move across the diamond to keep his body healthy and his bat in play. Third base is one of the most physically demanding positions on the field, and moving him to first might prove to be less strain on his body. Furthermore, Chipper’s defense at third these days is either average or awful, depending on which metric you use.

As I’ve mentioned, this solution could potentially solve two problems: 1) the void at first base 2) Chipper Jones’ health.

It does, however, create another problem: the void at third base. Fortunately, I have an answer which, I think, solves that problem quite well: sign Adrian Beltre.

But more on that tomorrow.

MLB.com reports that the Braves will look to unload Derek Lowe and his contract via trade:

In order to retain the financial flexibility to keep the club’s rotation strong and also address the needs at first base, outfield and the back end of the bullpen, Wren is expected to explore the possibility of trading Lowe, who is owed $45 million over the final three years of his contract.

“It’s an obvious position of strength and when you’re looking to improve your club, you’re looking at where you can improve it at the expense of some other area,” Wren said. “We’ll see when we come out of our planning meetings what we feel is most appropriate.”

Cox, who will join Wren and the club’s other top scouts and administrators in Orlando next week for the planning meetings, certainly doesn’t buy into the possibility that the team could opt to trade Vazquez, who went 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and notched 238 strikeouts in his first season with the Braves this year.

“I haven’t ever thought about trading him,” Cox said. “I know we’ve got him for one more year. You’d have to get an awful lot.”

As I see it, the Braves have four obvious choices for the 2010 rotation.

SP1) Javier Vazquez
SP2) Tim Hudson
SP3) Tommy Hanson
SP4) Jair Jurrjens

The fifth spot is where the Braves have some room to maneuver. Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami, and Kris Medlen could all be viable options. Depending on what happens with the bullpen in the offseason, it might be worth giving Medlen a serious look as the fifth starter during spring training. Alternatively, he might be paired with Hanson as a long reliever to help manage the latter’s workload.

I suppose the point I’m trying to get across is that there are a lot of places Frank Wren could go from here. It’s encouraging that he’s looking at trading his most expensive, least effective pitcher (though I assume the Braves would end up eating a significant portion of his salary in any trade).

Tim Hudson ($12 million club option) – All indications seem to be that the Braves will pick up Hudson’s option. And with the way he pitched so well so soon after Tommy John surgery, why not?

Adam LaRoche – This will be a tough call for Frank Wren. LaRoche is decent enough and is certainly an improvement over the sad sack we were employing before he returned. However, I’m expecting LaRoche will want a long-term contract. As such, it might not make a whole lot of sense to pay to bring him back. For what it’s worth, LaRoche is projected to be a Type B free agent.

Rafael Soriano – Right-handed relievers are a dime a dozen. He’s going to be a Type A free agent. Let him walk. Take the compensatory picks.

Mike Gonzalez – Left-handed relievers that can also retire right-handed batters are a slightly rarer bird. I’d bring him back. His lack of a “closer” tag should make him slightly cheaper than Soriano. Should the Braves decide to let him go, Gonzalez would also be a Type A free agent.

Garret Anderson – If Wren re-signs Anderson and his .723 OPS, I might become a Mets fan.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.

Greg Norton – Meh. Why bother?