**Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

It looks like things are looking pretty good for the future of the Braves. They appearantly have a surplus of cash to spend on next year's team.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sp...sbiz_1115.html

With Teixeira and Hampton becoming free agents next year, they should have even more flexibility. How much would it cost to keep Teixeira off the market? I would guess around 7-8 years and 17-18 million per year. After losing Renteria and probably A.Jones, losing Teixeira seems horrible. the team obviously has the money to keep him around, the only question is if they will spend what it takes or continue to lowball their players.

Will Tom Glavine accept the Braves offer? It seems like the ideal situation for him form a personal perspective. I'm very excited about the possibility of getting him back in the rotation, if the offense performs nearly as well as they did last year he should be good for 15+ wins. Is he worth 8-10 million at his advanced age?

What realistic CF options are there? I guess Andruw returning and Hunter/Rowand are not going to happen, are there any solid CF's on the market that the Braves can trade for or sign? DO they need a great defensive player or another bat for the middle of the line-up?

Will Escobar be able to fill Renteria's shoes? He looked great in limited playing time last year, if he can play at that level this year does he hit at the top of the order or is Kelly Johnson locked into the leadoff spot? Would Matt Diaz be better suited hitting 2nd, or 5th or 6th in the line-up?

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

The Braves are trying to sign Mike Lowell:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/rumors/p...Lowell?urn=mlb,53841

This is very interesting. What happens with Chipper? I figure he would move back to left field if this deal is done. Francouer to center and Diaz in right. Very nice outfield.

Glavine as the #3 starter would shore up the rotation nicely. He'll give then 200+ innings which will be a huge relief for the bullpen. If Hampton comes back healthy that's going to be a hell of a rotation.

They will lose Dotel but he's a walking timebomb of injuries, so good riddance. Soriano will be fine as the closer.

Even without Lowell the infield is very good with Escobar, Johnson, Jones, and Tex. Brian McCann is one of the top catchers in the league.

With the payroll increasing I definately see a return to the playoffs, if not the Division Championship again.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Glavine would be the #4 starter.

I guess I'm cool with signing Lowell, it'll just be so damn expensive. But I like the projected outfield; Chipper sucks but you improve the infield defense a ton.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Glavine would be the #4 starter.

I guess I'm cool with signing Lowell, it'll just be so damn expensive. But I like the projected outfield; Chipper sucks but you improve the infield defense a ton.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah did you read where Chipper was whining about Wright winning the Gold Glove? Sheesh talk about sour grapes.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who dislikes Chipper. Smoltz had to literally call him out in public(media) before he would suck it up and play injured. Jones has never been a clubhouse leader and still isnt after all these years. He never takes any responsibility for the Braves playoff failures and always showers and leaves before facing the media after loses. Not leadership qualities. Very selfish.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Thankfully Dave O'Brien (Braves beat writer) squashed the Lowell rumors in his blog

It's buried down there in the comments.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thankfully Dave O'Brien (Braves beat writer) squashed the Lowell rumors in his blog

It's buried down there in the comments.

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome. Man I never read those comments cause half of the replies are idiotic. Especially when concerning race.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

What's the story with Mike Gonzales?

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

If any of you actually believed the lowell rumors you obviously don't know alot about the braves front office. No chance in hell they were shelling out a huge deal with multiple years for an older 3B which would force them to move CHIPPER!! of all people. Never had a freaking chance

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

I heard a rumor the Braves will offer Andruw Jones arbitration and he will accept. They don't want to lock up a CF long term because they don't want to block Jordan Schafer. There's no downside here for Atlanta. If Jones accepts, they get him on a one year deal. If he declines, they get a draft pick.

Escobar is good defensively, so even if he doesn't hit as well as last year, he'll be alright. Brett Lillibridge is a backup with a ton of upside. He'll probably be the effective backup for Chipper, Escobar, and Johnson, and possibly CF as well, even if he starts the year in AAA.

If the Braves don't get a veteran CF, Brandon Jones and Gregor Blanco are major league ready which gives them some options until Schafer is ready.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Am I in the camp that doesn't want Jones back even with arbitration.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

How big could his salary get with arbitration? I think at 10-12 Million with him playing for a contract could be great value or a huge bust. I thought this year he would have put up some big numbers, at least I was hopefull after his last couple years.

I guess offering arbitration is going to be high variance, at least the Braves draft well so if he bolts there is some decent expectation for the compensation.


edit*

Mike Gonzalez is supposed to be out untill around mid-season. I think he can be a great contributor to the bullpen if he can get healthy. Soriano, Moylan, and Gonzalez is pretty solid, hopefully one of the younger guys can step up in his absense.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Andruw Jones isn't even a Type A FA.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

I wouldn't mind going to arb with Andruw. Can't see him getting much after the year he had. I'd probably offer 10 million and take my chances.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

He's still worth more than 10mil, he had a terrible year, but that terrible year still consisted of 26 HRs and 94 rbis...not bad for an awful season. Plus he is still very good defensively, I think they will be lucky to get another year of him this cheap because he should definitely be better next year.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
How big could his salary get with arbitration?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd guess $15-$17MM via arbitration.

[ QUOTE ]
Andruw Jones isn't even a Type A FA.



[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't type B still get a supplemental pick after the first round. If so, that's pick #31-45ish and still has good value.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

If they were going to arbitrate I think they already would have, so Andruw is not coming back. And dont teams like the Braves usually avoid arbitration since the player usually wins? I could be wrong but it seems that's what happens.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

The Braves may just have traded for Druw's replacement.

So the batting order could be:

1.Anderson
2.Escobar
3.Jones
4.Tex
5.McCann
6.Francouer
7.Diaz
8.Johnson

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
The Braves may just have traded for Druw's replacement.

So the batting order could be:

1.Anderson
2.Escobar
3.Jones
4.Tex
5.McCann
6.Francouer
7.Diaz
8.Johnson

[/ QUOTE ]

They already have an in house option (Blanco) that is basically the same player as Anderson. This looks like more of a move to get rid of the $1.5MM or so they'd have to pay Villareal via arbitration.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Wow, fans of teams are so uninformed it's sad. lmao @ Anderson being Andruw's replacement.lmao @ selfish Chipper. lmao @ a lot of things.

If Jones accepts arbitration, Braves look like the favorite in the NL East, and prolly the National League as a whole. gogogo

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Hey, look everybody! Vyse came into a thread and called everyone stupid.

STFU

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

No, it's up to you to go back in the thread and guess at who I'm calling stupid. Hint: it's incredibly obvious. Well, for everyone but you, anyway.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Wow, fans of teams are so uninformed it's sad. lmao @ Anderson being Andruw's replacement.lmao @ selfish Chipper. lmao @ a lot of things.

If Jones accepts arbitration, Braves look like the favorite in the NL East, and prolly the National League as a whole. gogogo

[/ QUOTE ]

You are a true moron. We are just speculating and having fun, thanks for trying to ruin it. I guarantee you dont know more than anyone here [censored]. Ben was right, STFU.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

I'd think that Vyse knows more than you do.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

you get mad at me when you want johnson to hit 8th and you want a 25-year-old who hit .273/.325/.340 to lead off? dude, did you even look up what type of player anderson is -- or is not -- or did you just pencil him in just because the braves traded for him?

edit: like seriously, I don't know why people expect me to be kind to just purely asinine posts. If you ever notice, that's pretty much all I ever question, the wrong statements. If you could separate the issue from the man maybe it would help you not be so uninformed.

editx2: and perfect proof of that is found in the fact that no one talks about how I said the Braves are prolly the favorites in the NL, but only that one poster is really really bad.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

How much you know is irrelevant. This isn't a thread that is going to published somewhere. Compare this to some guys sitting around at a bar talking about baseball, and you walk up and tell them they are idiots. They are going to tell you to get [censored].

You could have just as easily gotten your points across without sounding so trollish.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

^^exactly. You want to have a discussion vyse, fine. You want to be a dick, take it elsewhere. I dont care who you are.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Yeah, I could've, but I am a big believer in rewarding someone when they do something right and punishing someone when they do something wrong. Unfortunately there's too little punishing in society so I try to make up for that.

And dude, this wasn't at all about what I know or don't know. That didn't even come into question. I pointed out some laughable, indefensible statements and called them stupid. Yeah, I did it in a more dickish manner than other people, but is that not arguing semantics once you get to that point?

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

You dont seem to understand what I was doimg. Like I said, speculation. It's fun and harmless, and doesnt mean that's what I want or really think. It's was just based on the article. Having fun, get it?

Besides who the hell are you to punish or reward anyone "judge". Lolers./

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

If the article is [censored], why bother speculating on it.

Who is anyone to do anything? I call it as I see it. You can dress it up to whatever else you like, but it's literally that simple.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Gotcha. Anyone who doesnt try to think exactly like you is stupid so you must troll them endlessly. Mission accomplished. Congrats on being the first on my ignore list.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Ah, gotta love the strawman.

Thank you for ignoring me, though.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Vyse is pretty much the best poster here. I'm also a braves fan.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

I typically hate vyse, but he is pretty much right in this thread in all aspects.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Also,

Borgland needs to become GM of the Red Sox.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Also,

Borgland needs to become GM of the Red Sox.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's cold.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

According to fox sports Glavine should become an Atlanta Brave again today.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7420188

One question, do the Braves now lose their first round pick when the mets offer arbitration?

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Yes.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

I like this deal a lot, 1st Rd draft picks are basically crapshots anyway. If Glavine can stay healthy and continue to pitch well this could really solidify the rotation.

-Smoltz
-Hudson
-Glavine
-James
-Hampton/Carlyle

This could be among the best Rotations in the League if the older guys can continue to pitch well and stay healthy. Hudson needs to get his career back on track and perform like he did in Oakland in the late 90's early 00's. Chuck James looks like he will be an average-above average middle of the rotation starter, and with Hampton who knows.

I'm still worried about the bullpen, since Soriano doesn't have a great track record closing and isn't very experianced. Gonzalez will be out till mid-season and may not be 100% effective when he gets back. The team will probably be relying on some younger players like Devine, Reyes, and Moylan to pitch a lot of innings. Only Moylan has any experiance pitching that many MLB innings. If Gonzalez comes back healthy and pitches well, and Soriano succesfully makes the transition to closer, they will have a very strong back end of the bullpen.

The offense last year was fantastic, but they took a lot of hits. How much will the loss of Renteria and A.Jones affect the line-up? I'm thinking a full year of Teixiera and a strong year from Escobar could offset those losses. Jones' shoes aren't going to be difficult to fill from last year. Renteria was a star last year but Escobar looked pretty good too. If he can play like he did the line-up shouldn't be that much worse.

1-Johnson
2-Diaz/Escobar
3-C.Jones
4-Teixiera
5-Francoeur
6-Escobar/Diaz
7-McCann
8-CF

Not the best line-up in baseball but not the worst, probably closer to the top than the bottom of the league IMO. I like the prospect of Diaz hitting 2nd a lot more than the inexperainced Escobar, but I also think having someone with his ability hitting 5th or 6th is important as well. Chipper and Teixiera will be posting around .400 OBP's so having a guy that hits for AVG. and power is crucial in the 5th and 6th spots. In a perfect world Andruw comes back to improve his FA status and plays like he did in 05-06. That would make this team extremely dangerous in a short series.

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

why in god's name would escobar or diaz hit in front of mccann?

Re: **Atlanta Braves offseason thread
 

Carlyle is not a 5th spot option, Jurrjens or Reyes would be the 5th starter if Hampton can't go.. and Reyes is not a bullpen option, he will continue to develop in Richmond if he's not in the ML rotation. Other than that, I love the optimism and agree for the most part.