Braves Notes: Weeks 1 and 2... (UPDATED)

The first two weeks of the offseason are complete (as the World Series ended on November 1).  Here are some Braves notes:

1.  Rookie of the Year - Heyward finished in second place for Rookie of the Year behind winner Buster Posey.  Posey had 20 first place votes while Heyward had 9 first place votes.  This is not surprising.  Keep in mind that all votes were submitted PRIOR to the post-season.  So, the playoffs had nothing to do with the award.  I still think Heyward should have won because he played an entire season.  Posey started two months later and he put up (first year) Francouer-like numbers in the beginning.  He batted in the .340's for a while.  However, he finished at .305 and was fading fast.  If he had to play another two months in the regular season, I think his average may have settled closer to Heyward's.  Heyward won 2Bs, 3Bs, SBs, and especially Rs by a pretty wide margin.  He also had three times as many walks as Posey.  When you factor in his stellar defense in RF, I think it all enough to make him the outright Rookie of the Year.  But, I think Posey deserved it as well, and it's really a close call.  Kudos to both.

UPDATE: 

The Arizona GM has confirmed that Justin Upton is available and teams are inquiring.  Jon Morosi of Fox Sports has stated the Braves would be at the front of the line given their slew of controllable young arms.  It'd probably take trading away Jurrjens or Vizcaino to land him.  But he is a right-handed hitter, which the Braves need, and he is young & cheap.  This happening, however, has become less likely in light of the Braves acquisition of Dan Uggla.

UPDATE 2:

See the entry above on the Dan Uggla acquisition.

More after the jump, including other potential candidates for the Braves outfield. 



2.  Dan Uggla - The Braves have acquired Dan Uggla, see my new post regarding the trade. 

3.  Outfield Options - Now that the Braves have acquired their power-hitting right-handed bat, it lesses the likelihood that they will seek an outfielder (Prado is expected to move to LF and I imagine McLouth will man CF).  But, the Braves could still try to add a CF if they can do so cheaply, given they still have lots of young prospects that can be traded. 

Here is a list of names I have heard mentioned along with the Braves so far this offseason.  They are broken down into three groups:  Like, Meh, and Hate.  Oh, and neither Werth nor Crawford are on the list because they are both too expensive (they are like Holliday and Bay from last season), even though Werth would be a perfect fit.  Keep in mind, we need a RH hitter more than a LH hitter. 

Like
Colby Rasmus - CF - Cardinals (LH)
Hunter Pence - RF - Houston (RH)
BJ Upton - CF - Tampa (RH)
Matt Kemp - CF - Dodgers (RH)
Jacoby Ellsbury - CF - Boston (LH)

Meh
Magglio Ordonez - OF - Detroit - (RH)
Cody Ross - CF - San Fran (RH)

Hate
Pat Burrell - LF - San Fran (RH)
Lance Berkman - OF/1B - New York (B)

Pence is probably untouchable and would require the Braves give up a lot in return.  But, because Houston is rebuilding, they may make a deal to keep from having to pay him arbitration or sign him long-term (sort-of like the Marins and Uggla).  The Braves would have to give up some quality young players to get a talent like Rasmus, considering people compare his talent with guys like Heyward.  But Rasmus has had some issues with the brass in St. Louis, so he's viewed as available.  Unfortunately, he's also a lefty hitter.  BJ Upton and Matt Kemp are similar types of players given they have tons of talent, struggled this past season, have difficulties with the management, and are RH hitting CFs.  But, after the Escobar issues, the Braves may not want to take a chance on character.  Signability may also be an issue.  Ellsbury has no power, but he may be the best baserunner in baseball, when healthy.  That's something the Braves haven't had since Furcal.  On the other hand, Ellsbury was hurt a lot this past season and he is a lefty hitter. 

Maggs would be a gamble because he is aging and injury-prone.  But, given his numbers when healthy, I don't think he'd be as big a gamble as Glaus.  But Maggs would be a little more expensive and would not add much to the team defensively.  The Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus experiments make me nervous about acquiring Maggs.  Though he had a stellar post season, Ross has never put up exceptional regular season numbers.  He has some pop and is very solid defensively, but the Melky and Ankiel experiments would make me nervous with him. 

Burrell and Berkman would be just like a Glaus move.  Big mistake, I think.

There's also some talk of Adam Dunn, but he is a horrible defensive outfielder.  He would also be very expensive. 

Look for Wren to be creative.  With the GM meetings coming up this week, and the Winter Meetings coming up in December, I look forward to hearing some very real rumors that come from left field, sort-of like the McLouth trade in 2009. 

4.  McLouth - Given McLouth is owed $6.5M this season, and given his numbers the past 2 seasons, look for him to be given every opportunity to nail down the CF spot (it looks like Prado will play left field).  He's virtually untradeable given his contract and decline.  He obviously has some talent.  If he puts it together, like he was doing at the end of this season, I could be okay with him starting.  But he definitely needs to improve. 

5. Moves So Far - So far, the Braves have made a few expected moves this offseason.  Ankiel and Farnsworth's options were not picked up, making them free agents and no longer Braves.  On the other hand, Infante and Alex Gonzalez's options were picked up, for about $2.5M each.  Those were all good decisions, IMO.  Gonzalez will be our shortstop for at least one more year, and Infante was to be the super-utility man, before we traded him for Uggla.  Now it looks like we'll have to get another super-utility guy, because we don't want Conrad playing shortstop.   

The Braves did not re-sign Eric Hinske, but that doesn't mean they won't.  They just didn't do it during the Braves-only negotiation window, so he's now an outright free agent.  He's a left-handed hitter, which hurt his chances given we are already strong on that side of the plate.  But Hinske was a team leader and well-liked in the clubhouse, and he's our best pure pinch-hitter from last season. 

The Braves picked up a player named Joe Mather, who was put on waivers by the Cardinals.  He is a utility OF/1B/3B that was brought on to serve as a backup to Freddie Freeman and a reserve OF.  The Braves have tried to trade for him in the past and are really high on him.  He compares to a Matt Diaz, with more upside and better defense.  He is a right-handed hitter, like Diaz.  He doesn't hit for much average-wise, but he's got some pop and some speed.  I know he will get rookie pay for a bit, and I'm not sure when arbitration kicks in, but he will be cheap compared to Diaz (arbitration) and Hinske (free agent). 

As for Diaz, it sounds like he may be the odd man out.  He wants to stay in Atlanta, and he is willing to negotiate a lesser salary to stay.  Like Hinske, he is well-liked and a leader in the clubhouse.  But picking up Mather may make Diaz expendable, considering Diaz will demand a couple of million worth of an arbitration-negotiated salary.  If the Braves decide against Diaz, they will probably non-tender him.  This means they will elect for him to become a free agent and lose all rights associated with him.  They could, technically, still sign him after a non-tender, but it is unlikely.

I think it unlikely that we keep Hinske, Diaz and Mather for next year's roster. 

Oh, Lee and Glaus were both outright free agents and are gone.  As is Takashi Saito.

Finally, Kenshin Kawakami was dropped from the 40-man roster and cleared waivers (no surprise with the $7M is owed next year).  He has been assigned to AA, but the Braves are actively trying to trade him and may end up sending him back to Japan.  We will have to eat some of his salary, but he won't be on the major league team next season. 


6.  Pitching - As for the starting rotation, now that Kawakami is gone we have the following to start the season:  Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Derek Lowe, and Mike Minor/Brandon Beachy.  Medlen will not be back until September, at the earliest.  I'm nervous about that last rotation spot, and would like to see someone else.  But none of our young superstar pitchers are expected to be ready to take that spot in 2011. 

There's been some talk of bringing back 2009 sensation Javier Vazquez given his success in the NL and Atlanta, in particular.  He is an outright free agent and given his numbers last season, he would probably be cheap. 

I, personally, would like to see Jonny Venters moved to the rotation.  He was a starter before this past season and he would give us a lefty in the rotation.  But that has not been discussed, especially in light of Wagner's retirement and Saito's departure.  The feeling, I imagine, is that the Braves do not want to weaken the bullpen by FOUR arms (now that Mike Dunn has been traded), even if Kimbrel is set to be the closer ahead of Venters.  I think the Mike Dunn trade cements Venters into the bullpen again. 

Having said that, the Braves may pursue a veteran reliever to take the place of Saito in the bullpen.  Not a closer, but a 7th/8th inning guy with some solid experience.  Wren said as much after the trading of Mike Dunn to Florida. 

...

More to come, including a roster break down right now in terms of personnel and budget.

UPDATE:

Also, some dates to keep in mind:

The GM Meetings - Nov. 16-18: Many believe the hot stove will heat up at these meetings.  Look for some interesting rumors over the next couple of days.

The Non-Tender Deadline - Dec. 2:  This is the date that teams will decide to make their arbitration-eligible players free agents, by not tendering them a contract.  This is happened to several Braves over the years, including Marcus Giles and - most recently - Kelly Johnson.  This happens to players who have slipped or fallen within the organization and either there is not a spot for them or the arbitration amount they will be awarded is not worth it for the team.  Kelly Johnson was a miss last year.  Having him in LF would solve a problem for the Braves.  But, the deadline is interesting because there's a chance we can find the next Kelly Johnson out there when some other team lets them go.  Some notables that will probably be non-tendered:  Jeff Francouer and Matt Diaz. 

The Winter Meetings - Dec. 6-9:  This is when things will get crazy.  At this point last year, we had signed Wagner and Saito, and had traded away Rafael Soriano.  Rumors regarding Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez were in full swing.  Rumors will really heat up here, if a move has not been made already.

So, look for the next 3-4 weeks to be pretty interesting.