Braves Buy/Sell

[DawgatAuburn]

Bobby Cox hangs it up at the end of the year.

I'm buying. He's old and not gonna stick around for the rebuilding task facing the Braves. Their best players are either old, hurt, or both. Mostly both. Chipper is 36 and seemingly always hurt. Smoltz and Glavine are north of 40 and may never be anywhere near effective again. Francouer is a bust at 24. Beyond Jurrjens, the pitching is abysmal. Escobar has been disappointingly average. Kotsay will be one and done in Atlanta. Kotchman is a powerless hitter at a power position. Only McCann provides any real hope.

I bet Bobby thinks about all of this in October, looks at all the flags on the outfield wall and knows he is light years away from adding another one, and says 17 it. Additional buy that he gets a DUI on the way home from his retirement press conference.

 

[gtowndawg]

all retire and go into the hall as Braves together.

 

[Todd4State]

It depends on if how long he wants to hang around, but what the heck, I'll buy.

Beyond that, I bet the candidates will be Ned Yost, Brian Snitker. I also bet the Phil Wellman gets a promotion to try to straighten out Francouer. (I refuse to call him Frenchy because that sounds beyond gay)

 

[kmullen]

sell
Bobby has already signed a contract extension for next year! Glavine and Maddox probably will hang them up. Smoltz could if he tries to come back one more time and encounters problems.

Chipper is 36 and seemingly always hurt. Smoltz and Glavine are north of 40 and may never be anywhere near effective again. Francouer is a bust at 24. Beyond Jurrjens, the pitching is abysmal. Escobar has been disappointingly average. Kotsay will be one and done in Atlanta. Kotchman is a powerless hitter at a power position. Only McCann provides any real hope.

Though Chipper is 36 and seemingly always hurt he still is one of the best hitters in baseball, had one of his best seasons last year and is working on one to top that this year. How is Francouer a bust at 24...his first 2 seasons he drove in over 100 runs, most young players have a bad season at some point, one off season does not make you a bust. Escobar is better than average and will learn as he gets older. Pitching is a problem, but what about Jorge Campillo has he not shown that he can pitch at this level

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Chipper hasn't played 140 games in five years and will be lucky to hit 130 this year at the rate he is going. Francouer is terrible. Hacks away at everything. If he wasn't from Atlanta, they would get rid of him to Kansas City or Seattle or some other baseball no man's land. Escobar is down 40+ points in average, 30+ in OBP and 80+ in slugging, so if he is still above average then he must have been all worldly last year. Campillo is a back of the rotation type pitcher who has zero chance of being a long term winner.

 

[statedogg]

I agree with kmullen. But I will add that Wren better be working on a plan at 3B. Chipper is still great, but durability has never been his strong suit. It is a tough rebuild, but the good (or sad) thing is that Mike Hampton & Glavine's money will almost get you CC or Ben Sheets.</p>

 

[statedogg]

Francouer is terrible. Hacks away at everything. If he wasn't from Atlanta, they would get rid of him to Kansas City or Seattle or some other baseball no man's land.

No if he weren't 24, a gold glover with one of the strongest arms in the league, and a freakishly gifted athlete they would ship him off, but as it is I think they will try and help him work through this. His hometown marketability helps no doubt.</p>

 

[kmullen]

<div style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 2px">

Escobar is down 40+ points in average, 30+ in OBP and 80+ in slugging, so if he is still above average then he must have been all worldly last year

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=488862
<table class="textSm greyDark" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="left">Monday, August 4, 2008</td> <td align="right">http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=488862&print=true</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <div style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="625" border="0"> <tbody> <tr class="primaryBg"> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td nowrap="nowrap">

</td> <td width="459"> <div class="white"> <span class="textLg">Yunel Escobar #19</span> SS <span class="greyDark">|</span> Bats: R <span class="greyDark">|</span> Throws: R <span class="greyDark">|</span> Born: 11/02/1982 </div> </td> <td align="right" colspan="2"></td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2">

</td> <td nowrap="nowrap" align="right" width="129"></td> <td>

</td> </tr> <tr> <td>

</td> <td class="textSm" align="left" colspan="2">CAREER STATS</td> <td>

</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="4">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF">

</td> <td class="#FFFFFF" colspan="2"> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="613" border="0"> <tbody> <tr bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <td rowspan="2">

</td> <td class="textSm grey" colspan="18">Hitting Stats:</td> <td class="textSm grey" align="right" colspan="17"> </td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <td colspan="18">

</td> <td class="textSm grey" align="right" colspan="17"></td> </tr> <tr> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">SEASON</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">TEAM</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">G</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">AB</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">R</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">H</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">2B</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">3B</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">HR</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">RBI</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">TB</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">BB</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">SO</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">SB</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">CS</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">OBP</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">SLG</td> <td rowspan="99">

</td> <td class="text primary" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle" bgcolor="#CCCCCC">AVG</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">2007</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="left"> Atlanta Braves</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">94</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">319</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">54</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">104</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">25</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">0</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">5</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">28</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">144</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">27</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">44</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">5</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">3</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.385</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.451</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.326</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">2008</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="left"> Atlanta Braves</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">95</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">379</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">51</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">106</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">15</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">1</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">6</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">42</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">141</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">42</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">50</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">2</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">5</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.352</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.372</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.280</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#CCCCCC"> <td colspan="35">

</td> </tr> <tr bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <td class="text primary" colspan="4">

Career Totals</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">189</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">698</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">105</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">210</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">40</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">1</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">11</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">70</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">285</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">69</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">94</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">7</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">8</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.367</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.408</td> <td class="textSm" nowrap="nowrap" align="middle">.301</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF">

</td> </tr> <tr class="primaryBg"> <td colspan="4">

</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>I never said that Escobar was the greatest short stop in the game....he is not a problem area the Braves need to work on! He has played in only 1 more game with 60 more AB than he did last season. His numbers are down but he also is still batting .280. His homers, RBI and walks are up. he did play several days with a bad shoulder that he only compiled maybe 3 hits.

Campillo is a back of the rotation type pitcher who has zero chance of being a long term winner.

What rotation does not need a guy at the back of the rotation who gives the team a chance to win?
</div>

 

[Todd4State]

I agree with kmullen. But I will add that Wren better be working on a plan at 3B. Chipper is still great, but durability has never been his strong suit. It
is a tough rebuild, but the good (or sad) thing is that Mike Hampton & Glavine's money will almost get you CC or Ben Sheets.</p>

</p>

Not serious

 

[DawgatAuburn]

<div style="padding-left: 10px;"> What rotation does not need a guy at the back of the rotation who gives the team a chance to win?
</div>

What I mean here is that since you can't count on Hudson, Smoltz, Glavine or Hampton for 2009, that leave Jurrjens as the #1, and right now Campillo as the #2. He's not a viable #2. At best he's a #4, and probably a #5 who will be effective for only a few years. As for Escobar, that regression in year two would concern me. I actually like him and thought he would be a little better, but he's been somewhat disappointing.
</p>