What about this?

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Obviously, the fact that Jordan Schafer, who has not homered since the 3rd game of the season, leads our OFs with a .660 OBP shows that a change needs to be made.  In  my opinion, the braves do not need to mortgage the future for a guy like Holliday, and they do not need to take on a whole bunch of salary with a Dye or Maggs. 

The silver lining to this current situation is that the braves do not have to trade for a stud middle of the order bat in order for a trade to be beneficial. They need to focus on players who would provide an upgrade to our team, and since our situation is so dire right now, these players are ones we do not have to trade elite prospects for. A guy like Mark Derosa, a solid regular but by no means a gamechanger, would be a difference maker on our team because of how bad our OFs have been.  My name in the hat would be Ryan Spilborghs.  Yes, not a lot of power, but he makes solid, productive contact, can play all three OF postions, can show some speed, and probably is expendable.  I think we could possibly use jo-jo as a starting point to get him.

I do not mean to add to the minute-by-minute rosterbation attempts and trade attempts, I just know that now is the time to get our situation some help.  Obviously, Derosa is someone who could provide that help, and I wanted to add Spilborghs as a possibilty.  Who else could the braves go after that are in the same mold as Spilborghs and Derosa, players who are utilitymen or partimers on their current teams but could provide great benefit to our team.  Another guy I would love is Ben Zorbrist, but know that he is much less likely to be available.

I have been supporting the notion that the braves should trade for another young starter for a few months know simply because I would like to take Jurrjens and Hanson and combine them with another young arm with potential so that we can have a nice base for our staff heading into next decade.  Furthermore, I think right now is the best time to make this type of move so that we can combine some pitchers in their prime with the young offensive talent we will have arriving in Atlanta.

While this is a focus of mine for the braves, it really is apparent that right now, as many of us know, young pitching really is the key to sustained success.  I mean, look at last years surprises.  The Rays were built up by young pitching (Garza, Shields, Kazmir), the Angels where the best team in baseball largely because of young pitching (Sanders and Santana), and the twins were right there the entire way because of pitchings, as were the dodgers.   This years darkhorses, the Giants, Reds, and perhaps A's, are all there because of the young pitching they have established.

My biggest point is that when you have the Yankees, the Mets, the Cubs, and The Red Sox all having their big spending spree, it makes a lot of people discouraged about baseball since they have feel only  a few teams will compete for a title.  However, I actually find the sport of baseball more intriguing now than ever.  I am going to love watching the Rays and Yanks duking it out again, and also watching the A's, Twins, Reds, and Giants using the young talent they developed to be the catalyst for their success.  

This simple reason is what makes baseball so great.  There are so many different ways for teams to have success.  You can spend wads of money, have timely hitting, put together a great bullpen, have a great defense, play smallball, rely on the farm, etc.  While this post is meant to point out that a core of young pitching seems to be the shrewd way to develop a team nowadays, it seems that every team has the ability to put together two or three ways of success and have a chance.  I mean, while you do have the Rays and Pirates in the majors, the Rays are there to show you that anyone truely does have a chance.  The question is whether or not you have the patience to let it all come together, or do you blow it all up when it seems to not be working on the first try.   For the Braves, I applaud wren's efforts to let the young talent emerge, as this seems to be the way to not only generate success, but maintain it.  With that being said, my only suggestion is now for the braves to generate another avenue towards getting a young arm to have a very bright future.

I know that many have mention all the obvious options that are still available out there, and the Lowes, Sheets, Garlands, Wolfs, and so on have their strengths and weaknesses.  However, I know that Perez has been mentioned on this site before, but I never have really gotten a feel for what the posters on this site would t hink of a perez signing.  

Obviously, the guy has his strengths and weaknesses as well.  He is a great example of a guy who either can be dominant or completely off from start to start.  It seems as if sometimes he has great control, the next start he can use his wildness to be effective, and then the next start can be all over the place.  

Despite these obvious concerns, Perez is just 27.  And, while i do think that his delivery is a bit of a concern going into the future, he has maintained a pretty good health record so far.  Furthermore, the guy can be dominant when he wants, as we all know from facing him throughout his career with the mets, and to throw in the fact that I think he would have a better defense behind him than he had in New york, I think he could put in some pretty effective years.

From a team perspective I would support the signing on two fronts. The first being that given his age, Perez would remain a viable middle of the rotation NL starter at the least throughout our resurgence towards being a contender again, and could develop into a top of the rotation option.  Also, by signing him, it represents a shift in the Braves philosophy, as we would be dealing with a Boras client in terms of a FA signing for the first time in a long time.  I personally think that Boras is nothing but a negative influence on the game, but if he is going to continue expanding his client list, then it makes sense that if the braves have the money to spend, they should at least start somewhere with Boras to keep all options on the table in the future.

Right now, Perez is claiming he wants a 5-year-65 million dollar deal.  There is no way in hell that I would offer that too him.  I think that Perez is going to be one of the FA who is effected most by the economy and the fact that Major league teams are valuing consistent production over potential more than ever when it comes to free agents, simply because each team has potential at a cheap price in its young players.  With this being said, If I were Wren, I would make an offer around the 4-year, 45 million dollar mark.  Perez has shown the production to earn at least 10 mill a year on the market.

My personal feeling is that I would not lose any sleep either way we go, but I would lean towards at least making a valiant effort toward signing him.  I think he has the most future potential of any available starter outside of sheets, and perez comes without the constant injury concerns.

What are yalls thoughts? That is what I am most intersted in concerning this subject.

5IP 3H 1 RUN 1BB 8K

He did it in around 80 pitches, and I believe with a 53 to 27 strike to ball ratio, Mesa is up on Phoenix 4-2 in the 6th, yet another dominating performance by Hanson...

Meanwhile, Tyler FLowers went is 0-3 so far, and matt young is 1-4 today in what may be his last game wearing a braves uni as he is eligible in the Rule 5 draft....

Van pope is 1-3 with a run

Jon Heyman over at SI.COM said that the rangers are again shopping Vincente Padilla and Kevin Millwood and their 2 year, 12 million per contracts.  The very bad part is, he has the braves as a team that is interested....My response......

Oh god no!

I hope there is no way in hell that the braves are considering trading for Millwood or Padilla. I can understand the thinking, that we could get a nice veteran piece for a low prospect price if we take on their salary because they have been disappointments, but it just makes no sense. A bargain trade for Braves does not consist of bringing in Padilla or Millwood for two years because they would cost less than Burnett or Lowe would. A bargain trade is when you get a valuable asset to your team at a reasonable price. If the braves are going to target a pitcher with the type of price tags that tha Padilla and Millwood have to offer, I would much rather go talk to KW about Javy Vazquez, as he has the health and production track record to at least kinda verify his price tag.

STAY AWAY FROM TEXAS PITCHERS WREN, STAY AWAY

I know that alot of commenters on this site seem to like the Adam Dunns and Pat Burrells of the world.  I think it is more of commenters showing appreciatation for these players because while they may struggle is some of the statistical areas that are the most glorified (average, k's), they excel in the overlooked stat department that are very vital to the game (runs, OPS, OBP).  With that being said, it is obvious that a 3 to 4 year commitment at 2-5 million per for one of these players is could still be tough to swallow, not jus because of the offensive liabilities they can be at times, but the even bigger defensive sore thumbs they are the majority of the time.

With all this being said, I am going to echo Mark Bowman and a few other people who I have heard mention this name as a nice bargain trade target: Nick Swisher.

I was reading over at MLBTR, the internet megahub that it is today, and I ran across a pretty cool opportunity.  Some writers out of new york are thinking that the Yanks may just have gotten Swisher as a prelude to trading him to an NL team.  My thinking is that this might not be that far off, as they are in a position of leverage with him in terms of if they get Tex or not.

I had noticed that Swisher had been mentioned as a possible trade target of the braves via trade, and it seems that the Braves could still have a chance at him.  I, for one, would not at all mind the acquistion of Swisher.  I think he would not cost that much because of the down year he had last year, even though I think the yanks will want more than the joke of a bargain price that they got him for from the white sox.  With that being said, I would love swisher's on base ability and versatility to hit in numerous spots in the lineup on our roster.  Beyond that, unlike Burrell and Dunn, and the reason why Swisher might be even more valuable, is that he has the ability to be versatile defensively and not be a liability.  I think that if the braves can acquire swisher for a reasonable prospect package, and at half the monetary value of the next three or four years it would take to get Burrell or Dunn, then it would definately be a smart path for Wren to take to acquire him.

My only wrench in all these plans is how we might match up with the yankees. Anybody got an idea of how we might match up, and what is yalls general opinion of swisher? One hindrance to his talent is the fact that I have heard mixed reports on the type of teammate and attitude he could bring to the clubhouse, but the braves and Bobby Cox have had a sister of having the ability to kind of blanket those concerns in the past by taming these certain types of personalities (Gary Sheffield etc.).

I was reading alot of the comments over at MLBTR, and alot of the Posters were talking about how excited they were that we were focusing on free agents because we were going to sign two big names on the free agent market.....and that got me to thinking.

Next year, in 2009, the braves have already shown what type of focus the team wants to have, and that is for the long term.  That is why I think our Front Office wants to view next year as the first step in the process toward being in contention, and are not going all in for it.  We have two major advantages going for us that should allow for us to not take as long as it would take other franchises to get back to being contenders....We have a deep quality farm system, and already have some nice young talent who has shown major league success.

With all this being said, my concern is that the braves in now way should sign two of these 5 pitchers this offseason as many fans want to happen....

AJ Burnett

Derek Lowe

Ryan Dempster

Ben Sheets

Oliver Perez

The reason that we should not sign two of these five is two fold....for one, each pitcher comes with legit red flags, and signing two would take up 30 million of our available 40 million, and we would then have only ten million to sign a powerhitter, Smoltz, a left reliever, Glavine, hampton, and so on.

If we sign one, hopefully Burnett at 15 mill per, or Lowe or Dempster at 13 mill per, we would then have a nice one-two combo in that pitcher and JJ.  We would then have hudson coming back in August and could ease him in as September and the Offseason came around, and would have the pitcher we sign and Hudson and JJ to make a nice foundation for our rotation in 2010 and beyond.

Here is my suggestion as far the second pitching option that we want to feel, and that would be via a trade for a young, controllable pitcher with upside who has shown glimpses of success in the majors.  I am not Considering the Peavys, Vazquezs, Arroyos, or Harangs of the world has they come with red flags and high price tags as well.  nor the Cains, Greinkes, or gutheries, as they would cost too much in prospects,

As a result, here is my suggestions as targets for the braves to go after in terms of a trade that would help our team.....

Jonathan Sanchez

Chris Young

Ian Snell

Jeff Francis

Paul Maholm

Jesse Litsch

Clay Bucholz

Justin Masterson

Andy Sonnastine

Edwin Jackson

Brian Bannister

Nick Blackburn

Glen Perkins

Jeff Neiman

Homer Bailey

Dustin Mcgowan

Shaun Marcum

Jeremy Bonderman

These are just some suggestions as too who we could go out and add to our rotation, as they could prove us with a number 3 in 09 and then add quality depth in 10 once the braves are ready to make some serious runs again.  We could also have the ability to bring Hanson along at a comfortable pace, and let JoJo and Morton have mroe time to develop at triple A.

Just wanted to see yalls suggestions about who we could target besides the above mentioned examples, and what yall thought of this idea.  We would have the money to effectively answer more of our other needs for a few years, and it never hurts to save mone for expected arbitrations and hopeful extensions as we head into the future.

As has been noted, I have been doing a lot of brainstorming on what we potentially could do to improve our team this offseason, with my goal being to get the most value out of the least costs as far as a team strategy.  With that in mind, I really think one good strategy will be to sign juan rivera.  I understand that his skill set has only resulted in one solid year, ala Ryan Ludwick, and that 2006 was that year and was three years in the past.  However, my point is this, say we can sign Rivera to a year year deal with a mutual or player option for 2010, and the deal were say worth five million, it actually would be a very nice move to make.  Here are the reasons why....

We would have a nice option to put in left in the case that we could not make a move for a more proven bat via a trade.

It would put us in an even better position in trading KJ....we would now be able to more comfortably keep in unless were blown away with an offer because we would not have to focus on the need for a right-handed power hitting outfielder as much. 

It would give us more reason to shop Frenchy to see if some team would be willing to offer us a no-brainer type offer, as we would know have a replacement to put in right for francouer.

I really do believe that Rivera would be a much better route as a value signing than Burrell or Dunn, as Rivera would cost around 10 million less per year while probably putting up comparable production.

If we can sign rivera, that would give us nearly 40 million left to focus solely on pitching, and I could actually see us perhaps being a player for the higher end talent, like Sabathia or Burnett.

Just was wondering what yall's thoughts were on this and if yall had any other bargain type free agent signings that could open up some options for us.

It was a big brainstorming cluster**** lol. I guess i was really trying to find a good mixture of what type of moves the braves should make.  My biggest point are these, and just wanted to see what yall thought....

When it comes to our middle infielders, I think KJ and Yunel are at peak value in terms of what they could bring back in a trade.  I think that the braves should definitely consider at least seeing what they could get in return for these two.  If the braves do trade yunel and get a couple of questionable positions answered, or use yunel to get a stud, then I actually think the smart thing would be to sign furcal.  My reasoning is that furcal would probably be a better value signing per year at 15 million than lowe, burrell, dunn,etc would be.  

Another point that I had was that if it seems that we are not going appease peavy or the padres anytime soon, why not see what we can do to get cain.  I honestly would not mind cain at 20 million less over the next five years, and I think it would cost less in terms of talent to get him.  

Finally, on the idea of francouer, my cause is to use him to gain a young controllable pitcher, something of much value and need for any team trying to get back into contention.  

I know I contradicted myself a lot in my previous post, so forgive me on that.  But my biggest point is that we could use some of our young talent to get more proven contollable young talent, which could put us in an even better position for making a run sooner rather than later when some of our young prospects are ready to make an  impact in the majors.