Other one got closed so here is a new one =^)

The Braves have locked down the back end of their bullpen with the signings of Saito and Wagner last week.

On the agenda still:

=> Trading Lowe/Javy. It's already been said the Braves dont want to trade Kawakami.

=> Finding that RH bat at either 1B or in the OF. Wren says he has about 10-12 names.

=> Trading Soriano now that he has accepted arb.

=> Fill out our bench if KJ and Ryan Church are traded/non-tendered.

Lets hear you guys' ideas

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091004&content_id=7318320&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

Looks like Norton is thinking about retiring. What do you guys think we should do about our bench next year?

I personally had high hopes for Conrad but every since his second time up he has done nothing. KJ is too good of a player to just pinch hit. Of course we will have Ross and Infante. I wouldnt count on Church simply because there was an article on the Braves site hinting that the team wasn't looking to bring him back because of his back injuries.

thoughts?

Ok. So everyone knows that we have a surplus of pitching for our rotation next year. We also have some holes and could use some upgrades in the power dept.

In my personal opinion i believe we should try to part with Lowe. To make him appealing we would have to eat a portion of his contract. I say look at eating around 5-7 mil meaning the other team would be responsible for 8-10 mil of his contract.

Looking at a lot of the teams that could use another starter I think that we once again match up with the Brewers.

With Hardy in their dog house we should see if we can get Hardy for Lowe. We might need to add a lower prospect but Im not to sure.

With Hardy we then shift Prado over to 1B and put Hardy at 2B. Yes I know we could use upgrades in the power department and Prado doesnt really fill that void but he does save us a few million dollars to retain Soriano at the least.

With Chip getting older and playing defense we can have him pull a Garrett Anderson and guard the line more then have Esco, Hardy and Prado shift a bit towards the left side of the diamond kinda like a reverse shift.

From there I would say put Diaz in LF full-time. McLouth in CF, Church in RF. If Schafer and Heyward are ready to contribute towards the middle of the season we could look at trading McLouth as his contract halfway through the season.Then utilize Church as a 4th OF'er.

If Freeman is ready then we utilize Prado as a utility man or see what we could get for him.

Any Thoughts from you guys?

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/32507343/ns/sports-player_news/

What do you guys think about this? It could be something where you look at having him vs. having Hudson long term. The ideal situation is that we are able to unload Lowe's contract and salary. If we can do that then extend Javy till 2012 our rotation will look splendid over the years. I wouldnt say to give him a crazy contract maybe re-work his current one like 10 mil base in 2010, 9mil in 2011, and 8mil in 2012. then make the most he can earn go something like 14 mil through incentives.

It's an iffy situation because of Hudson. Maybe the Braves pick up his option then let him go next offseason if Minor is looking like he is ready to be in the bigs in 2011?

That would give us rotations of. (BTW All are if we can drop Lowe)

2010:

Hudson

Javy

J.J.

Hanson

K.K.

2011/2012

Javy

J.J.

Hanson

Minor

Medlen

After that hopefully Tehearan will be ready to come up. Thoughts?

Hello all.

I'm really curious to know if anyone knows the history of how the Braves organization usually works when it comes to extending players. Like do we usually wait till the offseason or what? I know some teams talk midseason with their players and others dont.

The main reason i ask is because we have an impending Free Agent in Soriano and Im curious to know anyone knows how the Braves usually go about things. Or just any word on if they have even talked about it. Basically everything I see regarding him points to the Braves looking forward to compensating picks for him but nothing of extending him. Gonzo I could let go of easily but Soriano should be our top priority IMO.

Thoughts?

I decided to do some research today about Mr. Prado. Just because as all of us are I'm curious to see if he is the real deal.

Prado:

In 197 ABs has:

65 Hits

20 2B's

5 HR's

19 RBI's

100 TB's

21 BB's

19 K's

.394 OBP

.504 Slg

.305 AVG

Just for comparison:

Escobar in 290 AB's has:

87 hits

19 2B's

1 3B

8 HR's

48 RBI's

23 BB's

32 Ks

.361 OBP

.455 Slg

.300 avg

Take it how you want but he has made a believer out of me. The guy is a hitting machine IMO

Share your thoughts.