Michael Bourn is a free agent. The Braves ended 2012 much like they will begin 2013: with garbage on the field.



[Edited on October 29, 2012 at 11:59 AM. Reason : RIP Chip]

10/29/2012 11:59:45 AM

Quote :

"RIP Chip"

You finally got rid of that numskull play by play man?

10/29/2012 12:02:05 PM

or Chipper Jones?

10/29/2012 12:02:34 PM

No, I just dropped a Lays Salt & Vinegar

10/29/2012 12:04:15 PM

^^

10/29/2012 12:05:33 PM

so who is our center fielder on opening day?


Bourne
Pagan
Victorino


After Bourne's second half I'm OK if we don't resign him. I have a good feeling if we don't sign him we'll end up playing him 19 times when i signs with the Phillies or Nats.

10/29/2012 4:11:45 PM

it's never a good idea to give a fat contract to a speedster who is exiting his prime years. with age, comes a loss in speed, and if that's his primary weapon, that becomes a poor contract to have in the latter part of the contract.

so i'm OK with some other team getting him. Houston probably got the best of what he had to offer just before they dealt him (09-11).

That said he's one of the best lead off hitters in the game right now, and it sucks to lose a table setter like that.

I'd love to see us make a run at Justin Upton, and placing Prado at 3B. with the pieces it would require to land JU, I don't think we could necessarily afford to make any other major deals. So CF would probably have to come from the FA pool, and my nomination would be Angel Pagan. he puts up Bourn-like rate stats (BA/OBP), puts up better power numbers (HR/SLG), and is a small step behind Bourn in SB (30ish compared to MB's 40-60). unfortunately he's a couple years older.

So after my ideal offseason, my lineup would be
1. Pagan 8
2. Prado 5
3. Heyward 9
4. JUpton 7
5. FFF 3
6. McCann/Ross 2
7. Uggly 4
8. Simmons 6

Pitching staff would probably look alot different after the ARI deal (some combinaton of Hanson/Delgado/Teheran/Venters/O'Flaherty/others?), so who knows:
1. Hudson
2. Medlen
3. Minor
4. Maholm
5. whoever is leftover after ARI deal (plus save a spot for Beachy towards the end of the season)


I think that would be a stout team that has a realistic shot of happening.
I think we could also explore the obvious deal with MIN, and bring in one of their speedsters, and possibly even Josh Willingham, who we've been interested in before.

10/29/2012 4:47:22 PM

Prado, Bourne, Heyward, and Freeman all up for 2012 Gold Glove. Atlanta hasn't had a GG winner since 2007.

My guess is Heyward will probably be the lone winner. I'd love to see Freeman get one, but it'll be hard with Votto

10/30/2012 9:29:28 AM

10/30/2012 9:40:00 AM

Uggla deserves a gold glove simply for not putting many balls in play thus reducing the chances for errors.

As for next season, the team should still be competitive, but the Nats will be better and I'm not sure what to make of the Phillies. They played well down the stretch when their pitching got healthy. I expect the Mets and Marlins to still stink.

The Giants have proven that you do not have to have many star players in order to win a WS, you just need everyone doing their part and a couple guys to get hot at the right time. The Braves never seem to have a hot hitter come October. I miss you Mark Lemke.

10/30/2012 9:48:24 AM

No chance josh Hamilton will be there

10/30/2012 9:59:12 AM

Yeah we don't need Josh anywhere near Jaybee1200's poor moral influence. But, it would be great for the Ernie laughs.

10/30/2012 10:06:14 AM

IOP1

10/30/2012 10:09:02 AM

Just saying it won't happen so you guys don't have to worry that he's coming to ruin your team

10/30/2012 10:10:27 AM

Gold Glove right fielder Jason Heyward

10/31/2012 8:18:37 AM

I fucked up

10/31/2012 11:25:10 AM

abandon ship

10/31/2012 11:38:53 AM

We have our center fielder!

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/braves-claim-jordan-schafer.html

11/2/2012 11:24:03 AM

...and tha C..B..S...OR..CHE...STRAA...

11/2/2012 11:27:50 AM

damn, I hate losing Ross... he was a hell of a bat off the bench and giving Mac some time off

11/11/2012 9:40:15 PM

braves close to signing Gerald Laird to replace Ross.

11/15/2012 9:52:22 AM

^ done deal - I like it, but that's assuming the contract isn't for very much

if it's David Ross money, I don't like it.

11/15/2012 4:31:57 PM

it probably won't be Ross money, but it'll be higher than what it should be all because of what the Red Sox gave Ross.

11/15/2012 4:48:58 PM

BJ Upton the next Barves CF?

11/15/2012 10:54:18 PM

The Drive ?@thedrivenc
Some baseball news for this area's most popular team RT @jcrasnick: BJ Upton in serious talks with Braves on multi-year deal, source says.

11/28/2012 4:47:31 PM

Meh on Upton. Dude has never lived up to his hype and strikes out way too much. I guess if they cannot keep Bourne, then Upton is better than Jordan Schafer. Maybe Upton will finally develop a work ethic and become the player he should be. A sub .300 OBP and 150+ Ks per season for a hefty price tag. Fuck that, let the Phils have him.

Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
2004 TB 45 159 19 41 8 2 4 12 15 46 4 1 .258 .324 .409
2006 TB 50 175 20 43 5 0 1 10 13 40 11 3 .246 .302 .291
2007 TB 129 474 86 142 25 1 24 82 65 154 22 8 .300 .386 .508
2008 TB 145 531 85 145 37 2 9 67 97 134 44 16 .273 .383 .401
2009 TB 144 560 79 135 33 4 11 55 57 152 42 14 .241 .313 .373
2010 TB 154 536 89 127 38 4 18 62 67 164 42 9 .237 .322 .424
2011 TB 153 560 82 136 27 4 23 81 71 161 36 12 .243 .331 .429
2012 TB 146 573 79 141 29 3 28 78 45 169 31 6 .246 .298 .454

11/28/2012 5:15:59 PM

$15M a year is quite a steep price for a career .255/.336/.422 player

11/28/2012 5:45:34 PM

wow this is a terrible signing

lol 15mm/yr

why not sign pagan to like a 2 year deal for like 7per? he is better in every aspect with the exception being that he is older

[Edited on November 28, 2012 at 5:52 PM. Reason : v]

11/28/2012 5:50:15 PM

Frank Wren strikes again. Maybe this Upton signing will help them trade for Justin Upton. Otherwise this signing will be as successful as the amazing trade for girly man Texieria

[Edited on November 28, 2012 at 11:05 PM. Reason : S]

11/28/2012 11:03:52 PM

I think this resembles the Derek Lowe signing moreso than the Tex trade. Teams desperately needs help at a particular position, issues hefty contract to above average FA. Even the dollar and contract length amounts are nearly identical.

That said, I like Upton, and I think it will be fun to watch him in Atlanta. I think his performance will be dictated by where the Braves bat him and what the Braves want him to do. His walk rate decreased and his strikeouts increased in 2012. Also, he hit 12 of his 28 HR in Sept/Oct (and 21 in the second half), all of which leads me to believe that he was trying to go yicketty for a fat contract in FA. If he dials that back and takes more pitches, I think his actual value will come back around.

Also, we have him through age 32 or 33, which is in the typical prime years of a baseball player.

All things considered, I think this deal will end up being better than the Lowe deal (not that that's hard)

[Edited on November 29, 2012 at 7:03 AM. Reason : /]

11/29/2012 7:01:16 AM

I was reading more about the Upton deal last night. This is the biggest contract the Braves have ever given out to a FA and is significantly more than they spent on all their FA signings in the past 3 years combined.

Hopefully Upton's defense will improve because he was awful last year, but was good in prior years. I did not realize how much Bourne was striking out last season so adding Upton and his whiffs won't be a big increase, but I still don't like this deal. His career trends are not good other than HRs.

11/30/2012 8:00:02 AM

if we can land the Span trade during the November meetings and shore up a solid LF and lead-off man then I will be stoked about this lineup. Prado back at 3B, a full year of Simmons (and healthy) and 2 guys in the OF batting in the middle of the lineup who are solid 30/30 threats.

give Mccann all the time he needs to heal up.

11/30/2012 8:22:37 AM

^ what do you mean land the Span trade? Dude was just traded to the Nats.

11/30/2012 8:50:53 AM

lol, apparently that happened after i had already turned in for the night. well there goes that one.

11/30/2012 9:38:36 AM

Tommy Hanson. Angels legend.

[Edited on November 30, 2012 at 1:07 PM. Reason : Jordan Walden to atl]

11/30/2012 1:00:06 PM

Wow the Braves just gave up on Hansen. Can't blame them considering the past couple years and the fact that he was straight garbage last year even when healthy. Walden makes the Braves pen even more potent. $4 million more in budget room to throw at Cody Ross I would assume for LF.



[Edited on November 30, 2012 at 1:45 PM. Reason : df]

11/30/2012 1:44:18 PM

Or to create more cap room to try and pull off a deal for Justin Upton. Doubt it though. Still think we should go after swisher for left field, and then get a solid bench player to replace hinske or janish. That would be a pretty solid squad, if the starting pitching can be consistent

11/30/2012 2:37:02 PM

Quote :

"But Justin Upton will be costly, not just in salary — $38.5 million over the next three seasons, including $9.75 million in 2013 — but in the package of multiple young players the Diamondbacks would likely demand in exchange for Upton, who finished fourth in the 2011 NL MVP balloting. The Braves have already told Arizona they won’t trade shortstop Andrelton Simmons, the player that Arizona general manager Kevin Towers wants most from Atlanta."

11/30/2012 2:54:11 PM

good deal, I like it.

> Find a good starting LF (or better CF and slide BJ to LF) - I'm still hoping for Justin (obv in a deal that doesn't rape our system)
> Bring back Reed as the fourth OF
> Get a decent utility guy

and then I think we'll be all done and left with a damn solid team.

11/30/2012 2:57:35 PM

Did the atl front office go into thos offseason like: "let's give em a real bed shitting boys!!!"

11/30/2012 3:35:40 PM

RIP Tommy. Your 4 1/3 inning starts will be missed.

11/30/2012 4:07:23 PM

^^ what are you talking about

11/30/2012 11:27:13 PM

At least he didn't start his troll with lol

11/30/2012 11:32:30 PM

Upton at 15mil a year and getting walden for hansen is considered a bed shitting in my book .

Obv all the braves fans will defend these moves and forget i said this in october when the team is chillin on the golf course with Chipper

[Edited on December 1, 2012 at 2:05 AM. Reason : G]

12/1/2012 2:01:28 AM

1 year deal w/ option for Reed Johnson. I'm glad they were able to keep him. Solid plug-in guy

12/6/2012 2:17:43 PM

Glad the Braves kept Johnson. They also gave Janish a 1 year deal to backup Simmons. Seems like an okay decision since Janish played decent for the Braves when he was starting. Still need a LF though.

As for the Upton deal, I still don't like it but considering that shitty Victorino just got 3 yrs at 13 mil per, then Upton is a bargain.

12/6/2012 2:32:00 PM

http://deadspin.com/5966391/fat-chipper-jones-has-divorced-his-wife-and-now-has-a-playboy-model-girlfriend
lulz ... link says it all

12/6/2012 9:58:09 PM

more power to him. he's chipper jones, he can bang whatever he wants at this point.

12/7/2012 2:04:31 PM

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/12/26/former-braves-player-andruw-jones-arrested-on-battery-charge/?intcmp=features



[Edited on December 26, 2012 at 10:38 AM. Reason : sadf]

12/26/2012 10:33:17 AM

^ not a 2013 Braves player

12/26/2012 11:02:08 AM