Latest Topics

[Show Stopper]

With both the Uptons in Atlanta it could pan out for us in the long run if they are successful here because it would mean they would be playing well together and mean that they could stick with us for a bit longer than they may have initially planned to.

Regardless we need a LF so Prado can play 3B because I don't Juan Francisco anywhere near a field.  The guy needs to lay off the ballpark hot dogs is all I gotta say.

[Neil Caudle is Superman]

Francisco has lost weight, but yeah he was horrendous in the field and baserunning last year. He made tons of mental mistakes and that's not always easily fixed.


I'm once again leaning towards hoping we don't try for Upton. I was looking at our roster and contracts and realized that Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm are both free agents after 2013. Removing them we have Brandon Beachy, Kris Medlen, Mike Minor, Julio Teheran, and Randall Delgado. If we did trade for Upton there's no doubt in my mind that either Teheran or Delgado would be gone. Arizona probably would want both but I know we wouldn't do that.

We could still have a pretty strong rotation after this year if we keep all five of them. If we trade one we're looking at filling in the gaps and not having a whole lot in the minor leagues as backups because I'm sure that we'd be trading at least one or two more of our better pitching prospects as well. Free agent SP's will be out of the question if we add Upton to the payroll along with all of our arbitration guys like Freeman, Heyward, Kimbrel, Beachy, Medlen, Minor, Venters, etc. all getting steady raises each year until arbitration is over for each of them. We also have to resign Prado after this season.

Then we'd also have Jason Heyward and Justin Upton becoming free agents after the 2015 season. There's no way we'd be able to extend/resign both of them if they play the way we're hoping they're playing. If we choose Heyward over Justin Upton we have an awkward situation where his brother is still on the team. If we choose Justin Upton over Heyward we lose a home-grown fan favorite.

I'm sure I'll waver back and forth a few more times, but I think we're better off as an organization without trading for Justin Upton. Sure, his star power could add a lot to the team, but at the same time it could add a lot of problems down the road, starting as early as after the 2013 season. I think our best bet is already on the team: Evan Gattis.

His final numbers from winter league are impressive: http://mlb.mlb.com/m...p?id=atl&y=2012
And he was actually out of baseball for several years before returning in 2010. His minor league numbers show consistent power, high batting average, moderate-to-low strikeouts, high walks, and general awesomeness. In a worst case scenario he doesn't pan out, we put Constanza in left, he hits .260 but plays good defense and gives us speed in the lineup and we trade for someone in June or July. In a worst case scenario trading for Justin Upton we deplete our minor league pitching and potentially can't resign a few important players down the line while restricting our payroll flexibility dramatically.


And I'm probably just mostly thinking about a certain trade with the Texas Rangers here, I just know that Atlanta trading for the star can wind up sucking balls pretty hard.

[Neil Caudle is Superman]

Tider27, on 10 January 2013 - 10:31 PM, said:

Just got done watching Trouble with a Curve, checked out the rumors and got pretty excited. During the movie all I could think about was both Uptons being in Atlanta sure would be nice. Looks like it's either us or he's staying.


My reaction when I thought Seattle got him...




In honor of Clint Eastwood's TwaC haha. Gran Torino = 10x better.

I thought Trouble with the Curve was an OK movie but Gran Torino is definitely much better. Not enough racial slurs in Trouble with the Curve.

[UAdan]

Well, even if we don't get him...they're going to trade someone. They have five outfielders. They've backed themselves into a corner.

And again, I love the Gattis story, but I just am not convinced he's going to pan out to be what we hope he'll be. I'll gladly eat crow if I'm wrong but even Gorkys Hernandez tore up Winter Ball...

The thing is...I don't even think that a Francisco/Reed Johnson platoon would be THAT bad...what the issue is, if we go with a platoon of those two guys...then a bench spot will have either Jordan Schafer or Jose Constanza's name on it. Our overall team depth gets much worse. In the event of an injury, we are really screwed.

[Neil Caudle is Superman]

UAdan, on 13 January 2013 - 04:12 PM, said:

Well, even if we don't get him...they're going to trade someone. They have five outfielders. They've backed themselves into a corner.

And again, I love the Gattis story, but I just am not convinced he's going to pan out to be what we hope he'll be. I'll gladly eat crow if I'm wrong but even Gorkys Hernandez tore up Winter Ball...

The thing is...I don't even think that a Francisco/Reed Johnson platoon would be THAT bad...what the issue is, if we go with a platoon of those two guys...then a bench spot will have either Jordan Schafer or Jose Constanza's name on it. Our overall team depth gets much worse. In the event of an injury, we are really screwed.

Yeah Arizona is in a tough position, and if we can squeeze them for Upton at a good price I can live with it, I'm just hesitant to trade a whole bunch of pieces. The good news about getting Upton would be that Gattis has been working on being a catcher... If we had his bat at catcher when McCann is gone I think I'd be really happy.

I agree that our bench wouldn't be as good, but Constanza really isn't that bad. He's not going to win any awards but he can make big plays every now and then. Schafer on the other hand... Yeah he doesn't belong on an MLB team.

If we can do it right, Upton cold be a great addition, we just usually don't do it right. If we have no payroll flexibility and no farm system left we'd be in a bad position.

On the bright side, Casey Kotchman is still free agent so we couldn't trade Justin Upton for him at the all star break.

[StallingsBaldSpot]

If Wren traded both Delgado and Teheran for Upton tht would be grounds for 20 swift kicks to the nuts.

[Tider27]

We're "lying in the weeds", whatever the hell that means.

[CrimsoNation713]

Tider27, on 13 January 2013 - 05:32 PM, said:

We're "lying in the weeds", whatever the hell that means.

lololol...whaaa???

[Show Stopper]

We need to give Huddy an extension.  I'd rather have him than bringing in Upton so we can have some of the other cash to help keep these younger guys around.  Huddy is my guy and I don't know what I'd do without the guy.

[CrimsoNation713]

Show Stopper, on 13 January 2013 - 07:11 PM, said:

We need to give Huddy an extension.  I'd rather have him than bringing in Upton so we can have some of the other cash to help keep these younger guys around.  Huddy is my guy and I don't know what I'd do without the guy.

oh boy...another McD/Prado crush

[Show Stopper]

CrimsoNation713, on 13 January 2013 - 10:03 PM, said:

oh boy...another McD/Prado crush

Huddy's facial hair just leaves me with a boner for days man.

Edited by Show Stopper, 13 January 2013 - 10:08 PM.

[CrimsoNation713]

Show Stopper, on 13 January 2013 - 10:08 PM, said:

Huddy's facial hair just leaves me with a boner for days man.

oh boy....lolol

[Tider27]

CrimsoNation713, on 13 January 2013 - 07:01 PM, said:

lololol...whaaa???

https://twitter.com/...042316448751616

[CrimsoNation713]

Tider27, on 13 January 2013 - 11:38 PM, said:

https://twitter.com/...042316448751616

old Buster....lolol

[StallingsBaldSpot]

Braves CEO said they were going to try to operate on a $98M payroll.

Currently at $82M