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[UAdan]

[UAdan]

Kimbrel and Medlen will pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

Andrelton for the Netherlands, and Marteen for Venezuela.

[CrimsoNation713]

UAdan, on 17 January 2013 - 03:33 PM, said:

Im watching this and it just quit snowing....lolol

[StallingsBaldSpot]

UAdan, on 17 January 2013 - 03:33 PM, said:

Really awesome Dano!!!!

[UAdan]

I know this was addressed (briefly) a few days ago in this thread, but I never gave my thoughts on it.

Terry McGuirk says that the Braves are wanting to increase payroll to 98 mil for 2013. Right now we sit at about 84...and that is AFTER the arbitration upgrades for Heyward, Prado, EOF, etc.

In other words, if we do in fact raise payroll to 98...we'd have closer to 13-14 mil left to spend...not 8-9 like most of us thought.

If that's the case, we really need to use the extra room to bring in either Bourn or Justin Upton. To have 13 + mil left on the table and have a platoon in LF would be meh.

[GoldenRebel]

Pay Bourn

In other news, looks like I'm missing opening day for the first time in 4 years sure to it being on a monday

[KnoxvilleDawg]

Bourn is a better fit for THIS years team, and we don't have to give away 2 or more TOP pitchers to get him.


But if we could get Justin Upton, that outfield would be so stout for four or five years with three guys capable of 20 HRs/20 SBs... pretty enticing, but overall I think keeping Teheran/Delgado/Gilmartin around is better than adding another hitter, our lineup is balanced enough right now to not sacrifice potential TOR starters.

[KnoxvilleDawg]

UAdan, on 17 January 2013 - 04:11 PM, said:

I know this was addressed (briefly) a few days ago in this thread, but I never gave my thoughts on it.

Terry McGuirk says that the Braves are wanting to increase payroll to 98 mil for 2013. Right now we sit at about 84...and that is AFTER the arbitration upgrades for Heyward, Prado, EOF, etc.

In other words, if we do in fact raise payroll to 98...we'd have closer to 13-14 mil left to spend...not 8-9 like most of us thought.

If that's the case, we really need to use the extra room to bring in either Bourn or Justin Upton. To have 13 + mil left on the table and have a platoon in LF would be meh.

I think Wren's thinking for this is that if you wait until July, whether it is 8-9 MM or 13-14 MM, you can get more quality players for your $$$. Having money left at the deadline is critical for a mid-market team like the Braves who need to keep top prospects in the system. By having extra cash at the deadline, we won't have to surrender top picks for top players if a team is trying to dump salary. We can take on salary for mid/low level prospects and could really kick-start the team later in the season without sacrificing anything long term.

I still think trying to give Bourn 3-4 years is a better route to go, but with the way the roster is currently constructed, sitting on it and waiting for a deadline trade is a good option too. Upton will probably only get cheaper and cheaper as time goes on, and being able to take on the entirety of his contract mid-season would give us a definitive leg up on a team like the Rangers.

[Neil Caudle is Superman]

I definitely think Bourn is the way to go, though I'd personally prefer not giving him more than a one year deal at this point unless it's a team option. We need a lead off hitter, Bourn can do that. We need a great outfield, Bourn completes that. We need flexibility in the future, Bourn for one year gives us that. We need our pitching prospects in case Huddy/Malholm either retire or go elsewhere, signing Bourn allows us to keep them.

Justin Upton would make our offense damn amazing for three years but at the cost of at least two top pitching prospects and probably making us unable to resign Martin Prado after this season...

I can see the argument for not doing anything - having money at the deadline is nice - but the Nationals are stacked like mother ers up in D.C. And we're going to have to be the best team we can be all year to contend with them.

[KnoxvilleDawg]

Bourn's stock has never and will never be higher. I doubt he takes a one year deal. Remember he already turned down a 15 MM qualifying offer from us.

While he is undoubtedly getting cheaper, he is going to require probably at the VERY LEAST 3 years and an option. Which I would be OK with as long as it is a mutual or team option, not a vesting or player.

[Neil Caudle is Superman]

Meo Stansbury, on 17 January 2013 - 05:13 PM, said:

Bourn's stock has never and will never be higher. I doubt he takes a one year deal. Remember he already turned down a 15 MM qualifying offer from us.

While he is undoubtedly getting cheaper, he is going to require probably at the VERY LEAST 3 years and an option. Which I would be OK with as long as it is a mutual or team option, not a vesting or player.

I'm hoping he has realized that this is a bad time for him to be a free agent because nobody wants to pay such a high price for a lead off man AND lose a first round draft pick. Our argument to him could be that by signing a one year deal he will be available to sign a big contract next year if he wants to and we could even agree not to make a qualifying offer to him so that teams won't balk t the thought of losing a draft pick to sign him.

Bourn wanted 6-7 years @ $16-17 million per year (LOL). Clearly he was never going to get that but he'd be lucky to get half of that now with most of the teams who needed him having already taken care of that need with another player. I don't think Bourn would be in a position to turn down a one year, $12 million dollar contract even though he turned down our $13.3 million qualifying offer at the beginning of the offseason.

[MCD]

Guys... I miss you.

[CrimsoNation713]

MCD, on 17 January 2013 - 06:10 PM, said:

Guys... I miss you.

Martin misses u2

[UAdan]

Meo Stansbury, on 17 January 2013 - 04:45 PM, said:

I think Wren's thinking for this is that if you wait until July, whether it is 8-9 MM or 13-14 MM, you can get more quality players for your $$$. Having money left at the deadline is critical for a mid-market team like the Braves who need to keep top prospects in the system. By having extra cash at the deadline, we won't have to surrender top picks for top players if a team is trying to dump salary. We can take on salary for mid/low level prospects and could really kick-start the team later in the season without sacrificing anything long term.

I still think trying to give Bourn 3-4 years is a better route to go, but with the way the roster is currently constructed, sitting on it and waiting for a deadline trade is a good option too. Upton will probably only get cheaper and cheaper as time goes on, and being able to take on the entirety of his contract mid-season would give us a definitive leg up on a team like the Rangers.

I understand that line of thinking, and in most seasons I'd support it. But there are three major reasons why I don't favor it this year:

1. We have upwards of 10 mil left to spend. If the issue were only 5-7 mil, I could totally understand us waiting until the deadline. But to have that much money and stand pat sorta makes us look like an incomplete roster.

2. Deals are getting much more difficult to make at the deadline each year. Because of the new WC format, more teams are "buyers" and fewer are "sellers". As a result, the market is more congested and other teams will outbid us. I'm not a GM by any means, but to me it seems way more manageable to negotiate a deal in the offseason for your specific needs, rather than to get into an intense bidding war with 4 or 5 other teams about one guy over the course of a couple of weeks.

3. The Nationals legitimately look like the best team in baseball (or at least the NL) entering the season. I know, I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't make a big move simply because your rival did, but in this case I think it has some merit. If we don't make one final addition to the lineup, I almost feel like we're giving the Nats a head start...when they don't need one in the first place.

Maybe I'm just being impatient. Most of the time, I am TOTALLY about us preserving the farm and looking at in-house/inexpensive options. I just feel like that won't cut it this year.

[UAdan]

Having said all that, I'm still not real confident we'll make a move anyways. I feel like we're going to go with The Platoon and see how it goes.

Just hope it doesn't put us into too big of a hole by July. I want the division title, dammit, not another flukey wild card game where we lose to the Cardinals on a balk or an inside-the-park home run or some crap.