Show #210: The Braves Land Justin Upton
Was losing Prado worth it? Is the team better now? Worries about leadership void? And what to do at 3rd?
111 Responses to “Show #210: The Braves Land Justin Upton”
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Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] 5 » Show All
February 1st, 2013 at 12:49 am
Baseball games cannot get here fast enough. There just aren’t enough Champions League/EPL games to pass the time with.
February 1st, 2013 at 11:45 am
@75 – I know you’re just joking now, but PLEASE, EVERYONE, keep politics off the comments board. DOB’s AJC blog and Facebook comments pages are just unbearable and that’s one of the reasons.
This is our 7th season coming up and this board has remained a civil and enjoyable place to be. Let’s please keep it that way.
February 1st, 2013 at 11:47 am
@76 – I couldn’t agree more. The only downside of the Justin Upton deal actually getting done is there’s now no longer the potential of some big Braves news to hit the wire between now and ST.
February 1st, 2013 at 11:50 am
@73 – Bub, I don’t think there’s any hidden drama there. It’s very possible that Prado’s agent was asking 4/12M from the Braves and were convinced by how that went, coupled with the subsequent negotiations with the DBacks that that money just wasn’t there.
I also believe the Braves were concerned with Prado’s age and the number of years he wanted. It’s very likely that Prado has peaked and things won’t get better given he’s entering his age 30 season.
February 1st, 2013 at 1:34 pm
It seems like this is something like the way it went down: The D-Backs wanted Simmons. When it became apparent the Braves weren’t budging on Simmons, they moved to Prado. Contract and age probably played a role in the Braves’ willingness to talk Prado and ultimately trade him, but I think the move also had as much to do with the fact that they really wanted Justin Upton. Players with his talent, who are reasonably priced for another 3 years and who haven’t even reached their peak just don’t become available that often. So considering all that, and Prado’s contract and age, Prado wasn’t all that steep a price to pay.
I think the trade had more to do with Justin Upton than the Braves’ negotiations or possible future negotiations with Prado. I think if the Justin Upton trade falls through, assuming something just as attractive never comes up, they eventually sign Prado to a similar deal.
February 1st, 2013 at 1:35 pm
The Braves eventually sign Prado to a similar deal as the D-Backs, is what I meant above…if the Justin Upton deal had fallen through.
February 1st, 2013 at 1:45 pm
Okay, so what are the odds the Braves have a different thirdbaseman than one currently on the roster by August 1st? I’ll say there’s a 40 percent chance.
Also, if it were possible to get Chase Headley sometime between now and the deadline, would you give up Teheran or Graham and Bethancourt (with Francisco or Johnson thrown in)?
Headley is signed through 2014. I’m thinking I would certainly do it if I could get him before the start of this season, and have him for all of 2013 and 2014. I’m not sure about it if it’s just the end of 2013 and all of 2014.
I’m not saying it’s possible to get Headley, certainly not right now. Just an interesting discussion.
February 1st, 2013 at 2:46 pm
@82 – Probably even a higher chance than 40%, imo. It’s the most likely need come the trade deadline by far.
With Delgado gone, I’m much more hesitant to give up Teheran. I could see Graham in the package for Headley.
February 1st, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Steve, true, that thirdbase is the most likely need at the deadline. I guess it will depend on the rest of the offense. The Braves may be willing to ride it out the whole season with Johnson/Fransisco if everyone else is awesome. But it’s one of the few spots that looks fairly ugly over the next 2-3 seasons (assuming McCann re-signs for another 2-3 years, which I think is probably going to happen).
February 1st, 2013 at 3:07 pm
There was a recent report that extension talks with Headley haven’t progressed very far. There’d be a lot of competition to get him you’d have to figure. Myself, I’d like to see Alex Gordon at the top of our order, but he’d have to move back to third base for that–doubtful.
I’m more comfortable with a Fransisco-Johnson platoon than I was at first. A slimmed down Fransisco who doesn’t have to hit against lefties and Johnson who last year had more games, plate appearances, hits, doubles, triples, homeruns, RBI, and .006 less of an average than Chipper Jones might work out well. One writer said Johnson had more traditional lefty-righty splits in the minors than he’s shown so far in the majors. ‘Course, I doubt if either of their OBP’s or defensive skills would be an asset, but it’s not like we’re asking them to carry the team.
Strangely, the only projected starter for next year’s team with a higher BA than Johnson last year was Simmons (in limited time). Several had a higher OBP though.
February 1st, 2013 at 4:35 pm
I miss Prado.
February 1st, 2013 at 8:10 pm
Tepid offseason review from SI, but whatever. They offer an interesting proposal that the Braves pick up Scott Rolen and use him judiciously with the other filling in ad hoc.
http://mlb.si.com/2013/02/01/winter-report-card-atlanta-braves/
February 1st, 2013 at 8:12 pm
By the way, this has been the most unbearable Super Bowl build up I can ever remember, and I haven’t paid attention to it on purpose. Whenever it worms itself into my life I want to punch things.
February 2nd, 2013 at 12:32 am
We don’t need Headley. We have Hudson and Maholm leaving after this year. We have a whole bunch of money locked up into our outfield. We need cheap good young pitching for the next couple years.
February 2nd, 2013 at 10:16 am
I don’t think McCann is here for 2-3 more years. I hate to say it.
I sat we ride Johnson/Francisco for a while and see what we have. What if (god forbid) Uggla or Freeman go down for a stretch? I would like to have money saved up heading into the season.
February 2nd, 2013 at 11:27 am
87 – I’m okay with that article and a bit of a realistic, non biased perspective.
90 – I agree re McCann. If he signs a 2-3 year contract to stay in Atlanta, I’ll be very surprised. If he bounces back like the Braves hope he will (and like DOB and Eddie Perez are saying he will), there will be plenty of AL teams lining up for him.
Btw, remember last March when the Cardinals signed Molina to a huge contract that drove up McCann’s projected value? A lot of Braves fans were saying that the Braves needed to extend Mac, and some were angry that STL signed Molina for such a deal. How do y’all feel a year later about that? Think ATL should’ve extended Mac by now? Anticipating for his departure? Want to see how he does this year?
February 2nd, 2013 at 12:14 pm
IMO, Bethancourt not being in the Upton deal is reason to believe this is McCann’s last year as a Brave. I think the Braves pretty much consider Bethancourt untouchable because he is our future catcher. Maybe he gets traded at the deadline. I doubt it, though, because he is young and cheap.
February 2nd, 2013 at 1:09 pm
Can you imagine if baseball had all designated hitters and designated fielders? Would be a much better game, in my opinion. I know that will touch everybody’s gag reflex, but man, 9 crushers in the line-up, but every catcher could gun you down, every centerfielder could make incredible catches, and corner outfielders playing at the level of current center fielders.
Incredible double-play combinations by great infeilders would happen once a game or better. The short stop position would be insane.
And not only that, but the players would be concentrating only on their greatest skill all through their development, so that you could take the skill you see by the best fielders now and imagine what countless extra hours of practice and research could do for that, as the time spent trying to work on their weak spots would be available to them for fine tuning their strong points instead.
The absolute best hitting.
The absolute best fielding.
The absolute best pitching.
It would have been a better game.
February 2nd, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Oh, twas me at #93.
February 2nd, 2013 at 1:34 pm
93 — interesting thought. There’s not as many X’s and O’s in baseball as there are in football, which is a sport that includes the concept you’re describing (i.e., offensive players and defensive players).
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:20 am
spent the weekend with the head of MLB japan, this was the guy who told me that he thought KK was a bad deal and that the major league hitters would figure him out after a few months…and he was right.
he says he thinks BJ Upton is a lazy player, and that he is likely to be one who’s performance falls off sharply after signing a big contract…
obviously, i hope hes wrong…just thought I’d pass it on. I didn’t really press him on it as to whether this is his personal opinion, or is more a representation of the general opinion on BJ… i guess haters gotta hate.
February 3rd, 2013 at 2:41 pm
@96 – Chilling, quite frankly.
February 3rd, 2013 at 8:29 pm
@96, I’m hoping Heyward’s and Justin’s example will rehab BJ’s attitude. I was livid about getting BJ for this very reason, but then I read some encouraging stuff about him maturing some. If he takes a motivational nosedive after scoring the big contract, there aren’t words for how disgusted I’ll be, Atlanta’s resources being limited and all. But until that actually happens, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
It’s part of the price of watching today’s game: these kids rarely care as much about winning as the fans do. It’s almost enough to hope the Great Grit experiment in Arizona works (it won’t). I guess I’ll put up with it as long as it isn’t too bad. The rough thing about it is that the supermotivated players like Uggla, McCann, and Prado fall into pressing. So you’re just as likely to slump through motivation as from non-motivation. Guys like Manny Ramirez (spits) walk up to the plate with hardly a care and BAM, homer.
Really, outside of absoltue clubhouse cancers and big-time weight gainers (and some of those even do alright), lack of motivation doesn’t seem to be a death sentence for a production.
It’s just … not very exciting to look at on t.v. Here’s hoping BJ proves your man wrong.
February 3rd, 2013 at 8:31 pm
*”a production” = “production”
I guess one unwelcome article deserves another.
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:16 pm
I saw the tweet and was like, Ray Lewis makes you vomit? I don’t really know him but he seems nice.
So I googled around and found this:
http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/video-proof-that-ray-lewis-is-an-idiot/
Yeah, I could never listen to that guy talk. Ever. If I ever see him talking on tv again I’ll put hands over my ears and do the LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA. That’s seriously the quickest anybody’s ever gotten under my skin. How is he popular??