Busy Braves add Glaus to infield mix

[Hawksquawk]

The Braves signed Troy Glaus to a one-year contract on Wednesday, according to FOXSports.com. Glaus, whose deal includes incentives but is still pending a physical, would play first base in Atlanta, the Web site added.

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[dms269]

Interesting. He hit 27 home runs for STL 2 years ago and 37 and 38 for Zona and Toronto 5 and 4 years ago. He could provide some power.

[coachx]

Interesting. He hit 27 home runs for STL 2 years ago and 37 and 38 for Zona and Toronto 5 and 4 years ago. He could provide some power.

Very intersting if he is healthy. At 33 you hope his career has a resurgence in it. What I love the most is that he is right handed to add the much needed balance to our batting order.

I'm still crossing my fingers for another big signing since we saved $10 mill in the Melkey and Vasquez swap. Jermaine Dye or Marlon Byrd perhaps ?

Batting Order:

1.) McClouth

2.) Escobar / Prado

3.)Chipper

4.)McCann

5.)Glaus

6.)Byrd / Dye

7.)Escobar / Prado

8.) Cabrera

Bench:

Diaz

Infante

Schafer

Heyward ***

Starting Pitching:

1. Jurrjens

2. Hanson

3. Hudson

4, Lowe

5. Kawakami

Closer - Wagner

Set-Up - Saito

Set Up - Moylan

That is a very strong lineup with alot of flexibility incase Chipper or Glaus get hurt. Very balanced team between youth, veterans, pitching, fielding, and hitting.

Edited December 23, 2009 by coachx

[dms269]

I would prefer DeRosa and just use a Nate/Melky/Diaz outfield until Heyward is ready. DeRosa can fill in as a backup OF until then and once Heyward is in the lineup, he can be a great backup at every position.

[gsuteke]

I see alot of missed games between Chipper and Glaus - your 3 and 5 hitters.

Next year could be a very bad year for the Braves.

[coachx]

I see alot of missed games between Chipper and Glaus - your 3 and 5 hitters.

Next year could be a very bad year for the Braves.

I like their depth IF they can add Byrd or Dye with the money they saved on the Yankees trade. If they do not sign another big bat then we are casting our hopes on Heyward stepping up next year and on Glaus and Chipper playing 125 games which they could very well do.

Glaus is supposedly healthy so I would not expect him to miss more then 25 games.

Escobar can be a solid #3 hitter with his .300 BA and 15 - 20 HRs when Chipper misses his expected 30 - 40 games. Alot depends on Chipper. Do we get the 07 & 08 Chipper or the 2nd half of '09 Chipper, that was a shadow of his former self ?

I'm looking foward to a full year of Prado at 2nd. A solid .300 hitter with much better fielding skills then KJ.

Infante and Prado are defensive wizards who can play any where in the infield.

I would prefer DeRosa and just use a Nate/Melky/Diaz outfield until Heyward is ready. DeRosa can fill in as a backup OF until then and once Heyward is in the lineup, he can be a great backup at every position.

That would be very smart with the injury history to Chipper and Glaus.

Edited December 23, 2009 by coachx

[gsuteke]

And Wagner is our closer too?

Oh dear lord I want to be optimistic but they do this to us every year. They go out and sign someone to a "value contract" and that guy doesn't pan out for us.

[dms269]

I like their depth IF they can add Byrd or Dye with the money they saved on the Yankees trade. If they do not sign another big bat then we are casting our hopes on Heyward stepping up next year and on Glaus and Chipper playing 125 games which they could very well do.

Byrd isn't a big bat. He has only hit above 10 homers once, last season when he hit 30.

Dye of course is a power guy, but he is gonna cost a ton to bring him because of how many teams want him.

[gsuteke]

my wife's cousin up in St Louis just old me he was a roids guy

[jhay610]

I'm withholding judgment as we're still early in the offseason but I will say they need to do more. The Braves keep trotting out these reclamation projects from other teams' scrap heaps and hope that they will sustain production over a 162 game season. It hasn't been working out lately.

As it stands they have dumped their best pitcher, ostensibly to trim payroll (I understand they got a good young pitching prospect and that Vazquez was in a contract year at 33 years of age). If that move was to clear up space for the signing of Glaus then color me unimpressed. I know they have a prospect at first that they are trying to bridge the gap to but there is no guarantee of him panning out.

Again, withholding judgment at this juncture but at the moment I'm not too keen on this.

Edited December 26, 2009 by jhay610

[mattlanta]

Call me crazy, but I like to still hold hope that we will sign Jason Bay. We certainly don't have the money to do it now, but if we trade McLouth we will. People think McLouth is a huge piece of this puzzle - he's not. There is someone who is waiting to be given another opportunity in the minors and his name is Jordan Schafer. Once he gets over his wrist injury and sees more time in the minors, I believe he'll be a much better leadoff hitter than McLouth.

Trade McLouth for prospects to Chicago, and sign Jason Bay to a 5 Yr, $75,000,000 ($15,000,000/Yr), sign 1B Chad Tracy to a $1,000,000 with incentives and then the team would look like this.

Incomplete roster... still would need a few more bench pieces... but here's my roster...and the rotation is ordered in salary.

SP Derek Lowe

SP Tim Hudson

SP Kenshin Kawakami

SP Jair Jurrjens

SP Tommy Hanson

LR Kris Medlen

MR Eric O'Flaherty

MR Jesse Chavez

MR Michael Dunn

SU Takashi Saito

SU Peter Moylan

CL Billy Wagner

CA Brian McCann

1B Troy Glaus

2B Martin Prado

3B Chipper Jones

SS Yunel Escobar

LF Jason Bay

CF Melky Cabrera (eventually Schafer)

RF Matt Diaz (eventually Jason Heyward)

Bench would be something like Tracy, Infante, Ross, etc.

I don't think Marlon Byrd is the real deal. If you're hitting in Arlington Park, you should always have high amount of power / doubles if you're a true power hitter. What Byrd is is a .280 hitter, but he's not a 20 HR type of guy.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Libid21

[AHF]

I would prefer DeRosa and just use a Nate/Melky/Diaz outfield until Heyward is ready. DeRosa can fill in as a backup OF until then and once Heyward is in the lineup, he can be a great backup at every position.

I like this line of thinking. Injuries will happen and are likely to be lengthy.

[mattlanta]

I would prefer DeRosa and just use a Nate/Melky/Diaz outfield until Heyward is ready. DeRosa can fill in as a backup OF until then and once Heyward is in the lineup, he can be a great backup at every position.

DeRosa will laugh at the idea of being a backup to Melky and Matt Diaz.

[dms269]

Call me crazy, but I like to still hold hope that we will sign Jason Bay. We certainly don't have the money to do it now, but if we trade McLouth we will. People think McLouth is a huge piece of this puzzle - he's not. There is someone who is waiting to be given another opportunity in the minors and his name is Jordan Schafer. Once he gets over his wrist injury and sees more time in the minors, I believe he'll be a much better leadoff hitter than McLouth.

Bay grew up in Western Canada, I can't see him coming here especially since that amount of money is less than some other teams are offering. The Mets are offering 4/65. The Red Sox offered 4/60. Bay's agent is pushing the Red Sox to offer 4/65 or possibly a 5 year deal. I can't see him taking less money to come to Atlanta.

DeRosa is going to be a backup wherever he goes. If he goes to NY, he is going to play behind tex, arod, jeter, and cano. If he comes here he will be behind our starter. The difference is he can win a title in NY, or he can get a lot of playing time here with our starter's injury history.

I hope that 5 man rotation isn't who you see as our 1-5 starters (in terms of jj being our 4 and hanson our 5).

Edited December 27, 2009 by dms269

[mattlanta]

Bay grew up in Western Canada, I can't see him coming here especially since that amount of money is less than some other teams are offering. The Mets are offering 4/65. The Red Sox offered 4/60. Bay's agent is pushing the Red Sox to offer 4/65 or possibly a 5 year deal. I can't see him taking less money to come to Atlanta.

DeRosa is going to be a backup wherever he goes. If he goes to NY, he is going to play behind tex, arod, jeter, and cano. If he comes here he will be behind our starter. The difference is he can win a title in NY, or he can get a lot of playing time here with our starter's injury history.

I hope that 5 man rotation isn't who you see as our 1-5 starters (in terms of jj being our 4 and hanson our 5).

DeRosa will be demanding a contract worth $6-8M. That's not exactly the type of money you pay your utility player - even if you're a big market team like the Yankees. If he went there, he'd be the starting left fielder.

And if you read my post, I said that rotation was ordered by salary...

[Dakin]

mark derosa? Ugh. Matt Diaz' OPS was well over .100 point higher, and we have Infante to serve as a supersub. Why do we need an overpaid aging slow right handed outfielder to drain us of whatever limited funds we have left? I hope the Braves sit on the roster as it is, see what we have in June and make a move then if necessary. 6-8 million for Derosa? Ugh.

We need to platoon Diaz with either Cabrera or Sheaffer, then let either Heyward or Sheaffer play everyday. Heyward would put up similar numbers as Derosa, even as a rookie, cost about 7 million dollars less - allowing us to make a move later - and make us better next year.

[dms269]

We need to platoon Diaz with either Cabrera or Sheaffer, then let either Heyward or Sheaffer play everyday. Heyward would put up similar numbers as Derosa, even as a rookie, cost about 7 million dollars less - allowing us to make a move later - and make us better next year.

How is schafer going to play everyday and platoon?

Heyward won't be on the opening day roster because they want to delay his arbitration, just like they did with Hanson.

Infante isn't good on the offensive side. He isn't a HR threat nor is he a speed threat. If a corner IF goes down then there goes our offensive power since only McClouth is a real HR threat.

[Dakin]

Ha, yeah, just like last year: when we had our best pitcher tucked away in AAA, while our team struggled. - while overpaying for pitching we didn't even need - All cause we're worried about not being able to afford him in 4or 5 years. That's the kind of philosophy that keeps you in 3rd or 4th place every year.

Sorry for the confusion. I mean Some type of platoon involving Cabrera/Diaz/Jordan. Derosa isn't the power threat either. He and Diaz are pretty much equal in terms of power/slugging and Heyward woudn't be far behind if at all as a rookie.

Anyway, just glad the Giants signed him. They love overpaying for overated old guys too.

[mattlanta]

Ha, yeah, just like last year: when we had our best pitcher tucked away in AAA, while our team struggled. - while overpaying for pitching we didn't even need - All cause we're worried about not being able to afford him in 4or 5 years. That's the kind of philosophy that keeps you in 3rd or 4th place every year.

Sorry for the confusion. I mean Some type of platoon involving Cabrera/Diaz/Jordan. Derosa isn't the power threat either. He and Diaz are pretty much equal in terms of power/slugging and Heyward woudn't be far behind if at all as a rookie.

Anyway, just glad the Giants signed him. They love overpaying for overated old guys too.

It wasn't the pitching that kept us out of the playoffs. It was the hitting. We wasted too many good pitching performances too early in the season because we couldn't bring in any run support.

And in terms of the "Wait" for prospects... delaying their arbitration by that much time is a huge difference. I don't think a lot of fans realize this... but delaying an arbitration can save an organization millions of dollars, especially for someone like Heyward who, if he pans out as expected, will be demanding $15-20MM per year, that money saved during the Wait is very useful. That millions of dollars is crucial to a mid-market team like the Braves.

[Dakin]

Fact: We would have been a better team for 162 games if Hanson was on the opening day roster. Also, we would have been a better team if we had used Kawakami's money on offense.