AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 28
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Something’s gotta give
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ladies and gents, your opening day starter: Tim Hudson.
Bobby Cox acknowledged that’s the plan when I asked him this morning, though he hasn’t made an official announcement. It didn’t take much genius on my part to figure it out: Just count forward every fifth day from the first spring starts for each guy, which Cox had announced on Sunday.
When I did that, I got Hudson landing on opening day April 3 against Los Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, and Smoltz going in game 2. Smoltz and Hudson haven’t been told officially, but neither seemed surprised at all, and Smoltz said he agreed completely with the decision and that Hudson is The Man now, the guy to carry the most weight in the rotation.
Anyway, my question today to you folks: How does this rotation — Hudson, Smoltz and in some order Thomson, Sosa and Ramirez — potentially compare with Braves rotations in recent years, and with the great ones of the 1990s?
I’d offer that, while it could be one of the best two or three rotations in the NL this season if folks stay healthy, it’s still not even in the same ballpark as the great Braves rotations of the 1990s. Not even close.
But with the reduced payroll, Braves aren’t going to be able to keep together three veteran horses at the peak of their careers, like they did back then.
The other question: If the Braves were to trade one of those three guys at back end of rotation (Smoltz and Hudson aren’t going to be traded, obviously) then who would you trade? Horacio, Thomson or Sosa? And why?
Finally, which guy would you replace him with, Chuck James or Kyle Davies?
My own opinion — I’d trade Thomson, only because he’s going to be unaffordable for the Braves next year, and the team won’t need him then anyway with two or more kids waiting in the wings to replace him. And also, because that finger injury last year was really unusual and a total surprise, and no one can say when or if it’ll happen again. If you can get something for him now, do it.
That’d free up another $4.75 mill and the Braves could replace him with … Chuck James. Yes, I’d give the little lefty a shot ahead of Davies, barring some big development this spring. James has simply dominated as a starter at every level of the minors, and the Braves should see if he can do it in The Show. If not, they know what they have in Davies and can bring him up in a hurry.
I wouldn’t trade Horacio, even though he loves Kobe Bryant. I wouldn’t deal him only because I remember how good he was in spurts last year and most of his rookie year, and he’s only making $2.2 million, and he’s young and left-handed. And because he went to Inglewood High in L.A., alma mater of a great Jayhawk, Paul Pierce.
If Horacio has a 15-win season, or even a good 12-win season, the Braves should be able to trade him for something solid then, because he’ll still be young and relatively affordable as a second-year arbitration guy. Or they could sign him to a little three-year contract or something.
I know some will say trade Sosa, that his value will never be higher than now after his fluke season. But I say, why was it a fluke season? I was one of the lasat on his bandwagon, but by late summer I had to say to myself, the dude’s doing it virtually every time out. Maybe he finally has it figured out.
And while he continually put runner on base and escaped almost every jam, the same could be said for Al Leiter most of his career. And Leiter was pretty damn good for about five years. Besides, I don’t think the Braves would be able to get equal value in return for Sosa, because I think most teams are hesitant to give up much for a guy with his career numbers and only one solid season.
OK, that’s it on the pitching. Enough for now on the starters, and I don’t want to try to hash out the bullpen until they throw a few times this spring. There’s about 10-12 guys fighting for 4-5 jobs in that pen, and performance is going to mean something this spring.
I’d say the only bullpen certainties right now are Reitsma, Villarreal (provided he stays healthy) and two lefties from group of John Foster, Remlinger and Macay McBride. Other than that, it’s up for grabs, but I’d lean toward Lerew and Devine making it, with Obermueller, Lance Cormier and others needing a good spring, and Blaine Boyer needing to prove his shoulder’s healthy.
That’s it for now. Gotta finish and get to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show tonight.
By the way, speaking of bikes, T.P. (Pendleton) and Fred Gonzalez have four of the baddest-a#& motorcycles you’ll ever see major league coaches bring to spring training. Of course, they’re also four of the ONLY motorcycles you’ll see coaches bring to spring training, but that’s beside the point.
Each of them has a Harley and a Bourget customized bike (remember, Brian Jordan gave Fredi his Bourget, about $40K _ niiiice to know nice, rich people). It’s pretty cool to see these middle-aged coaches tooling up to the ballpark in the morning on their hogs. Midlife crisis is not just for us schlubbs.
(I just had to get in a line about them being middle-aged, because someone will bring it to their attention and they’ll both just give me more crap about owning a Triumph instead of a Harley. But I think most of you would agree, the Triumph Bonneville, one ridden by Bob Dylan, is a much cooler bike than a Harley, which are by now a dime a dozen and owned by every weekend warrior doctor and lawyer in America.)
OK, onward and upward.
