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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Yates traded, another move coming?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. _ Ah, the last week of spring training, when the Braves trade away out-of-options guys like Tyler Yates (dealt to Pittsburgh this morning) and I try to stuff everything accumulated over the past six weeks into the luggage that was already full when I flew down here.
But I’m guessing you’re probably more interested in the Yates deal and other potential trades, rather than how I’m gonna make extra room to take home the 15 CDs and Bob Dylan coffee-table scrapbook and Harley-Davidson denim shirt and a few other things I’ve purchased since I got to Florida.
So we’ll get to it.
Oh, before I forget: Braves going with their “real” lineup today against Nats: 1. Johnson, 2B; 2. Escobar, SS; 3. Chipper, 3B; 4. Teixeira, 1B; 5. Francoeur, RF; 6. McCann, C; 7. Diaz, RF; 8. Kotsay, CF; 9. Bennett RHP.
OK, the trade. For the past week or so, it had become increasingly apparent that Yates was most likely to be moved from among the four out-of-options relievers. Blaine Boyer, Chris Resop and lefty Royce Ring remain standing, and I think the trio will probably make it to opening day.
The Braves got 22-year-old right-hander Todd Redmond in exchange for Yates. Redmond (yes, the name will make Braves fans cringe) was rated the No. 27 prospect in the Pirates organization, no great shakes but a potential back-end rotation member in a few years. He’ll go to Double-A. More on him in a moment.
GM Frank Wren said the Braves need to make one more move to make their roster “manageable” before opening day. He wouldn’t name names or even positions, but I’m thinking that either Brayan Pena or Scott Thorman (both out of options) will be moved in the next day or two, with Pena most likely to go.
The switch-hitting Cuban has drawn far more trade interest and is expendable due to the Braves having Corky Miller and Clint Sammons as backup-catcher options. Stay tuned. We’ll let you know something soon as we hear it.
Braves can take an extra reliever if they want to because John Smoltz will be DL’d for first week of the season. I just asked Bobby Cox and he confirmed that’s a possibility.
So the 12-man pitcher staff to open the season could go like this. First, the certainties: Starters Tim Hudson, Tom Glavine, Jair Jurrjens and Mike Hampton (they’ll begin the season in that order); relievers Rafael Soriano, Peter Moylan, Manny Acosta and Will Ohman.
Then you have Boyer and Resop, who both seem like sure things to me to be on the roster, unless the Braves get some too-good-to-refuse offer before opening day, which I don’t foresee. I also think Ring will make it, at least until Smoltz gets back, at which time they could try to get him through waivers.
And the extra spot? Jeff Bennett’s name is all over it, in my view. He’s not out of options, so the Braves could move him to the minors when Smoltz gets back. But he might also be too valuable as a spot-starter to send down.
Ring could be the odd man out a week in, but that’s getting way ahead of ourselves, and so much can happen between now and then, a sore elbow here or a trade offer there, etc.
Another Redmond: Hey, it’s not spelled Redman, it’s Redmond. Like Mike Redmond, the former Marlins catcher who used to wreck Tom Glavine and the Braves. Not like Mark Redman, the lefty who was merely a wreck for the Braves last season.
But anyway, the scouting report on this kid they got from the Pirates is that he has a very good curveball, good changeup and sinker, and excellent command. Tops out at about 90 mph with his fastball, which is just OK by big league standards.
He had a very good season in 2006 in low-A, going 13-6 with a 2.75 ERA and 148 strikeouts with only 38 walks in 160 innings.
Last season, not so good. He was 8-13 with a 4.39 ERA in 28 starts, 25 of them in high-A and three at Double-A. He gave up 166 hits and his strikeouts dropped to 107 in 160 innings, though he still kept the walks down (35).
And the positive note was that he pitched well after the promotion to Double-A, posting a 3.12 ERA in three starts with 15 hits, three wlks and 12 strikeouts in 17-1/3 innings.
OK, that’s more than really I care to write at this point about a former 39th-round draft pick with a 22-21 career record in three minor league seasons (but a solid 3.27 ERA with 318 strikeouts and 89 walks in 393 innings … seriously stop me, please.)
Could the Braves have gotten more? Obviously not, or they’d have pulled the trigger. Other teams were probably waiting to see if the Braves would release Tyler before the deadline Wednesday to do so and owe non-guaranteed contract players only 45 days’ termination pay.
But also, they didn’t have teams knocking down their doors, probably, because Tyler’s had a bad spring after posting a 5.18 ERA in a career-high 75 appearances last season.
Really good dude, Yates is. He’s a Hawaii native, and he and his wife liked Atlanta so much they just bought a house in the north ‘burbs. And he has a filthy slider and throws hard, too.
But command is sketchy at times, and he had too many bad streaks to rely on him in a prominent role this time around, in an improved bullpen and a team with serious playoff aspirations. The Braves had younger guys and/or other guys out of options who had better arms. So he got dealt.
“It’s part of the business,” Yates said, as he picked up his bag and headed out of the clubhouse. “See you guys Monday.”
The Braves play the Pirates in the home opener at Turner Field on Monday.
Tex for MVP: He’s batting .188 this spring, but Mark Teixeira isn’t the least bit concerned about his Grapefruit League batting average. And neither are the Braves.
Some great hitters have great springs. Some have terrible springs. They have one thing in common: Their spring results are quickly forgotten once the season begins.
“I never get hits in spring training,” said Teixeira, who’s a .286 career hitter in five major league seasons, and ranks fifth in the majors in extra-base hits (365) during that period, eighth in RBI (555) and ninth in homers (170).
“My spring training is more geared toward getting ready for 162.”
He played all 162 games in the 2005 and 2006 seasons for Texas, and last season had his first DL stint for a quadriceps injury when he was still with the Rangers.
Teixeira has 106 homers and 359 RBI in 456 games over the past three seasons, including a stunning 17 homers and 56 RBI (with a .317 average) in his 54 games for the Braves after a July 31 blockbuster seven-player trade.
Chipper Jones was dressing this morning in the clubhouse and Tex was sitting at his stall across the way.
“I just read a magazine where they predicted you’d be the National League MVP this year,” Chipper said.
“Whoopidy-do,” Teixeira replied, and both of them laughed.
“You should be flattered they think highly enough of you to predict you’ll be the MVP,” Chipper said, with his familiar smirk.
“You want to hit fourth and I’ll hit third, then maybe it’ll happen,” Teixeira said, smiling.
Chipper shook his head no, and smiled.
OK, so back to Tex’s spring. He’s 9-for-48 going into today’s game against the Nationals here at Dark Star. He’s got one double, one homer, eight RBI. His .271 slugging percentage is lower than Brent Lillibridge’s (.314), and his .250 OBP is almost as low as Thorman’s (.241).
And you won’t find one person on the team who is the least bit concerned (about Tex, that is). For good reason.
“The point of my spring training isn’t to get hits, it’s to get ready for the season,” said Teixeira, who said that he does so much extra work during the spring that he’s not going to be at his best for Grapefruit League games.
“Lifting extra weights, taking extra batting practice, if you do those things you’re probably not going to perform [well in spring games],” he said.
If you’re trying to make a team, that’s one thing, he said. You gear your work towards performing in the games and trying to earn a spot.
But if you have a spot, you gear it towards getting ready for the long grind ahead.
“If you don’t do the things to prepare for 162, you can peter out during the season,” he said. “Happened to me my rookie year. Couldn’t lift a bat the last month of the season. In spring training I played every day, wasn’t doing extra work.”
How does he feel this spring, entering his free-agent contract year?
“I feel great,” he said. “I’m happy with where I’m at. Ready to get out of here and start playing for real.”
Hitting coach Terry Pendleton said the switch-hitting Teixeira has gotten his swing into form as the spring’s progressed. And T.P. also agreed that spring training stats mean next to nothing for veterans.
“I was horrible in spring training,” said Pendleton, who was the NL MVP in 1991 for the worst-to-first Braves. “I remember in ‘92 we left [spring training] and went to Little Rock to plan an exhibition game against the Cardinals. The skipper [Cox] said to me, ‘I’ve got to be honest, I’m a little concerned.’”
“I said, ‘Don’t worry about me, I’ll be alright.’
Pendleton continued, “He said [before the Cardinals exhibition], ‘I’m gonna give you two at-bats today and then you’re out,’ OK?’
“I went deep twice, back-to-back [at-bats]. He said, ‘OK, we’re alright.’”
Lefties are different: Will Ohman blew into camp talking a mile a minute, often in a loud voice that filled the room. He’s gregarious, to say the least. This raised a few eyebrows in the low-key Braves clubhouse, at least initially.
But Ohman’s outgoing personality - he says he’s “loquacious” — has found a fit in the eclectic bullpen mix, with its tattooed, gregarious Aussie (Moylan) and its glaring but good-natured Dominican (Soriano) and quiet flamethrower (Acosta).
Or maybe I’m just letting the fact that I like Ohman’s musical tastes color my opinion. So be it.
He’s only the second major leaguer in 14 years who ever welcomed a music recommendation from me and actually purchased the CD I suggested. The other was also a lefty reliever, Vic Darensbourg of the Marlins in the late ‘90s.
Vic, a tough little dude from South Central L.A., and I used to talk about jazz and and old-school funk. And I recommended a CD by the jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, Blue Light ‘Til Dawn He totally dug it.
And Ohman? He’s a rocker, and I heard a Social Distortion song on his ringtone the first day he got to camp. We talked about Social D and Mike Ness (lead singer) and about how every album they put out was solid. Even the live album, I said.
He didn’t know about the live album I referred to, Live at the Roxy. Couple days later, he came in and said I was right, he had bought a copy and loved it.
So lefties may be “flaky” in the baseball vernacular, but they’re the ones with good musical taste.
Ahh, sweeping generalizations are a good thing.
”DON’T THINK TWICE” by Bob Dylan (covered later, much later, by Mike Ness — with a sneer)
Well there ain’t no use to sit and wonder why
If you don’t know by now
And it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why
It doesn’t matter any how
When the rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I’ll be gone
You’re the reason I’m traveling on
But don’t think twice
It’s alright
And it ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light
The light I never knew
And it ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light
I’m on the dark side of the road
I wish there was something you could do or say
Make me wanna change my mind and stay
We never did much talking anyway
But don’t think twice
It’s alright
There ain’t no use in calling out my name
Like you never did before
And there ain’t no use in calling out my name
I can’t hear you anymore
I’m Thinking and wondering on the way down the road
I once loved a woman
A child I’m told
I’d give her my heart but she wanted my soul
Don’t think twice
It’s alright
Well going down that old lonesome road
Where I’m bound
I can’t tell
But goodbye’s too good a word
So I’ll just say fair thee well
Well I ain’t saying you treated me unkind
I coulda done better
But I don’t mind
Just kind of wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice
It’s alright
Yeah, don’t think twice
It’s alright
It’s alright
Don’t you ever think twice
It’s alright
Yeah, don’t think twice
It’s alright.
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