AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 20
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Imagine a Furcal-Escobar DP combo….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don’t know if it’s worth cranking out a new blog before this early Sunday afternoon ballgame, but we’ll give it a go and let the comment volume answer that question.
In other words, let’s get a lot more of that good Braves/MIB discourse going here today.
And I’ll start by asking what you think of this idea: The Braves should re-sign Rafael Furcal as a free agent after this season. That suggestion was made to me by someone connected to the Braves (I’ll leave it at that; not going to tell you whether it was a player, coach, team official, etc). And it made me think.
And I gotta say, much as I like Kelly Johnson’s potential as a hitter, the thought of Furcal and Yunel Escobar as a double-play combo and 1-2 combo at the top of the order is … well, wow.
Yes, your leadoff problem would be solved for, say, three years, if you could get Furcal to accept another contract as short as the one he signed with the Dodgers when he left Atlanta.
And you would have the best, most entertaining double-play combination in baseball with Furcal and Escobar at second base and shortstop, whichever way you want to arrange it.
It would probably cost you more than $15 million per for Furcal, but I have a very strong suspicion the Braves aren’t going to pay $20 mill a year for Teixeira. So “Fookie” could be your big-ticket free agent. Give him $16-17 mill a year, if that’s what it takes.
(And if it takes $16-17 mill to sign Furcal, you can bet that will be a marketplace that will guarantee $22 mill or more for Tex, in a longer deal, at least six years.)
Furcal’s worth it, long as you can keep it to three seasons, with perhaps a fourth-year option. The Braves have the money. Spend on him and a starting pitcher next winter. That’s all. Add another $10-15 mill to next year’s payroll and you’re there.
Furcal, 30, is hitting .409 with five doubles, two homers, seven RBI, 15 runs and a .500 on-base percentage. Not bad. And he’s got an absolute cannon for an arm, he disrupts pitchers with his speed on the basepaths, and he’s a great presence who gets along with everyone from every nationality and brings energy to a clubhouse.
The cons to such a move? Obviously, the Braves would still have to find a first baseman. But they’re easier to find than a leadoff man/middle infielder in the prime of his career, who loves Atlanta and the Braves.
I don’t think Tyler Flowers could be ready to play first base next season for the Braves, so that’s probably not a serious option. But the Braves have got plenty of trade pieces that other teams want, a surplus of young outfielders and middle infielders that are serious prospects, and all of them can’t play here.
And obviously, if they planned to pursue Furcal, it would mean that Kelly Johnson would be expendable. And there are plenty of teams that would love to have Johnson. So there’s another potential big trade piece.
All I’m saying is, there are players/prospects you could deal to find a first baseman if you went into the offseason with that as a targeted position to fill. Frank Wren is a very creative GM; he could make that happen.
I don’t think Chipper Jones has any interest in moving to first base, and the way he’s playing the Braves would be crazy to ask him to do something he didn’t feel good about. So forget that as an option.
But here’s my own idea, and let me know what you think: Simply move Kelly over to first base. I don’t think he’s ever going to be a great second baseman, and he certainly has the athleticism to play first. And the power to be a 25-homer guy. I like his bat too much to move him (and he’s affordable for several years).
Kelly is a very good hitter with the potential to be a great hitter. If I were the Braves, I’d start planning now to move him to first base to take over for Tex. And I’d start feeling out Furcal and his agent about the possibility of coming home.
Folks, with Furcal, Escobar and Chipper in the first three spots in your lineup, you’d have the potential to have one of the most dynamic teams in the league. And like I said, the double-play combo would be worth the price of admission, with those two covering more ground than any other middle-infield pair in the league and possessing the best two infield arms in all of baseball, gunning down runners from everwhere. Think about it.
Now write your congressman and make it happen.
OK, let’s play ball. It’s Sunday and it’s beautiful out here at Turner Field and the Braves are going for a sweep of Andruw and Los Dodgers. As I said on the other blog, Gregor Blanco is back in left field for the third consecutive game against a right-hander.
And Bobby Cox acknowledged this morning that it could be a platoon situation emerging. If so, Matt Diaz sure didn’t get much time to prove himself as an every-day player.
This was not a good time for Diaz to struggle, though he’s always been a slow starter in April, as we discussed a few days ago here. I’m guessing Bobby will just play Prado while he’s got a hot bat, but that it won’t be a straight platoon. At least not yet.
But we’ll see.
The Earle is in town: We’re going to see Steve Earle tonight at the Variety Playhouse, with his talented and beautiful wife Allison Moorer on the same bill.
Steve once famously said, “Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that!”
Well, I don’t know that anyone’s better than Dylan. Ever. But Steve and Townes are definitely in the conversation. Right now, this one’s particularly good for me:
”GOODBYE’S ALL WE’VE GOT LEFT TO SAY” by Steve Earle
I could tell it when I woke up this mornin’
‘cause i can smell it when a heartache’s comin’
Not that i’m in such a hurry to lose you
I’d call you up but there’s nothin’ that I can do
Talkin’ won’t do any good anyway
‘cause goodbye’s all we’ve got left to say
I don’t think that it’ll get any better
So maybe you could just write me a letter
And i could open it up when I’m stronger
Another ten or twelve years, maybe longer
Guess I just don’t feel much like bad news today
Goodbye’s all we’ve got left to say
Don’t try to call me ‘cause i’m takin’ my phone out
‘cause if it rings, i’ll know what it’s about
And don’t you worry ‘bout me ‘cause i’m alright
Maybe you’ll run into me somewhere, some night
And if you do just keep goin’ your way
Goodbye’s all we’ve got left to say
