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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Kotsay gone; Schafer won’t be up in Sept.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Game’s approaching and I’ve got a bunch of stuff to lay on you, so let’s just dive right into this.
Just talked to the GM, Frank Wren, about the Mark Kotsay trade and the prospect they got for him, Luis Sumoza. Turns out the Braves were one of the two or three teams he narrowed his list down to a few years ago before signing with Boston.
That background that the Braves’ scouts in Venezuela had on him helped last night when they were negotiating with Boston about the player they’d get back for Kotsay.
They liked Sumoza a lot, and he’s having his best season, batting.301 with 11 homers and 38 RBI in 51 games for Class A Lowell, and ranked second in the New York-Penn League with a .915 OPS and .549 slugging percentage.
Strong guy, athletic, and just turned 20 last month. So add him to the group of prospects the Braves expect to have arriving in the next couple of years. A group led by Jason Heyward, the big outfielder who turned 19 this month and was promoted from Class A Rome to high-A Myrtle Beach this week.
Asked Wren about Heyward, and he said he’s had such a strong year, they wanted him to take another step in his development by experiencing the playoffs with Myrtle and getting a taste of the level he’s expected to start at in 2009.
Speaking of OF prospects: Wren said the Kotsay trade benefits Braves in two ways. First, they got a legit prospect back, which isn’t always easy when trading a player like Kotsay in a waiver trade to a team that’s only guaranteed to have him for five weeks. Secondly, moving Kotsay allows the Braves to take a longer look at Josh Anderson and keeps Blanco in the lineup plenty.
He mentioned those two and Jordan Schafer as candidates for the CF job next season. Wren believes the Braves have a talented pool to choose from, which leads me to believe they fully intend to go with what they have for the job. My bet’s on Schafer, but we’ll see.
I asked Wren about Schafer, whether he’s “stained” by the HGH suspension in the Braves’ view, and how he’s been playing. Nothing but positive in Wren’s answers. He said Shafer doesn’t have a black mark in his view, and that he’s played great in August after relaxing and understanding that he didn’t have to try and be Superman like he was doing when he got back from his suspension.
Wren said that Schafer not only is now playing at the elite level he was playing at last season, but has actually elevated himself because he’s doing it at the Double-A level (Mississippi) instead of Class A, where he was in 2007.
Just telling you what he said. Sounds to me that Schafer’s not in any doghouse whatsoever, and that his power and overall offensive production in August has gone a long way toward answering any questions the club might have had.
September callups: So will we see Schafer in September? No. In fact, Wren said we won’t see any of the Braves’ top young prospects in September, including the pitchers like Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen.
He said the reasoning was two-fold: 1. The Braves want to monitor innings on those guys, including Medlen, who’s starting on a regular basis for the first time since high school, and 2. “roster management.”
In other words, to add any of them, including Schafer, to the 40-man roster now would require the Braves take someone off and possibly lose them in the Rule 5 Draft. So don’t expect to see Schafer or the hot young pitchers in September. Sorry to break the news to you, folks.
Schafer will play winter ball in Mexico, then come to spring training to compete for the CF job….
Oh, by the way, regarding Josh A.: Wren said the only “knock” on him, the reason he got sent down earlier in the season despite hitting well here, was because the Braves already had two players that were too much like him, Kotsay and Blanco, to keep all three….
Ohman here till the end: For those wondering if Will Ohman might be following Kotsay out the door before Aug. 31, the answer’s no. We know this because Ohman was claimed on waivers this month, and the Braves pulled him back after no trade could be worked out.
That means he’s staying here for the rest of the season, and the Braves will either re-sign him or get the draft pick/picks as compensation when he walks as a free agent.
Kotsay left impression: To a man, every uniformed and non-uniformed Braves person that I asked had nothing but praise for Kotsay, all calling him a pro’s pro, a consummate team player who played the game right, etc.
They were all also happy for him that he was going to get to go to Boston and play in that Fenway environment for a team with a chance to go a long way in the postseason, perhaps all the way.
“I’m gonna miss him a lot,” Kelly Johnson said. “He was always there to keep it light. But at the same time, when you needed to bounce something off someone, he was always there, like mentor-older teammate guy. He was awesome. He could do it all. I’m happy for him, though.”
Will Ohman said Kotsay told him in spring training that there were three teams he always hoped he’d get to play for during his career: Braves, Red Sox, Yankees.
“Now he’s getting to play for two of them in one year,” Ohman said.
Oh, found out today that Kotsay had been living in Tom Glavine’s house, the one that Glavine’s been trying to sell at Country Club of the South. The Glavines moved into another house nearby after spring training.
By the way, I was thinking of the irony of Kotsay replacing Coco Crisp, which is what could happen if/when J.D. Drew recovers from his back problems. Remember last winter when the Braves traded for Kotsay, and a lot of people here wondered why they didn’t get a guy like Crisp instead? Now Kotsay could be pushing Crisp aside, the Red Sox are so disappointed in Crisp’s production.
Chipper’s milestones: He played his 2,000th game Wednesday, making Chipper Jones just the third Brave in the all-time franchise history to do that, after Hank Aaron (3,076) and Eddie Mathews (2,223).
“Just means I’m getting old,” said the 36-year-old Hoss.
Chipper is the 213th player in major league history to play 2,000 games, and the first to reach the standard while playing every game under one manager. Before him, the record for most games played under one manager was 1,952 by Willie Davis for Walter Alston of the Dodgers. Alston outlasted him when Davis was traded to Montreal for Mike Marshall.
Chipper needs one homer to give him at least 20 in 14 consecutive seasons, and he’d join the aforementioned Mathews as the only players in baseball history to start their careers with as many straight 20-homer seasons.
“I just need to hit that next one - it’s taking a little while,” said Jones, who has one homer in his past 28 games before tonight, and none since Aug. 8.
He leads the NL (and major league) batting race with a .357 average to Albert Pujols’ .356, and Jones is still hitting .402 at home (Joe Mauer is next in the majors at .370, followed by Matt Holliday at .366).
OK, a tune: Love listening to this song on a rainy morning, cup of coffee in hand, or late at night. Personally, I prefer Greg Allman’s cover version, but Jackson’s original is also mighty fine.
“THESE DAYS” by Jackson Browne
Well I’ve been out walking
I don’t do that much talking these days
These days…
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
For you
And all the times I had the chance to
And I had a lover
It’s so hard to risk another these days
These days…
Now if I seem to be afraid
To live the life I have made in song
Well it’s just that I’ve been losing for so long
I’ll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
One of these days…
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don’t confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them
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