Braves could talk trades at meetings this week

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

When baseball's general managers begin to gather Sunday night for their annual meetings, they'll be at a Chicago airport hotel and not a typically swank resort.

It's a way to save a little company money while sending a signal to the public that, hey, baseball isn't impervious to a bad economy. Yeah, right.

Just don't expect frugalilty to go too far. Plenty of teams are still going to pay huge salaries to top free agents, and GMs are going to make trades for big-salaried players who can plug holes in their rosters.

The Braves hope to add a right-handed power hitter, and might have to fill voids at first base and the bullpen unless they re-sign one or more of their top free agents, first baseman Adam LaRoche and relievers Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano.

"I think we go into it with some strength and depth in starting pitching," Braves GM Frank Wren said, "and we'll evaluate how our club best sets up and see if there is a way to make our club better if we match up with other teams. I don't want to get real specific because we're open to being creative with whatever will make our team better."

The Braves have a surplus of starting pitchers, after agreeing to terms with Tim Hudson on a three-year extension. That's expected to be announced in the next few days, barring anything unexpected on an MRI that Hudson will have on his surgically repaired elbow after returning from LaRoche's weekend charity event in Kansas.

The Braves would have six starters for five spots and likely try to trade Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez or Kenshin Kawakami. Hudson, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson are expected to fill three spots.

Lowe might be the toughest to trade, with three years and $45 million left on his contract after posting a 4.67 ERA with 111 strikeouts in 194-2/3 innings.

Vazquez was one of the majors' top starters in 2009 and is owed $11.5 million in 2010 before he is eligible for free agency. The Braves want to keep him, but he might be the only one from the trio who could bring a lot in a trade.

At the GM meetings, groundwork usually is done for trades to come later in the winter, along with discussions of possible rules changes and other matters.

GMs and their assistants meet with other teams' reps, testing the waters to see if they might have a possible trade partner.

They probably won't be chatting on a golf course this year, since the meetings have been shortened by nearly half and moved to an airport hotel, where GMs won't even need to rent cars or take limos unless for dinner in the city.

First Francoeur, now Hermida

Atlanta-area natives Jeff Francoeur and Jeremy Hermida were expected to become cornerstone outfielders for their respective franchises after being drafted in the first round in 2002 -- Francoeur from Parkview High, Hermida from Wheeler.

But careers stalled, and both were traded this year. The Braves shipped Francoeur  to the New York Mets on July 10, and the Marlins traded Hermida to Boston last week.

The Braves got outfielder Ryan Church in the swap for Francoeur, and it's unclear if they'll even tender a contract to Church this winter.

Francoeur had a resurgence after the trade, hitting .311 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs for the Mets. They are expected to offer arbitration this winter.

Before the trade, he hit .250 with five homers and 35 RBI in 82 games, and his .282 on-base percentage was fourth-worst among National League lineup regulars. If the Braves hadn't traded him, he was on pace to be non-tendered this winter.

The Red Sox gave up two minor-league pitchers for Hermida, who hit .259 with 13 homers, 47 RBIs and a meager .740 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) in his fourth full season with Florida.

Hermida stands to get a raise from $2.25 million to perhaps $4 million in his second year of arbitration, and the Marlins weren't willing to pay that while waiting any longer for him to develop.