Miscellaneous Rumors and Happenings
Update: Dave O’Brien to the rescue! The James-Dejesus talks are bogus according to O’Brien. Also, he says that the Royals aren’t willing to trade anything of value for James so I think we dodged a bullet here. If the Braves are going to deal James, please get something more valuable than David DeJesus. Please!
- Willie Harris was designated for assignment today to make room for the newly acquired Omar Infante. Harris finished with a .270 batting average due to a very strong start, however he hit just .214 after the All-Star break. He isn’t as good as his start to the season and isn’t as bad as his finish, however with the acquisition of Josh Anderson and Brandon Jones now in the picture, he has little value to the Braves. Another team is bound to give him a shot, so he’ll probably be claimed.
- According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the Braves are one of a few teams interested in Pittsburgh center fielder Nate McLouth. The 26-year old McLouth hit .258/.351/.459 in 120 games for the Pirates this past season. He’s the best option I’ve seen so far with a nice little power-speed combo and decent defense. McLouth, who had an .810 OPS last season, would seem like a more likely option if the Braves intend to start Schafer in 2009, and not a couple months into the 2008 season.
- Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star is reporting that the Braves offered left-handed starter Chuck James to the Royals for center fielder David DeJesus. This sounds to me like speculation gone terribly wrong. James would probably have little value in the American League and DeJesus doesn’t provide nearly enough of an upgrade over the current options in center to justify dealing one of Atlanta’s proven starters. Count me as skeptical.
- According to Jayson Stark over at ESPN.com, the Braves have shown some interest in free agent Damian Miller to back up Brian McCann next season. Miller, 38, is strong behind the plate defensively, however his bat leaves quite a bit to be desired. I’d assume the Braves would be fine utilizing rookie Clint Sammons in the role if need be, however acquiring a veteran like Miller is probably preferable.
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10 Responses to “Miscellaneous Rumors and Happenings”
December 4th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Well, the Marlins will be a bit less of a threat next year. They shipped off Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle to the Tigers for Cameron Maybin, Andrew Miller, and four other players.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
I’m skeptical on both ends of that deal as well. James probably doesn’t cut it in the AL and James has too much value to the Braves as insurance for Mike Hampton and he provides stability that Reyes and Jurrjens may not be able to provide as rookies.
McLouth would be a very good stop-gap CF as long as the price isn’t too high. He’s young and he has some tools and he’s also a little bit of a buy low because he finished 2006 on a high note and didn’t quite live up to those expectations this year. However, I think the Pirates new GM might be asking a little bit too much for us to acquire him.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
The speculation was that they wanted a left-handed reliever from the Cubs for McLouth but I don’t see that happening here. I really don’t know how the team’s would match up but the Pirates suck so I’m sure they could find something.
December 4th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I’m glad we didn’t trade James for an average center fielder.
Since the NL has parks like Coors, Cincinnati, Philly, and Houston, is it really a given that James would pitch so much worse in the AL?
December 4th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
The balance of power has swung to the AL and until either both leagues adopt or get rid of the DH, it will be there, and with basically one more offensive player in the lineup, I think it would hurt him pretty significantly. Trading him to Cincy or another one of those cities would probably be worse though.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
The balance of power doesn’t have to do with the DH (much) it has to do with the big markets being in the AL. Big markets in MLB means big money spenders. That and things move in cycles. But Boston, NYY, Anaheim, Detroit, Chicago previously Texas, Baltimore, and Seattle. The NL really only has NYM, Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs. Boston and NYY make up for two or so of payroll each.
Things move in cycles, the NFL is a great example. The NFC won like 16 Super Bowls in a row and now the AFC has 8 of the last 10. The cycles are because of competition. If you want to in the AL you must be prepared to beat Boston and NYY. The bar is raised in the AL and lowered in the NL.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
It isn’t really comparable to the NFL because there is no salary cap in baseball but hear me out. The AL used to suck (which is why Selig put in a DH), the offense was absolutely non-exsistant and fans weren’t coming out. Since they added the DH, the average fan would rather go see a game with more offense (chicks dig the long ball) than a more strategic way of playing with the pitcher hitting. The DH means more offense and therefore more fan turnout. You look at places like Atlanta (big city), Philly, SF, Houston, etc. and they just aren’t bringing in as much money as comparable AL cities. The main reason for the divide has to do with the DH rule.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:20 am
See you blow your argument when you say Selig put in the DH. The DH has been around since 1973. Bud became commissioner in 1992.
The issue isn’t the size of the city, the issue is TV/radio money. Attendance isn’t the driving part of revenue in a major sport, well at least the NBA, MLB, and NFL, the TV revenues are. In baseball you don’t share your TV revenue, I’m sure you’ve read this somewhere before. In the MLB to spend money you must either have a bunch of TV revenue or a rich owner who doesn’t care or I guess both. Teams in the NL don’t have those.
Atlanta is not a big city despite what the state of GA would have you believe. Atlanta is the 34th largest city, in terms of population in the US behind such mega cities as El Paso, Louisville, and Memphis. Its metro area is rather large, #9 but also rather spread out. I could go on why the country believes Atlanta is bigger than it is but that invoke a political debate and nobody needs that.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Since 2001, the NL has won 3 WS and the AL has won 4, so I’m not so sure that the AL has a big edge on the NL.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I had heard somewhere that when the rule was adopted, Selig, as the owner of the Brewers, was one of the biggest ones pushing for the rule and eventually got it adopted. I may be wrong but I remember hearing that somewhere.
And Ron, sure one series could go either way but there really isn’t any doubt that the AL is better right now. Another thing adding to that is that when an NL teams plays at an AL team, they have to use a bench player as the DH, not a paid starter.
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