caulfield12

Argues it's better to commit to pay Quentin $10+ million (through 2012) than Pence $22+ million (through 2013)...good insight/s from ATL Journal Constitution baseball writer Or maybe they trade Schafer as part of the package for a Bourn/Upton...there is one possibility where we could jam Rios down their throats, but lose the return for CQ completely, getting Schafer in return for Rios/Quentin + some salary relief Bottom line, they (the Braves) need a shortstop next year. They might need a third baseman or left fielder. They might know more about center field by seasons’s end, after more evaluation of Schafer, unless they’ve already made up their minds one way or another. There has been a bidding war for Pence between at least a handful of teams including the Braves and rival Phillies. If it was me making the call, I’d probably give up Minor or Delgado to get Quentin, just because he’s a serious slugger and is not going to make as much as Pence in 2011 (Quentin might get about $8 mill in arbitration, then be a free agent). He’s not much with the glove, not nearly as good as Pence, but for me he’s much more a game-changing presence in the lineup.) Quentin has a .353 OBP, .510 slugging percentage, 20 homers and 62 RBIs in 400 plate appearances, while Pence has a .354 OBP, .467 slugging percentage, 11 homers and 62 RBIs in 394 plate appearances. Since the White Sox play in what most consider a hitter-friendly ballpark, and the Astros play in what is definitely a major hitter-friendly ballpark, it’s useful to compare the road stats for both players. I was surprised to see that Quentin actually has better numbers on the road than at home. He’s hit .289 with 14 HRs and 43 RBIs in 51 road games, with a .371 OBP and .588 slugging (.959). At home, he’s hit .275/.332/.419. Pence has hit .286 with seven homers and 27 RBI in 47 road games, with a .323 OBP and .444 slugging percentage (.767 OPS). At home, he's hit .330/.384/.498. And since the Braves began this pursuit in order to find a right-handed bat to boost an offense that’s been the league's worst against lefties, let's compare Quentin and Pence vs. lefties. Quentin has hit .275 (22-for-80) with six homers, a .388 OPB and .525 slugging percentage against lefties. Pence has hit .281 (27-for-96) with two homers, .333 OBP and .448 slugging against lefties. As for recent performance, for what it's worth: In Pence's past 21 games, he’s 19-for-76 (.250) with five extra-base hits (one homer), 5 RBIs and a .321 OBP and .355 slugging. In Quentin’s past 45 games, he's hit hit .274 (45-for-164) with 10 doubles, eight homers, 30 RBIs and a .363 on-base percentage and .482 slugging. In his past 11 games, Quentin is 15-for-44 (.341) with three homers and 11 RBIs. http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2...nta_braves_blog

That's the other part of the Braves' situation that doesn't fit, if they really want a true CFer, obviously Quentin's out of that picture and you can more realistically talk Upton/Crisp/Bourn there instead. The problem is that none of those guys are theoretically going to give you the power/RBI numbers and presence in the line-up that Quentin will, and the Rays will be asking for a small fortune in talent for Upton (based on potential, more than reality, just like Rasmus, although without the 3 years of arb. control)

Dave Duncan supposedly made some adjustments and noticed something Cooper had missed.

Someone (probably Balta) will throw out his batting average over the last month or two and it will look "okay," just like Juan Pierre. Someone will respond with his SLG/OPS and on-base percentage numbers, which will show him in the Bottom 5-10% of MLB players. Then a response will be that he's just a rookie and not getting consistent playing time. To which the response will be that he's playing only against the most favorable pitching match-ups and he'd actually be worse if he was playing everyday. Which will lead back to a discussion of his minor league numbers and how he's adjusted over time every place he's played. Which will lead to the fact that in none of those situations was he playing in the heat of a major league pennant race. And of course the comparisons to B. Anderson in 2006 and the fact that HE SHOULDN'T be relied on offensively with all the veterans we have...to which someone will say you just can't have a 3B hitting with a 550 OPS, even if it's Brooks Robinson. And then we'll hear that almost all the MLB 3B are having pretty "off" seasons statistically, and that 675-725 OPS over there is the "new 800 gold standard" at the position.

Yankees looking for lefty relievers By Mark J. Miller New York Yankees reliever Rafael Soriano(notes) has been on the disabled list since May 14 with a sore right elbow. Even though he's finally expected to be back in the bullpen Friday night, the team is putting some effort into finding some relievers before Sunday afternoon's non-waiver trade deadline to help in the stretch run, according to the New York Post. "I'm out there listening to everything, seeing what's available and seeing if it fits for us," general manager Brian Cashman said, the Post reports. Since lefty Pedro Feliciano(notes) is likely out for the season and Damaso Marte(notes) is not returning anytime soon, the Yankees "are looking at lefties," the Post notes. "As long as I keep the late-inning role, I'd love to have another lefty down there," the bullpen's sole lefty, Boone Logan(notes), told the paper.

Michael Morse says, "hi!" Joking. It would be pretty nice to have him playing 3B for us about now, if he could actually play that position better than Teahen/Viciedo. Possibly.

By the logic of tonight, we'd never want Gio Gonzalez back because he sucks against Minnesota, too.

QUOTE (MAX @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 10:23 PM) Then how did we under value our own minor league/young pitchers like Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Hudson? KW overplayed his hand and way overvalued how much Cooper could get out of Edwin Jackson for 1+ seasons. He chose fully competing in 2010-11 (right away) over 2012-2015. Obviously, that looks silly in hindsight. And ofc we had Gio Gonzalez in our organization TWICE. Maybe it's a testimony to how desired he was by other organizations. Still, he was able to compensate for that loss by picking up Humber for nothing. Phil's numbers are better than Hudson's, especially if you adjust for league.

Loiaza Contreras Jenks Danks Gavin Floyd Aardsma Masset MacDougal (not so good) Santos Humber Jason Grilli (he was serviceable after we gave him a starting shot with the Tigers as a reliever) Gary Glover Thornton Cotts

•The Braves are almost certain to land an outfielder before the deadline, reports Rosenthal. He cites the names you have been hearing for a while: B.J. Upton, Michael Bourn, (CoCo Crisp), Ryan Ludwick, Carlos Quentin, and Josh Willingham. •Bourn is on the Braves' radar, tweets Crasnick. Padres right fielder Ludwick is "more down the list of options." The Braves apparently turned down dealing any of their top pitching prospects for Pence. Not sure if Beachy was offered. Their other top four appear to be 100% off the list of available prospects.

Danks won't get any significant at-bats this season. We'd go with Lillibridge or a veteran waiver claim before doing that. They're stuck in a position where they can't quite give up on Morel....but they do need a veteran 3B to rent who could play every game from here on out. And Danks has "only" averaged what, 6 1/3rd or 6 2/3rd IP per game? He's had a lot of the same issues as Jackson and Floyd going late in games. Heck, all of our starters seemingly have struggled to get through innings 6 and 7 except for Buehrle.

Because our draft picks have done so well? We're much better off getting guys like Stewart that Cooper has identified (AA/AAA level already) than starting off from scratch with draft picks. This has been true for at least a decade. I trust those scouts looking at the other teams' minor leaguers more than our luck in identifying draftees.

El Duque's back with the Sox? So is Rienzo really going to the bullpen? What are they doing with him?

Better than Camp Cora helped out Viciedo at 3B, lol. Why does Gio Gonzalez pitch well against everyone and implode against the Twins????

The problem is that there's just no way that John Danks is worth $80-90 million over 5 years to the White Sox. To about 5-7 other organizations in baseball, arguably yes. If that's the asking price, I'm probably holding onto him until this offseason and then getting the best possible return, unless you're bowled over in the next 2 days.

Depends on what the Padres do with all their relievers. Frasor/Crain/Thornton could be highly-desired commodities the next two days. And we have to resolve the Buehrle and Danks situations before 2012 as well. What happens with Mark will affect the 2012 plan pretty dramatically.

It makes sense for 2 reasons: 1) We have Viciedo to replace him 2) It's the same trade as Hudson for Edwin Jackson, 1 1/2 years versus 5 years of cost-controlled player (minus Holmberg) 3) We MIGHT be able to use some of that $7.5-9 million allocated to CQ (2012) to improve the team elsewhere

I'm not sure they're actually ready to deal Turner for Ubaldo Jimenez though. It will be interesting to see who they do end up with. Seems like Kuroda wants to stay in the NL. Someone along the lines of a Jeremy Guthrie.

There's just no way you can say Pierre is a better hitter than Alexei Ramirez. Not just because of a couple of points on his BA.

I should have added Alex Rios to the list but that one's more of a pipe dream. You'd have to package him with 2 other highly desirable players, and doing that will weaken the team too much to compete down the stretch in 2011. Offseason, you see what you can do or just go with him again as the starter for 2012 and hope he can get hot again so you can deal him and not have to send $20-25 million to another organization.

31-22 against teams over .500 this season. Of course, we're the equally baffling 9 games under .500 against "bad" teams like the Royals, Twins and Orioles. Biggest pitch of the game was definitely K'ing Youkilis with the bases loaded on the offspeed pitch.

Yeah, definitely. If the Sox come up short again, you have to look at dealing Thornton, Floyd/Danks (maybe both), Quentin, Frasor or Crain, POSSIBLY Alexei in the offseason. I'd prefer to keep Ramirez with Viciedo joining the Sox, though.

2nd time to .500 mark this season. Stupid Chatwood (our nemesis) got rocked by the Tigers. Figures.

Cabrera and Gordon are probably the co-MVP's of the Royals this season. Imagine if we'd been prescient enough to get Melky instead of Rios 2 years ago. Yeah, hindsight. Cabrera's look pretty darned bad the last couple of seasons before finally rebounding in pressure-less KC.

What the heck happened to Hayden Panetierre? She really went downhill. I guess Kristin Kreuk would have fit in this category 5 years ago, or Rachel Leigh Cook 10 years ago.