Its been a very interesting off-season for the Braves. They let long time Bravo, and my all time favorite Braves pitcher John Smoltz walk away over a few million dollars. Frank Wren missed out on Rafy Furcal over legal issues, and lost a bidding war to the Yankees for A.J. Burnett. Before loosing Smoltzie to the Red Sox the Braves had zero interest in Lowe. A few days after letting Smoltzie walk, the Braves inked Derek Lowe to a 4 year/$60 million contract. GM Frank Wren and 300-game winner Tom Glavine continue hold talks. The two parties claim that the meetings are going well and it appears as if a deal will be reached early next week. Can the Braves afford to lose Tommy Glavine? The organization recently let one of Atlanta's most prominent sports figure (John Smoltz) leave and another strong athlete in Glavine, could follow his footsteps. It would be a relatively bold statement by Frank Wren to allow another player that was responsible for the Braves success in the 90's to bid farewell to the organization.
At the same time, several Braves fans are probably kicking their legs...ESPN's Jerry Crasnick says that part of the reason the Braves were unable to land stud outfielder Bobby Abreu are because the team has such a tight budget that "Frank Wren would have to stretch to give him a $5 million salary." However, if our budget is "so tight" then how can we afford Glavine (who is seeking a $3-4 million deal) and an outfielder such as Griffey Jr. or Garrent Aderson? We already have Jorge Campillo who is capable of winning 12 games as a fifth-starter. Seems to me that Frank Wren is a pretty fishy guy.
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I'm not convinced the Braves had "zero interest" in Lowe before Smoltz left. Wren definitely made it seem that way, but I wonder if that's not just Wren playing the game. It seems like our interests lied chiefly in Jake Peavy or A.J. Burnett earlier this Winter, but Peavy and Burnett's elbows are going to fall off and Peavy would've required a giant haul of prospects. I'm glad the Braves missed out on those two and wound up with Lowe. Even if he wasn't our top target this off-season, he should've been.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I am not a 'huge' Burnett fan. The problem with most MLB fans these days are that they look at one stat. Strikeouts. However, Derek Lowe has been one of the most consistent pitchers the past 5 years. He is top 5 in wins and is good for 12+ W's. He posts a decent ERA in the mid-3's. He is a completely different type of SP than Peavy and Burnett. He gets ground balls and tries to outsmart his opponent. I think he will be an awesome #2 in the next few years.
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