aBn: We Know Drama! Ken Griffey signs with M's

Another bad day in Bravo-land this off-season. Ken Griffey Jr. who appeared to be headed to Lake Buena Vista, Florida for Braves Spring Training decided to sign with the Seattle Mariners tonight. The deal is reported to be a 1-year contract, that guarantees Jr. $2 million, and Jr. can earn up to $4.5 million in incentives based on at-bats and M's attendance. The M's are projecting that they will draw an additional 200,000 fans at Safeco Field by having Griffey on their roster. 

Braves beat-writer Mark Bowman says, "Griffey's tide turned shortly after he became upset with the fact that The Atlanta-Journal Constitution was reporting the he'd already decided to play for the Braves." 

Griffey Jr., has always expressed interest in playing for Bobby Cox, with Chipper Jones and for the Braves organization that his father competed for in the 80's. It's somewhat ironic how Griffey has had two chances in his lifetime to sign with the Braves; once in 1999 and this one being the most recent opportunity. Don't forget, Griffey called the Braves campaigning for a job just last week. Looks like Frank Wren may have got "Furcaled!"

aBn Approves Ken Griffey Jr. Signing

The Braves are on the verge of signing outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. Braves beat-writer Mark Bowman says, that the deal is 1-year contract worth $1.5 million. Griffey Jr. would platoon at LF with current Brave Matt Diaz. Signing Griffey would give the Braves a power lefty bat. Griffey would most likely serve as the cleanup hitter, batting behind Chipper Jones. Chipper is confident that he and Griffey can rotate between the 3 and 4 spots depending on whichever serves the "team" better. 

Griffey may not be 20-year's old anymore but he is still capable of putting up strong numbers from the plate. Fan Graphs predicts, that Jr. will hit 20 long balls, 60 RBI's while tallying a near .250 batting average. The interesting thing to note here is that their predictions come off only 400 at-bats. Sounds like their projecting that he will platoon wherever he ends up. Griffey's defense is nothing spectacular but I think he can benefit from the pitcher-friendly Turner Field and a strong defensive CF such as Jordan Schaffer. 

How do ya'll feel about signing Griffey Jr.? Would this be Raul Mondesi all over again or is it one of the better moves this organization would make this off-season? 

Can the Braves afford to lose Glavine?

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. 

Atlanta is Griffey's Top Choice

AJC.com Braves beat-writer David O'Brien is reporting that the Atlanta Braves are Ken Griffey Jr.'s top choice to play play for in 2009.

"Atlanta is his first choice. He really wants to play for the Braves. Has a daughter on an Atlanta AAU team and a son who's playing high school football this year in Orlando, and Griffey doesn't want to be on the other side of the country at Seattle. Plus, he's always wanted to play for Bobby Cox. 

If I had to bet, I'd say this get done early next week."

Griffey has a clutch bat, and could serve as a leader in the locker-room and on-the-field to a young group of Braves outfielders. Hopefully the Braves can nab him for about $3 million.

Pitchers and Catchers Report...

It's the most wonderful time the of year...Spring Training kicked off today for the Braves. Among those to report early are Chipper Jones (3B), Jeff Francoeur (OF), Matt Diaz (OF) and catchers Brian McCann, David Ross and Clint Sammons. Catchers are not required to arrive until Sunday, when they will hold their first workout. Newly acquired gunners: Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami also made an appearance at the beautiful Disneys Wide World of Sports Complex. 

Derek Lowe is who projected to be the Braves Ace for opening day, worked in the early hours and exited early to spend Valentines day with his wife. Kenshin Kawakami the first Japanese player to play for the Braves (at a ML level) was followed by his groupies from the Japanese media. Tim Hudson, who is projected to be back for the Braves mid-to-late season had a light throwing season as well. 

aBn Projected Opening Day Rotation:

1. Derek Lowe, RHP
2. Javier Vazquez, RHP
3. Jair Jurrjens, RHP
4. Kenshin Kawakami, RHP
5. Tom Glavine, LHP

Rumors in Atlanta are that the Braves are interested in Ken Griffey Jr. The Mariners have not been able to land Griffey for unknown reasons. Braves GM, Frank Wren says "We have interest in several available outfielders, including Griffey." Griffey would most likely platoon at left-field with Matt Diaz. Griffey has always expressed interest in playing in a Braves uniform, and I believe he is one of the few available OF's that could serve as a cleanup hitter for the Braves next season. If Griffey is capable of putting up similar numbers like he did in '05 and '07 then he could be a bargain for 1 year/$3 million. 

Braves OF Update

Hey folks! 

Here's a quick review of what outfielders signed this week: Bobby Abreu signed a 1-year deal with the Angels for $5 million; incentives could raise the deal above $6 million. Adam Dunn reached a 2-year $20 million agreement with the Washington Nationals (yes, thats the same team that finished dead last in the league last year). Ken Griffey Jr. is on the verge of signing with his former team, the Seattle Mariners. 

So this leaves the Braves with some pretty schlumpy free-agent OF's to choose from. Fox Sport's Ken Rosenthal says the Braves are looking into Garret Anderson, Jim Edmonds and Luis Gonzalez. None of these guys will knock the ball out of the park or serve as a cleanup hitter for the Bravos. Garret Anderson will put up solid stats (15 HR's, 70-80 RBI's and .280-.290 avg.), but nothing that will blow you out of the water. Jim Edmonds who rotated between the Cubs 5,6 and 7 slots last season hit 20 long-balls but only brought in 55 runners, while tallying a near Mendoza-line average. Luis Gonzalez is probably the worst fit of the three. If the Braves need power, they should avoid Gonzalez who has only hit more than 30 HR's twice in his career. 

Rosenthal also mentioned that the Braves have not shot down the idea of trading some prospects for Nick Swisher or Xavier Nady. Swisher is an interesting candidate. He has a long-term contract and currently make $5.3 million. However, Swisher is inconsistent and I wouldn't be willing to part with any of the Braves "Top Prospects" for a player of his stature. Nady is probably the best fit for the Bravos. He shocked a lot of fans with his numbers last year. However, he was never really given a 'fair chance' in Pittsburgh until last season and was then approached by the Braves at the trade-deadline, but wound up with the Yankees. The only issue with Nady is that he becomes a free-agent after the '09 season and he is a client of (you guessed it!) Scott Boras....