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Shoot me now
Shoot me now
MLB Braves: Smoltz set to sign with Red Sox
- Thread starter Notch Johnson dawg
- Start date
They are about done.
Javier freaking Vasquez?
Missed on AJ Burnett
Peavy
Furcal
will miss on Lowe
This Wren guy is out of his leauge. Pisses me off. Then my favorite Brave to the Sox? %+#% you Braves.
Javier freaking Vasquez?
Missed on AJ Burnett
Peavy
Furcal
will miss on Lowe
This Wren guy is out of his leauge. Pisses me off. Then my favorite Brave to the Sox? %+#% you Braves.
I gave Wren a pass for everything that's happened so far this offseason and just chalked it up to bad luck in spite of him doing all he could....until this. This could not have been handled worse! Smoltz threw off a mound for the first time about a month ago in front of Cox and McDowell (the pitching coach), and both guys came away extremely impressed by how well he looked and neither had any doubt he would pitch again. Negotiations should have started that day, at the latest! They should have had agreed to a deal already with the understanding it would be signed as soon as he was cleared to pitch. Give the man whatever money he wants. The Braves got tons of cash to spend, and its obvious they aren't gonna spend on anyone else. <17>'n overpay him! After all he's done for that organization, he deserves whatever he gets. Hell, he was underpaid most of his career anyway. He pitched years with about a $8M salary. You could just consider what you're overpaying him now as a late payment on all the years he pitched for far less than market value. This kills me to see this happen. The Braves were the first pro sports team I ever saw play, and I've been a die hard fan since that day. Smoltz should never wear another uniform other than the Braves. Thanks Wren! Its a sad, sad day for Braves baseball. I can't decide whether I'm livid or depressed.
One other small thing...the Braves threw $16M for 5 years at AJ Burnett who has had two seasons without injury, but they aren't willing to give Derek Lowe more than about $12M for 3 years? WTF? Lowe has been far more consistent and better for the life of his career. Who cares if he's older? Its not like he's asking for a 10 year deal. A four year deal worth about $14-15M would get it done. Oh, and they're thinking about bringing Andruw Jones back. Puke! My rant is now complete.
One other small thing...the Braves threw $16M for 5 years at AJ Burnett who has had two seasons without injury, but they aren't willing to give Derek Lowe more than about $12M for 3 years? WTF? Lowe has been far more consistent and better for the life of his career. Who cares if he's older? Its not like he's asking for a 10 year deal. A four year deal worth about $14-15M would get it done. Oh, and they're thinking about bringing Andruw Jones back. Puke! My rant is now complete.
I can't give Wren a pass for this horrible offseason. The Braves made it known that they had 60-80 mil to spend in the offseason and they have signed one ****** #4 pitcher, Vazquez, and a #25 bench player, Greg Norton. I understand they weren't in the league of competing for CC, but Burnett, Lowe, Dempster, and Peavy were all out there and they hardly made a run at any of them other than Burnett when all along they kept saying they were going to sign 2 front end starters. Now, they are still in need of an OF and they haven't made a run at anybody. The Cubs snapped up Milton Bradley and now the Red Sox are about to get Baldelli. This is pitiful. Wren would be deserving of a pass if this was a cost cutting year and the Braves were strapped. But when you broadcast it out there that you are going to be spending money and you don't pull anybody, that's pathetic.
I agree Wren hasn't done a good job, but from all accounts he has been working his *** off trying. They had about 40-50M to spend not 60-80M. Still plenty to get two starters and a OF bat.
Dempster - realistically never was leaving the Cubs unless they just lowballed him
Peavy - Braves offered a ton and had by far the best offer of any team. SD screwed that one up by being greedy
Burnett - went head to head with the Yankees. Nice effort but came up short
Any OF bat - bad defense by most of the available guys is the excuse being given but that's horseshit when you have a need like they do you gotta get it done
Norton - actually a good signing. He was one of the top PH's in the league last year. Of course, it doesn't matter when you're lineup is ****
Furcal - was apparently in hand and they got <17>ed over by the agent
So on one hand, yeah he's busted his *** for the most part to try to get deals done and just had terrible luck, and on the other hand at some point you gotta go the extra mile to get these things done even if it may require you to overpay or give up a little too much. I was patient with all those moves, or lack of moves. The Smoltz debacle is the only one that he just out and out screwed up with. They had made no attempt, ZERO ATTEMPT, to even negotiate so far. And to add to it, I just read they weren't even ready to offer Smoltz a major league deal. They were gonna give a Braves icon that has busted his *** and done all he could physically do for the organization a freaking minor league deal and make him earn a roster spot in spring training!!! I'm speechless. Signing Smoltz should have been the easiest move any team made this offseason, and they screwed it up so bad it makes LT and Croom look like <17>in Albert Einstein. Seriously, LT ran a tighter ship than Wren has in his first full offseason. I defintely won't be going to The Ted this summer, and I'm so mad right now I can't say for sure when I'll go back. Wren should be canned just for botching the Smoltz thing even if we had signed CC, Manny, and traded for Peavy already. Frank Wren, WTF were you doing during that time you were under the greatest modern day and possibly greatest GM ever? You sure as hell weren't learning anything.
Dempster - realistically never was leaving the Cubs unless they just lowballed him
Peavy - Braves offered a ton and had by far the best offer of any team. SD screwed that one up by being greedy
Burnett - went head to head with the Yankees. Nice effort but came up short
Any OF bat - bad defense by most of the available guys is the excuse being given but that's horseshit when you have a need like they do you gotta get it done
Norton - actually a good signing. He was one of the top PH's in the league last year. Of course, it doesn't matter when you're lineup is ****
Furcal - was apparently in hand and they got <17>ed over by the agent
So on one hand, yeah he's busted his *** for the most part to try to get deals done and just had terrible luck, and on the other hand at some point you gotta go the extra mile to get these things done even if it may require you to overpay or give up a little too much. I was patient with all those moves, or lack of moves. The Smoltz debacle is the only one that he just out and out screwed up with. They had made no attempt, ZERO ATTEMPT, to even negotiate so far. And to add to it, I just read they weren't even ready to offer Smoltz a major league deal. They were gonna give a Braves icon that has busted his *** and done all he could physically do for the organization a freaking minor league deal and make him earn a roster spot in spring training!!! I'm speechless. Signing Smoltz should have been the easiest move any team made this offseason, and they screwed it up so bad it makes LT and Croom look like <17>in Albert Einstein. Seriously, LT ran a tighter ship than Wren has in his first full offseason. I defintely won't be going to The Ted this summer, and I'm so mad right now I can't say for sure when I'll go back. Wren should be canned just for botching the Smoltz thing even if we had signed CC, Manny, and traded for Peavy already. Frank Wren, WTF were you doing during that time you were under the greatest modern day and possibly greatest GM ever? You sure as hell weren't learning anything.
Really could have used Smoltzie. I take him over Glavine every time right now, and with our rotation looking like Vazquez, Jurrjens, and Campillo as the 1, 2, and 5 starters, we now have to rely on Jo Jo Reyes/Tom Glavine and Charlie Morton/Tommy Hanson to fill the 3 and 4 spots. Hopefully our bullpen can really pick up the slack for our starting rotation cuz Vazquez is getting older, Jo Jo is horrible, and Campillo is no more than 6 innings at best. We really need Moylan and Soriano to come back strong from their respective injuries. Really disappointed how Wren ended the winter meetings. I think we should have made a push for Lowe after we didnt get Peavy or Burnett. Hopefully Wren still has something up his sleeve to grab a number 3 or 4 starter before spring training starts.
Smoltz has been my favorite players since I was a 9 year old boy. Given the boneheaded moves lately, I'll follow the Red Sox more than the Braves while Smoltz is still playing.
Abreu is waiting to see what Manny does.
Let Hudson play 2nd and move Kelly Johnson to the outfield (like they were going to do with Furcal). I like the Escobar/Hudson middle infield better than the Escobar/Furcal anyway.
As for pitching, I'd throw an incentive deal at Ben Sheets and then go after John Garland. I think Garland can be serviceable as a back end guy in the national league. If you sign Sheets you have to sign someone else as insurance anyway, so Garland does that. When Tim Hudson gets back, Sheets, Hudson, Jurgens, Vazquez, and Garland is a good rotation. Glavine is wild card there too.
You could get all those guys for 25-35 million a year and it would make you a lot better than signing John Smoltz for a year. The Red Sox can take a risk like that. The Braves can't. </p>
Let Hudson play 2nd and move Kelly Johnson to the outfield (like they were going to do with Furcal). I like the Escobar/Hudson middle infield better than the Escobar/Furcal anyway.
As for pitching, I'd throw an incentive deal at Ben Sheets and then go after John Garland. I think Garland can be serviceable as a back end guy in the national league. If you sign Sheets you have to sign someone else as insurance anyway, so Garland does that. When Tim Hudson gets back, Sheets, Hudson, Jurgens, Vazquez, and Garland is a good rotation. Glavine is wild card there too.
You could get all those guys for 25-35 million a year and it would make you a lot better than signing John Smoltz for a year. The Red Sox can take a risk like that. The Braves can't. </p>
Well, Smoltz is pretty old, and has had multiple arm surgeries throughout his career. He may have looked impressive in side session, but he is still a ticking time bomb. Plus, the Braves got more mileage out of the Doyle Alexander for Smoltz deal than they probably ever could have hoped for.
The Braves may be better going young. They have some good young arms in the organization- I'm not sure that they are ready for the Big Leagues yet, though. I hope Jo-Jo can rebound from his horrible season. I really liked him when he was with the M-Braves.
The Braves may be better going young. They have some good young arms in the organization- I'm not sure that they are ready for the Big Leagues yet, though. I hope Jo-Jo can rebound from his horrible season. I really liked him when he was with the M-Braves.
Take your liberal *** somewhere else. Nobody cares about PETA or Obama. God i hate seeing some of the **** you post.
Fire Wren now and bring JS out of mothballs. He'll get this **** straightened out. I'm so pissed I don't have words. How do you 17 up signing Smoltz? He's only arguably the most loved player in franchise history. Hallelujah, holy ****, where's the Tylenol?!
As a long time Braves fan I have come to grasp that we will have another rebuilding year.. There is a really good group of top prospects coming up and we already have some young guys getting time.
Let's look at this offseason so far (REMEMBER THERE is STILL TIME). It is well known the Braves were looking for a SP and a LF. It is well known the Braves were looking to deal KJ or Escobar for said SP/LF. </p>
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The Peavy deal didn't happen (and I would NOT give up Hanson + Schafer + Escobar for Peavy either). Vazquez was a steal.. This guy is good for 200 innings and should improve his ERA in Atlanta. </p>
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I'm convinced Cashman and the Yankees saved Wren on Burnett. The Braves would have needed to do a lot more to make a risky player like Burnett worth it for 5 years. Colletti and the Dodgers may have saved him on Furcal (doesn't help HR shortage and back issues at 31 - who knows).
My ONE complaint about Wren, he needs to learn from Schuerholz and stop with all the premature press releases and public quotes. He took a public beating with the Peavy saga, the Burnett negotiations and the Furcal situation. I love the rumors and all, but his job is to stop with the public quotes about the status. Players change their mind and/or choose another team and him and all Braves fans end up with egg on your face. And I think this is one reason you guys are bashing him so much. </p>
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The Braves M.O. in recent years is to resign their players (Smoltz, Chipper) and trade for guys with 1-2 years left on their contract (Drew, Sheffield, Tex, etc.) because they simply didn't have the budget to go after the bigger guys. They didn't even make an offer to Andruw last off-season so things are changing some but they will never make the big splash free agent signing.</p>
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Smoltz said on the Dan Patrick show 3 months ago that he was probably going to the Red Sox if they wanted him because he knew the Braves were going to be a year or two away. You can't blame Wren for Smoltz. </p>
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I would be interested to see if they inquire into Ben Sheets (injury history like Burnett but a little younger) and Adam Dunn. </p>
Let's look at this offseason so far (REMEMBER THERE is STILL TIME). It is well known the Braves were looking for a SP and a LF. It is well known the Braves were looking to deal KJ or Escobar for said SP/LF. </p>
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The Peavy deal didn't happen (and I would NOT give up Hanson + Schafer + Escobar for Peavy either). Vazquez was a steal.. This guy is good for 200 innings and should improve his ERA in Atlanta. </p>
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I'm convinced Cashman and the Yankees saved Wren on Burnett. The Braves would have needed to do a lot more to make a risky player like Burnett worth it for 5 years. Colletti and the Dodgers may have saved him on Furcal (doesn't help HR shortage and back issues at 31 - who knows).
My ONE complaint about Wren, he needs to learn from Schuerholz and stop with all the premature press releases and public quotes. He took a public beating with the Peavy saga, the Burnett negotiations and the Furcal situation. I love the rumors and all, but his job is to stop with the public quotes about the status. Players change their mind and/or choose another team and him and all Braves fans end up with egg on your face. And I think this is one reason you guys are bashing him so much. </p>
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The Braves M.O. in recent years is to resign their players (Smoltz, Chipper) and trade for guys with 1-2 years left on their contract (Drew, Sheffield, Tex, etc.) because they simply didn't have the budget to go after the bigger guys. They didn't even make an offer to Andruw last off-season so things are changing some but they will never make the big splash free agent signing.</p>
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Smoltz said on the Dan Patrick show 3 months ago that he was probably going to the Red Sox if they wanted him because he knew the Braves were going to be a year or two away. You can't blame Wren for Smoltz. </p>
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I would be interested to see if they inquire into Ben Sheets (injury history like Burnett but a little younger) and Adam Dunn. </p>
A starting pitcher could have 6 K's in a game just from those two guys. Could two guys have 400K's in a season?
The Braves should have signed Milton Bradley. They should sign Bobby Abreu before Adam Dunn (who they should not sign). Signing Orlando Hudson and moving Kelly Johnson to the outfield makes too much sense. One signing solves two question marks. </p>
The Braves should have signed Milton Bradley. They should sign Bobby Abreu before Adam Dunn (who they should not sign). Signing Orlando Hudson and moving Kelly Johnson to the outfield makes too much sense. One signing solves two question marks. </p>