Braves sign Julio Teheran

If this kid was stock i'd be buying like crazy right now. We've been following this kid for a while, and for good reason. He was rated the best prospect in the international arena and he's ours. Teharan has 3 plus pitches, is a power righty, AND IS ONLY 16! We were damn lucky to get him as a lot of other teams were drooling over this one. Financials weren't included in the article but we can assume it was a fair chunk of the braves budget for international prospects.

All Stars?

So John Smoltz and Brian Mccann are All Stars. Yay. We all knew Smoltzie was going, how could he not? Brian had a good chance because of the lack of depth in catching in the NL, it's nice that he got a nod from the players. But I can't help wondering who missed out. So without further ado I offer you my all star list, with a twist. The following is a list of my BRAVES all stars. These three players have made more of a difference to the braves than any other AND they're not getting a nod nationally.

OF: With deference to Matt Diaz I have to give the nod to Willie Harris. The boy is blazing on the base paths and money in the box. His aggressiveness has been the spark the braves need. A few stats realy prove this. First, Willie is hitting .373 overall and .461 in the first 2 pitches he sees. That's something we'd expect from Frenchy (Even though Frenchy never hit that good) not Willie. Second, the OBS .929 is 10th in the NL (w/150 min PA) but his OBP of .444 is second to only Mr. Bonds and his AVG of .373 is first. His SBs are 14th but only 2 back of Jimmy Rollins @ #8. Give me that any day even if he hits much better against lefties (not that he's had a chance against righties with only 15ABs).

IF: With deference to Edgar, I'd have to pick Chipper. He's tops of all the regulars in OPS, AVG, and HRs as well as top 4 in all the other major offensive categories despite missing 25 games so far. That's insane production from someone who's been hurting so much this year.

P: This has to go to Peter Moylan. He's got the best ERA on the staff and the second best WHIP all while racking up the most innings out of the pen. Those numbers are nuts for someone who's a retread.

And there you have it; my picks for Braves All Stars. Scream all you want about leaving Edgar, Diaz, Hudson, and even KJ out but these three are players I'd want on my team (and actually have them on several).

Braves drop a heartbreaker in 10

After an hour and a half rain delay chased both starters in the middle of the 4th Oscar Villarreal played the villain and yielded 3 runs in the space of 2 batters. It was all cruddy from there on until the 9th when the braves put men on 2nd and 3rd after a wild pitch from Gregg and Escobar worked a tremendous at bat for a 2 run single. But that was the last offense the braves would get after Wickman and Soriano each gave up runs to drop the braves to 43-39 and still 4 games back after a Mets loss.

WP: Gardner (2-2)
LP: Soriano (2-1)
BS: Wickman

HR: A Jones (13, 7th inning off M Lindstrom); J Hermida (7, 4th inning off O Villarreal), M Olivo (7, 9th inning off B Wickman)

Oswalt to the Braves?

The Houston Cronicle is reporting this morning that Roy Oswalt would consider waiving his no trade clause if the team asked him to.

"If they came to me and they thought it was better for the future of the organization if they traded me, I'd do whatever's best for the future of the team," said Oswalt. "The key is if that's what the organization wants and thinks is best for the team to get better."

The article specifically mentions the Braves as well as Red Sox and the Cards as potential destinations that Oswalt would approve. Oswalt signed a 5 year extension last August at a very team friendly $73m making him well within the braves reach payroll wise. But such a nice below market contract means that the braves would have to give up alot to pull this one off. Except for 1b the Astros could use about anything we have to trade. Their starting catcher is 38 and their SS is a super utility player. A package of Salty, one of our stable of SS, and another minor leaguer (almost certainly a pitcher) would likely get it done. If the braves wanted to make this serious they could also probably get Lidge in this trade but the price would be huge. We're talking Elvis huge people.

Now some of you are thinking "What about that Buherle guy? I know the braves were in on that." You're absolutely correct and the thing that pushes me toward Oswalt is the report that Buherle was close to a 4 year deal @ $53m that fell through due to his insistence on a no trade clause. Now, such a team friendly deal usually warrants such a clause but the White Sox dropping the matter over it indicates that they had a sutor but the hitch was the impending FA status. Oswalt doesn't have the problem and that makes him much more attractive.

If we look at how all three teams are posturing themselves, it become apparent that two things are happening. First, both the selling teams (Astros and the White Sox) have postured in such a way as to state that they don't NEED to sell any players and they might not WANT to sell. This is a common posture for most sellers of high commodity items. By trying to instill the idea that these items are not necessarily available at a low price (even though they might be) and that any team interested would have to give up the farm to get them, each team hopes to raise the price and even create a bidding war. I'd expect that both teams, if they really are shopping their pitchers, to begin leaking rumors like the Buherle to the Red Sox rumors that keep cropping up.

Second, the braves are acting like sellers also, just in a slightly different way. What they've done is bring up two of their best prospects (Salty and Escobar) and played them in platoon. We all know bobby loves platoons, but the braves currently have 3 going where any of the 6 players involved SHOULD be an everyday starter. How does this make the Braves a seller? Well, because we've shown that all of these players are ready to play in the bigs AND Bobby is comfortable playing them there, the team has a glut of performers and they can be had at the right price. This is not an unusual tactic (save for the platooning) but it does decrease the value of the players who had full time jobs and lost them to the rising stars. This indicates that Thorman and Johnson aren't going anywhere for a little while or if they are, they're not the key pieces in a trade.

Now when we step back and look at both sides we find ourselves in a conundrum. The braves are SELLERS and the White Sox/Astros are SELLERS. In a standard market nothing happens between these teams, however there is a wrinkle. The braves are selling position players who are cheap and the White Sox/Astros are selling expensive frontline starters. Both sides are buying what the other's selling. Now the GT comes into play. Each team wishes to maximize it's return for it's investment, thus each team will be selling from strength and acquiring to fill weaknesses. Both the White Sox and the Astros have weaknesses behind the plate and in the infield and both clubs have anemic bats. However, the Astros are MUCH worse off than the Sox. Looking @ the depth chart for the Sox there are 3 decent SS on the roster, a 2b that ain't to shabby, and 2 catchers making over $7m combined. No way does this team need what the Braves are selling... today. The hitch is that the braves have some great prospects down on the farm, Sammons and Lillibridge come to mind, that are at least a year removed from service. Both of these would help the Sox, not Salty and Escobar.

Looking at the Astros the story is different. Either Salty or Escobar could help them today as the team has virtually nothing @ SS and C. As I said before the fit is much better.