Frank Wren stepped up today and traded away the future. Well, part of it anyways...
What we gave up.
Lefty Jeff Locke. The "Redstone Rocket" is a couple of years away from the big leagues. Jeff was in Myrtle Beach for the Braves high "A" team. He's young, a flamethrower, and a lefty. It's up to the Pirates to ruin him.
Starting pitcher Charlie Morton. Charlie was 7-2 with a 2.51ERA with AAA Gwinnett. He was the Braves best pitcher in the minors. And that's including Kris Medlen and Tommy Hanson. I knew he would be traded... the Braves have too much major league starting pitching, it was only a matter of time. He should slide right into the Pirates rotation. Maybe #3 or 4 for now.
CF Gorkys Hernandez. Again, no surprise that Gorkys is gone. The Bravos have a lot of young depth at CF. Jordan Schafer, Gregor Blanco, Gorkys... one had to go. Hernandez was hitting .316 at AA Mississippi this season. Gorkys should be in the PNC outfield next season.
Who did we get?2008 N.L All Star and Gold Glove CF Nate McLouth.
The Braves MUST stop trading for players that I have no cards of. Vazquez, Anderson, now McLouth. Stop it.
The Braves MUST stop trading for players that I have no cards of. Vazquez, Anderson, now McLouth. Stop it.27 y/o McLouth is signed for four more years, and as mentioned is the '08 All Star CF'er and Gold Glove winner. Atlanta now has two of last years Gold Glovers in the outfield with him and Jeff Francouer. This season, teams are not even attempting to run on Francoeurs arm, so the defense is solid. These two should be able to make up for Garrett "the human pylon" Anderson in left.
It's sad to see the youngsters go... especially Morton. But, at the same time it's exciting to see the Braves add an impact player that won't be leaving for big $$$ at seasons end.
I guess regardless of which side I'm on, as a Pirate fan of a Braves fan, I'm excited.
This, with the multiple pitching moves the Braves made today, make for an interesting rest of the season.
2 comments:
Well, something had to change in the outfield. I hope it doesn't mean trading away Jordan Schafer because I like him a lot. But he's not ready, and like I said, something needs to change, now.
The Glavine move was a shock. I turned on MLB Network and just caught "ased... Tom Glavine" and thought "wait... what did that say?"
Morton may have had the best record in Gwinnett but he wasn't the Braves' best pitching prospect. Morton got a shot last year and wilted. He may end up being a good pitcher eventually but he was about 9th on the depth chart with all the starters we picked up this offseason.
Gorkys is a heck of a prospect, but he was blocked by Schafer and Heyward even before we got McLouth.
Locke is a wildcard. He could become pitcher or might not. He's a lefty with good stuff so he's a nice piece to have but he was at least three years away.
McLouth isn't the greatest outfielder in the world, but he's cheap, locked up for his prime years and is MUCH better than anything else in that outfield. The East is vulnerable this year so why not put some pressure on the Mets and Phils. If it doesn't work out, we still have all our blue chip prospects and the young arms get some experience going into 2010. Not a bad move by Frank.
(I'm having a hard time finding McLouth cards too)
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