Comments on: Braves Get Crunk on Free Agents

By: Atlanta Braves Baseball » Blog Archive » Wednesday’s Braves Buzz

Atlanta Braves Baseball » Blog Archive » Wednesday’s Braves Buzz — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:34:18 +0000

[...] Bradbury weighed in on the Eric Hinske and Troy Glaus [...]

By: leviinalaska

leviinalaska — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:45:17 +0000

I’m with JC 100% on this one. The signings are uninspiring but solid. C’mon Braves Fans…what were you expecting? Did you really think we’d sign Holliday or Bay? It would have been nice to be rid of Lowe’s bloated contract, but statistically there is much reason to suspect that he will perform better this year. There is also statistical reason to believe that Vasquez will regress. Bottom line…Frank Wren made good use of the limited funds that he had.

By: Rob Usry

Rob Usry — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:20:54 +0000

When the kid in RF shows up they will flock to the ticket offices.

I love the signings.

By: jfish26101

jfish26101 — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:02:45 +0000

It sounds as if the Braves are done till the trade deadline, what is your full assessment of the off-season, Wren in general to this point and the Braves chances to win the NL East?

I’ve been pretty down on the job he has down overall, he hasn’t done anything too bad but I haven’t seen much that has impressed me either. The Jurrjens/Gorkys deal for Renteria was very nice but, given the timing of the trade, I think JS had a big hand in that particular deal (I could be wrong). McLouth was a good deal but not a significant acquisition in my eyes. I’m torn on both Vazquez deals as it sounds like Flowers has made huge strides behind the plate (I always liked Santos potential as well) while Vizcaino comes with a ton of risk (with a very high ceiling of course) and aren’t that impressed with Glaus, Hinske, Dunn, or Melky.

At the end of the year, it’s your record that counts and I’m just not seeing the Braves as good bets to be in the playoffs. Phillies/Mets both improved their teams and the Marlins/Nationals could always make some noise. I tend to be a bit pessimistic but I just don’t see why so many Braves fans are impressed with Wren’s job thus far.

By: Alex C

Alex C — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:18:05 +0000

I agree that both of these are good signings. Glaus especially.

But even if Glaus meets all his incentives, these two are only going to take up about half the money freed up by the Vazquez trade. And even then, if payroll was the same as last year, they should have had 5-6 million left over without trading Vazquez. Which essentially means Vazquez was traded merely because payroll is being cut (absent any discussion of the equity of the return, just speaking of the impetus here), which as a Braves fan is pretty frustrating.