Catcher’s Blog

MLBTR has posted their 2009 Offseason Outlook on the Braves. While it’s not too in depth, it does cover the basics and the needs we will be looking to fill this off season. It’s kind of like stepping into Frank Wren’s shoes for a moment and looking toward next season’s possibilities.

I agree with most of his assumptions and outlooks. One thing I do not agree on is trading KJ. Why would they trade him after two seasons? He’s picked up the last part of this season and his defense has improved a lot. KJ would be the better than Infante and Prado at 2B, plus they need utility roles on the bench. If one of those two are playing 2B everyday, they can’t play elsewhere, which, in my opinion, is where they excel. Infante has cooled off from playing everyday at different positions and Prado has cooled off slightly. Infante has a career SLG% of .391 after seven seasons and Prado has a .434 SLG% in three seasons. Still KJ comes out on top with a .440 SLG% and I think he could do even more than that; his power numbers have been down slightly this year. Still, I don’t see them getting rid of KJ yet. He’s still only 26, 27 next year, and he looks to have a lot of upside and potential to offer still. I would at least give him another year to see what he has to bring to the table. I know that I have a biased opinion on KJ, but I’m trying to be unbiased on this assumption. And as DOB has stated, there are too many other holes to fill on this team, why would we make another one that would need filling?

Also, I don’t think we should trade Frenchy after one bad season. The past two seasons he’s done rather well, so hopefully he’s learned not to bulk up like he did for this season. I think he knows now that that was a bad idea and that next year needs to be 100% better. He still has knack for swinging at bad balls, but he has cut down on that at least some by attempting to be more patient at the plate.

We really don’t know what Frank Wren is going to do in what looks to be an active off season. Let’s hope he does his job well and fills the holes that are in need of plugging for next season.