Catcher’s Blog

There’s been some talk about us considering Brian Fuentes. The talks have been narrowed down on different blogs about trade possibilities and I wonder what it would cost to get him. People are saying we should offer Chuckie and Martin Prado and get one of their CFs as well as Fuentes. I wonder if maybe we offered Willy Aybar, instead of Prado, if the Rox would be interested. I know he hasn’t really done much in the past year, but he was serviceable in ‘06 when Chipper went down. He did somewhat well with the Dodgers before being traded to Atlanta and has these stats: .280 .364 .403. Everyone is counting him as the odd man out for any position anyway. His stats are better than Prado’s .277 .330 .366. I’m not sure if that would be enough to get two guys or not, but maybe enough to get Fuentes? If we were to even get him. Personally, I’m wondering why we would need to get him, unless Ohman sucks or something. But there’s always trading him in the off season or the trade deadline and he’d be a nice luxury to have, especially since Gonzo won’t be as effective coming back from TJ surgery. But it’s mainly all speculation, we don’t know what Wren thinks of this possibility or if he’s even still considering it.

Willie Harris and Pete Orr were signed by the Nats. It seems they have a thing for Braves cast-offs or something.

Also, the mailbag was rather interesting. Bowman doesn’t look for us to be able to keep Teixeira after this season, but he lists that we would be able to compete for him if we were to do so. Other questions include Dale Murphy, Mark Prior, Willie Harris, and minor league options.

EDIT:

The Braves signed former, long-time catcher, Javy Lopez, to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. He was among five other players that were invited to Spring Training: catchers Corky Miller, J.C. Boscan, outfielder Joe Borchard, who was previously with the Florida Marlins, RHP Jorge Campillo, and infielder Javier Guzman.  DOB gives his take on the signing.

There’s not much going on, but there’s some news I haven’t posted.  

• Ron Mahay declined his offer for arbitration as expected. We’ll get a compensation pick in the draft when he signs with another team.
• According to MLBTR, we’re still linked to be interested in lefty reliever, Damaso Marte, along with a few other teams, but apparently his price tag is a bit high.
• Braves are set to release Lance Cormier.
• Willie Harris talks about his thoughts on being released and doesn’t seem to think he’ll have another shot in Atlanta. This is from a local news station, but I thought it was somewhat interesting:

Cairo-native Willie Harris is not expecting to be back with the Braves next season. Atlanta is shopping the outfielder/second baseman to as many as thirteen different teams, preferring to go with someone younger and cheaper.

The Braves designated Harris for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster earlier in the week, after making a trade for a relief pitcher and back-up infielder. It’s a situation very familiar to Harris, after playing for the White Sox, the Red Sox, and the Braves the last three years.

The South Georgia native was near the top of the league in batting early in the season, flirting with .400 before tailing off with less playing time in the second half.

Harris says hearing his name mentioned in trade rumors is difficult, especially since he grew up rooting for the Braves.

“It’s kind of tough, just because it is my home team,” says Harris. “I felt in my heart I would have another opportunity to go up and prove myself again there. It’s a business, and you can’t get your feelings caught up in it.”

Also, questions were answered in the Braves Mailbag today with a new set of questions, some that are different and interesting to read. The questions this week include the bullpen in ‘08, Javy Lopez, Edgar Renteria, So Taguchi (formerly with the Cardinals), Martin Prado, and Brayan Pena.

Yesterday was on the quiet side compared to Tuesday. Not much has been going on and not much willl happen most likely according to Wren unless he likes something can’t turn down. The rumor about Reggie Willits was actually just ramblings, but we’re apparently still looking at Chris Duffy somewhat. I figure the three CF options we have currently will be the ones battling it out for the job in Spring Training. We may have another backup catcher before then, but if not, we still have Brayan Pena, Clint Sammons, and Corky Miller as possibilities.

Other than that, Andruw is now a Dodger. Let’s see what else happens today, if anything. Head on over to TalkingChop.com for open thread disscussion.

Yesterday was pretty interesting with all the rumors going around. I guess we’re not used to it, so when they do pop up, we get all happy or unhappy, whichever it may be. I’m posting this now before I leave for school because I have a test in my first class and won’t be able to update until afterward. The test shouldn’t be hard and then we’ll probably have to keep doing what we were working on yesterday as well. But around 12:00 pm or so, I should be able to update this post. Maybe before then, so stay tuned.

>> Update - 10:30 am:

Firstly, head on over to TalkingChop.com for open thread discussion about what goes down today.

Not much has been mentioned about the Braves so far that I’ve seen this morning, but here’s something that was brought up last night by DOB from AJC:

Allen, they have talked to Anaehim about Willits. Don’t know if they’re still talking to them seriously, but it wouldn’t surprise me since Wren said they’ve talked to several teams in the last couple of days and that a couple of CFs who weren’t previously thought to be available have become available.

Seems like Wren is talking with a lot of teams on possible deals he might can get done for center. It was mentioned that the guys he’s looked at have something about them that doesn’t seem to fit with what we’re looking for. We’ll have to see what happens, as always.

So not much happened the first day except rumors flying around about other teams and possible deals that could be made. So far there isn’t much else to post, but like yesterday, I will be checking MLBTR throughout the day in class and when I get home later this afternoon when I’m not working on school work. Check out TalkingChop.com for an open thread to discuss further if you like.

We might be looking at Josh Hamilton, which was mentioned on MLBTR, and also Nate McLouth. These would fit, but who knows? Apparently, they’re both available.

Note: I had started this blog before class and this deal snuck up on me. I was doing something for class for about two hours, I come back to my computer, and of course, something has gone down. I hate to lose Ascanio because he was effective, but I guess it did fill two of our needs. Now for a center fielder and backup catcher, if possible.

Braves acquire Will Ohman and Omar Infante from Cubs for Jose Ascanio. 

The Braves, filling their need for a left-handed reliever, have acquired Will Ohman and infielder Omar Infante from the Cubs for Class AA reliever Jose Ascanio, according to major-league sources.

The deal, first reported by ESPN Radio in Chicago, creates payroll flexibility for the Cubs for other pursuits. Ohman is under contract for $1.6 million next season while Infante is projected to receive about $1.5 million in arbitration.

The Braves, bracing for the loss of Ron Mahay as a free agent, entered the meetings intent on acquiring a left-handed reliever. Infante presumably will fill a utility role similar to what he did in the past for the Tigers.

Ohman went 2-4 with a 4.95 ERA in 56 games last season, but was expendable because the Cubs are deeper than most clubs in lefty relievers. Infate, acquired in the Jacque Jones trade earlier this off-season, batted .271 in 66 games with the Tigers.

The Braves are awaiting the recovery of left-hander Mike Gonzalez from elbow-ligament transplant surgery; Ohman would become their No. 2 lefty reliever after Gonzalez returns. The team has offered Mahay arbitration, but evidently believes that he will sign a multi-year deal with another club. Infante represents an upgrade over Chris Woodward, who is a free agent.

Ascanio, 22, was 2-2 with a 2.54 ERA and 10 saves at Class AA Mississippi last season.

- Source

>> Update - 2:58 pm:  

There’s reports that we’re offering Chuckie for David DeJesus. Whether or not this is true, I’m not sure as I’ve not seen it reported anywhere else. I’ll keep a look out for anything else about this. Here’s another report on this.

Also, Willie Harris was designated for assignment to make room for the two additions from the Cubs that we acquired earlier this morning. If he’s not traded or claimed off waivers in ten days, he’ll most likely remain with the club, but will be sent to the minors. Somehow I figured he would be gone because of his second-half performance (or lack there of) and because he’s eligible for arbitration. It seems that the more guys become expendable and they are eligible to receive arbitration they have been sent elsewhere. Tyler Yates could be next included in a deal, but I figure that we won’t let all our veteran relievers go. 

>> Update - 5:40 pm:

DOB denies the Chucky for DeJesus rumors and that we’re not even talking to the Royals. Apparently, they don’t even want to talk about trading DeJesus unless they get Andruw or something. They apparently have reasons of disliking Chucky anyway. DOB isn’t really sure who we’re talking to about center fielders, he does mention possibly Nate McLouth, since Wren isn’t offering much about his doings thus far other than what we already know.   

Here’s something from Ken Rosenthal about Nate McLouth interest:

The Pirates are aggressively shopping Nate McLouth, who is a popular target for teams looking for left-handed hitters and/or center fielders. McLouth could be a lesser option for the Cubs if they fail to land Kosuke Fukudome, and the Padres, Phillies and Braves also are expressing varying degrees of interest.

Seems as though things have calmed down a bit, but some more deals are bound to be done between now and Thursday. Whether they include the Braves or not, no one really knows except the GM and officials themselves.

>> Update - 7:08 pm:

They are now reporting that we have interest in catcher Damian Miller for our backup catcher. Not sure what to think about this one yet.  

- Source