A Braves interlude
I certainly wouldn’t consider it, but there’s a fun discussion over at Chop-n-Change this afternoon regarding whether the Braves should trade Jair Jurrjens.
To be fair, I’m viewing the notion of trading Jurrjens as a red herring. The real conversation is what the Braves (or any team in their position) do when they have some surplus — or a potential surplus — at a given position. How quick to move, whether to try and move the bestest for the mostest value, or instead simply try to unload a superfluity for some kind of value, etc.
My view is that Tim Hudson coming off of surgery to a $12M option, Jo-Jo Reyes and Charlie Morton aren’t the stuff of a true “surplus.” Unless he comes back healthy and lights out at the end of this year you let Hudson dangle, enter 2010 planning on your rotation being Lowe, Vasquez, Jurrjens, Kawakami, and Hanson, and you keep Reyes and Morton around for insurance, Red Sox-style.
But hey, it’s the mid-afternoon, and that’s when you have silly conversations like this.
wow, three different spellings of “surplus.”
Mid-afternoon also is when I put off real work by pointing out spelling errors.
Man,I need to quit drinking at the office.
I guess, as always, it depends on what you get back. Would you trade Jair for Joey Votto (which would mean moving Kotchman maybe for pitching or other offense)? Adam Jones? Nelson Cruz or Chris Davis? It would take a good, young hitter, but there are some.
But thinking about the future, I’d pass. Heyward looked (and continues to look) like a beast in Spring Training. Freddie Freeman as well. In a few years the rotation could be Jair, Hanson, Reyes, Morton, Locke, and/or Rohrbough. At this point, they just have to be patient, but when it comes to July, I guess we’ll see how big Wren’s eyes get.
I know it’s just chatter…
But the idea of trading Jair just smacks of over-reaction to a guy being a Boras client. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.