Norton ties Franco's record

Bravo,
I like the Carl Crawford idea. He gives the Braves a true lead-off hitter who can steal a ton bases at a high success rate, hits for a good average, gets on base, has some pop in the bat, and plays excellent defense. The Braves drastically need to improve on defense and on the base paths. The thing is, if you go with Crawford for LF, you've got to get a right-handed power bat for 1B, which means no LaRoche. I don't know what Crawford's asking price would be, I imagine it would be a lot. I like the idea though. Maybe the Braves could include McLouth in the deal and let Schafer play CF and round out the OF with Diaz, Church, and eventually Heyward.

I think Braves fans would have to say Ron Kulpa likes pumping that right fist with the out call. He missed that call with Torrealba sliding into third base and Bobby Cox will still tell you that Kulpa was wrong on Sunday, when he ended the Braves season with Brook Conrad's 15th-inning check swing.

Jimenez set the tone. Phillies in 3. Did you notice the Phillies hit around in a sense. Every player, including the struggling Lee got as least one hit. I hope Lee keeps on struggling.

I think Lee showed everyone today that his struggles are pretty much over. His pitching today was a lot more solid than it was in Sept. I really don't see that changing.

Phillies in 3. Lee will start Game 1 of the NLCS, especially after that showing today.

Carl Crawford would kill 2 birds with one stone. A legitimate outfield bat with power and dangerous base running... and stellar defense. All things that the Braves really need. But there would still be the need for that right-handed bat. I know the Rays have a $10 mill. option for Crawford. Not sure what they/he would ask for... but with the money we're cutting lose by dumping one of our starting pitchers (hopefully Lowe, or Kawakami) and one of our type A relievers... I think we'd have enough for CC. Maybe move Prado to 1b? The way Laroche played when he got here, you hate to give that up... But I'm not too convinced on his offensive production. I still see him as a .265 hitter and 20-25 home runs.

It's an interesting conversation... but I definitely think that CC would be the best all around available player next year.

There is not a Brave who could crack the Phillies starting lineup. Even though Jones, McCann, and Escobar have superior offensive numbers as compared to their Phillies positional counterparts, it is not enough to overcome the Phillies defensive superiority at the respective positions. It is obvious that, due to fiscal constraints, the Braves are going to have to diminish their great pitching to shore up their inferior offense either this or the Braves either believe in tooth fairies or the liklihood of catching lightening in a bottle. The trick is to attain a balance. But whille the Braves may be able to attain this as compared to Phillies 2009 team, it fails to take into consideration improvements to the team the Phillies will field in 2010.

pherrisphain,
It's going to be extremely expensive for the Phillies to keep their current group together. The 11 guys that are guaranteed contracts from the Phillies in '10 (Howard, Utley, Lidge, Ibanez, Rollins, Hamels, Madson, Romero, Moyer, Werth, and Dobbs) make, combined, just over $98 million. The Phillies also hold a $5 million dollar option for Pedro Feliz with a $500,000 buyout. Next, factor in arbitration raises for (I have their 2009 salaries in parenthesis) Joe Blanton ($5,475,000), Shane Victorino ($3,125,000), Chad Dubrin ($1,635,000), Jack Taschner ($835,000), Eric Bruntlet ($800,000), Clay Condrey ($650,000), and Carlos Ruiz ($400,000) and you're talking a huge payroll. Not to mention the Phillies still owe Adam Eaton (great sign, by the way) $500,000 and Jeoff Genkins $1,250,000 in 2010. No. There's absolutely no way the Phillies are going to be able to keep their group together. Not to mention re-signing Brett Myers, Scott Eyre, and Matt Stairs; all of whom are impending free agents.

And how can I forget the $8 million option on Cliff Lee for 2010.

PWHjort
Your point seems to be that by both the Braves and Phillies shuffling their decks, the Braves are some how going to come out of the deal a better team than the Phillies? You have your hopes. Why not address my original point that I would not take any Brave over any Phillie even to the extend of replacing a current Phillie with a current Brave rather than throwing up a budget smokescreen.

Pherris - The Phils lost the season matchup to the Braves and it's only close because of the last couple of series wins. The Braves pitching is better 1 through 5... and the Philadelphia bullpen doesn't even hold a candle to Atlanta's. The Phils are better stronger offensively, but the Braves will only get better next year after they add another bat or two. The Braves also have the Phils in bench depth. To say the Braves can't match up is just ridiculous. Ibanez will never repeat the year he had this year. The Phils look great on paper, and something should be said for their offensive production, ... but at full strength, I like the Braves.

... also - the Braves will not be "shuffling the deck" next year. The core will remain, and added pieces will be put in place offensively to compliment the stronger (than the Phils) pitching staff. That's not re-shuffling... that's called "getting better".

In the light of Orlando Cabrera's attempt and failure to break his bat over his leg in the loss to the Yankees, I was reminded that Bo Jackson was probably the best athlete to play the game. It is ashamed that football cut his baseball career short. Who knows what he could have been. (Bo knows) http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4893067

pherrisphain,

Yunel over Rollins. He's younger and will only get better. Rollins .719 OPS, 77 RBI's this season, with Yunel .812 OPS, 76 RBI's. Not to mention he led the NL in AVG. with RISP for most of the year. Ibanez Post-All Star break .774 OPS, 33 RBI's (I guess his hyperbaric oxygen chamber ran out of gas), while Diaz sported a .909 OPS, 36 RBI's Post-All Star break (when he became a starter). Also factor in that Yunel and Diaz, combined, make about 1/16th what their Phillie counterparts do, and the fact that they don't play half of their games in a hitter's paradise--I think you can make the case for several Braves over Phillies. That said, the Phillies offense is certainly stronger than the Braves, and proved to be the difference this year.

And do I even need to compare McCann to Bako or Ruiz? Please.

I am really interested to hear that Fredi is on the radar screen for the Braves. I think he is the natural successor to bobby. He is a young guy with an ability to manage young latin talent and has proven his ability to maximize a underfunded program. He would make Bobby's sucession a lot easier and he knows the program and the players really well. I promoted this was a a while ago when the sphere was still trying to accept that bobby needed to retire. Maybe the blog will begin to accept that KJ, Church, Norton and GA are all spent cartridges as well.

Everyone keeps talking about moving Lowe. That can only happen in Bizzaro baseball. His contract is way to big to move(we would have to eat a lot of money to move him). Kenshin may or may not be able to be moved but his inability to have good starts back to back will hurt this, he is priced right though. Huddy, would probably sign an extension for reasonable money and may be the most desirable of the bunch. He is a fitness monster and has a body type which might make the extension a worthwhile idea. I think next year will be a monster year for him.

Fredi would be great. I was excited when the Marlins toyed with the idea of dropping him, simply because it would've been a mistake on their part and one that the Braves, perhaps, could've capitalized on.

I think we've talked about this before, and I may have been alone in thinking that if the Braves can trade Lowe, even if it means eating a chunk of his salary, then they've got to do it.

Fredi Gonzalez would be a big improvement over Bobby Cox, I mean, look what he did with the Marlins this season and last year. The fish overachieved with Fredi and the Braves did the exact opposite with Bobby.

The Carl Crawford talk is a pipe dream. Ditto concerning Derek Lowe.

David O'Brien seconded what blogger: Coach (2010 or Bust) said last year, that the Texas Rangers Nelson Cruz would be a fine addition to the Braves outfield. But do the Rangers have a need for pitching enough to elicit a trade? Who knows but it is fun to imagine.

bobbycoxismyfather
Not that old canard about CBP again? I hope the Braves keep thinking that they would morph into the Phillies if they only played in CBP. McCann's offensive superiority over Ruiz is not enough to overcome Ruiz's defensive superiority over McCann. One may be willing to overlook McCann's defensive skills, or lack there of, if McCann's offensive skills where enough to carry a team but, as we all know, they are not. And I would still take Rollins over Escobar considering Rollins is still a Gold Glove shortstop in his prime.

The only Phils fan here,

Ruiz doesn't have defensive superiority over McCann, also McCann's best skill is always overlooked, he calls the game better than anyone in the business. And that shows over the course of the past two seasons, where since then his pitchers have given up the fewest HRs. A good defensive catcher is a dime a dozen, but a great offensive catcher, that calls the game like no other, is a once in a lifetime player.

Bowman,

How's that NLDS prediction at the end of this article working out for you!