Wren not worried about Soriano's decision
Braves general manager Frank Wren knows there's still a chance that Rafael Soriano will accept his arbitration offer by tonight's 11:59 p.m. ET deadline. But at the same time, he would then expect Soriano to ask for a trade that would be willing to serve in a more meaningful relief role.
While there hasn't been any indication that Scott Boras will advise Mike Gonzalez to accept arbitration, Wren opted to include Gonzalez when he provided a response about the possibility of Soriano doing so.
"If they accept arbitration, I don't think they'll be in a role that they'll be excited about, based on what they did last year," Wren said. "I would anticipate them coming to us and asking us to trade them once the market develops and goes forward.
"The role is not going to be, for Mike or Raffy, the roles that they left. It's going to be different. To be pitching late in the game, they would need to go somewhere else."
In other words, regardless of what happens later tonight, Wren is committed to utilizing Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito as his primary late-inning relievers. If they were to choose to pitch in Atlanta, Gonzalez and/or Soriano would be targeted to team with Peter Moylan in a middle relief role.
Wren added that he won't allow these arbitration decisions affect the way he has intended to build his roster. With a confidence that he could move Soriano, he won't allow the $6.5-7 million he could gain via arbitration affect the payroll threshold he is working with while searching for at least one right-handed hitter.
"We wouldn't worry about that holding us back," Wren said. "We're going to go ahead and put our club together. The one thing about good players is that when you have good players, you can trade them."
While there hasn't been any indication that Scott Boras will advise Mike Gonzalez to accept arbitration, Wren opted to include Gonzalez when he provided a response about the possibility of Soriano doing so.
"If they accept arbitration, I don't think they'll be in a role that they'll be excited about, based on what they did last year," Wren said. "I would anticipate them coming to us and asking us to trade them once the market develops and goes forward.
"The role is not going to be, for Mike or Raffy, the roles that they left. It's going to be different. To be pitching late in the game, they would need to go somewhere else."
In other words, regardless of what happens later tonight, Wren is committed to utilizing Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito as his primary late-inning relievers. If they were to choose to pitch in Atlanta, Gonzalez and/or Soriano would be targeted to team with Peter Moylan in a middle relief role.
Wren added that he won't allow these arbitration decisions affect the way he has intended to build his roster. With a confidence that he could move Soriano, he won't allow the $6.5-7 million he could gain via arbitration affect the payroll threshold he is working with while searching for at least one right-handed hitter.
"We wouldn't worry about that holding us back," Wren said. "We're going to go ahead and put our club together. The one thing about good players is that when you have good players, you can trade them."
Aside from the financial questions, I think having 3 guys who are able to close can only solidify the bullpen and make the Braves hard to beat late in the game. I like Soriano's make-up, and his perfomance this year matched it.
ON a side note, who's this Mike Bauman? Mark, have you met Mike and discussed your parallel lives?
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The Braves put this out there in hopes that Soriano will not take the arbitration. In a way, its sad. I do believe Soriano is a good closer. I am not sure I would have put this out there like this. If Soriano would have chosen to accept arbitration, he could have been packaged with Lowe. A lot of teams would have jumped at that...a starter and closer...
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Oh, just realized if Soriano accepts arbitration, then the Braves can't trade him till June anyway...never mind...
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I had thought wren was a pretty good baseball man but from what i read now i have grave questions. How could you be committed to saito at 39 with not a great season in boston he is not the same as he was in 2007ahead of soriano if he comes back i always thought you go with your best, i would much rather see soriano late than saito what in the world is going on? does not how a pitcher would be pitching dictate who you use and we have already given the late innings to saito and wagner what if they do not get the job done someone in the braves organization needs to wake up it is stupid to give the job to saito when he has not earned it and waht about moylan he was klights out the more he pitched the better he got as the seaon wore on you always have to see who is pitching the best what if moylan is blowing them away and saito is not we need change but maybe they need to be in the mangement department also
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In other words, regardless of what happens later tonight, Wren is committed to utilizing Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito as his primary late-inning relievers. I wonder who is the manager of the team, Wren or Cox? The GM's job is putting the pieces. The manager is the only responsible for use them.
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Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth! If Soriano and/or Gonzolez were to opt for arbitration during this Not-So-Great-Economic-Depression it would be the best news the Braves have ever gotten. They could dump Moylan for one and end up with perhaps the greatest staff of thirteen pitchers ever assembled in the history of MLB. Then the fun could really begin by flatly stating to the world of free agents, that they were conducting a bidding contest wherein they would offer the two best candidates for left field and first base a one to two year deal for $8-10 million per year. I'm bettin' that they would be overwhelmed with bidders. Then they can start dumping the likes of Church, Kelly johnson and maybe eventually Chipper if he doesn't fink out on his promise to leave quietly if he doesn't produce in 2010.
Either Wren is a very shrewd bird by his comments on Soriano/Gonzo or a dodo bird remains to be seen very shortly. If he is playin' possum the Braves will pull off the greatest strategic coup imaginable. On the other hand, he may simply be a beggar on horseback.
Mike McDonald, Atlanta, GA
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Soriano would make a nice centerpiece in a trade for Granderson, if the Tigers' rumored deal with the Yanks and D'backs fails to materialize.
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