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Actually, his value has probably gone up. Jarrod had a rough season at the plate last year at Mississippi. While most felt he would bounce back, it probably caused some concerns. While he has struggled a little to pick up first base, he has hit 309/358/474 since being called to Atlanta with four homers. He's proven at least thus far that he isn't overmatched by major league pitching. He's also good behind the plate. He's not close to being out of options, so even if the Braves decide he isn't able to help them at first, they can always stash him at Richmond or on the bench until a deal suits their liking. I was talking about Salty to some guys in Mississippi the other night that consider themselves pretty big Braves fans. Most of them believe that the Braves will keep Salty and use him at first. They also think that if he's traded, the Braves won't move him unless it is an exceptional amount or for a player that ensures them a run in the playoffs. They felt he wouldn't be moved for prospects unless it was a package of can't miss, ready to contribute in the majors right now group. One guy said he could see Salty going to the Rangers for Tex and Gagne. I mentioned the Cubs, and they said that if it were for Lee or Zambrano, but that if it were Pie, the Cubs would have to, in his words, "throw in one of those lefty starters....probably Hill." And then the guy said he probably wouldn't do it. Now, I do think these guys are overvaluing Salty a bit, but it goes to show the sentiment on the other side of the fence. Salty is blocked at his best position and the position in which he has the most value, but the Braves aren't in a position where they have to move him. If the deal is for the impact player or players they need, then sure they would do it. But, a deal for Salty where parts the Braves may or may not need go to Atlanta, it's not going to happen. Realistically, as long as the Cubs are trying to contend, we don't have the spare parts to get him. A deal with minor leaguers isn't going to make the Braves bite. Now if we could send players to Texas for Teixeira, then deal Tex to the Braves....ok. But, then if the Braves will deal Salty for Teixeira, I can't see why the Rangers wouldn't take him for themselves. I guess the point I was trying to make was that Salty's move to first hasn't in and of itself raised his value that much because he's unlikely to be able to do it for whatever team he's traded to. A minor issue, I realize, but I take solace in the little things. His value, understandably, is still through the roof though.

If he were to help push us into the playoffs and hopefully further, I'm sure you could find it in your heart to forgive him. :D

I'd love Renteria, but the same ol' question remains: can we take on his salary? As for Escobar, I see no reason why they wouldn't trade him. Chipper's at third for the forseeable future, Renteria is a mainstay at short as is Kelly Johnson at second. They like Thorman at first and have also tried Salty there. The only way I see him fitting into their future at all is if they try to dump Renteria or if they see Escobar replacing Chipper - though that day likely won't come soon enough for Yunel to be the replacement. So after all that, I like your idea vance. :D Now just to figure out what the Braves will want.

Unfortunately, I believe you will be proven correct. While Truffle's probably right about a, I'm still holding out a little hope Hendry will find a way to bring in Salty. I don't think we have the players to get Salty especially now that we're playing too well to trade Zambrano. Again, probably right, but his value at least hasn't risen any since he's been iffy at first. Centering a deal around Hill - IF the Braves like him - might be enough, but you're right that it would take quite a bit to get it done. I'm sure the Braves like Hill, especially after watching him dominate their team three times this year (2 earned runs in 23 innings for Hill against the Braves this year). Hm, maybe that will work in our favor in a trade. Hill + Eyre + Jones for Salty? :wink:

And sadly, that line would be better than what the Hill/Bowen tandem has contributed thus far. I have to believe Bowen will improve over what he's done currently. How good will he be? I have no idea, but surely not this bad. But surely not good enough. Probably, but I don't think he'll be that much off what Soto is likely to do. I liken it to the Izturis/Theriot situation. Sure Izturis has been bad, but with consistent playing time Theriot simply isn't much better.

And sadly, that line would be better than what the Hill/Bowen tandem has contributed thus far. I have to believe Bowen will improve over what he's done currently. How good will he be? I have no idea, but surely not this bad.

Unfortunately, I believe you will be proven correct. While Truffle's probably right about a, I'm still holding out a little hope Hendry will find a way to bring in Salty. I can understand a) and c) But on b) -- how will soto get no chance when its Hendry keeping him out and Hendry's days with the Cubs are numbered? b) and c) go hand in hand. Hendry's job is effectively on the line right now with this season and frankly, if he's too stupid to realize that calling up Soto to the Cubs might actually help the team and therefore help Hendry keep his job, he deserves to be fired. I think Soto may be called up eventually, but I see little reason for Hendry to be chomping at the bit to call him up after his entire minor league career has been iffy at best offensively. I understand he's doing much, much better this year, but like Tim said, the strong likelihood is that he'll hit closer to career numbers than current numbers. Would that help? Yes, but not significantly. Especially if Bowen can improve his hitting (which I don't think there's any way he'll stay this bad all year). Fact is, we don't have a good bet at plus offense from any catcher on our roster.

Unfortunately, I believe you will be proven correct. While Truffle's probably right about a, I'm still holding out a little hope Hendry will find a way to bring in Salty. I don't think we have the players to get Salty especially now that we're playing too well to trade Zambrano. Again, probably right, but his value at least hasn't risen any since he's been iffy at first. Centering a deal around Hill - IF the Braves like him - might be enough, but you're right that it would take quite a bit to get it done.

You are correct. For some reason I thought there was some talk before the season of him being in right, but it never occured. Must've been thinking about conversations on the board. When Soriano signed, he was going to play right field, Jones was going to be traded, and some sort of stopgap center fielder was to be traded for until Pie, who they were very high on, could come up. However, Hendry never found that stopgap center fielder, and in January Soriano volunteered to play CF. The Jones trade talk stopped because now he was going to play RF. Then Soriano struggles out of the gate. Lou offers for him to play LF, but Soriano declines. Soriano probably would have stayed in center for another month or two if something else hadn't come up-the hamstring injury. At that time, management decided that to keep him healthy and to have a more productive bat they were going to stick him in LF (because he hadn't practiced in RF at all), which has caused the shift in positions and craziness in the OF since then. Good job, CCP. Excellent timeline. I knew I was getting the Soriano in right from somewhere.

Exactly. The plan early on was to have Murton, Soriano, Floyd from left to right with Jones as the primary sub (or playing right if he started hot and Floyd didn't). Problem is, Soriano didn't take to center (either offensively or defensively) so he headed to left and the plan changed to put Murton in right (thus having Sori, Pie, Murton). That didn't work either as Murton slumped horribly offensively and defensively and Floyd hit well. So, while Murton works out of his struggles and we contend, he plays in Iowa. Then when he's confident again, he comes back up to help at the major league level. Floyd is basically Murton's placeholder until he's ready. If that makes any sense.

Maybe they feel, as many on the board do, that consistent at bats is what he needs to break out of the funk. They couldn't give those to him at the major league level with Floyd doing as well as he is, so they sent him down. This is what I don't understand. Floyd this year is worse than Murton was last year. What is it about Floyd that says he's doing so well that you can't give those ABs to a 25-year-old? At best, Floyd this year is going to give you what Murton gave you last year (or maybe just a little better), but if you're so high on the kid, why would you bring in not 1, but 2 guys that play his position in the off-season? JH is an idiot. Floyd was brought in primarily as a backup and Soriano was supposed to play in right, then center. Problem is, the defensive change was hurting Sori's offense so he moved to left and Murton began the year pitifully. Tracking Matt's at-bats, he began the year getting the majority of at-bats, but as his slump worsened and Floyd improved, Murton began to get fewer at-bats. Thus, I think Lou and Hendry came to the conclusion that Murton would be more likely to break out of his slump the quickest in the minors - and we could afford to do that because Floyd is producing well. You may disagree, but I think Murton would be starting and getting 70-75% of the at-bats over Floyd if he hadn't hit that horrible slump at the same time Floyd began to heat up. I don't disagree that Floyd hitting near .300 and Soriano's inability to play CF were significant factors in Murton being sent down. I just disagree that Floyd's play has been so good that he should be starting over Murton. He's been fine, but he certainly hasn't been so great that you just have to get him in the lineup. He hasn't shown much power at all (one of Murton's biggest flaws, apparently) and it's not like he's a young guy that's just hitting his prime. The decision to play him over Murton is just idiotic to me (let alone the decision to sign him in the first place). I'm still not sold that Soriano's place in the OF was hurting his offense (he moved from 2B to LF last year, which is a much bigger change that LF to CF and had a career year). And I think Soriano should be put in RF or CF, b/c those are positions where we don't have a ready replacement (esp CF as Pie has been really struggling) and he's athletic enough that he should be able to handle it. A handful of ABs to start the season isn't a fair sample on which to decide whether playing CF will destroy his offensive output. It's not that Floyd's doing so well we can't afford to take him out, but Murton was batting so miserably early on that, coupled with his horrendous defense, we couldn't afford to keep him in. My contention is that if he was batting even decently from the getgo, he's likely still our starting right fielder, having Floyd on the bench just gave us the ability to send Murton down to work on the problem instead of costing us at the major league level. Problem is, he brought nothing positive to the table early on and Lou has no patience for people who contribute nothing (Barrett, Izturis, Jones).

You are correct. For some reason I thought there was some talk before the season of him being in right, but it never occured. Must've been thinking about conversations on the board.

The main question I have is money related. Can we add salary? I realize none of us can answer that with any level of certainty, but that's the key as to whether a worthwhile deal can/should be made. If we can take on the salary, Griffey, ARod (yes, pipedream) or Dunn would be immediate upgrades over anything we have at the major or minor league levels and, thus, would be worth trading for. Also, if we have the prospects to bring in Salty, that trade would be much better than the Soto/Hill/Bowen combo. But, if we can't take on salary, then I would not be crazy about Vizquel, Molina or a lot of the other names we've thrown out. At that point, I likely give Soto and Cedeno a shot and try to get Lofton for center.

Maybe they feel, as many on the board do, that consistent at bats is what he needs to break out of the funk. They couldn't give those to him at the major league level with Floyd doing as well as he is, so they sent him down. This is what I don't understand. Floyd this year is worse than Murton was last year. What is it about Floyd that says he's doing so well that you can't give those ABs to a 25-year-old? At best, Floyd this year is going to give you what Murton gave you last year (or maybe just a little better), but if you're so high on the kid, why would you bring in not 1, but 2 guys that play his position in the off-season? JH is an idiot. Floyd was brought in primarily as a backup and Soriano was supposed to play in right, then center. Problem is, the defensive change was hurting Sori's offense so he moved to left and Murton began the year pitifully. Tracking Matt's at-bats, he began the year getting the majority of at-bats, but as his slump worsened and Floyd improved, Murton began to get fewer at-bats. Thus, I think Lou and Hendry came to the conclusion that Murton would be more likely to break out of his slump the quickest in the minors - and we could afford to do that because Floyd is producing well. You may disagree, but I think Murton would be starting and getting 70-75% of the at-bats over Floyd if he hadn't hit that horrible slump at the same time Floyd began to heat up.

Unfortunately, I believe you will be proven correct. While Truffle's probably right about a, I'm still holding out a little hope Hendry will find a way to bring in Salty.

The best thing about that trade for me was that I was already a huge Lofton fan - he's been one of my favorite players his entire career. So it was exciting just to see him on the Cubs, but then he was the catalyst of the 03 season. Oh, the memories...perhaps this year he'll bring his luck again.

Maybe they feel, as many on the board do, that consistent at bats is what he needs to break out of the funk. They couldn't give those to him at the major league level with Floyd doing as well as he is, so they sent him down.

He was also in demand on the board as an insurance policy in case Corey was slow recovering from the injury. Part of the reason Lofton didn't come back, if I recall correctly, is because he knew - if healthy - Corey would be the starter. And he rightly still did and does see himself as a starter.

Should. Doubt he does, though. A lot probably depends on how sure Lou is that Pie will bust out. Hendry definitely likes Lofton, but Lou may be high enough on Pie that he wants him out there once he feels he's ready.

Is Junior really worth a solid young ML starter and a very solid AAA prospect? I'm not sure I'd want to give that for Junior...who'd be the 5th starter? I'd pull for Guzman or Gallagher. But Lou might go with Dempster. On second thought, I have to wonder if Lou wouldn't have second thoughts about Dempster to the rotation. He hasn't actually shown a lot of faith in the rest of the bullpen to close out games (using Ohman/Howry/Marmol in situational spots). A third option would be a trade, though that'd be less likely if we pick up Junior's salary.

Or interviewing someone and asking them how a dead guy is doing. I almost died that day from laughter. That was easily one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

She'd be a lot better to look at than Brenly. :D I'd have to keep the TV muted though.

At C, only Salty and Piazza are really available. Salty wont be much of an impact bat this year, and considering Piazza's defensive woes, we'd probably be better off just bringing up Soto. If he played anything like what he has so far, Salty would be a huge upgrade. .323/.373/.495 and a 131 OPS+ is a whole lot better than anything Bowen, Hill or Soto would provide this year. Granted, he may not keep that up all year, but he'll likely still be a good bit better than our current catchers. I'd call him an impact.

I refuse to vote because there is no way to vote for DeRosa. .287/.365/.455 is not quite as good as Lee, Ramirez and Soriano, but DeRosa's value is also in his ability to play multiple positions well and give our key players rest and fill in for them when they're injured (Aramis). I fully expect one of the other three (or Z) to be the end of season MVP, but right now I have to say DeRosa.

Yeah, I remember reading the post and now it's gone. Odd...