Braves Trade Deadline Update: Johnson
July 26, 2009 at 5:12 pm by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves, Transactions
All week I’ll be doing updates concerning the trade deadline and the Braves. Chipper Jones was given the day off today (routine) and Kelly Johnson got the start at 2B (Prado shifting to 3rd). Johnson had a heck of a game, going 3-4 with 2 doubles, a walk, and a no-doubter home run. This performance has certainly helped Johnson’s trade value. The club considers him expendable now that Prado has solidified himself at 2B and Kelly serving as a back-up. Though this could motivate the club to keep Kelly to play 2B when Chipper, Prado, or Kotchman needs a day off (with Prado playing 3rd or 1st on Chipper or Kotchman’s respective days off). Kelly could also see some time in the outfield, filling in at either corner. Teams that could be looking at Kelly Johnson include the Indians, White Sox, Twins, Angels, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Giants, and Cardinals. The Braves could move Johnson for relief help, a power-bat at either corner OF or 1B, or prospects.
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Do you think the Padres would be interested in Kelly? I don’t know if they need middle infield help or not, but I heard Kevin Kouzmanoff could be on the block. He would serve a better role than Kelly, backing up Chipper and Kotchman, and as a pinch hitter. Release of Norton, and trade Kelly to SD, possibly help pay off some of his salary.
Well, the thing is, Kelly is under team control as an arbitration eligible player for the rest of this season and the next two. It’s highly unlikely that the Padres will be a competitive team during that time-frame, so I don’t see why they’d give up anything of value for him. Kouzmanoff is a much worse player than KJ (career OWP of .444 vs. Kelly’s .535) and they’re the same age (27), so I don’t see that swap making much sense for either party. As far as backing up Chipper and Kotch. Prado just shifts to one of their positions and Kelly plays 2nd. Overall, I think Kelly goes to a contender or a team looking to contend next year, not a team in the midst of a rebuilding project. And we’ve got plenty of better options than Kouzmanoff, including KJ, on our roster and in AAA.
an unpopular move, i know, why not trade chipper(even though i know he just signed a new contract that is like 13 million a year) to for some minor leaguers.. at least one A list.
and start prado-(infante when available) every day at 3b??? and keep kelly at 2b.. and then we can use that money next season to resign Soriano, let gonzalez walk, and add a RH set up guy not named Moylan.. but, i know Wren would get flamed for that though, there is way too much nostalgia out there
if you ask me, the braves should jump on troy glaus. he is not worth johnson though. parr and conrad should do it. its stupid to give up talent for talent when the cards really have no place for him and want him moved. aslo, I’ve been “scouting” the white sox at the cell, and josh fields would be a nice addition. ok, I’m just gunna rant here, norton should be traded to the cubs. ross is a hell of a hitter and has been benched for tooooo long. if kotchmans gunna be a singles hitter, he needs to hit .300. casey deserves a gold glove. my man crush, nate mclouth, seems really excited about the playoffs, good to hear.dale murphy deserves to be in the hall of fame. as does pete rose. and I’m on my new phone and can’t find the caps, sorry.
Keith,
Chipper is a 10-and-5 and can’t be traded without his permission which he likely won’t give.
Jurrjens,
I agree on Glaus. Provided the Cards eat most of his salary. Fields is young and under control for awhile, the Sox won’t trade him. Norton has no value. Ross is a good power hitter but strikes out too much to hit for a decent average, which has it’s merits, and I think he’s probably a better hitter than Kotchman, ACHE, Church, Diaz, etc. I agree on Dale and Rose.
Ross is a solid bat but he doesn’t transition well as a starter. Trading Chipper could throw the entire franchise into a tail spin. If letting Smoltz and Glavine go caused an uproar I don’t want to even think about letting Chipper go. He isn’t producing a lot this year but he is still the best pure hitter on the team.
Agreed, Ben.
I believe the cards will eat, how much left is on his contract? trade norton to the cubs for what his worth. fields well go, you have to trust me on that. if we provide their need. remember, no ones untouchable. I don’t think fields is nessacrey, but he’s a good player and a great guy. and trading chipper will never happen…. the future looks grim, ill be honest. we need to win this series, can’t fall behind in the standings anymore.
Glaus has about $4.3 million left on his contract. He’s a free agent after the season. Insurance has probably payed for 90% of his salary to date. I can see how the Cards would be motivated to move him because he’s nothing more than a bench bat to them with Holliday, Ludwick, DeRosa, and Pujols entrenched in the corner positions. You might as well just release Norton, nobody is going to give you anything for him. The White Sox aren’t going to move a guy whose still got another year before he’s arbitration eligible and under team control for 4 more years.
I am pretty sure i heard from one of the talking heads on espn Glaus was moved to LF because he didn’t have the arm to make the throw from 3b to 1b anymore.. and I was just completely dumbfounded on what that meant, how can he even play left then? or was this just temporary…
Well. LF isn’t as demanding on your arm as 3B. You’re usually not making critical throws in left save the occasional sac fly. At 3B you’re constantly throwing to 1B. Making throws that require everything your arm’s got. Etc. But the logical position to play him if his arm is bugging him is 1B. Which is what the Braves would do if they acquired him. Doesn’t seem like the Cardinals have much use for him with their corner OF, 3B, and 1B situations set in stone. But this discussion isn’t particularly relevant since Glaus just suffered a setback in his rehab, this time it’s his back. I’ll probably write about it tonight.
To my knowledge, Glaus only played LF in his rehab starts.
He played 1B too. 10 games. And served as the DH in a few rehab appearances.
How do you know how much is left on contracts?
Look up his contract on Cot’s Baseball Contracts then pro-rate it based on how many days are left in the season. Not an exact amount, just a fairly good estimate.
Oh thats how you do it, haha, well good morning. Don’t players salaries change monthly? Like he made 2.3M in April and 4.5 in May, etc. Is it always even?
Not really sure. April was a shorter month this year and sometimes signing bonuses factor in or contract details that I don’t have access to. I’ll ask my contract-savvy friends if there’s a better way to do it. I’m all assumptions over here haha.
Ty. Btw ESPN and the Chi-Trib reported that Josh Fields might be on his way out off Chicago. He was also demoted to AAA. I told you boy! (Idk why I called you boy, I’m sure I’m younger than you). Anywho, the moral is, when I get my hands dirty, you can sure as hell bet I’m going to be right. I’ll find a link for you. =)
Got it: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-29-white-sox-brite-chicago-jul29,0,5615750.story
And now Fields wants to be traded. I just don’t see how he helps us hitting .200 in an already crowded infield. A power-hitting outfielder or 1B is the only thing we really need on offense right now. Fields doesn’t fit the bill. Could be a good buy-low proposition, though.
Haha, I just said he “would be a nice addition.” He had a pretty powerful 07 though.
Maybe TP can help him work out his swing.
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Haha. Yeah, he’s a nice buy-low proposition. Seems more fit for a rebuilding team, though.
Imma throw in my 2 cents on which coach should be fired: Chino Cadahia. If he is the man who positions the fielders, he must leave. If the only thing Bobby is good at is manage players and not winning games, make him the bench coach, and hire Ned Yost. Or Pinella, win Chicago runs his outta town…
*when
Last time I heard Cadahia had a really good relationship with Hispanic players. He contributes little things like say, keeping Yunel Escobar sane. Leave him there. Him being bilingual as well as having a good relationship already has more value than people know.
Eddie Perez accomplishes all of that. And Cadahia is awful at defensive alignments. He wouldn’t be the first I’d fire, that’d be Brian Snitker. But he’d be the second.
Eddie Perez needs to have some more authority over the team. Defensive alignments can be given to someone else. Cadahia keeps Escobar in line most of the time. I keep him on the staff for that reason alone. Escobar is immature enough that firing Cadahia could set him off. I leave him there just to keep Escobar happy.
Maybe fire Snitker, move Cadahia to 3B coach (surely he can’t suck worse than Snitker at that), and hire a new bench coach? Keep Cadahia involved but remove him from the coaching job responsible for defensive alignments.
I think that would work. I really want Perez to get more influence over the team. He wasn’t the best player but his knowledge of the game is outstanding. Players like Perez end up making the best coaches.
Yeah I agree. Perez is my choice to eventually replace Bobby. He’s been a bullpen coach and a catcher (i.e. he knows how to handle a pitching staff and has great knowledge of the game). Plus he’s charastmatic and everyone on the team likes him, but he knows how to be a hard-ass when he needs to. Seems like a perfect candidate for manager to me.
I would love to see Perez as the manager. When the time comes there is potential to have Chipper Jones as the hitting coach and either Maddux, Glavine or Smoltz as the pitching coach. Great players don’t always make the best coaches but they basically coached as players. They would just receive the official tag.