As I mentioned in my Braves Needs and Luxuries post, the one piece missing from this puzzle is a decent big league center fielder. According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mark Kotsay and Corey Patterson could be options.
In regards to Kotsay, O’Brien doesn’t specifically say the Braves are interested. It’s more implied based on the fact that no one has told him the Braves aren’t interested. Kotsay has one year left on his deal at $8MM, and it’s thought that the A’s might eat half of that to ship him out. Who knows, maybe he can toss up 500 ABs with a .700 OPS one more time. I doubt he would require much in the way of a prospect.
Patterson is another option, though O’Brien thinks the Braves would top out at a one-year, $3MM deal. Surely Scott Boras can do better than that, right? He’s young and plays solid defense!
I still think the Braves should go after Cameron…he’s the best option and this is not the time to be cheap. Even going to one year and $6MM for Patterson makes more sense than Kotsay.
Mark Kotsay is very good offensively, average defensively, while Corey Patterson is excellent defensively and a little above average offesively, which is more oppurtune and a better fit for the braves?
why do the braves seem to go after old players? they need to go after new young talent