The Braves are interested in adding a right-handed hitting outfielder, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Melky Cabrera and Nate McLouth have not hit well for the Braves, and Jason Heyward's now slumping. Eric Hinske has played tremendously, but can't be expected to post an OPS near 1.000, so the Braves may deal from pitching depth for a bat. Here are the rest of Rosenthal's rumors:
- The Marlins are actively seeking relief help.
- Rosenthal says the Cardinals, Reds and Brewers – yes, the Brewers – could be interested in Cliff Lee this summer. The Brewers could provide the Mariners with a hitter like Corey Hart or Mat Gamel and trade Lee to a third team for younger pitchers.
- The Cubs would love to deal Kosuke Fukudome, but he will earn more than $21MMM between now and the end of 2011, so trading him will not be easy. Click here for more from Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi on Fukudome's availability.
- Red Sox GM Theo Epstein will probably look to acquire a reliever this summer.
I’d be fine with getting Lee as long as we can flip him for some young pitching. Interesting idea.
Melky has been hitting much better as of late, batting .329 in his last 21 games. And I don’t really see a need for a bat right now, Prado and Glaus are providing enough offense by themselves right now and when Heyward breaks outta his funk and Escobar continues to heat up, I think they are in good shape as is. They are still beating 1st place teams with only really 3 guys hitting well. And of course Brooks Conrad doing a little bit of everything.
Do you really think offensively they have what it takes to win the NL East? Offensively they been better than the Phillies the last month or so. There is no way that continues all season. Offensively they are playing WAY above their heads, they ranked second in runs scored last week. Who would’ve ever guessed that?
We were in the top third of many of the most important offensive statistics over the second half of last year too (like runs scored and OBP). How long does an offense have to be good to have people not be supprised by it?
A New York minute.
Melky is still only putting up an OPS of 700 or so during his outbreak. He’s a 4th OF’r and Hinske is a platoon guy. Braves need to add an OF and hope Glaus, Heyward, Prado and others keep it up
I know the Nationals probably wouldn’t trade with Atlanta, but Willingham would be a great fit.
dont count on it, one bad week and the nats could be out of it. would’nt be suprised if willingham ends up on the red sox if Ellsbury, Cameron or Hermida are on the DL much longer. Sox were reportedly interested last offseason.
Im not a Mcdonald or Nava hater, but being 4 games behind the yankees and rays
97 games left, they have to win atleast 60 of those to have a realistic shot at makeing it into the playoffs.
I agree they would trade with the Sox far more readily than a division rival. Willingham will in all likelihood be a Type A FA should he turn down arb with Washington, so the Nationals would get a couple of choice draft picks. He won’t come cheap.
You just said “4 games back with 100 games to go” like it was a bad thing. Idgi.
I think it may be hard for the Braves to find that right handed outfielder who would be that much of an upgrade over Melky. Center is really the only place we could add a bat as Cox won’t take Heyward out of the lineup even when he is hurt and not swinging right and Hinske who kills righties will get his platoon partner Matt Diaz (and his .337/.376/.524/.900 career vsLHP) off the DL pretty soon to play left with him. I’m finding it hard to find a good right handed center fielder who could really be available. Any suggestions?
If the Cubs become sellers Marlon Byrd is having a hell of a season.
Marlon Byrd if the Cubs become sellers
Chris Young is also having a good season.
Wow. Those were the exact same people I mentioned in my post.
Are you being a smartass? because I posted this like 15 minutes before your post.
No, I was saying that we had the same mindset. I posted mine before I read yours.
I’d love to see the Brewers acquire him asap, give it a few weeks trying to sign him to an extension, than trade him for young pitching if they can’t sign him. Lot’s of if’s, but he really can’t be worse than what they have!!!
From the Brewers’ perspective, they’d be better off holding on to Gamel and trading Fielder. I’m sure they could rent Lee (take the prospects) and a couple young pieces to Seattle in exchange for Fielder.
That said, I see Lee to the Reds working, provided Alonso is the centerpiece.
A right hitting outfielder? Sounds like Austin Kearns. The Braves could probably have him for a fair price. Randall Delgado and maybe another lower level prospect. Zeke Spruill? Maybe Delgado and Hoover?
I think Kearns would be a good fit too, but I’d have to say no to Delgado. Austin isn’t that far removed from being terrible, and it would take more than a third of a season to convince me he’s worth a blue chip starter prospect. He’s never hit this well in his career. I was thinking perhaps Mike Dunn – young, cheap reliever who strikes out a ton of guys, and having a great season at AAA.
No way any of those guys would be traded for Austin Kearns. That’s more of a package we would send over for Choo. Not that that would ever happen.
Hahaha. Two A+ players for one of the best hitters and baseball, you’re funny.
Delgado’s been putting up good numbers this year for sure. But he’s still just an A+ ball player. Spruill’s been decent but not spectacular in A ball and got lit up in his two starts in A+
I’d say Kearns for Delgado straight up or Kearns for Hoover and Spruill would work.
I wasn’t saying that that package would GET Choo, but that he’s the player you’d have to send over if you wanted Delgado. To think you could get Delgado for Kearns is ridiculous. Kearns would net you a couple of C level prospects, not one of the best young pitching prospects in the league.
Choo is not one of the best hitters in baseball, he is talented and good, but you talk about him as if he is an elite hitter, and I’m sorry but an .852 OPS is not elite.
Woah? Randal Delgado? Thats way too much for Austin Kearns alone. Delgado is a true ace ceiling type prospect. Zeke Sprull or JJ Hoover may be good value if the Braves even trusted in Kearns’ resurgance.
why would the Braves trade a projected #1 starter for Austin Kearns?
I highly doubt the Cards are thinking about obtaining Lee especially when they had a chance to last season for a much lower price plus even if they did want to they don’t have the prospects to do it so I’m not really sure where Rosenthal comes up w/ this stuff. Being a baseball insider is the easiest job in the world, you just look at teams that might have a potential need for something and then start a rumor saying they’re interested in a certain player. I guess I chose the wrong career
“I talked to a source inside the Cardinals organization today and he said he thinks the Cardinals are seriously interested in getting Cliff Lee, saying quote ‘that would be badass’ unquote. He also sold me some peanuts. Back to you, guys.”
Aha! Rosenthal is much better at telling me who has the best peanuts rather than actual baseball material.
I’ve been trying to think of someone the Braves could acquire, and I went through every team and thought about every outfielder in the league as possible trade candidates. There just isn’t a lot out there that would really help us. We either need someone with a lot of speed or with good power. Being as the D’backs are sellers, Chris Young makes a little sense. None of the Cubs outfielders really appeal to me, but they may be the only team we match up with. If that’s the case, Marlon Byrd would all most assuredly be the guy coming over, and that would be a descent pickup assuming we don’t overpay for him.
This always makes me wonder, though: Could the Braves have gotten Brett Gardner rather than Melky Cabrera from the Yanks?
What about Corey Hart for some of that pitching depth I keep hearing so much about?
I’d love to have Corey Hart if he could play center. I’m afraid he might cost a Kris Medlen type arm and I’m not to comfortable with that.
God knows the Brewers would love some pitching depth.
I thought about Hart, but isn’t he left-handed? I guess the need for a right-handed hitter isn’t as big now that we have Glaus, but it would still be nice. If this is the case, I’d probably put Hart around the top of my list.Keep in mind that the Braves would probably have to find someone to take on McLouth if we get another OFer.
Edit: As Peet mentioned, Hart is right-handed. Gotta place him on the top of the list
Hart is right handed, and the Braves could designate Mclouth for assignment if they really wanted to get rid of him.
No way he would get DFA’d.. They could find a taker I’m sure. Now that I think about it, i’m not too sure they would even want to trade him given that they just traded good prospects for him last summer. We’ll see, though
Hart and all of his NL leading home runs are right handed! and to BB: Corey has the speed and arm to play center, but I’m not sure about the instincts. He’s an average defender at best (by my judging, I haven’t looked at his UZR or any other advanced metrics.)
I have personally always been a Hart fan, and now that he no longer swings at every slider a foot off the plate, he’s back to being a true 20-20 threat. This season it looks to be more like 30-10, though.
Well in that case, the Braves and Brewers match up real good for a Hart trade. It’d be hard, but I’d be prepared to trade Medlen for Hart. Not much more could go over, though.
“real good”? You live in Georgia, dontcha?
Haha. Nope, even worse. Mississippi.
🙂 It’s all good, I used to live in Florida, and those southerners can compete with just about any as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t think so, the organization has been pretty high on Gardner and had it not been for injuries last year (and Melky’s clutch hitting) then Brett probably would’ve started all year long.
How about Fukudome and 6 mill for Lowell
Salaries are a wash this year and cubs pay half of next yrs
Fuku can help a very unhealthy outfield in boston
Lowell can play 3rd now and be a 1b/3b back up when Aram gets back
If Lowell shines in regular at bats then maybe you can flip him for a prospect at the deadline.
Got to think of this as a Bradley for Silva swap, it could help both teams. Lowell is rotting on the bench in boston and Cubs get Colvin at bats and save half of Fuku’s salary for next year
i have been yelling for the braves to acquire franklin gutierrez for about a month or so…he would be perfect…right handed hitter with decent pop and is, in my opinion, the best defensive outfielder in baseball…give up some prospects, thrown him in CF leave the heybeast in RF and have either mcclouth or hinske take over LF full time…i would love that
EDIT: we already have one of the top pitching staffs in the game, why not compliment that with another gold glover???
I don’t think he’s available. He was just signed to an extension.
Yeah, he would be very nice to have but I’d be willing to bet he isn’t available as he is a centerpiece for what Jack Z is trying to build in Seattle.
the mariners are on pace to loose 100 games again, they dont have any big time help on the way outside of ackley…make an offer, what harm does it do?
offer up any 2 or three of the following: schafer,mycal jones, cody johnson, zeke spruill, brett devall and someone like mike dunn and i think the deal gets done
I would love that, but I just don’t see the Mariners letting go of him. I suppose the right offer would get it done, but they would probably want major league ready talent.
Edit: that was meant as a reply to ATLbraves2010
It would make me very happy if the Brewers could trade Corey Hart for Cliff Lee or young pitching equal to Cliff Lee (in a 3way). They just need to make sure they do it before Corey Hart starts his patented post all star break meltdown.
Better off hoping one of McLouth or Schafer can get it together. Jurrjens and Diaz are coming back soon so the team should improve without having to make a move any time soon. There shouldn’t be much urgency right now; just sit back and let things develop.
ow about Fukudome and 6 mill for Lowell”
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That’s not a bad idea. But I really think nobody is going to agree to a deal for him for that kind of $$$ next year. He’s good but not good enough. There are better bad-contract guys to go after.
NM
I would jump up and down if the reds could get Cliff Lee, But its not if they could cause they do have the prospects to do that deal but i would wonder what it would take, Yonder Alonso is going to have to be in the package even though i think they could get by with out him but seattle needs the first basemen but i would rather them cough up the farm for Danny Haren .
SO maybe Alonso,Bailey,cozart and lower left prospects for lee?
Do the Mets want a left handed hitting outfielder? deal fukudome for francouer maybe? Save the Cubs a few bucks