With nearly 81 games in the books, the Braves signed Ben Sheets to a minor league deal earlier today as the team hopes he can help bolster its rotation in the second half of the season. Here's the latest from Turner Field…
- Look for Atlanta to join the pursuit of Zack Greinke's services if the team can secure him long term for closer to $15MM per season than $20MM, tweets David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Greinke, 28, is enjoying a strong season in his second year with the Brewers after being acquired from the Royals in December 2010. The right-hander has posted a 2.82 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 through 16 starts.
- The Braves were among a series of teams scouting Francisco Liriano today during his start against the Royals, reports Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN.com (via Twitter). While Liriano failed to turn in a quality start on Sunday, the former All-Star has improved his performance each month of the season thus far. The 28-year-old signed a one-year, $5.5MM deal with the Twins in January and will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2012 season.
- Count Bryce Harper among Chipper Jones' supporters for his bid to be added to the National League All-Star roster through the Final Vote competition, writes Mark Zuckerman of NatsInsider.com. The 19-year-old rookie, who is competing with Jones for a spot on the team, said that a future Hall of Famer should be able to go to the All-Star Game during his last season. "If I was going to make a vote, I'd go vote for Chip."
Just gained a lot a respect for Bryce with that comment, and he is right
I don’t know why people are surprised by this. The kid has been nothing but class his entire time in the bigs and anybody who says he has an attitude problem hasn’t been paying attention.
His coaches say he’s great, his teammates say he’s great, the people who work at the places he frequents in Pentagon City say he’s great. That kiss blowing incident was overblown.
In fairness to the Harper haters, that’s not the ONLY incident.
I’ve warmed up to him. Watching him play, he reminds me of a young Chase Utley in terms of their hustle and all out approach to the game.
really? he reminds me of Pete Rose.
Well the kid had a history you know, he finished high school a year early so he could go in the draft faster, he had that incident in which he sent a kiss to the pitcher after hitting a homer(I later found out the pitcher taunted him), and just too much media attention, made me think he was a punk or something.
But gotta say he has been a class act all year, handled the Cole Hamels situation beautifully, and making comments like he just made about Chipper deserving to be in his last allstar game like Cal Ripken.
He has changed my mind
Why would you think he was a punk for finishing school early? Whats wrong with that?
I just thought he was too arrogant, had that impression, but he has been top notch since he got to the big league’s.
Hope Chipper Makes it to the All-Star game. He’s had a VERY consistent career and will be a future Hall of Famer. Bryce, if he’s not already recieving help from Public Relations, should rebuild his reputation, as he will be the one of the BIG faces of the franchise for years to come. There’s something about his aura that reeks of success. Between him and that rotation, I see Harper in line for great things… just let Jones enjoy his farewell tour with the Braves.
I love Chipper, but he hasn’t earned an All-Star selection this season. He hasn’t played in enough games to do so. Harper has missed all but 2 games in the 1st month of the season (April) and still compiled almost 75 ABs more than Chipper.
I’ve never liked the idea of voting in a player based on their careers and not their seasons. Many a seasons Griffey Jr. should not have gone to the All-Star Game. Chipper has had his share (7) of All-Star appearances, how ’bout we honor his career with a Hall of Fame vote and not an All-Star vote that really won’t mean much.
DISAGREE …. I HATE that they do vote based upon the first half …as if THAT makes a player an all-star…..one good half! A TRUE all star is someone that has done it for complete seasons and for more than one complete season …not some rookie that performs well for a couple of months! 🙂
yeah it’s disturbing La Russa didn’t even pick him as a bench player.
Wow I know I haven’t been following baseball in awhile, when I was like “holy crap” I had forgotten all about Ben Sheets and was wondering what had happened to him.
I know ones a lefty (Liriano) and the other a righty (Jurrjens) but aren’t they both on the same boat (struggling). So why are they Braves scouting him?
Plus, who do the Braves have to trade with the Brewers. The Brew Crew are looking for a shortstop all they (imo), so how exactly are they a good fit to get a trade done here?
Pastornicky or Nick Amhed. Simmons is untouchable
Yeah the Braves will probably have to also include someone like Teheran to swing Grienke.
If an extension can be worked out, I’d be fine with sending Teheran/Pastornicky/Salcedo to the Brew Crew. That should easily get it done.
Well Matt Garza, what is it gonna take Cubs
Don’t really know what I hope the Braves do pitching-wise. I like the Sheets signing. I don’t expect anything to come from it, but at worst you just wasted some AA starts and an insignificant amount of payroll. At best he contributes as either a back-end starter or reliever, so there’s really no downside to it.
I kinda like Liriano because the past performance and buying low, but that BB/9 is absurd and the team as a whole already struggles with that, and if Liriano doesn’t stop walking people then he isn’t really an upgrade.
Grienke and Garza would both be big upgrades but cost multiple good prospects, which the team (and a lot of our fans) are soiling their pants in fear of doing ever since Teixeira. Ideally, I hope they trade for Greinke if they decide to make a move. If you’re gonna make a push, at least be serious about it. As long as it’s not more than one “untouchable” plus a second-tier guy or two (and no Simmons) I’d be ok with it. The team can hit and play defense, they just can’t get more than three decent starts in a row from their pitching.
The only pitcher I’d be willing to give up Teheran for is Greinke. If the Brewers need a shortstop they could also consider Salcedo or Lipka. Lipka has been playing more outfield and Salcedo is learning 3rd base but they both have a SS history. And I mean shortstop, I don’t think they were Nazi’s
Actually, I think St Louis may be the team where Liriano ends up next year on a two or three year contract worth around 6 mil a year. 2+1 option maybe?
Francisco Liriano has got to be one of the most overrated pitchers in baseball.
Who is he overrated by? I haven’t really heard anyone say that he’s an ace or even a #3…
Well, I’ve heard it in the past. The fact that he’s even a credible trade piece has left my interpretations that he’s overrated.
welp, lets get Jason Vargas.
I’m sad that they’re even scouting Vargas.
Let’s be realistic here, I’m sure Braves can work out a deal with the Brewers without including Delgado, Teheran, or Simmons, because they are deep at SS prospect and have other pitching prospects. That is no the issue here, the issue is that you’re not gonna give up quality players like Gilmartin, Minor, Graham, Spruill, Salcedo, Amhed, Pastornicky, Bethancourt, Gattis, etc for 3 month’s of Greinke.
You need to sign him long term. Cain got a huge deal that drove Greinke’s price up a lot, making 20 million per year a realistic target for Greinke. Now the Braves have a crappy TV deal for the next 20 years, rank 14th or 15th in attendance in MLB which is exactly on the middle, and the largest average annual value thay have ever given to a player was Chipper Jones back in 2000 when they gave him a 6 year 90 million dollar deal that’s 15 mill/yr same as Derek Lowe made in his time in Atlanta.
So no I don’t think the Braves will pay a player 20 mill per year, at least not in the next 20 years.
Go for Garza who is not as good as Greinke but is under team control for 9.5 million this year and guessing maximum 12 million next year.
Having a rotation like this for the second half is what I want:
SP Matt Garza
SP Tim Hudson
SP Tommy Hanson
SP Ben Sheets
SP Jair Jurrjens
I have a feeling that if Ben Sheets was able to contribute at the major league level it wouldn’t have taken him so long to find a job.
I’d like to see Greinke in a Braves uni, but not at the expense of Simmons and/or Teheran.
I think I’m satisfied with Hudson/Hanson/Sheets/Jurrjens/Youngster right now. If Sheets pans out, which we should know before the deadline, I really don’t think we need another starter to win.
Redmond and Teheran have not been given fair chances and Medlen is still an option. I wouldn’t be surprised if Delgado figures out what’s wrong with himself soon either. We have SO MUCH quality pitching, Fredi just refused to worry the team by adjusting the rotation too much.