Hot Stove Buzz #4

First, I hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful holiday season.  Second, I apologize for the recent lack of posts and I can guarantee that more are coming- and soon.  The news feed from baseball's offseason has slowed considerably, which has been a factor in the recent lack of posts.  However, big news out of Baltimore, for Cubs fans at least, in the Orioles' signing of first baseman Derrek Lee.  With newly-acquired power-hitting third baseman Mark Reynolds on the other side of the infield, the Orioles now, believe it or not, look like a team that will make a bang on offense.  Lee, of course, spent seven seasons with the Cubs before being traded to the Braves in 2010 and becoming a free agent.

-The Angels may have just looked at strike three.  Rumors had the Rangers, not their division rival Angels, getting third baseman Adrian Beltre in a big multiyear deal.  According to the same rumors, however, Monday and Sunday were two very different days in these negotiations.  Now they appear to be much farther away from a deal than was originally thought.  Folks, this one could take a while.

-The Rangers signed Brandon Webb, meaning the Cubs didn't.  However, the search for veteran middle-of-the-rotation starters continues for the Cubbies, as this is possibly our biggest need remaining.

-The Pirates signed Garrett Atkins.  Now I know I trashed Pittsburgh's signing of Lyle Overbay a couple weeks ago, but this makes things interesting.  If they could get a sample of the production Atkins used to come up for Colorado, Atkins and Overbay could be an effective combo.  It's a shame to see two formerly great veterans struggle to fall out of relevance like they have, but that's baseball and they should be glad to have a new opportunity in the Steel City.

-In today's biggest news, the Rockies gave Carlos Gonzalez a big extension for 7 years and $80 million.  The first thing that came to my mind was, wow, smart move by the Rockies.  Then I wondered, wait, now they've signed two (Troy Tulowitzki) franchise players to huge extensions?  That's nearly unheard of especially for a team like the Rockies who have signed big contracts (Todd Helton, Mike Hampton), but haven't done two in the same offseason.  Also, I'm pretty sure the Rockies wanted this extension done right now before he has another elite season because his stock will raise and he would probably demand more by then.  As far as contract extensions go, the Rockies successfully pulled off a nice little, but huge, budget shopping deal.

-The Padres signed Brad Hawpe.  This may be surprising based on his high strikeout totals and somewhat funky batting stance and swing, but Hawpe, until 2010, has been a great average hitter his whole career.  Also, excluding 2010 again, he has been very consistent in the power numbers.  Somewhere in the mid-20s in his homer range and mid-80s in his runs batted in range.

-The Blue Jays signed Chad Cordero, a name you may have forgotten.  Cordero was an elite reliever from 2004-2007 closing games from 2005 onward and could arguably be called the best player during the Nationals' three-year stay at RFK Stadium.  When the Nats moved to Nationals Park in 2008, he sort of was left behind.  A surgery and recovery complications limited him since and he has not been good at all in the very limited time he has pitched in the last three years.  The Blue Jays, watching their division improve around them, need to stack up as many moves as they can to keep up.  This is a good piece to the puzzle.

-The Jays didn't stop there, getting the veteran reliever Octavio Dotel in a free agent signing as well.  Besides being one of the most overrated players on the video game series MLB: The Show, Dotel is 36 and didn't have a great 2010 between three teams.  Interestingly though, Dotel still has the strikeout stuff that made his career owning a career 10.9 K/9 ratio.  In 2010, that ratio was 10.5 K/9, just a tick below.  Remember the Jays lost elite setup man Scott Downs in free agency, but could have a short term replacement right here.

-The Reds signed a trainwreck of an outfielder who will never live up to his potential Jeremy Hermida to a minor league deal, suggesting he will just be a backup plan on the 2011 Reds.  Hermida had high expectations coming up with the Marlins about four years ago, but has never really taken the next step.  He is stuck at Tyler Colvin stat levels, but with more strikeouts and without the rookie benefit-of-the-doubt factor.


 

Atlanta Starts New Era

Cub fans watching the Cubs' futile attempt at a season opener saw something that hasn't been seen for a long time: Atlanta as a baseball city.  Although the Atlanta Braves hat and the city abbreviation 'ATL' have become extremely popular in the rap and hip hop industry, the Braves and their fan base have been not so cool in recent years.  Turner Field can seat 54,357, behind only Yankee Stadium, but their attendance in 2009 was 15th at 29,304 a game.  Attendance has stayed below 34,000 a game every year since 2002.  Why did this happen?  I think it became fairly obvious.  Bobby Cox and the Braves marched to the playoffs 14 times in a row.  14 times!  However, they only got to five World Series, including none the last six years from 2000-2005.  They lost in the LDS the last four years, which grew frustrating for fans realizing their time as a winning team wouldn't last forever.  The last three of those LDS all included losing the win or go home Game 5 at home.

So what does this have to do with Opening Day 2010?  Here's my theory.  The Braves, rocketing into the 2003 playoffs with a 101-61 record and a lineup filled with all stars, met the Cubs in the first round.  The Braves were heavily, heavily favored against a Cubs team which still had issues the whole season and were a team that didn't seem like it was supposed to be there.  However, the Braves were surprised when the Cubs put up a good fight.  The Cubs even took a 2-1 lead in the series and the chance to move on at home, but the pitching of Russ Ortiz and a homer by Andruw Jones in Game 4 at Wrigley sent the series back to Turner Field.  Now, everything was favoring the Braves again to go play the upstart Marlins in the NLCS, but the shocked sellout crowd watched as Kerry Wood and Joe Borowski shut down the hitters to one run and five hits while Aramis Ramirez and Alex Gonzalez hit home runs.  Unbelievably, the Cubs would head back to Wrigley in the NLCS.  The Braves went home.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is the moment Atlanta went into a baseball slumber.  The only cities I know that could go into such a slumber while still fielding playoff teams are Atlanta and New York, specifically the Yankees.  And yet it happened, so even though the Braves would win 96 and then 90 games the next two years, the damage was done.  Any excitement still around was taken when Andruw Jones, Atlanta's baseball son, packed his bags after 2007.

The Braves would go on to lose for most of 2006, 2007, 2008 and some of 2009, but the transformation is happening again.  There were some glimpses last season of the future of Atlanta's baseball.  The new radius of guys revolves around some new stars, like Brian McCann, Derek Lowe, and of course super prospect Jason Heyward.  And as I watched the Braves destroy the Cubs for 16 runs in front of a sellout crowd on Opening Day, I saw the vision of another era of winning baseball.  I don't know if it starts this year or 2011 or ever, but I definitely saw the group of guys capable of the job.  Yunel Escobar, Martin Prado, Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, and Jason Heyward look like the same style homegrown group that started the last era of Andruw Jones, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine, and Mike Hampton.  One problem with the Braves right now is that there doesn't appear to be one face of the franchise-yet.  For me, it's only a matter of time before Hanson becomes the staff ace, Heyward picks up where Andruw Jones left off, and Escobar and Prado become a premier double play duo.  What Atlanta does at the end of an era can't be called rebuilding.  I call it retooling, because there is never no talent somewhere in the system.  Even through all of the struggles the last half-decade, Brian McCann was there as the new young talent.  Then came Escobar in 2007, Prado and Jurrjens in 2008 (although not technically homegrown, Jurrjens was traded from Detroit as a young prospect), and Hanson in 2009.  It's fair to say Atlanta has woken up.

This kind of transformation is really great for the game.  It's the way the game should be won.  Not the Cubs have ever played it this way or anything, but I guess anything is possible with the Ricketts now.  The Braves, in Boston, Milwaukee, and now Atlanta, is one of baseball's longest tenured and proudest franchises.  A return to winning form is spectacular for the future of baseball and the city of Atlanta.