I'm not sure why you're so pessimistic Paw Paw. I mean I don't think the Braves would short hand McCann THAT bad comapred to marketvalue.
Sure there's goign to be inflation in the contracts due to the new tv contracts and the market, but I think the BRaves would offer him a reasonable deal. Remember, we offered Furcal a solid deal and he still turned us down a few years ago AND the year he was going into FA.
I also think the BRaves value McCann's defensive abilities as well. He calls a really good game for pitchers, and frames pitches about as good as anybody in the league. You also forget McCann has an injury history as well, so that may factor in his contract consideration. That may just narrow it down to teams willing to DH him.
Im not trying to be pessimistic at all. My response is to the cry for McCann to take a hometown discount. Ive seen Zito say he thinks 4/44 will get him back. That is actually a pay reduction to what he gets now.
Actually, and Im going off what I read earlier that Mac didnt want to talk extension during the season, but I think Gattis would bring back a much bigger package in trade.
However, I stand by my main premise, going forward, at least 1 and preferably 2 of Mac, Uggla and the Uptons have to go in order to even have a chance to keep the core of young guys. Unfortunately, Mac is the easiest to part with at this time.
I wouldn't typically, but you never know. If (totally hypothetical of course) let's say the Rangers really want Freddie, and for him they offer, Profar, Olt, and Martin, and as a bonus, offer to take Uggla off our hands, could you say no to that? Every player has a price, and right now if we want a big shakeup Freddie is probably the highest piece to trade. That said, we dont' need a big shakeup since I'm sure Gattis can handle 3B if we keep Mac.
And I agree with J Upton being a viable young pup to hang on to but next year he goes to 13M. That is no proble, but then what do you do about Heyward who will go into his final year of arbitration at the end of next year. A 50M dollar OF would strangle a mid market team like the Braves who rely on pitching. Just a question.
Some day Im going to learn how to pull down quotes and posts. What do the Rangers do with Kinsler if they take Uggla in a sympathetic gesture? And didnt Gattis get a look at 3rd in the minors and winter ball? The decision being to move him to LF.
There's a reply with quote line at the bottom right of every post.
As far as Kinsler/Uggla, Uggla wouldn't replace Kinsler, he'd be their backup IF and probably starting DH. Berkman hasn'tr been hitting all that well and Uggla could be an improvement.
I was just making up a scenario that pretty much no one would say no to. Though we'd have an intriguing debate if a trade like that happened, who would play SS, Profar or Simmons. I'd go Simmons.
Assuming liberty isn't cheap and does give us our payroll boost when revenues go up we can afford to keep 3 of them assuming none of them want ridiculous deals.
I think we could probably extend Justin for 2 more years already to keep him together with his brother, and I think that we can keep Jason and Freddie. If we did that, by the time Justin hits FA he'll be exiting his prime so losing him won't be the worst.
Here's a rough pass at next year's payroll:
Starting pitching: Hudson (10M), Medlen (3.5), Beachy (1.5), Minor (0.5, could be higher if a Super 2), Teheran (0.5) Total (16)
Pen: Kimbrel (6.5, based on the Papelbon precedent), The Other Six (6.5) Total (13)
Regulars: McCann (15), Freeman(3.5), Uggla (13), BJ Upton (14), J Upton (14), Simmons (0.5), Heyward (4.5), C Johnson (4) Total (68.5)
Bench (6.5)
Total (104)
This year's budget is supposed to be around 95M. It should rise to 105-110 next year given the new national TV revenues (I'm assuming about half of it gets spent on salaries, which has been the historical norm).
I don't think Huddy gets 10M next year. If he wants to be a Brave its going to be much closer to 5 then it will be 10.
I would agree with that. Especially with the stable of young guys behind him
Effective rotation locks for next year barring trade or injury are Minor, Medlen, Julio, and Beachy, None will go to AAA or the pen (especially since Meds is about to get a nice pay raise and he would be the most likely candidate of that group) so that leaves 1 spot to be open and we have a ton of guys in AA and AAA who can fill that role. Wood, Martin, Northcraft, Hale, Gilmartin and if he's healthy Graham. So I would prefer Huddy to come back but if he wants more than about 6 per year, I would give that spot to Wood.
I would love to trade Medlen if he finishes the season strong. He will have good value and I don't see a future for him here. Wood will be ready soon.
What I'd do if I was able to keep Huddy at say 1/6 is offer up Medlen to say the rangers for Olt and others then offer up Johnson for some prospects to build our depth, I think we'd be moving along in 2014 with a good direction.
Under that scenario though, if we keep Mac, I'd have Gattis be a super sub, catch once or twice a week (depending on off days) play the OF once or twice a week and play first once every 2 weeks.
My point is we can fit in McCann and Huddy easily into next year's payroll. The issue really is beyond 2014 when we have to make decisions on Heyward, Justin Upton, Freeman and maybe some of the pitchers.
Sadly I see Medlen traded after this season as well. But I still wouldn't bring Huddy back at more than 5-6 million. You are playing with fire hoping he will still be good at his age.