Trade value column from grantland

[Russ2dollas]

Not that favorable to Braves talent....Not that favorabel to CK's value....

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...ankings-part-1

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...ankings-part-2

[PawPawMaxwell]

Man, I hope some of our friends dont see this. Can we keep nsacpi,, thethe, Heyward and Zito from reading it.

nsacpi: But, but, but!!!!!!!!!
thethe: Man, this just cant be true about our players.
Heyward: No way is Jason not a top 5 player in all of baseball
Zito: These writers dont understand WAR, FIP, or VFU. (I just made up that last one)

[thethe]

The SIMBA portion was the best portion.

[Nerfherders]

Yeah I got caught watching that highlight reel for about 15 minutes and forgot I was at work!

[Heyward]

The Braves control Minor's rights through 2017, giving them a durable lefty with excellent command to team with Teheran, Kris Medlen, and Brandon Beachy to form one of the most promising young rotations in the game

[Enscheff]

There is simply no way Heyward drops from 10 to off the list in one year. That is just absurd. He is still an extremely valuable trade piece. Teams would be lining up if Wren made him available.

Now where are those posters that insist Kimbrel is more valuable than Profar...?

[nsacpi]

There is simply no way Heyward drops from 10 to off the list in one year. That is just absurd. He is still an extremely valuable trade piece. Teams would be lining up if Wren made him available.

Now where are those posters that insist Kimbrel is more valuable than Profar...?

I can understand it given he is now only two years away from free agency and also will be more expensive relative to value in the last two arb years.

[Hawk]

Now where are those posters that insist Kimbrel is more valuable than Profar...?

Right here, boyo. You can make that statement until you are blue in the face, but repeating it doesn't make it any less idiotic.

[PawPawMaxwell]

Right here, boyo. You can make that statement until you are blue in the face, but repeating it doesn't make it any less idiotic.

Gotta agree with Enscheff on the Kimbrel vs Profar point. Gotta disagree with Enscheff on his stand re: Heyward.

[Hawk]

Gotta agree with Enscheff on the Kimbrel vs Profar point. Gotta disagree with Enscheff on his stand re: Heyward.

I don't want to say it's completely baseless, but value is relative, and Kimbrel possesses superior, demonstrated skills as well as immense marketability. People seem to be buying into Profar on hype and potential. Which is fine, but I hang up on the natural assumption that Wren would gladly exchange Profar for Kimbrel evenly. Makes plenty of sense for the Rangers, not so much for the Braves.

[nsacpi]

Regarding the Profar versus Kimbrel debate, anyone who is willing to take a quick look at the history of top 5 prospects will see that there is no contest here. The average top 5 prospect does incredibly well. And those six pre free agency years (especially the 3 pre arb years) are gold in today's market. Maybe Profar will be a total bust. But those types of elite prospects on average are extremely valuable.

[PawPawMaxwell]

And effective closers have never been that difficult to find for the Braves.

[wheresmykayak]

I dunno. I can still vividly remember the Chris Reitsma era and how painful it was to watch the late innings. And then when he fell apart, the Braves decided to upgrade by picking up the great Dan Kolb. Man, those were the days to load up on Maalox for every single game unless it was a blowout.

It's pretty much impossible to quantify with stats, but I think an elite closer carries more value than anyone not actually on a baseball team would care to admit. Battling for 8 innings to get a lead, only to have your closer blow it is a deflating feeling. Sure, it happens to even the best of them, but if you're a player and you think "Well, time for another rollercoaster" every time the 9th inning comes around, it probably wears on you over the span of 162 games. I honestly feel like Craig Kimbrel is a BIG reason we've had pretty good regular seasons the past few years, despite not having many statistical standouts on the team otherwise.

[Russ2dollas]

I'm in the closers are overrated and unnecessary camp. But if CK truly isn't in the top 50 of desirable baseball players, then he's not going to get a big return. So I'd keep him.

You only trade him for a monster haul.

[nsacpi]

I'm in the closers are overrated and unnecessary camp. But if CK truly isn't in the top 50 of desirable baseball players, then he's not going to get a big return. So I'd keep him.

You only trade him for a monster haul.

You trade him if another team offers a package that you consider more valuable. It is all relative.

[Knucksie]

I dunno. I can still vividly remember the Chris Reitsma era and how painful it was to watch the late innings. And then when he fell apart, the Braves decided to upgrade by picking up the great Dan Kolb. Man, those were the days to load up on Maalox for every single game unless it was a blowout.

Yes, and only hundreds (or was it thousands?) of posts at Scout pounded that into everybody's heads on a constant basis.

[GovClintonTyree]

And effective closers have never been that difficult to find for the Braves.

Uhh.....

[Dalyn]

Uhh.....

People have such short memories.

[Knucksie]

Since the early 90's, the only effective, stable closers for the Braves have been Wohlers, (ahem) Rocker, Smoltz and Kimbrel. The rest have been a collection of has-beens (Reardon, Olson, Harvey, etc.) or fringe major leaguers (Ligtenberg, McMichael, etc. or Boever the Saver in ancient times). The closer role has often been an achille's heel for the organization.

[nsacpi]

Wagner was quite good for the one season he closed. I recall Soriano and Gonzalez having effective stints as closers.