Braves sign Ervin Santana to 1 year 14.1M deal

rico43 said:
You can tell this board is getting popular. We're getting more and contrarians -- which means better give and take. I like that those who quote stats like it, but those who hate, use "he sucks" as their argument.
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Ha. You should have been around for the JD Drew trade
 
While I understand why the organization felt the need to sign Santana under the circumstances, and am encouraged that Liberty approved of the expenditure which puts us a good bit over budget, I absolutely hate that we had to do this. Firstly, I hate it for Kris. Secondly, we lost our 1st round pick which we desperately needed to replenish a weak farm system (the argument that it's OK to lose this pick because we have a sandwich pick is so illogical and misguided). Having two high picks is twice as good as one, no matter how you slice it. I also think the chances of us offering him a QO next winter to recoup this pick are less than 50-50 as our budget is extremely tight for the 2015 season and we probably won't be able to take the chance he accepts unless he has a monster season and becomes one of the top free agents. We also lost the slot money that goes with that pick, so it isn't like we can now spend that money somewhere else. We also most likely lost all or at least a significant portion of any flexibility we had for a mid-season acquisition.

Understand the move as we have too good a team to let Medlen's injury and Beachy's question marks potentially derail us, but the price we just paid is extremely high.
 
skillet said:
While I understand why the organization felt the need to sign Santana under the circumstances, and am encouraged that Liberty approved of the expenditure which puts us a good bit over budget, I absolutely hate that we had to do this. Firstly, I hate it for Kris. Secondly, we lost our 1st round pick which we desperately needed to replenish a weak farm system (the argument that it's OK to lose this pick because we have a sandwich pick is so illogical and misguided). Having two high picks is twice as good as one, no matter how you slice it. I also think the chances of us offering him a QO next winter to recoup this pick are less than 50-50 as our budget is extremely tight for the 2015 season and we probably won't be able to take the chance he accepts unless he has a monster season and becomes one of the top free agents. We also lost the slot money that goes with that pick, so it isn't like we can now spend that money somewhere else. We also most likely lost all or at least a significant portion of any flexibility we had for a mid-season acquisition.

Understand the move as we have too good a team to let Medlen's injury and Beachy's question marks potentially derail us, but the price we just paid is extremely high.
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Yeah, it is a shame we had to do this. But I'm glad we were able to. I'm a bit more optimistic than you that we will be able to recoup the draft pick next year. If Santana has a good year, the front office could be confident he will turn down a qualifying offer. If he accepts the qualifying offer after a good season, he should be a fairly easy to trade asset.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
And then there is this:

Braves and GM Wren not done Rebuilding Pitching Staff?

After the conclusion of Ervin Santana's introductory press conference, Wren stated that he and his staff were not done.

"This is an incredible decision by the organization," Wren said. "This is going to push us well above what we thought our budget would be this year. I'm excited about this decesion, and we are not done by any means on bolstering this pitching staff for the upcoming season and in the future." When asked on what changed with the additional flexibility to take on payroll compared to the beginning of the offseason, Wren said, "There have been many developments that have taken place in the past few months. For one thing the additional revenue that we are figuring from moving to Cobb, second is locking in our young players to long-term deals giving us financial security knowing how much is allocated to those positions, and third ownership has seen the benefit that the Braves have added to their portfolio and how investing in the organization and putting additional resources into it can bring even greater returns on putting a championship caliber team on the field. We have the resources, we are going to get it done, and we are going to field an exciting and competitive young team." When asked about the potential move that he is currently working on, Wren stated, "I can't elaborate, but all I will say, is it is going to change the landscape of our division and all of baseball, and Braves fans are going to be exciting as we will field the best pitching staff in baseball that will rival the days of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz."

Wonder who he is alluding to?
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He doesn't usually offer that much detail in advance of a transaction. This is quite interesting, if it's an accurate quote.
 
skillet said:
I absolutely hate that we had to do this. Firstly, I hate it for Kris. Secondly, we lost our 1st round pick which we desperately needed to replenish a weak farm system (the argument that it's OK to lose this pick because we have a sandwich pick is so illogical and misguided). Having two high picks is twice as good as one, no matter how you slice it. I also think the chances of us offering him a QO next winter to recoup this pick are less than 50-50 as our budget is extremely tight for the 2015 season and we probably won't be able to take the chance he accepts unless he has a monster season and becomes one of the top free agents. We also lost the slot money that goes with that pick, so it isn't like we can now spend that money somewhere else. We also most likely lost all or at least a significant portion of any flexibility we had for a mid-season acquisition.
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Ever since the Glavine re-signing, this has been the party line. Give it a rest. Desperate times call for desperate measures. They weren't going to enter the season with Teheran as a staff ace, followed by Garcia, Wood and Hale and question mark with Beachy and prayers that Minor will be sorted out soon. This was a necessary move to field a competitive team. Remember the hysterial posts, just a day ago? "Lucky if we have an 80 win season!" Bunch of babies.

They did this same thing last year by signing BJ Upton and didn't lose anything with Bourn. So, they're just back to where they started. Then, how many months on this board (and probably any other online location where Braves fans gathered) was there incessant bitching about not getting a top of the rotation starter? Despite the unfortunately set of circumstances, Wren just addressed the issue. His first job is to build a championship team, not just be constantly paranoid about prospects for 5 years away. They've active in the international markets, so it's not as if there's cause to hit the panic button.

Considering this is almost mid-March, it was the only proper course of action.
 
The thing that impresses me the most about this is that Dayton Moore has apparently gone full pre-cog. In 2013 he managed to acquire a *future* Brave.
 
Just some perspective, but Braves first round draft pick history since '95. What's our success rate anyway????

2013 Jason Hursh RHP Oklahoma State 31
2012 Lucas Sims RHP Brookwood (Ga.) High School 21
2011 Sean Gilmartin LHP Florida State 28
2010 Matt Lipka SS McKinney (Texas) HS 35
2009 Mike Minor LHP Vanderbilt 7
2007 Jason Heyward OF Henry County HS, McDonough, Ga. 14
2006 John Johnson OF A. Crawford Mosely HS (Panama City, Fla.) 24
2005 Joseph Devine RHP North Carolina St 27
2002 Jeff Francoeur OF Lilburn, GA 23
2001 Macay McBride LHP Screven County HS, Sylvan 24
2001 Josh Burrus SS Wheeler HS, Marietta, Ga 29
2000 Scott Thorman 3B Cambridge, Ontario 30
2000 Adam Wainwright RHP St. Simons Island, GA 29
1997 Troy Cameron SS Ft. Lauderdale, FL 29
1996 A.J. Zapp 1B Greenwood, IN 27
1995 *-Chad Hutchinson RHP Encinitas, CA 26
 
Gary82 said:
We got the 2008 Santana, right?
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If we get the 2008 Santana I will definitely eat my crow and love it. But chances are just as good the Braves will get the 2012 Santana as they are getting the one from 2008. I'm just hoping for a FIP of 4 with hopefully him repeating his 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio from last year.
 
Knucksie said:
He doesn't usually offer that much detail in advance of a transaction. This is quite interesting, if it's an accurate quote.
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Doesn't necessarily mean it will be DURING the 2014 season.

Mark my take down as the first voter that thinks we WON'T be outbid for David Price IF we don't trade for him during the season (have thought that since the first mention of the new ballpark and moreso since the money started flowing for extensions).

Price has just made entirely too much sense as the answer to the question of "Will we ever actually go outside of the organization to get an 'Ace'?" for entirely too long.

Santana for one year only strengthens that argument. We now KNOW (beyond question) that Liberty will allow Wren & Company to do what it takes to increase the value of this asset. Most of the extensions fit within what was the original budget to begin with. $28 million in new revenues from the new national TV deal and you want $14 million to fill a NEED? Took an hour to get the go-ahead from McGuirk.
 
thethe said:
So glad our season isn't over before the calendar turns to April. If this guy duplicates what he did last year then we should still be favorites to make the postseason.

Most importantly the message this signing sends is big. Ownership is FINALLY investing back into the team and its clear the objective is to be as good as possible when we go into Cobb County. It truly is a BRAVE NEW WORLD!
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Ban???
 
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