Braves Meeting with Lester

BillShanks
@BillShanks
Remember when Andruw Jones almost got traded to the Red Sox, the three players coming back to ATL were Jon Lester, Craig Hansen & Coco Crisp

Ok.
 
My guess Lester will end up with 110-120 for 6 years. That's the market for pitchers of his caliber. Verlander's deal was 7/180. 5 years for 90 would be a team friendly deal. I'm glad Hart is actually talking to him and his agent rather than "assuming."
 
sturg33 said:
Didn't Hart say yesterday that he wasn't interested in surrendering draft picks or handicapping us financially?

Is he just doing his due diligence on Lester? Just to see what his demands are?

That's more than he did for Heyward
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Look - I'm no front office apologist but how many damn times do I have to tell you guys that the Braves tried to negotiate an extension with Heyward but he and Casey Close were always insisting on a comp package well north of $200m (with an opt out too, mind you) or that they felt it was in Heyward's best interest to test the FA waters after 2015? What do you want Hart to do if they did not feel comfortable paying Jason $220 or $240m? Just let him walk next offseason with a measly draft pick?

Get over it.
 
CyYoung31 said:
But there's still the whole handicapping us financially thing.
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Yes. That kind of deal for a pitcher is enormously risky for a team with our finances. And it makes even less sense when you already have four good young cost-controlled starting pitchers. It is a risk in search of a justification.
 
I mentioned in the Heyward thread that the only way that trade made sense is if they used the money to sign Lester (and maybe even the Peavy package) and then used Minor to unload BJ.

Lester

Teheran

Wood

Peavy

Miller

That's a damn good rotation, but it isn't going to matter all that much if we don't get Johnson a platoon partner and pick up a good backup catcher like Jaso and find someone to play CF.
 
ramadon101 said:
Look - I'm no front office apologist but how many damn times do I have to tell you guys that the Braves tried to negotiate an extension with Heyward but he and Casey Close were always insisting on a comp package well north of $200m (with an opt out too, mind you) or that they felt it was in Heyward's best interest to test the FA waters after 2015? What do you want Hart to do if they did not feel comfortable paying Jason $220 or $240m? Just let him walk next offseason with a measly draft pick?

Get over it.
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Do you have any information on when those conversations took place?
 
Dalyn said:
I mentioned in the Heyward thread that the only way that trade made sense is if they used the money to sign Lester (and maybe even the Peavy package) and then used Minor to unload BJ.

Lester
Teheran
Wood
Peavy
Miller

That's a damn good rotation, but it isn't going to matter all that much if we don't get Johnson a platoon partner and pick up a good backup catcher like Jaso and find someone to play CF.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is still a lot of work to be done but hte Braves seem very active right now so I think they are well aware of their shortcomings.
 
ramadon101 said:
Look - I'm no front office apologist but how many damn times do I have to tell you guys that the Braves tried to negotiate an extension with Heyward but he and Casey Close were always insisting on a comp package well north of $200m (with an opt out too, mind you) or that they felt it was in Heyward's best interest to test the FA waters after 2015? What do you want Hart to do if they did not feel comfortable paying Jason $220 or $240m? Just let him walk next offseason with a measly draft pick?

Get over it.
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I always love your input. Thanks for bringing light to this conversation. Some may not trust you as a reliable source but I've seen enough to the point where I believe what you say.

Jason wants (and will get) big money. Braves could not afford it. I'm glad we pulled a Billy Beane type of deal instead of foolishly lettting him ride out this year and just getting a draft pick.
 
Using Hale or Martin as the fifth starter is a very different kind of risk. But it is a much more sensible risk for this team imo than signing Lester to a big contract.
 
nsacpi said:
Do you have any information on when those conversations took place?
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Yes. Under Wren's administration it occurred during last offseason's arb discussions. Hart was involved at that time as well in the structuring of the long-term extensions for our guys. Heyward wanted something well north of what Freeman got and it became clear both sides felt there was no way to "bridge the valuation gap" (i.e., Heyward wanted to be paid like a premier player; the Braves were hesitant because they did not want to pay him like a premier offensive and defensive player when his bat hasn't yet hit his once projected ceiling)-- hence the two year arb buyout just to get into this offseason. All further extension talks were tabled.

Then John C and Billy Ryan (among others) had ongoing discussions over the past month with Casey Close at Excel. Casey was adamant that any reasonable offer needs to start above $220 and even then Heyward was tempted to test the FA waters. There was also discussion of an opt out. The Braves still did not feel he was worth that much (I have no indication as to what they did feel was reasonable, but I do know it was north of what they agreed to with Freeman) and that was that.

What do you want them to do in light of same? It was VERY clear that Heyward wanted top dollar and there was never any suggestion or offer that he would take any form of a hometown discount (on either AAV or the years) to stay here long term.
 
nsacpi said:
Using Hale or Martin as the fifth starter is a very different kind of risk. But it is a much more sensible risk for this team imo than signing Lester to a big contract.
Click to expand...

We may still use them as a fifth starter and trade Minor. Or, the Braves can do multiple moves:

Minor/BJ to a team for a prospect

J-Upt to Seattle for Walker/Guerroro

That gives the Braves a tremendous amount of money to spend. Maybe puts them in on the Cuban hot prospect or just gives them overall flexibilty to plug their issues.
 
ramadon101 said:
Yes. Under Wren's administration it occurred during last offseason's arb discussions. Hart was involved at that time as well in the structuring of the long-term extensions for our guys. Heyward wanted something well north of what Freeman got and it became clear both sides felt there was no way to "bridge the valuation gap" (i.e., Heyward wanted to be paid like a premier player; the Braves were hesitant because they did not want to pay him like a premier offensive and defensive player when his bat hasn't yet hit his once projected ceiling)-- hence the two year arb buyout just to get into this offseason. All further extension talks were tabled.

Then John C and Billy Ryan (among others) had ongoing discussions over the past month with Casey Close at Excel. Casey was adamant that any reasonable offer needs to start above $220 and even then Heyward was tempted to test the FA waters. There was also discussion of an opt out. The Braves still did not feel he was worth that much (I have no indication as to what they did feel was reasonable, but I do know it was north of what they agreed to with Freeman) and that was that.

What do you want them to do in light of same?
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This is essentially what I expected. Thank you for sharing.
 
thethe said:
We may still use them as a fifth starter and trade Minor. Or, the Braves can do multiple moves:

Minor/BJ to a team for a prospect

J-Upt to Seattle for Walker/Guerroro

That gives the Braves a tremendous amount of money to spend. Maybe puts them in on the Cuban hot prospect or just gives them overall flexibilty to plug their issues.
Click to expand...

If we are going to build a monster rotation, the team really needs Justin to stick around. But I do think, as I mentioned, that Minor is ideal for unloading BJ's contract.
 
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