Atlanta Braves Trades

Wanted to make a quick reference to a few trades that the Braves made under John Schuerholz that really puzzled me, and now they have come back to haunt us. First trade was Adam Wainwright for JD Drew, we knew Drew would not sign back with us and was not going to stay long, but we gave them our best minor league pitcher when we could have found a better RF option. Everyone knew Wainwright would be awesome and he would look good behind Hudson and Jurrgens right now, if not the ace of the staff.

Second Trade was Max Ramirez for Bob Wickman, Max Ramirez is a catcher with tons of pop and a great bat, he is now playing for the Braves second team, the Rangers after the Indians dealt him a few years later. He was called up a few days ago after hitting .360 with 14 hrs in the minors. I think he would be better as other trade bait or a great backup, because Sammons is not going to get it done.

The final trade, the franchise killer was for Teixera. John Schuerholz knew he was not going to be able to sign Tex because he is a Boras client. We gave away way too much for a rental player. Elvis Andrus "the next Jeter" is playing in the world vs usa all star game, a slick fielding ss with speed and a improving bat, he is very young. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a great young talent and could have played both 1st and C, I love this guy and he will be a good MLB player. Matt Harrison is a SP who would be pitching for us right now, Matt Harrison pitched a seven-inning no-hitter in the first game of Double-A Frisco's doubleheader on Sunday. Harrison improved to 3-1 with a 3.15 ERA, 32 H and 25/12 K/BB in 34 1/3 IP. He was also a fine Double-A pitcher last year in the Braves organization, so it's past time to test him in Triple-A. Beau Jones an early draft pick who will only get better as he pitches more innings after arm surgery. Finally the throw in part of the deal we gave them Neftali Perez who is a stud, oops. Feliz has a 1.02 ERA and a 67/15 K/BB ratio in 53 2/3 innings dating back to the beginning of May, and he's struck out 30 in his last three starts. There was never any questioning the 20-year-old's ceiling, but it's surprising that he's started to excel so quickly. At this rate, he might be a candidate for the Texas rotation by the middle of 2009.

Yes, Johnny made some great early moves, but on his way out he was very desperate looking for another ring, and he might have sacrificed the future for a robot named Mark Teixiera. I have loved what Frank Wren has done with the Renteria deal, the Kotsay deal, and the draft which was full of pitching. Now, if he can get half of what we gave away for Tex in a trade he would have done a great job. In the end the Texas Rangers have done very well for themselves.