Original Draft Series: #1 – Atlanta Braves

For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.

Team #1: Atlanta Braves

General Managers(since 1994)

John Schuerholz (1994-2007): 1298-902
Frank Wren (2008-Current): 158-166

Team Performance

Playoffs			Division Finish
WC	League	Playoff App	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Last
1	3	11	11	1	3	1	0

All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.

Position	Name	Acquired	Years with Org.	Stats with Organization	Left?
C	Brian McCann	2002 – 2nd Rd	8	5 All Star Appearances, 3 Silver Sluggers 741 gm, .290/.360/.491, 111 HR, 463 RBI	Currently with Org.
1B	Adam LaRoche	2000 – 29th Rd	6+1	457 gm, .281/.346/.512, 77 HR, 253 RBI	Traded to PIT – 1/19/07
2B	Martin Prado	Int’l FA – 2001	9	1 All Star Appearance 389 gm, .309/.357/.459, 29 HR, 159 RBI, 9 SB	Currently with Org.
3B	Chipper Jones	1990 – 1st Rd (1)	20	1999 NL MVP, 2 Silver Sluggers, 6 All Star Appearances 2261 gm, .306/.405/.536, 436 HR, 1491 RBI, 147 SB	Currently with Org.
SS	Rafael Furcal	Int’l FA – 1996	9	2000 NL ROY, 1 All Star Appearance 817 gm, .284/.348/.409, 57 HR, 292 RBI, 189 SB	Left via Free Agency – 10/31/05
LF	Jeff Francoeur	2002 – 1st Rd (23)	7	1 Gold Glove 631 gm, .266/.308/.424, 78 HR, 359 RBI, 14 SB	Traded to NYM – 7/10/09
CF	Andruw Jones	Int’l FA – 1993	14	5 All Star Appearances, 1 Silver Slugger, 10 Gold Gloves 1761 gm, .263/.342/.497, 368 HR, 1117 RBI, 138 SB	Left via Free Agency – 10/31/07
RF	Jason Heyward	2007 – 1st Rd (14)	3	1 All Star Appearance 128 gm, .288/.403/.483, 18 HR, 71 RBI, 9 SB	Currently with Org.
DH	Mark DeRosa	1996 – 7th Rd	8	393 gm, .266/.318/.371, 17 HR, 99 RBI, 6 SB	Non-Tendered – 12/21/04
SP	Adam Wainwright	2000 – 1st Rd (29)	3	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to STL – 12/13/03
SP	Kevin Millwood	1993 – 11th Rd	9	1 All Star Appearance 75-46, 3.73 ERA, 1004.1 IP, 840 K, 303 BB	Traded to PHI – 12/20/02
SP	Tommy Hanson	2005 – 22nd Rd	5	21-15, 3.32 ERA, 311.2 IP, 276 K, 97 BB	Currently with Org.
SP	Kyle Davies	2001 – 4th Rd	6	14-21, 6.15 ERA, 237 IP, 172 K, 126 BB	Traded to KC – 7/31/07
SP	Kris Medlen	2006 – 10th Rd	4	9-7, 3.90 ERA, 175.1 IP, 155 K, 51 BB	Currently with Org.
RP	Matt Harrison	2003 – 3rd Rd	4	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to TEX – 7/31/07
RP	Charlie Morton	2002 – 3rd Rd	6	4-8, 6.15 ERA, 74.2 IP, 48 K, 41 BB	Traded to PIT – 6/3/09
RP	Blaine Boyer	2000 – 3rd Rd	9	6-9, 5.46 ERA, 117 IP, 105 K, 47 BB	Traded to STL – 4/20/09
RP	Jonny Venters	2003	7	4-2, 1.81 ERA, 74.2 IP, 83 K, 34 BB	Currently with Org.
RP	Kenshin Kawakami	Int’l FA – 2009	2	8-22, 4.32 ERA, 243.2 IP, 164 K, 89 BB	Currently with Org.
CL	Neftali Feliz	Int’l FA – 2005	2	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to TEX – 7/31/07
BN	Yunel Escobar	2005 – 2nd Rd	5	446 gm, .291/.368/.403, 29 HR, 183 RBI, 17 SB	Traded to TOR – 7/14/10
BN	Elvis Andrus	Int’l FA – 2005	2	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to TEX – 7/31/07
BN	Kelly Johnson	2000 – 1st Rd (38)	9	490 gm, .264/.346/.430, 45 HR, 206 RBI, 29 SB	Non-Tendered – 12/12/09
BN	Garrett Jones	1999 – 14th Rd	3	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Released – 5/21/02
BN	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	2003 – 1st Rd (36)	4	47 gm, .284/.333/.411, 4 HR, 12 RBI	Traded to TEX – 7/31/07

June Amateur Draft

The Braves have done extremely well in identifying talent in the amateur draft, with Chipper Jones represent the glory days of the past and Jason Heyward the unfulfilled future that is to come. And in between they have had a lot of solid Major Leaguers in Brian McCann, Adam Wainwright, Kevin Millwood, Yunel Escbar, and Adam LaRoche. The key to them being my top team however is the fact that with few exceptions, they have gotten this value for the Braves themselves, and only Adam Wainwright has had extreme success with another organization.

International Free Agency

The Braves have had their fair share of international free agent signees, with Andruw Jones clearly providing the most value to the Braves themselves. Unfortunately, the trade to acquire Mark Teixeira didn’t quite work out as planned, as they gave up a starting shortstop (Andrus) and an All-Star closer (Feliz) in the trade, along with 3 other valuable players. They don’t always make the big splash it appears, but they do end up with quite a few solid players as a result of their efforts.

Overall Grade

A+. To me, the Braves are in a class by themselves for this project. There was no difficulty in filling out the roster for this organization, and many of the bench players would have been considered starters for a lot of the other teams. The on-the-field success has shown that they have known what they are doing for quite a while, and their ability to make trades (although they didn’t always work out), and retain their talent has been crucial to their success.

Trade Review – NYY/ATL

New York Yankees receive SP Javier Vazquez and RP Boone Logan
Atlanta Braves receive CF Melky Cabrera, RP Mike Dunn, and P Arodys Vizcaino

The Yankees
The Yankees did pretty well here in my opinion. Vazquez is coming off of what could be his best year ever, where he posted a 15-10 record with a 2.87 ERA (2.77 FIP), 238 strikeouts, and a solid .297 BABIP. While it would appear that he could potentially see a severe regression due to moving from the Braves’ home field to the Yankees, I am confident based on his groundball ratio that he will not see a huge change in stats.

2004 (with the Yankees) GB/FB ratio: 0.88
2009 (with the Braves) GB/FB ratio: 1.20

I believe that if he can maintain that groundball ratio from 2009, he should be a solid #2-3 starter for the Yankees. Which will be excellent since he’s really slotting in as the #4 starter behind Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte. I am inclined to believe that this move allows the Yankees to keep Philip Hughes in the bullpen where he really excelled last year. This also makes it really likely that the Yankees are going to keep Nick Swisher in the outfield, with Brett Gardner playing the other corner outfield spot. Adding Logan just gives them another arm that they can mix and match into the back end of their bullpen as well.

The Braves
The Braves had a definite excess of starting pitching, with Lowe, Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens, and Kawakami all under contract for 2010. Moving Vazquez not only saves them some money (about $11.5 Million owed to him), but also acquires a solid young outfielder, a useful reliever in Mike Dunn (99 K in 73 IP in AAA last season), and a very young high-potential arm in Vizcaino (52 K in 42 IP at Staten Island last season).

Overall Review
This is one of those trades that looks like it really helps out both teams. The Braves move one of their excess starting pitchers for a useful outfielder and two good arms. The Yankees move one of their few excesses (corner outfielder type), and turned him into one of the best pitchers currently. And they only need him to be a 4th starter really.

Yankees win now, Braves win long-term