Everything you're seeing? The link posted in this very thread has both Oberholtzer and Clemens in the Atlanta top 10. Also, sold too soon? Bourn's having a career year at the plate, and this is deadline day. When would you deal him? It's hard to see how waiting until the offseason (or next year, when he's an impending FA with Boras, and likely worse at the plate) would get you a much better deal.
In the meantime, you gotta pay bourn a ton to be on a losing team next year, leave the potential of him getting hurt or worse out there, and even with type a comp, hope you draft well with 2 top 40 picks. Not a sure thing by any means. If ATL was never giving up one of their top 4 (by all accounts, true for any player on the market this year) and if the nats were bigger on Span and the reds were out.. This deal makes total sense. Can't assume we always have bargaining power just bc you want to crap on wade
A little disappointed, but not as bad as some. Oberholtzer may turn into a nice third starter. Juan Abreu is a very nice bullpen arm who hopefully will be flipped for more prospects in a couple of seasons. Clemens may be able to crack rotation at some point, but I wouldn't count on it. Jordan Schafer looks like he is going to suck. He should thus be an improvement on the MLB squad.
Eight new prospects (of various levels) is definitely a good thing. Trading Pence and Bourn was the right thing for this organization, I just wish the return had been a little better. I think it's clear that in one respect Ed Wade was the right GM to get the farm system turned around. I think what we will find here is probably the same thing the Phillies saw when he was there. He helps stock the minor leagues, but is obviously a terrible negotiator. Before the Pence trade, the Phillies GM and manager were laying the groundwork for the defense of trading Domonic Brown and saying that teams in the postion they were in have to overpay to get a player that may help them win a World Series. They were actually saying publicly that they were willing to overpay... and Wade did not force them to do it. And in my opinion, messing up the Pence deal in that way probably ended up setting the bar too low on Bourn. In two or three years, we might have the core of a very good team like the Phillies did when he left, and we will all forgive him, but we shouldn't forget that the deals should (and could) have been better. I just hope that another team hires him as GM and he feels as comfortable calling us about deals as he does calling the Phillies right now.
Schafer fell really hard in the last 2 years, I think he broke his hand or something? I remember when he was Baseball America's top 50 before that. Maybe he can get back to his potential in a new environment....maybe not. Come on Cashman.....blink. Give us someone for Wandy.
don't know what to think. not the return i had hoped for, but, if bourn wasn't having a career year, there's no way we could have gotten this haul. i do get the impression that other GM's feel that they can manhandle wade though.
Schafer is in the EXACT same spot Bourn was in when he arrived here. The difference was the Phillies were able to use Bourn the right way while the Braves were forced to push Schafer way to fast. He was under a ton of pressure in ATL but going to basically a AAA team in the bigs should help him and MIGHT get him back on track.
This was a bad move and none of you guys have justified this move because you can't. What center fielder anywhere in the near future are we going to find that is better than Bourn? Were not! Ed Wade and anyone with baseball sense should have known that. I don't care what arms you can get, that arm only pitches once every 5 days, Bourn is out there every game holding down center field gold glove style the last two years, while being one of the best lead off hitters (.306 avg), 1st in all of MLB in stolen bases and is 3rd in the NL in hits. Oh yeah and he's still just 28 and from HOUSTON!!! He wants to be here and would have stayed for the long haul. Ed Wade needs to go now! How come we can't impeach our gm when we see stupid decisions such as this being made? He's like the republicans making sure Obama fails, Wade must not like Crane very much
HGH..though he never tested postive and they never were able to prove he actually bought them, as I understand.
Crane says he wants the payroll under $60 million. Bourn just hired Scott Boras. The Astros need as many prospects as they can possibly retain. Bourn won't be part of this team when they're ready to be competitive again...being the best player on far and away the worst team in the league doesn't mean much. Speed is the first asset to go with age. Trade.
The Schafer part is disappointing. Not just because he's fizzled as a prospect but he's already 25 years old. You don't mind taking a flyer every once in a while but that's just not something we're in a position to do when you're trading your best assets.
richardjustice Richard Justice In Atlanta, they're saying Ed Wade got "spare parts" for Michael Bourn. Now that's just plain cruel.
I get where you (and I suppose Ed Wade) are coming from and definitely don't condone a Tim Purpura strategy of selling at the wrong times. But if ATL wasn't going to give up one of their top 4, the Reds were out, and the Nats were bigger on Span, that means there isn't a deal worth doing for Bourn. An All Star, Gold Glove CF should net at least one of a team's top 5 prospects. Instead, the best piece we got is Schaeffer, who has been a disappointment thus far. Trade Bourn in the offseason, don't feel the desperate need to trade him at the deadline. Or at least make the Braves sweat right up until the trade deadline and see if they cave. They were under a lot of pressure to make a deal and Bourn was the perfect fit. And who knows, maybe another team swoops in at the last minute with a stronger offer a la the Astros with Randy Johnson in '98 I don't buy the money argument - are the Astros hemorrhaging money? Is there a salary cap we should be worried about, or a marquee free agent that we want to sign? Should we spend the 10 mill he might on more Feliz's and middle relievers instead (it looks like our minor league system is now stacked with future middle relievers, though few grade A starters)? The Astros today remind me a lot of the Royals of the late 90s- poor-to-average player development, then trade the young players that pan out for other teams' Grade B prospects while never getting an organization's self-proclaimed "untouchables" (though I liked the Phillies deal). Let's hope new ownership can lure Andrew Friedman and/or Hunsicker back to town.
Doesn't sound like a very good deal for us, which is unfortunate. I thought Wade did a pretty respectable job with the Pence deal, but faltered quite a bit on the Bourn deal.
