Nov 12 2008
Filling shortstop won’t be easy if Braves trade Escobar
By Bud L. Ellis
braves.today.com
ATLANTA — Yunel Escobar, he of the cannon arm and the line-drive swing, ain’t gonna be with the Braves for long, methinks.
OK, how’s that for some really rough grammar to start tonight’s blog. Ain’t. Methinks. Ah, whatever. It’s the offseason, time for rest and relaxation and … wait? What’s this? The Braves are about to trade their starting shortstop, the one who has future All-Star written all over him, along with at least two prospects? For Jake Peavy?
OK then. So if this long-discussed deal does indeed go down, and Esco finds himself heading west, then who is going to man the hole for the Braves next season.
I’ll tell you this right not. It will NOT be Brent Lillibridge. The dude can play pretty good defense, but the Little Bridge is a little man at the plate. Dude cannot hit in the major leagues, and it showed last season, when he hit .200 with 23 strikeouts in 80 at-bats. TWENTY-THREE in 80 at-bats. Now, imagine that in the lineup 145 games next season.
Or not. That’s why the Braves are going to have to employ somebody between Chipper Jones at third base, and either Kelly Johnson or Martin Prado at second base (and for the record, I believe if Escobar’s gone, then KJ stays. No way you bring in two new middle infielders next season, even if Prado is capable of playing full-time in my opinion after his stellar final two months of the season).
The bad news is the free-agent market for shortstops ain’t that grand. For all the good talent out there for starting pitching – and we’ve talked about guys like Derek Lowe, A.J. Burnett, Ryan Dempster, Ben Sheets, C.C. Sabathia, etc. – you’re not going to find a deep free-agent pool of shortstops.
Orlando Cabrera may be the best name out there. The 34-year-old and two-time Gold Glove winner has hit .281 in each of the past three seasons, and has swiped 16-or-more bases in each of the past eight seasons. He’s also a winner, having played on Boston’s 2004 World Series winning squad, and reached the ALCS with the Angels in 2005 and the ALDS with the White Sox last season.
He hit .293 while batting leadoff for the ChiSox last season. But he’s gonna be costly, coming out of a $32 million, four-year deal and looking for more. The Braves do have cash to spend, though.
Rafael Furcal may be a trip down memory lane, but not a real prudent one for the Braves. Fukky won the 2000 NL Rookie of the Year award (as a side note, I covered the Braves part of that season for a suburban newspaper, and Furcal in his rookie campaign looked like he’d been in the majors already for two or three years). He still has the best arm of any shortstop I’ve seen (Shawon Dunston is a close, close second). But Furcal only played 34 games with a back injury, but he looked great in the playoffs for the Dodgers.
Edgar Renteria may be a trip down memory lane that’s more prudent. A fan favorite during his two seasons in Atlanta, Renteria hit .270 in Detroit in 2008 after going to the Tigers for Jair Jurrjens (I’d say that deal worked out well). Renteria struggled in his one season in Boston in 2005, so maybe a return to the National League would do him good. Defensively, Renteria appears to have lost at least a step, though.
There’s your three top picks. Not great, eh? Jerry Hairston Jr. is an intriguing thought. Hairston – who is you’ll remember got into a little bit of a verbal jawing session with Brian McCann earlier this season when Gregor Blanco bunted to break up a no-hitter – hit .326 with six homers and 15 steals in 80 games. He also offers versatility, being able to play short, second, third, and all three outfield positions.
As good as Omar Infante was for the Braves last season, I don’t think Atlanta wants to pencil him in at short full-time, especially since Infante is the key backup for Chipper Jones at third. Prado’s weakest infield position is short. I’m not comfy with Lillibridge striking out 140 times next season.
So what do you do? Honestly, I think the Braves could do worse than signing Hairston or Renteria. Both come with risk. Can Hairston play full time? Is Renteria beginning the post-30 slide?
I think if the Braves trade Escobar, it won’t be the last trade they make. They’ll take a long, hard look at trading for a shortstop.
—30—
I’d love to see Edgar come back here. He didn’t really have a choice in the matter when leaving, but he definitely seemed like a team player, and he was clutch.
I’d also rather not see Escobar go anywhere, especially after the way the Padres have been playing around with this Peavy fiasco. Either make the deal, or don’t. I can’t remember the last time the Braves had to put up with all of this crap, but that might’ve just been JS.
But I would like to see the Braves going after Edgar, anyway, and keeping Escobar and unloading KJ somewhere. That sounds like an infield that can actually hit and field.
Yeah Ben, given my drothers, I’d rather keep Esco and trade KJ. But to get Peavy — provided this deal ever, ever, ever happens — the Braves are gonna have to give up a solid major-leaguer, and Escobar definitely fits the bill.
Edgar’s an NL guy. His two seasons in the AL, with Boston in 2005 and with Detroit this season, weren’t great. Some guys just are more comfortable in one league than the other, and Edgar would be a nice stopgap to plug in for a year or two. And his veteran leadership definitely would be nice to have.
–30–