Let's take a look around the internets and see if the Braves turned out to be Winners or Losers in the eyes of writers and bloggers.
First up is the Phill-o-phile writer for ESPN, Jayson Stark. He lists the Braves and the rest of the NL East among the losers on his review of deadline day:
The five NL East clubs did get a few trades done in the past couple of weeks. We'll grant them that. The Phillies did trade for Joe Blanton. The Braves did trade away Teixeira. And the Nationals did ship Jon Rauch to Arizona. But when July 31 had come and gone, it was safe to say they've all had better Deadline Days.
Next we take a look at what Sports Illustrated writer Jon Heyman says as he lists the Braves as a winner at the deadline:
GM Frank Wren did as well as he could to rent Teixeira, pulling in a slick-fielding young first baseman in Casey Kotchman. While the power numbers aren't there, some scouts believe they will come. Kotchman can't compare to what they gave up for Teixeira (a bunch), but hey, Teixeira enhanced their chances in two different seasons. It just didn't quite work out.
Sort of echoing Heyman's take on the trade is Peter Bendix from Beyond the Boxscore, who also rates us as a winner in this deal:
Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek are better than two compensation picks. That’s what it boils down to. Yes, the Braves look rather silly, considering the fact that they gave up a ton to Texas to acquire Teixeira last year and received "only" Kotchman and Marek when trading him this year. But kudos to Frank Wren for his willingness to potentially look bad, even though it made his team better.
Two major outlets didn't list us as winners or losers at all. USA Today failed to mention us, as did Fox Sports.
Steve Henson from Yahoo Sports sort of missed the point of rating "this year's" winners and losers when he rated us as a loser with this as his reasoning:
So, basically, after acquiring Teixeira a year ago and unloading him two days ago, the Braves get Kotchman and minor league pitcher Steve Marek for the harvest of prospects they shipped to the Texas Rangers: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Matt Harrison, Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and Beau Jones. They’ll be happy with Kotchman, a solid player. Marek, a hard thrower with a power curveball, has potential. But they paid a big price for Teixeira a year ago and won’t go to the playoffs again.
So that's two wins and two losses. It seems that no one is really sure what to make of our deadline dealing(s).
What do you think?
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Neutral – we did okay getting halfway decent value for Tex. It was a bad situation all the way around, but we got at least a serviceable 1B who we control for several years. He’s not Tex, but Tex wasn’t going to be here after this year regardless.
I love how every major media outlet seems to forget that we got more than just Tex for those 5 prospects. We got half a season of above average relief pitching from Mahay, not to mention Brett DeVall in the draft since Mahay signed elsewhere. BP had this to say about him:
DeVall could move faster than your standard high school arm, as he already has a three-pitch mix and above-average command and control.
I think it is also, as has been pointed out here, important to remember
That we got a year and a half of Tex. We didn’t win last year or this but we took our chances. Getting actual value from Tex is a good thing because who knows what those draft picks would have possibly been. It’s a shame he wasn’t ever going to sign here long term, but I suppose not everyone is Tim Hudson. I’m happy to see something from the trade. I do wish we had shipped Ohman though, bullpen arms are a dime a dozen it seems. One year you are Rafael Soriano and the next year you are Rafael Soriano.
I have been one of the few that insisted that we didn’t even need to trade Mark this season in order to make the deal balance out. When you consider the 1.5 season of Tex, half a season of Mahay and the three draft picks we purchased with our prospect package, I think we did fine for ourselves. The Kotchman trade doesn’t change that; if anything, it makes it slightly better for us.
Since then, we’ve struggled as a team, so the win-now move didn’t pay off. That said, most of the prospects that we sent to Texas haven’t been all they were supposed to be. All in all, I don’t fault the team for acquiring Tex and I don’t blame them for letting him go now.
Neutral – we did okay getting halfway decent value for Tex. It was a bad situation all the way around, but we got at least a serviceable 1B who we control for several years. He’s not Tex, but Tex wasn’t going to be here after this year regardless.
matches - August 1, 2008
I love how every major media outlet seems to forget that we got more than just Tex for those 5 prospects. We got half a season of above average relief pitching from Mahay, not to mention Brett DeVall in the draft since Mahay signed elsewhere. BP had this to say about him:
Smoltz's Beard - August 1, 2008
Also have to consider
That we “failed” to move Ohman. The question will be whether the comp pick will be better than, say Gaby Hernandez.
jc25 - August 1, 2008
Link
Just realized the link is Insider only, but it’s Keith Law’s analysis on the Rhodes deal.
jc25 - August 1, 2008
Keith Law = Tool
I can’t stand him. He’s a pompous ass, just ask the gang at Ducksnorts.
RainDelay - August 1, 2008
i love keith law, because he doesn’t fuck around with bullshit. very to the point, but a very nice guy nevertheless
bigjoe - August 2, 2008
Sounds like not much was offered for Ohman, so it doesn’t bother me much that we kept him. I’d rather have the draft pick than a fringe prospect.
matches - August 1, 2008
I think it is also, as has been pointed out here, important to remember
That we got a year and a half of Tex. We didn’t win last year or this but we took our chances. Getting actual value from Tex is a good thing because who knows what those draft picks would have possibly been. It’s a shame he wasn’t ever going to sign here long term, but I suppose not everyone is Tim Hudson. I’m happy to see something from the trade. I do wish we had shipped Ohman though, bullpen arms are a dime a dozen it seems. One year you are Rafael Soriano and the next year you are Rafael Soriano.
Perrinbar - August 1, 2008
re: Harrison
Watched him get cuffed around against the mariners last night. It wasn’t pretty.
RainDelay - August 1, 2008
The Tex Trades.
I have been one of the few that insisted that we didn’t even need to trade Mark this season in order to make the deal balance out. When you consider the 1.5 season of Tex, half a season of Mahay and the three draft picks we purchased with our prospect package, I think we did fine for ourselves. The Kotchman trade doesn’t change that; if anything, it makes it slightly better for us.
Since then, we’ve struggled as a team, so the win-now move didn’t pay off. That said, most of the prospects that we sent to Texas haven’t been all they were supposed to be. All in all, I don’t fault the team for acquiring Tex and I don’t blame them for letting him go now.
ejruiz - August 1, 2008
+1
People who act like it was a disaster are silly.
VictorW - August 1, 2008
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