When the Brave make a trade it's never just one trade, it's usually several, and the Nate McLouth deal may just be the beginning of the dealing.
Atlanta is one of the teams in conversation with the Boston Red Sox about veteran right-hander Brad Penny, according to sources, at a time when the Red Sox have been doing their own research on Braves right fielder Jeff Francoeur.
Seems intriguing, go on...
Atlanta's bullpen, however, has been a problem -- the Braves ranked 17th among 30 teams in relief ERA, at 4.32.
It is unclear whether Atlanta would have interest in Penny as a starter or as a reliever; if the Braves added Penny to their rotation, they could shift Kawakami into their bullpen.
Kawakami has been effective, generally, through the first 45 pitches of his starts, but opponents have an OPS of 1.042 against him in pitches 46 to 60.
Is that all...
The Braves and Red Sox match up with other pieces and parts, as well, if they were to expand their conversations beyond Penny and Francoeur.
Oh boy, this trade season really has started early. Penny is only signed through the end of this year, so getting him for Francoeur may be just a way to casually get rid of Francoeur without outright releasing him.
Of course, the Braves say they're not interested:
It's been an eventful and hectic week for the Braves. But contrary to an ESPN.com report, a Major League source said that the Braves don't have any interest in acquiring Brad Penny from the Red Sox.
And the dance goes on.
0 recs | 36 comments
http://markbowman.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/06/braves_not_interested_in_penny.html
nope. good thing too. i dont want penny.
Scott Coleman - June 5, 2009
and unless there's more to the deal than FYF and Penny
i dont think i wanna do that. I actually think Frenchy has more value than Penny. wow.
Scott Coleman - June 5, 2009
…must…stop…laughing…at…thought…of…FYF…having…more…value…than…anything…
Rhyno18 - June 5, 2009
seriously. but what does penny bring us? a 3rd 5th starter and a 5+ million dollar arm?
Scott Coleman - June 5, 2009
Yeah, uh, Brad Penny isn’t good.
Lennox - June 5, 2009
Im gonna agree with you there
Zeus12888 - June 5, 2009
Yeah, this didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Glad that it seems to not be true. I don’t really see where he would fit in, unless it was the bullpen.
10-4 - June 5, 2009
Yea i thought WTF when i saw that report. Maybe the bullpen hasn’t been great but i wouldn’t think a trade would be in order. Seems like Medlen might be enough for our long relief/setup needs. What we could use is 1 more power bat.
Slee - June 5, 2009
I can’t see why the Braves would be interested in Penny unless it’s one of those situations where they trade Francoeur for Penny then either release Penny or trade him to another team.
redwards95 - June 5, 2009
Brad Penny, huh?
sdp - June 5, 2009
Huh?
MichaelProcton - June 5, 2009
sdp - June 5, 2009
Aha...
MichaelProcton - June 5, 2009
god that place is bad
worst food ever, seriously
Doghnut - June 5, 2009
not in missouri
that place has more people for dinner than the Royals do for any home game.
Scott Coleman - June 5, 2009
soooooooo, there’s 6 people at the Golden Corral?
Rhyno18 - June 5, 2009
theyre busy in sc too
doesnt make it good…it was all bland and tasteless when i ate there..i went with a group of five or six people and none of us have been back since
then again, maybe we hit it on a bad day
Doghnut - June 6, 2009
Fine, you can stay away...
I’ll enjoy the yeast rolls, the honey butter, and more gummi bear-topped ice cream than you can shake two sticks at.
MichaelProcton - June 5, 2009
WTF???
if this is true and it happens, I am going to shit a brick.
justincredubil02 - June 5, 2009
Also of note, Penny, on pitches 26-50 has given up a 1.095 OPS. On pitches 76-100 he’s given up a .990 OPS.
Yeah, moving Kawakami to the ’pen for Penny makes a lot of sense.
Lennox - June 5, 2009
agreed
lol yeah we are gonna move Kawakami to the pen for Penny. lol not happenin, so Penny would be the one that goes to the pen. Even though Frenchy doesn’t have much trade value he is a pretty good RF defensively. I think he would hold more value to us as a bench player / defensive replacement for RF or LF in the later innings ahead of a guy like Anderson or Diaz but hey thats just what i think.
rockybull - June 5, 2009
But they'd have a lot easier time than us...
justifying a $4 million 4th OF sitting on their bench.
MichaelProcton - June 5, 2009
I mean if we trade him fine im not gonna be sad or nothin i mean i liked Frenchy but its clear that he is prolly either done or he just needs a new place to play. I guess what i was mainly tryin to say is i dont know if trading Frenchy for a guy like Penny makes much sense either. I mean Penny makes about the same amount or maybe a little more. I think we could get a cheaper bullpen arm money wise by just given up an expendable decent prospect. I would rather have Frenchy bein the late inning defensive replacement for RF or LF than Penny. Now if we can trade Frenchy and get rid of his salary without taken much back then great. Im just not a big fan of Penny right now i need to see more out of him and not too sure that he can handle relieving and bein effective for us down the stretch i would rather get an actual reliever.
rockybull - June 5, 2009
actually
if they wanna pay penny’s salary, i wouldnt hate this move…he’s more than i would expect to get for FYF
Doghnut - June 5, 2009
The only way I would approve
is if they called up B Jones to take FYF’s spot and then flipped Penny for another decent OF (maybe DeRo?)
justincredubil02 - June 5, 2009
Not happening
Debunked by both O’Brien and Bowman
Andy Braves Fan - June 5, 2009
Penny wouldn’t fit into our rotation. He’s just not good enough anymore. And we can get a lot of cheaper bullpen fixes
eaheckman10 - June 5, 2009
This one just doesn't make sense.
Why, when we need offense, would you trade Frenchy for Brad Penny? I’m not saying Frenchy is an offensive juggernaut, but he does actually hold a bat, whereas Penny is more known for throwing balls to batters from the mound. On top of that, is Penny really any better than Glavine would have been? We’ve demonstrated already that we have enough pitchers when we traded Morton, released Glavine, and stuck medlen in the bullpen.
If the Braves trade for anyone, it’ll be a hitter, not a pitcher.
FineHamAbounds - June 5, 2009
Yes, Penny is better than Glavine.
And if they find a deal they like, I’m certain they’ve not decided they’re just going to stand pat with the bullpen.
MichaelProcton - June 5, 2009
Well, THIS is fucking stupid. Lets trade a corner outfielder for a starter we don’t need and uh…um…replace the outfielder with a punch & judy hitting center fielder? Yeah, makes sense to me!
ESPN is stupid.
bigjoe - June 5, 2009
It’s Buster Olney, the guy spits out ideas and calls them rumors. Plus, we’ve got Tim Hudson and Kris Medlen to use, both of which would be more effective than Penny.
BigG1392 - June 5, 2009
Brad Penny looks like Kenny Powers
Minus the mullet in that picture. Hopefully we can pull something better than him for Frenchy. Dale Murphy had an atrocious season at age 25 (.247/13/50 in 369 ABs) and had never driven in 100 runs yet at that point in his career. We stuck with him and he eventually won us two MVPs, had four straight seasons of at least 36 homers and 100 RBI, plus 44 dingers two years after that run. Not saying Frenchy is another Murphy-type but we all said it and hoped it when he was called up. Who knows? Maybe he’s a schmuck who got lucky with a couple decent seasons and he’ll be out of baseball by 30. Or maybe next year he starts a similar four-year streak with Boston/KC wherever. As much as he’s already burned us, I almost want to give him another month to TRY and figure it out before we kick him to the curb. …Just in case.
The Keith Lockhart Era - June 5, 2009
He's had nearly a year and a half of sucking....
What makes you think 30 days will change that?
MichaelProcton - June 5, 2009
Shrug
I don’t know, really. If the tractor already doesn’t run, leaving it rusting in the sun for another month ain’t gonna fix it. Let’s chalk it up to hope.
The Keith Lockhart Era - June 6, 2009
yeah FYF
i mean FYF’s average is up to 251. now not saying thats a huge thing but he is seeing more pitches and is taking it to right field alot more which is a good thing
BOBBYCOX - June 6, 2009
And his OBP is still 270.
MichaelProcton - June 8, 2009
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