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Braves close to acquiring Adam LaRoche

The latest rumor du jour has the Atlanta Braves on a short list to re-acquire their old first baseman, Adam LaRoche. This was first reported on Twitter by Jon Heyman of SI.com and confirmed by multiple sources, including the Braves beat writer Mark Bowman. LaRoche is owed around $3 million by the Red Sox after they acquired him from the Pirates last week. With the acquisition today of Victor Martinez, LaRoche becomes expendible to the Red Sox.

On the surface it makes little sense other than the fact that we like reunions. LaRoche would be a power upgrade over Casey Kotchman at first base, but he is making just under $3 mil for the entire year and is far cheaper than LaRoche would be. They're also both OPS-ing about the same this year.

The only way I can see the Braves biting is if they feel this would strengthen their bench to have one of those guys sitting half the time. Neither one can play the outfield. So, again, this rumor sort of baffles me as to the Braves actual interest. Why waste $3 mil on LaRoche for the rest of the season when you have a perfectly good and affordable first baseman (who hasn't made an error in a year).

Unless the Red Sox just want to give him away for free, or give him to us if we take the salary. That's the only way I can see us getting him.

Stay tuned.

[UPDATE: 3:40pm]

Some people say it's a done deal, including a Boston station, NESN. But Braves.com's Mark Bowman says not so fast:

If Braves complete deal for LaRoche and it appears they're very close to doing so, Kotchman won't necessarily be included in three-way trade

Interesting. The other reports we've heard have Casey Kotchman going to Boston, but maybe this "three-way" would have him going elsewhere, like Cleveland.

0 recs  |  288 comments

Comments

This move makes no sense. If we traded Kotchman for him as rumored the Red Sox would still have to many 1b.

i was wondering what they'd do with Adam

i didnt like Adam much when he was here before, but getting him back? well maybe means we’re trading Kotch for someone else? who knows 30 something mins left until the deadline

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

From a purely baseball standpoint (he seems like a good enough guy otherwise), LaDouche is probably my least favorite Brave of all time. He can really ground into an inning killing double play on a level few have ever touched. I really hope this isn’t happening. I don’t want to have to root for a Braves player to strike out again when he comes up with a runner on base.

LaDouche

Seriously though, this would suck.

im just lost….i keep waiting for something else to happen no way it was a clean swap

We better be getting a prospect

Freeman in ’10 now?

Well at least we have our RH bat… Not sure this was a good idea but Wren must know what he is doing.

Laroche is LH as well…we didnt improve at all in this deal… it looks really bad right now

Wow didn’t see this one coming. Just doesn’t make much since with Kotchman’s contract not ending after this year and the fact that Freeman probably will not be ready to play for us at the beginning of next year.

Kotch vs. LaRoche

Kotch is arbitration eligible at the end of the year and would likely get a raise whereas LaRoche is a FA and might be a Type B which we would get a supplemental draft pick for.

FW is smarting than this im just gonna wait for the other shoe to drop there is more to this

KOTCHMAN

noooo!! Just when he started getting hot! He was important in our lineup!

This deal makes no sense unless

A. the Sox are kicking in some money
B. the Braves are getting an arm in return as well for the BP…

Why don't we

try to bring back Andruw AND Smoltz while we are at it! I think we should finally sign Glavine too..that would be all we need there!

Marcus Giles

I like that one blitz..maybe we could get him for Prado straight up! lol

Is he under contract with anyone? I thought he was out of baseball

If it’s really just Kotchman for Laroche, I kind of like it. Laroche is a more powerful hitter than Casey and is notorious for playing better in the 2nd half. Next year Prado can play 1B until Freeman is ready.

Laroche may have more power

but Kotch has him in every other measurable category

Not Kotchman leaving....

http://twitter.com/matthewpouliot/status/3056627249

Who is matt pouliot?
Wonder what we gave up then? Drop Norton and add LaRoche. That's a definate upgrade!
Maybe Kotchman to Cleveland...

according to DOB. My head is about to fall off.

That would make more sense

3 way deal.

Im wondering if there is a bullpen arm in there somewhere for the Braves...we need another one.
where are you getting the DOB info?

Just heard that Julio Franco is thinking about coming out of retirement to platoon 1B again

IM DONE!

I think ill just turn the TV and computer off for 15 minutes. Ah, its crazy.

Crazy but fun...
Seriously

I’m going to have a heart attack

and even tho i dont wanna keep getting new updates every 13 seconds, deep down i know i’d turn the tv back on in about 2 seconds after i shut it off.

If it was going to be kotchman for laroche, I was about to go get my pitchfork and torch

seriously

i doubt Frank Wren would wanna F himself like that. He has a good thing going right now,,

Kimbrel???

anyone know stuff?

you mean our kid in A ball?

Someone said he was involved.
AA now

coincidentally

From other thread

XM radio reporting–Votto to Braves for LaRoche/Schafer! Great deal Wren!

Shut the fuck up? No way. I would cry my eyes out for years.

What?????

Don’t fuck with me right now, I’m vulnerable

Dandrews

Are you serious? Or are you just tickleing our balls a little bit?

Oh Jesus Oh Jesus Oh Jesus please be true
+4732958072349805723
no way that can be true, no way
Get the fuck out of town

Really, what, How, what the fuck?

WTF IS GOING ON HERE????

rosterbation
Joey Fucking Votto

that’s what

Hell yeah...if its true

thats exactly what im gonna start calln ghim

because he is a BAMF

Shut yo mouth

Laroche always does well in the 2nd half. We better still get another piece in this deal.

The game is going to be a let down after reading all your posts this afternoon.

You guys are fun to watch.

10 minutes to go

AHHH! WHat is happening

BS anonymous reports

KJ, Church, BJones, and Rohbough for Hunter Pence.

Shit

2:49pm: Danny Knobler of CBSSports says LaRoche will be traded for Kotchman.

fuck that.

There’s way more to this story

There has to be...

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

MLBTV: Laroche for Kochman.

They are saying most “curious” deal of the day because Boston doesn’t need a 1B.
I think the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet.

Votta is making $475,000 this year, no way. We don’t have the money to pay for players that aren’t going to be playing for us this year…

its confirmed that its a Casey for Adam swap… mlb rumors

Danny Knobler also said we had a deal for Jake Peavy last December.

ITS OFFICIAL

Kotchman-LaRoche

MLBTV:

Done Deal

alright mlbtraderumors is reporting its final

TIME TO GET THE PITCHFORKS OUT BOYS

Okay, Kotch for LaRoche...then flip LaRoche right?? Hope there is more coming.

in the next 7 minutes?

Just because the media doesn't know

Doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened

Usually GMs set these flips up in advance

thats what im thinking, but who would we flip him 2??
LaRoche & Schafer for Votto would be big.
LOL

everyone is so confused right now. FUCK!

FYFW
just wait more is coming... i think
Oh man

Barbaro is called up to play 1B tonight.

That was going to be my next question
Nice. Go Big B!

I just said yes out loud for joey fucking votto please tell me this wasn’t a joke. Please!

Who plays 1B next year? Sigh.

who cares?

freeman

Who cares? Good attitude. Freeman won’t be ready.

this doesn't make any fucking sense
JOEY VOTTO?
I hate whoever started that shit.
Oh, is that dead?

Fuck. I was holding out hope that Wren didn’t just completely get bent over.

How the fuck can Theo Epstein still be ripping people off? Shouldn’t people see him coming by now?

he's jewish thats how

um completely inappropriate u ignorant ass

Dude, I know from past posts you’re just tryin’ to be cool about it and everything, but you could really stand to to reign those comments in a lil’ bit, just lettin’ you know – as you can see not everybody gets the joke.

I cannot bring myself to believe that this is true
WOW Really????

Super 1B platoon? Our whole team is a platoon!!!

No!

You can’t platoon pitchers!

maybe we like barbaro for next year

Holy shit…Wren, this had BETTER work out!

We officially now have

One of the bottom 5 defenses, statistically, in the MLB btw. Behind maybe the best pitching staff.

Which isn't really fair

Because the pitching staff has already had to carry a disproportionate load.

But I’m just an armchair GM. Let’s assume FW sees more.

And at least one extreme groundaball starter
Who has been struggling a bit

This aint gonna help

Sonuva Bitch

Im not feeling so well today. We did absolutely NOTHING to help ourselves today.

I think there is more to follow here…Wren is too smart to just do Kotch for Laroche straight up.

we actually hurt ourselves

have a little faith yall

Frank Wren has been AMAZING this year and has got the best out of every trade… there has to be more, but i got 3:57 better happen quick

if there is more

it already happened but hasn’t been reported.

Can we at least all agree to release Norton??
The only reason I can think of for this

Is that having Chipper’s buddy back might help his slump a bit.

?

if that's the case

we need to get the team a babysitter and a pacifier

HOLY FUCK NO!!!

KOTCH!!!!

MLBTV says Kochman was being shopped.
The curious factor is why Boston would want him.

or why we'd shop him

for someone with less value and not try to improve the bullpen

Ortiz?

Is there something going on w/ Ortiz? If he gets hit w/ a 50-gamer, they slot V-Mart at DH and let Kotch handle 1B…

Exactly why I believe there’s something we don’t know yet.

I agree with justin

there HAS to be more to this trade…anyone in their right mind knows that this is not a fair deal

And Boston

has too many corner infielders

That was my thought too...

Barbaro plays first next year through deadline, then traded to an AL team and Freeman is called up?

just trying to think how this made sense to FW

Shit Shit Shit

Shit
Shit
Shit
Shit
Shit
Shit
Shit
Shit
:(

This cannot be the deal

I don’t know why we would do it, and it doesn’t make much more sense from Boston’s side, either.

THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE WORST DEADLINE EVER

its 4:00

done deal…

MY VOTE WOULD GO DOWN

now in the weekly poll!! I JUST DON"T GET THIS!!

Barbaro / LaRoche platoon coming up.

Might not be that bad really

you’re joking right?

I’d rather have the 1B combo of Garko and Ishikawa (SF)

At least they can hit a homerun
there is more to baseball than the home run
When you're a 1B......

that ’s a very big part of it.

yeah, but chicks only dig the long-ball.

and…nevermind, that’s too easy. ;-)

... except defensively

yes defensively we will be ….not good

LaRoche is not a bad defender

ok

UZR/150

04: -4.9
05: -18.3
06: -3.3
07: 6.7 (only year he is above average)
08: -8.1
09: -3.4 (and the season isnt over meanign this nbr will get bigger)

so id say he’s not good

I didn't say he was good

so he’s not bad, or good.

Do you mean below average? because below average is worse than Gold Glove Caliber

um…not good = bad.

you said he wasnt bad. He isn’t even average, meaning that the majority of MLB 1B are better than he is…he is bad.

And not good

at the same time…..oooooooooo

But....

do we really want that many platoons going in our lineup? No

So

Shanks is reporting Kotchman was a butthole in the club house

haha. everybody already knew that

and a terrible reason to trade
really?

I didn’t… : \

I call bullshit

Everything I’ve heard says he is quiet and well mannered!

Funny how these reports only surface AFTER a player has departed…

That was implied before

some said Kotchman missed LA…

I don't believe that

So he was pull a Frenchy?

Kotch was kind of a bitch

The couple of times I saw him in spring training

But who cares?

Shanks is a dumbass. I should know, i listen to him and his idiot friend Russ every day.

LaRoche is batting like .225 against lefties...

We could have just kept Francouer and put him on 1st

except then u negate his only true plus asset… his arm

FISH GOT NICK JOHNSON

gets worse and worse
and we got adam fucking laroche
just saw that

see? We don’t know if this is the whole story yet.

STOP IT!

I can’t take more than one piece of devastating news at a time!

that’s the plus side of being a Jew, I can

well, consider me pissed. lets not get destroyed by the Dodgers tonight.

Fuck

is this what it feels like to be a Cubs fan?

IM SURE

being a Pirate fan is much, much worse.

Seriously

How did Wren just get talked into taking an older, more expensive 1B?

Kotch

was doing just fine for us too.

Throw Norton in somewhere goddamnit!!!

Lol, for like a rookie league backup catcher

That’s the least they could do, really.

NO I DON"T LIKE LADOUCHE

hmm

need the dust to settle.

there are rumors of us trading Gonzo

others of us trading Javy as well.

PLEASE

let there not be any truth to that!!

At this point

who cares? I wouldn’t be shocked if we traded Javy for Eric Chavez. None of this makes any sense

Didn't LaRoche have Super A-D-D??
They got Johnson for a AA Pitcher

with the Nats paying his salary? Oh blow me

why dont we do these deals

ugh.

Because, you know, we need “power”

Sounds to me like

Wren wanted to just get a deal done for the hell of it..

nah

looks like a bobby move.

No thanks

I’m already getting fucked.

FW showing that the good moves

were just lucky breaks. This deal is just fucking ignorant.

ahh yes not trading the farm for Peavy, acquiring Vazquez, dumping FYF, trading for McLouth… those are all negated because he made one questionable move… 4 good deals are erased by one questionable deal… ya that makes sense

But see

The Yanks saving FW from himself with the Burnett deal.

dont forget that scrub we got in return for Edgar….what was his name again? Jrrgerngens?

If we wanted a 1B with shitty defense

Why didn’t we go for the one that gets on base and comes with his old team paying the bills?

Hmmm

I hate this day. Alot.

DUST NEEDS TO SETTLE NOW. I need facts

Here is the report from DOB

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2009/07/31/awaiting-trades-and-dodgers/comment-page-8/#comment-232820

fml
a swap of smooth-fielding first basemen
Yeah

He also blew the free agency line. Awesome work as usual, DOB.

So I’m going to be the extreme optimist… we all know we were upset with Wren when he didn’t make those half dozen deals in the off season we wanted him to at the time. And so far it all worked out for the best. Maybe this situation will be similar?

hahaha, that’s complete BS.

The Reason

The BoSox picked up Kotchman because they know how to get talent for a position player unlike Wren.

I bet

the BoSox are laughing their asses off right now for what they just pulled off. shit.

Also.

Braves were said to be non tendering Kotch at the end of the year. Looks like a Bobby move.

Also someone is saying that Angels got Halladay

wasn’t his contract option-less this coming year? He didn’t have to be tendered, right?

im not sure how it works just reporting what im reading

Damn, yet another thread on the main page about this?

Hard to keep up.

to hell with the size

Well, we’ve seen it several times now.

thats how much i hate this deal

OMG

We just got raped on this deal!!! dammnit Wren!!

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO STAYING PAT FW? WTF?

This is going in every thread

SHIT

that’s me right now..

I think everyone is overreacting.

The Braves obviously didn’t like Kotchman at first base. We are a weak offensive team, highlighted by our complete lack of power at the PRIME power position. Wren was not going to let Kotchman be our starting 1B next year, so he made a move now to go for it this year. We will deal with our 1B for next year in the offseason.

Alright, let it rip. Here come the insults!!!

I know you’re pissed. I empathize with you.
But, these big ass graphics slow the threads way down when people refresh and/or reload the page.

Just a thought to be considerate of those who may not have blazing fast speed for connections.

All of that is true, except for the parts that aren’t…which is most of your post.

Do explain

the parts about us being a weak offensive team…it just isnt true. look at the stats. I have posted them so much ovver the past week, that if I do it again, I will have to kill someone too.

Look up our season ranks in OBP, OPS, SLG and Avg, then remember that most of those numbers were with a recovering Anderson, hurt Kelly, idiot frenchman and young schafer.

Then look at our offensive ranks over the past month – not just a hot streak, but an entire month! We are first in the NL in SLG, OPS and OPB.

I respect those points.

I just think Kotchman’s production at 1B is unacceptable at the major league level and we are banking on a huge 2H Laroche performance.

LaRoche has average 25 hrs the last 3 years while hitting significantly better in the 2nd half of the season. Kotchmann has a career high of 12 home runs.

There is way more to being a baseball player than hitting HRs.

You know, I agree with you. I also think we should’ve gotten more in return for this deal. But maybe LaRoche can be a bit of a spark in our offense. We’ll just have to see how it plays out. I’m not happy about the clean swap, but who knows what will happen.

I hope you are right.

I don't love this trade....

I just can see Wren’s logic. I hope Wren’s right.

I completely agree...

but a 1B has to have power. The Angels didn’t like him for their 1B, the Braves didn’t like him, and now he is a back-up in Boston. Why don’t any major league teams like him then?

The angels did like him. But they liked the best 1B in the game a little bit better.

We liked him too…that is why we insisted that the angels give him to us in exchange for the best 1B in the game.

2nd best 1b in teh game… Pujols.. hes better than Jesus (because Jesus can’t hit a curveball… Joe-boo can)

ah, yes. Touche’ senor.

Unfortunately

I think this might have hurt us more than anything..but only time will tell I guess.

Whatever

Im pissed. F the trade deadline. we haven’t had a good one since we got Tex, and that wasn’t that great of a deal.

LETS TRY TO NOT GET BLASTED TONIGHT.

I think I’m gonna get blasted now

So everyone

From a lot of the mini reports im reading. It seems as though Kotchman wasn’t well received in the club house and this is a Bobby inspired move.

From this we also get to see LaRoche work at his potential. He was in a horrible lineup and now he will prob be sandwiched between Chip and Mac so some better pitches for him hopefully.

Is it fair to say that a 30-something year old player (or almost 30, I can’t remember) has potential???

yes.

When any player is in a lineup thats not really up to league average he does. Im not saying he has the potential to go past the marks he has already reached but he could def end with 25 HR’s and an increase all around in his numbers.

Per DOB

Red Sox are also giving Braves some cash to help offset difference in remaining salary

This

just makes the day so much better now.

meh

still want a reliever!!! lol

THIS

is better than staying pat!

It is certainly more interesting...

Barbaro plays first next year through deadline, then traded to an AL team and Freeman is called up? Doubt he’ll be ready though…

just trying to think how this made sense to FW, the money from Boston certainly makes it better

Maybe Bobby will extend LaRoche

seems like he’s the one making decisions.

i wouldnt mind it actually.

Extending LaRoche for a year or so so we dont have to rush Freeman.

Anyone figure out why Boston would want Kotch?

LaRoche is not even close to as good as Kotchman

Kotchman has more walks then K’s……plus he was hitting .320 with 4 homers in July. He is very plate disciplined and showed great defense. LaRoche does have more power but that doesnt always relate to more runs scored. This makes no sense.

Stats

Kotchman is hitting .282 with six homers and 41 RBIs and hasn’t committed an error with the Braves.

LaRoche is batting .248 with 13 homers and 43 RBIs for Pittsburgh and Boston.

Get outta here with that! Nobody cares about stats around here!

Nobody asked you
dude

I was being sarcastic. I am on your side here!

Oh ok....sorry
FWIW

nobody has asked anybody

1H / 2H Laroche Splits (over a 3 year average)

2006-2008

Pre All-Star
.247 .326 .449

Post All-Star
.374 .578 .952

Sorry Messed that up.....

Pre – .247 .326 .449 .775
Post – .314 .374 .578 .952

That’s dramatic.

Ugh...

I just got the email notification from mlb.com…I guess that is as official as it gets.

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