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Braves Interest In Dan Uggla Heating Up

According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, the Braves and Marlins are talking about a trade that would send second baseman Dan Uggla to the Braves in exchange for infielder Omar Infante and left-handed reliever Mike Dunn. This rumor was also confirmed by David O'Brien of the AJC.

This would be an excellent swap for Atlanta, trading an infielder for an infielder (and really a utility infielder in Omar for a starting infielder in Uggla), while only parting with their third-best lefty-handed reliever. Giving up Infante would hurt the Braves flexibility, but while he posted career highs in many categories last year he is not likely to repeat them, and Uggla is a more proven offensive threat. If this is the deal as it would go down I highly approve, as we would be swapping infielders and only paying a small price with Dunn and the added salary that Uggla would bring with him.

Like Uggla, Infante is a free agent after next season, and would likely leave the Braves anyway, so the fear of simply renting Uggla for a year is replaced by the knowledge that we'd be swapping a one-year player for a one-year player.

Make it happen Frank.

More to come...

0 recs  |  121 comments

Comments

I’d shit a brick and send Frank Wren a Christmas card if he pulls this off. Love it!

Concur wholeheartedly.

A utility guy and a lefty setup man when we already have bullpen arms galore for that guy? I’d hope they intended to sign him long-term, but I’d feel fine letting those guys go even if we only got one year out of him.

This.

Even if Uggla doesn’t re-sign in Atlanta after next year, I’d gladly trade Omar and Dunn for one year.

I concur...

Find a fourth, and we can recreate the scene above.

-C

I'll be that fourth

Yeah, sorry, there’s no way that’s all it takes. There has to be an actual starting pitching prospect going to Miami to get Uggla back.

Depends what else they're getting in terms of offers.

They obviously don’t want the compensatory picks, and he doesn’t want to stick around there long-term, so a semi-proven starter to replace him in the lineup and a quality, controlled bullpen arm might not be awful.

That is all it takes according to MLBTR, Dan Uggla is now an Atlanta Brave

So I hear.

Their fans have to be upset unless this helps deliver something beyond John Buck.

I'll believe it when I see it...

I think the deal, structured as it is, pre-supposes that Uggla has no interest in signing an extension, now or post-trade. If he had an interest of resigning, the deal would almost have to be richer than this.

That said…we’d get a great bat for a year, offer arbitration, and collect picks when he says nuh-uh. Not at all a bad move to pick up him for a year of Infante (who we could potentially re-sign down the road).

Dunn could be great, but we’re already deep in his area of expertise. I say bring it on, re-signing Uggla be damned.

-C

I agree with your thoughts re: extension.
So

what does that mean for Prado? Uggla to left??

IF this really happens

Prado to LF, Uggla to 2nd, and if Chipper gets hurt, we just move Prado into 3rd.

Im down

with that. Hope Prado is as well. F*ck, Martin would be a lefthanded setup man if a team asked him. I think he just wants to play ball.

OMG this just made my day!

I might cry.

The Fish just signed Buck to a 3/18 deal so they may want to move Uggla and his big arbi deal sooner than later.

How good would Uggla’s rigt handed power and OBP look in between Heyward/Chippe and McCann?

Does anyone else have a sense of foreboding about this? Omar was a crucial piece for us this year and a reason we didn’t wash out of the race by July. Also, Uggla is still a man without a position, and before anyone says it, no, I absolutely don’t see him being capable of playing the hot corner when he’s so abysmal at second to begin with.

This is pretty simple actually

Uggla to 2nd, Prado to LF. He’s played there multiple times in the winter leagues. If Chipper goes down, Prado moves to 3rd.

And yet, Uggla is still terrible at second, and we have a relatively groundball-heavy staff between Huddy, Lowe, Moylan, Venters, etc…

If it were up to me I’d just stick Uggla in left and pray to the baseball gods that he isn’t Adam Dunn-bad.

Uggla can still run, so he can’t possibly be Adam Dunn bad!

Prado isn’t great at 2nd to begin with, so it’s not like we’re going from a stud to dud defensively. And even if he’s not very good at 2nd, we’re still getting 30HRs and an OPS between .800-.900.

Prado hovers around average, Uggla is bottom-of-the-barrel. So we’re falling off a two-story roof instead of a four-story. It’s still gonna hurt quite a bit when we hit the ground.

Yeah, but it’s Dan Uggla. The dude absolutely kills baseballs.

And has a history of killing the braves

I don't think that's such a bad idea as everybody says it is.

Prado’s more athletic, and he’s no great shakes at 2B to start with.

but overall is our defense better with Prado in LF and Uggla at 2B, or vice versa….Uggla is bad defensivley, whereas Prado seems to be getting better, but we don’t really know.

I think it makes more sense to put Uggla in LF, if he is willing. but i also don’t think either way dramatically effects our team

No.

Omar was a decent fill-in, but he’s not an everyday player. If we can get a stud power hitter for him, you absolutely pull the trigger.

He's a FA after 2011 too

what’s to say the Braves don’t just sign him next off-season?

I’m not saying Omar should start, but I’ve said for years that guys like him with the ability to fill in almost anywhere and ussually play adequately, and sometimes turn it on as omar did, are very undervalued. We have nowhere to play Uggla, that’s the long and short of it. Yes we get his power, but we also get his strikeouts and mediocre OBP while laying a defensive egg and severely hampering our bench flexibility. I just think it’s a situation where the bad outweighs the good in the big picture.

I’ve said it many times before, you can find a utility singles-hitter pretty much anywhere.

Matt Young?

do you think that this move is a precursor to actually allowing Young to get a shot at being a bench guy this year…CB where are you with your never ending knowledge of all things regarding braves minor leaguers personal lives.

I just pictured CB hanging out in Scott Diamond’s trash can with a pair of binoculars.

Agree

Plus, we’ve essentially replaced his “utility” value by bringing a guy that can also play most of the IF. All we need is a good back up SS and we have depth at all the IF spots 2B – Uggla, Prado; 3B – Chipper, Prado, Uggla.

And, let's not forget...

that now that singles-hitter doesn’t have to be a super-utility guy…he just be an OF or something, which is much easier to find.

OMG

I go to dinner, dreaming about acquiring Justin Upton, and return (fully sated) to see we may get Uggla. I’m not 100% sold on Uggla, and I love INFante so at the moment I’m stunned

I will personally mow Frank Wrens lawn for a month if he pulls that off

A right-handed 30 homerun hitter for a utility guy?

Get Upton too and our offense goes from weak to explosive =]

Best part of this deal if true: we’d still have plenty left to deal with if necessary to add a CF!

EXACTLY

This is what I would call “A Great Start”.

hmmmm

Possibly send Prado to St Louis for Rasmus? Not sure I would like that though. Really a big fan of Prado. He’s like #2 after Heyward

No dice

We presumably need someone to play 2B in 2012

I didn’t even think of this. We now have money to sign a solid OF backup and a veteran reliever or two. Nice.

You’re really looking at replacement level guys at that point; we’ve got 4 or 5 mil for an outfielder and bullpen piece. This means McLousy will be in center again.

That's fine...

I’ll take a black hole in the 8th spot (and to some extent, in the 7th spot with Gonzo) in exchange for now having a legit lineup 1-6.

im surprised if its that cheap

However their GM did cone out and say it wouldn’t take a lot to get Uggla from them.

I would still rather have Upton though :(

I’d rather have Uggla and still have Teheran, Minor, Delgado, Vizcaino and Jurrjens in our pitching staff.

+1

That was exactly my thought. If we can get him without giving up any of those names above then I consider this highway robbery

well since it wouldnt take all 5 of those.

I wouldn’t have a problem dealing Jurrjens, Vizcaino, Delgado and another lower prospect.

getting Uggla doesn’t necessarily preclude gettign Upton…but as of right now we have neither, so the whole counting eggs thing applies

Jeffrey Loria is an idiot. Can we all agree on that??

I’m guess that Uggla said something mean about his baby Hanley and Loria just wanted to get him out of there! “NO ONE MESSES WITH MY HANLEY! NO ONE!”

That’s still a possibility, neither Infante nor Dunn would likely be included in the deal.

I love the title on MLBTR...

“Braves Close to Nearing Deal for Dan Uggla”

Even Mark Bowman is saying “appear to be very close to nearing”. Sheesh – what a way to cover your rear.

Going to back in time...

Would this essentially mean we got Uggla and Vizcaino (and one your of Melky torture) for Jose Asciano (guy in Infante trade) and one crappy year of Javy Vazquez? I’ll take that deal any day

Braves Net

I love it.

I almost forgot...

the Type A compensation picks we’ll get if we don’t sign him long term. Wow.

Better and better
One thing I;m sure a few have mentioned but I'll restate

Getting Uggla on the Braves saves us from having to face him. The man kills us and now he can’t do that anymore, thank Heyward

Talk about a Robbery...
I would seriously make out with Frank Wren right now.
A Freudian slip?
Nope...

I think that wasn’t Freudian…just a slip

I hope Frank at least gave the Marlins GM a reach-around after this one!

wow

I apologize to anyone I yelled at about offering too little for Uggla. We just stole him for essentially a utility player and the left handed Jeff Bennett

how is Mike Dunn the same as Jeff Bennett

there aren’t even close to being the same..Bennet was a soft tosser who used his control to get outs and then lost his control…Mike DUnn just flat out can’t throw strikes bc he has too nasty of stuff and can’t control it.

i was comparing the fact

that they both would give up everyone elses runs while keeping a low ERA

Known Commodity...

To Fredi Gonzales, so this speaks well of him.

Now bring on Upton or Braun.

That would be a Yankee lineup for half the price.

You guys all realize that with the money Uggla will cost, adding any kind of meaningful outfielder is now a pipe dream, right?

You realize...

When you subtract $10MM (Uggla’s likely arb figure) from $3MM (Infante and Dunn’s combined salary), that’s $7MM, right??

Math tells me we still got like $8MM, with KK to get rid of.

-C

Wow. Made my day. Maybe my week.

This also gives us a contingency plan if Chipper can’t come back. God, what a deal!

I was just thinking this...

FW just covered two concerns with one move (1 – our RH power bat need, 2 – our concerns at 3B if Chipper doesn’t fully recover). Wow…I’m just in awe.

/facepalm

Really guys? The most abysmal defensive second baseman in the league is an insurance policy for the hot corner? I can’t for the life of me figure out why this idea has become so prevalent. Sticking Uggla on that patch of dirt doesn’t make him a third baseman anymore than putting him in a garage makes him a car. You could stick Lowe there and call it Chipper insurance if you like, it doesn’t mean he’s actually going to play well there.

If Chipper goes down...

Prado, not Uggla, moves to 3B.

-C

That was going to happen anyway. I’m just making the point that people here and at MLBTR keep saying he’s additional 3B depth, and that is, quite frankly, bollocks.

But we had nobody to use at 2B that was even close to starting-caliber.
Holy Hell.

Prado
Heyward
Uggla
Braun/Upton
Chipper
McCann
Freeman
Gonzalez

I don't even care about adding another bat right now

I just wanna celebrate. We just got Dan Uggla for a utility guy who’s under contract for one year and a LOOGY.

Obviously Upton would be ideal to play CF. Otherwise we’d have to move Heyward over.

Chipper hits #3.

Period the end.

Doesn't hardly matter

So who do you pitch around???

That’s fine, switch them for all I care, that’s a damn sexy lineup no matter how it shakes out.

maybe maybe not

New manager, could change things around.

You think that won't be up to Chipper?

Ha.

Jim Bowden on XM/MLB Radio

‘Great deal for Frank Wren’ — referred to dealing Javy Vazquez for Dan Uggla (kinda).
‘Big trade for Atlanta — got RH bat’
‘went and got the power bat for a utility guy and extra LH bullpen arm’
Casey Stern: ‘Terrible deal (for the Marlins)’
‘Went from "Dan’s our Man" to “We gotta get rid of him” in 48 hours’

These guys are amazed that Uggla went to a Division Rival for “extra players”

Well, Javier Vazquez and Jose Ascanio.
Right. Sweeter.

Almost makes putting up with Melky for a year tolerable.

.390/.445/.710, 7HRs, 21RBI

Oh you know, just Dan Uggla’s stats at Turner Field since 2008.

Oh my god.

This is how the negotiating went...

Michael Hill, Marlins GM: Happy birthday, C!! What would you like as a gift??

C: How about Dan Uggla for Omar Infante and Michael Dunn??

Michael Hill, Marlins GM: Done!!

Pretty sweet 30th birthday present…something I’ll definitely use for a whole year.

-C

I will miss you so much, Omar...

But that is one heck of a right handed bat pick up. Gutsy move, Frank. You continue to impress us all

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