Everyone seems to be trying to sell short on baseball's top prospect, Jason Heyward. There has been a timid approach to him being the Atlanta Braves starting right fielder all off-season, and that chorus has grown in recent weeks as spring training approaches. While we will have to wait and see what the team does, at least one main stream media journalist gets it, and echos what I've been saying all off-season. Here is Ken Rosenthal:
Jason Heyward is more than the top prospect in baseball.
He's the player who could transform the Braves from a modest threat into a World Series contender. [...]
Teams routinely delay the promotions of top prospects until the cutoff date passes for them to qualify for an extra year of arbitration, usually around May 15. The Braves did just that with Hanson. But they had four starting pitchers ahead of him.
Their need for Heyward is more urgent.
We took the last-minute-veteran-outfielder-stopgap approach last year, and it didn't work. I can't seem to scream it loud enough, but this Heyward kid needs to start the year in the majors. Perhaps we'll see more MSM writers echo the thoughts of Rosenthal. Of course, the only opinion that likely counts is that of number-6.
0 recs | 41 comments
:)
that quote about Heyward making us World Series contenders made my day.
Scott Coleman - February 10, 2010 via mobile
It made mine as well.
I needed a pick-me-up after I pulled out Honey Nut Cheerios this morning only to scoop them into my mouth to found out they weren’t Honey Nut…
UGARedcoat13 - February 10, 2010
haha
i needed a pick-up after watching the Saints victory parade last night. barf.
Scott Coleman - February 10, 2010 via mobile
Don't be a hater...
…we deserved it. Would Indy have gotten 800,000 to turn out for a victory parade? Would the Colts’s players have thrown beads? We know how to party here like nowhere else. ;)
cavebird - February 10, 2010
eh
it should have been Farve in the Super Bowl but we wont talk about that
drumzalicious - February 10, 2010
Farve's road to the Super Bowl had the same problem that Manning had in the Super Bowl.
Completing passes to Tracy Porter.
cavebird - February 10, 2010
ZING!
Rhyno18 - February 10, 2010
...
The Falcons could have had him…
bwellnjonesco - February 10, 2010
WHAMMY!
Mighty Healthy - February 11, 2010
How many showed up to the Yankee parade?
more than 800,000 I can tell you
GoBravesNY - February 10, 2010
Assuming it was...
…that isn’t too surprising since there were probably that many people working along the parade route, and New York City has approximately 20 times the population of New Orleans (and that’s being conservative; if you add metropolitan areas it is probably more like 50-100 times).
cavebird - February 10, 2010
It’s Heyward’s job to lose, there’s no doubt about that. He’s the best outfielder we’ve got.
timmy3 - February 10, 2010
Two extra months of Heyward now, cost us a year later. Not to mention that with Super 2 status we’ll be paying him big money sooner, thus cutting down on our ability to fill other positions of need around him.
Lennox - February 10, 2010
eh, by the time Heyward is ready to hit arbitration or get a new deal, Chipper, DLowe, KK and Huddy will all likely be gone. so we’ll have some money to spend anyways.
Scott Coleman - February 10, 2010 via mobile
Too bad he grew up a Yankee fan or we’d definitely be counting on a hometown discount.
Bobby Cocks - February 10, 2010
He said he was just a Jeter fan. Ask Minka, you can be a fan of Jeter and not particulary care about the Yankees, or baseball in general.
bwellnjonesco - February 10, 2010
A good point, but still, Atlanta actually is his hometown (basically), so it’s got more importance to him than it would for a guy who just happened to play in Atlanta for the early part of his career.
cbwilk - February 10, 2010
Agreed...
The positives of him starting the year in Atlanta outweigh the negatives, or any positives he mite gain from a month or two at AAA. I just don’t see him struggling like Schafer did out of the gate. I also believe Schafers injury was used as an excuse a bit too much.
Brave Neander - February 10, 2010
would like to demonstrate ur ability to hit ML pitching with a franctured hand/wrist…cause Id like to see it
Swo12bv - February 10, 2010
Yeah, but in those years we’ll have to start paying JJ, Hanson, Mac, Escobar, and the like as well. And I’m sure that there will be other free agents that we’ll need to pick up as well to replace some of the players lost.
And if Heyward is the player that everyone seems to think he’ll be, we could be talking about a guy who could demand the richest contract in baseball history once he hits free agency.
Lennox - February 10, 2010
We’re already paying Mac.
Bronn - February 10, 2010
Yes, but one has to think that his next contract will be bigger than this one.
Lennox - February 10, 2010
Maybe they will do something by then about the ridiculousness of professional sports contracts by then. I mean the economy is only gonna get worse (think Francouer).
bwellnjonesco - February 10, 2010
If Heyward starts the season in Atlanta...
…he would not be a Super 2 down the road. He’d just be a three. He would only ever be a Super 2 if we brought him up in the middle of April or early May or something like that.
cavebird - February 10, 2010
A good point
We can have 3 years pre arbitration, or 3.6 years pre arbitration.
Bronn - February 10, 2010
True. We just put off his arbitration by waiting until the Summer to bring him up.
Lennox - February 10, 2010
not if he signs a deal...
ala Evan Longoria, Brian McCann, and others.
Mr. Sanchez - February 10, 2010
If Heyward’s willing to sign a Longoria type deal, then we should get it done yesterday and go ahead and give him the RF job. But it’s not something we should be counting on before it’s inked.
Lennox - February 10, 2010
This made my day.
This is the Braves year to finally get back in the playoffs – not a bad time to be a little more aggressive. Super Two this, arbitration that, but Heyward could be the difference between making the playoffs this year and rosterbating in early October.
alligatorimpersonator - February 10, 2010
Yes! I’ve been rosterbating way too much the past few seasons…
bwellnjonesco - February 10, 2010
Or
They could just sign Willy Tavares!
JFP - February 10, 2010
I’d rather drive a rusty nail through bigjoe’s dick
Rhyno18 - February 10, 2010
I'll second that
I don’t want that guy even on a minor league deal. I was sarcastically referring to a fanpost from yesterday. I have to work on the sarcasm in print skills.
JFP - February 10, 2010
Might wanna ask BigJoe about that one first.
FineHamAbounds - February 11, 2010
Still think Heyward won't make the team out of camp
I still think that no matter what the fans and the press say, money is the number 1 thing for the Braves now and Heyward will not join the team until after the arbitration cut off date this year. I also don’t see the Braves as being a playoff team even if he does play the whole year here.
Zontar - February 10, 2010
agreed
put the kid in there and lets see for ourselves as he grows up as a player and benefits from the guys on the roster with the experience. Dont expect the world series from him right out of spring training>but rather expect him to be a solid -learning-on-the-job contributor, hopefully with these expectations he will be a unbelievably pleasant surprise. He will get better throughout the season if we dont put all the crazy pressure on him to be the next pujols. but with that said he needs to be in there learning from the Billy Chapels’, rather than the Crash Davis’.
bluelg - February 10, 2010
If number 6 called the shots...
wouldn’t TH have been on the opening day roster last year?
ATLSTU - February 10, 2010
that might be the smartest thought ive read all day
carolinabrave89 - February 14, 2010
A bird in the hand...
is worth paying Heyward a little more later. Besides, who says we can’t give him a multi-year deal a’la Brian McCann or Evan Longoria (OK maybe wait like, more than a week to make the offer, but whatever).
FineHamAbounds - February 11, 2010
i agree
if we start him off the bat and this season and we do win the world series, it will be worth paying him more sooner
carolinabrave89 - February 14, 2010
Can't wait to see JH in spring training
Last spring, Heyward had not yet fully registered on my radar, and when I saw him bat at Disney I was stunned. He consistently crushed the ball. He was a tad shaky in the outfield, but man what a stick. I think he will win a starting job this spring — with the coaches, the fans, and the media — and all talk of starting him in Gwinnett will be moot.
Buddy Holly - February 15, 2010
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