Do you like rumored Braves trade???

[ZoomSlowik]

Ortiz might be the most overrated player in the league. He walks a lot of guys, and those 20 wins last year were a result of a stacked Braves offense. If he were to move to the American League, he would get rocked. In the NL, he gets a free out every 9th hitter with the pitcher, and most #8 hitters in the NL are pretty close to one. Look at the numbers, American League teams score more runs. I'm not even sure he would be an upgrade. He would clearly be less effective than Garcia, Buehrle, and Loiza, and is probably a draw with Garland, who I would rather have anyways. Not worth it for a guy who is your 4th or 5th starter.

 

Jones makes this even worse, in my opinion. He's had a good history, but is in decline. He's hitting .248 and strikes out almost once a game. Plus his fielding isn't any better at this stage of his career. He may win Gold Gloves, but that is mainly on reputation. With the current state of his knees, it's not likely to get better. Plus, he is a clubhouse cancer and is notorious for dogging it. The worst part is his salary. He is due $13 million per year for the next three years. $13 mil for a guy that hasn't cracked .280 in 4 years. By trading Maggs for Jones, the salary is a draw for this year, but really handicaps the teams for the next two. That hurts their chances of resigning Garcia or Loiaza, or signing any other significant players. They are better off just keeping Maggs. Even if you can't resign him, you pick up the draft picks and suddenly have $14 mil to invest in a free agent market that will include some position players that could help, like Nomar, Renteria, Varitek, Cabrera, or (longshot) Beltran, or pitchers like Pedro, Pavano, Garica, Odalis Perez, and Clement.