The National League had a collective chance to put the Braves into the grave in the first half and failed. Now, rather than sellers, that makes the Braves buyers. And, in that scenario, the Braves have made a move in order to remedy their historical Achilles heel: Cleveland sends pitcher Bob Wickman to the Braves for catcher Max Ramirez. I know nothing of Ramirez. However, catcher seems to be a position the Braves are set at for the foreseeable future. And, while I have never been the president of the Bob Wickman fan club, he is far and away better than the flotsam and jetsam the Braves trotted out of the pen to close games the first 3 1/2 months of the season. The Braves are coming.
Originally posted by redsoxnationThe National League had a collective chance to put the Braves into the grave in the first half and failed. Now, rather than sellers, that makes the Braves buyers. And, in that scenario, the Braves have made a move in order to remedy their historical Achilles heel: Cleveland sends pitcher Bob Wickman to the Braves for catcher Max Ramirez. I know nothing of Ramirez. However, catcher seems to be a position the Braves are set at for the foreseeable future. And, while I have never been the president of the Bob Wickman fan club, he is far and away better than the flotsam and jetsam the Braves trotted out of the pen to close games the first 3 1/2 months of the season. The Braves are coming.
While as a White Sox fan I will miss Fat Bob and his ability to blow games at crucial moments, I could easily see him doing well in a couple laps around the NL and helping the Braves stay in the wild card hunt.
Originally posted by spfWhile as a White Sox fan I will miss Fat Bob and his ability to blow games at crucial moments, I could easily see him doing well in a couple laps around the NL and helping the Braves stay in the wild card hunt.
Hey now, Fat Bob was tied for the AL lead in saves last year. He made us sweat it out, but he generally did the job. I totally understand why the move was made, and look forward to see who will grab the closer's job.
Bob is definitely better than what they've been closing with lately, but they are FAR from fixed. That bullpen is so awful they usually lose the leads even before they get to the ninth inning. That is if they even have the lead at all, after Smoltz they got nothing as far as starting pitchers. Tim Hudson can't even seem to get past the third inning. The Wild Card race isn't exactly full of great teams so maybe the Braves offense can keep them in it, but I don't know, I don't see how you can make the playoffs with pitching that bad. Plus despite losing 2 of 3 the Reds looked pretty good in their series against the Mets, I thought the Reds would eventually fade away but I think they might actually hold on to the Wild Card.
Good trade for Atlanta, as my faith in Indians GM Shapiro fades to nothingness. The Tribe could get more for a closer in the sellers market, looking at what the Reds had to give up for what they got from Washington. What they get is an A- catcher with shaky defense (what a shocker considering the team) who is at least 3 years away from the bigs.
"A guy from Ohio can make it in life if he works hard enough."--Woody Hayes
As much as I would like to say the Yankees will sweep everybody in each series, beating the Cards at Busch with me in attendence, wearing my yankees gear, reality tells me the Red Sox, if thier bullpen can hold it together, will probably repeat, over the ...