Well, the Braves did in reality send Derek Lowe to the Indians for farm hand Chris Jones. The Braves even had to send a Brinks truck full of money to the mistake by the lake in order for them to take Derek Lowe. But I say, you are a wizard of a GM Frank Wren. The move had been expected for some time as Frank Wren had not slept through most of the games than Lowe pitched in and having some semblance of baseball accumen could easily see that Derek "on the DL" Lowe was a shell of his former self.
The farm hand they got in return is not the real peach of the swap, they true beauty of the swap will be the spot on the lineup opened up for one of the Braves big arms in development. You could have Randall Delgado, Julio Tehran, Arodys Vizcaino, or any number of Braves arms competing for that number 5 starter slot.
The Braves also have freed up a huge chunk of change for the upcoming season to either lock up Michael Bourne long term or persue another target of Frank Wren's choosing. I think at some point you have to make a long term decision with Martin Prado as to whether or not he is going to be an OF or if you think he will take over when Chipper finally closes the curtain on his brilliant career. If you believe that Prado is your 3B of the future, then perhaps an OF will be in the works as it is arguably easier to pry away a legit OF from any team than a top of the line third bagger.
The Braves are sitting pretty indeed, as they are looking at the possibility of an Starting Pitching lineup of
1) Jair Jurgens
2) Tommy Hanson
3) Tim Hudson
4) Brandon Beachy
5) Mike Minor
... or pepper in one of the afore mentioned arms who auditioned during the September call ups to make the move up to the Majors. I think Julio Tehran has to be first on that pecking order based on his credentials in Gwinnett and his high rankings in MLB minor league talent.
Either way, Frank Wren just opened up a huge cog for progress with the home town boys!
Nice post Corley. I was actually thinking my next blog would be about what moves the Braves should pursue this offseason.
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