biggentleben

I think the Giants are at a turning point with their roster and farm system that long-term commitments for them aren't exactly the best thing.

Bennett showed a lot of the athleticism that intrigued teams in his draft year, and all the lack of basketball brains that made him a very, very questionable #1 pick. I still think with him healthy and LaVine and Wiggins to run with, the team could be something fun to watch. I told someone the first time I saw video of him that I thought he could grow into a Dennis Rodman type due to his athletic ability, but you have to give yourself up to the 0-point, 14-rebound type of lines in order to be that guy, and Bennett still is looking to score first when he gets the ball. Wiggins has a very streaky shot, and folks I know in Kansas said they noticed by the end of the season that when he had bad nights, there were obvious things off about his shooting form that night. I've not seen enough of him to give a great evaluation of that part of things, but the streakiness that friends told me about in Kansas has certainly followed him to the Wolves. LaVine reminds me on the court a lot of a young Terrell Brandon with obvious physical differences, but Brandon came into the league and took a few years to adapt to the pace of the league. Brandon had a couple of good mentors in Mark Price and Steve Kerr, both of whom would be let go to eventually give Brandon more time, and I think Mo Williams could be that sort of mentor on the game for LaVine. I have liked seeing his feel for the flow of the offense, but his defensive instincts are poor at best. Muhammad is the one that has surprised me most. I liked his athleticism in college, but I really thought he'd be a project type that'd take 3-4 years to mature, and with the Timberwolves on paper ready to compete in 2013-2014, I was hoping for a more immediate-impact guy. Muhammad looked all of that last year when he even got on the court, but the buzz coming into the season was how much he'd grown on the court and how he may step up some this year already. This has been more than stepping up. He's shown to be a lot better shooter than I would have thought, someone who can create to get his own shot or pull defense away from someone like Wiggins and free him for a spot-up 3, and I've actually been very impressed with his defensive abilities. He'll never be a rim protecter, though I am surprised at 0.1 blocks since he has been starting, but he seems to have good instincts off the ball and the length and speed to be potentially elite on the ball. His footwork slips up sometimes, but you see flashes already of what could be a defender on caliber with the one the Wolves just traded away in Brewer. Speaking of Brewer, I do think on this squad, he will be missed. He was able to be a very good defender and play some point forward with a team easing in a young point guard. Rubio to me should be trade fodder, if there's anything to get out of him at all, as I just don't know how he fits with this current group. LaVine compliments Wiggins and Muhammad so well, and if Bennett can work into that running, athletic PF guy I envisioned when seeing him, a foursome of LaVine, Wiggins, Muhammad, and Bennett could be extremely exciting to watch for years to come.

The Marlins took nearly nothing for McGehee, and it sounds as if other 3B they called on would have cost them a better prospect.

They had the second- or third-youngest roster in baseball in 2013, and they locked up some of the key guys on that team. I honestly think the rotation will keep them in enough games to be as good as the drastically underperforming 2014 club, but unless there's a big bat coming in another move (which could be found simply by playing Evan Gattis 150 games in the outfield rather than 100 games behind the plate), I don't see much more than a .500 at best club.

I don't have any issue with the Braves trade today. A ton of upside in the guys acquired for a one-year rental. The word is that the Giants would offer nearly as much individually for Chris Johnson with his control as for Upton on a one-year deal. I think this offseason has really showed that the player with one year left isn't quite as valuable as once believed.

I like Souza, and the word coming out was that Tampa had been shopping Myers hard since midseason, so even before the new regime, Myers was falling out of favor apparently. Souza likely gives them 2013 Myers production and better defense with a similar injury risk as Myers. I do really like the Nationals return in this, though, and there's little else in baseball I despise more than the Nationals winning a trade...

I'd have a tough time putting any of the three in the same level as Floyd when he's healthy, other than Nolasco, but I understand what you mean. The deal is what I found most impressive. I think it's a great move for the money.

Floyd was very good for Atlanta before a freak bone break ended his season. I think a lot of people saw elbow, and they assumed ligament/muscle issues, but it's something that should be fine after healing. He had his highest ERA+ and really, do you think the AL Central is really going to hurt his numbers?

From a big, big J.R. Graham fan, I'll give a bit of a profile for you: He's not going to be back to the 100-mph. The Braves have been quite quiet with his medicals after the first major shoulder surgery, and it's harder to get firm information in the minor leagues, but there are some writers in Mississippi who believed Graham had as many as 3 cleanup procedures in the shoulder and one other "major procedure" other than the first procedure. Graham's stuff has always been very, very hittable. His fastball is very heavy, and he got a lot of his outs by guys not being able to square up his stuff that seemed to sink differently on every single pitch. His sinker this last year was extremely predictable, and at times it was very straight. This has been an issue since 2013 for him, which does explain his jump in hit rate over the last two years. Many point to his FIP the last two seasons, which has been around 3.25 over a time that he sported roughly a 5 ERA, specifically citing his higher BABIP levels in the last two seasons, but much of that has to do with Graham's batted balls changing profile. He still isn't giving up home runs, but his balls were being squared up much more and driven, and specifically by right handed batters. A guy who typically sported a huge differential between righties and lefties completely reversed course in 2014, and RHB hit .311/.372/.424 off of Graham after he'd never allowed better than a .626 OPS against righties in his minor league career to that point. The final nail in the coffin for the Braves was when Graham was placed into the bullpen this year, a move he fought strongly against, and then proceeded to fail terribly, giving up nearly a 1.000 OPS in his relief innings. Yes, very small sample size, but a guy who had a profile of Derek Lowe just two years ago before the shoulder stuff simply couldn't get guys out anymore, and the Braves didn't protect him accordingly. I think if he's going well, he's a ground ball machine who will be a huge asset in a bullpen, but if 2014 Graham is what's expected going forward, the Twins may choose to DL him and stash him for a year while encouraging yet another procedure on his arm. The first thought I had when I saw the Twins had picked him rather than Martin was that they were going to do as the Braves will do with Daniel Winkler this year, and keep him on the major league DL all season to then allow them to put him into the minors in their system in 2016 and bypass Rule V issues.

As far as a reliever, Martin might be the better option. He was a highly-thought-of college reliever who went before most thought he would in the draft as a reliever because the Braves wanted to make him a starter. He's really a AAAA guy as a starter, but with his control and movement, reducing him to 2-3 pitches instead of 4 and putting him in the pen would make him a very good reliever.

I want this in Atlanta. Boo!

Rumblings are getting stronger and stronger that they're willing to meet the Braves' demands on Justin Upton, which could be huge for the Braves (rumors were that the Braves were wanting Chance Sisco, one of Bundy/Harvey, and another piece from the Orioles for Upton, which initially sent the Orioles running).

I'm surprised they didn't plug Guerrero into 2B

There's a lot of press going around that Alvarez simply has way too much thumbprint on the program still and that coaches that have left for other destinations did so because they felt like they couldn't build the program their way. Interesting to say the least.

With his health history, the years are ridiculous. I wouldn't do Heaney for Kendrick straight up, let alone add in Rutledge, but I guess they were just excited to solve their catcher issues with Grandal and get Kemp off the team.

And Dee Gordon to the Marlins for Andrew Heaney (with other pieces on both sides)

Unless he had a drastic procedure done since he left Atlanta, Schafer is white. He also had some of the best "clubhouse" guys in baseball with Tim Hudson, Eric Hinske, and David Ross in Atlanta when he was there, so the "playing the right way" was certainly more than evident. If he still needs that from someone like Torii, who has issues a-plenty in his own tolerance issues, then you may as well release Schafer. In all seriousness, I don't see this as a black and white issue. It's a societal issue. Inner cities used to produce a TON of great baseball players, but that's just not the case any more, and that doesn't matter black, white, brown, purple, or green. Baseball is a fairly inexpensive game to play, but it takes space to put up four bases and an outfield and room to hit the ball, space that many inner cities do not have anymore. It's quite easy to put up a basketball hoop, and you really don't need much room around that hoop to play ball. Likewise, you can set up anything to be a soccer goal and kick a ball in nearly no space, so the skills for soccer and basketball are much more easily honed in modern inner cities. The major league sound board thing to me is noise. Terry Pendleton was Chipper Jones' sounding board. Andres Galarraga was Andruw Jones' sounding board. Walt Weiss was Raffy Furcal's sounding board. Race and background aren't anywhere near as important as someone willing to learn about your culture and nurture your game into the major league level. Alfonso Soriano was hugely important to Kosuke Fukudome due to Soriano's time in Japan. These guys have such diverse experiences by the time they get to the major leagues that it's not so much on the "sounding board" line of talk at the major league level, it's on building inner city baseball at the youth level and going from there. Look at the Chicago team that nearly took the Little League World Series this year. That league was started as an initiative by MLB to encourage baseball in inner cities. I think we will continue to see more opportunities for youth in general if that investment is continued at the base for the game, not waiting until the majors to address any concerns.

So, Lester will end up with 6/155. Scherzer is rumored to be looking for 7/200. Lester is left-handed with a longer track record of success and only six months older. Cubs may have gotten a "deal" here.

As the offseason has played out, that LaRoche contract is looking better and better as well.

I'm excited for that, if for no other reason than the exposure. Missouri just played for the SEC championship for the 2nd straight year, so it's a good sign that the Gophers are chosen to play a foe of that caliber.

He hasn't had to, but as he gets the program on the map, he has the X's and O's to be able to absorb anyone on his staff moving on.

If the return was Walker, I believe Atlanta and its fans would like that as well.

I much prefer a head coach who can be good in the living room, but moreso is an X's and O's guy. Pellini is not that sort of a guy. He's absolutely a living room and press conference head coach, and those guys need great assistants to have a successful program. The problem with that model when you're building a program is that as your team success rises, the coordinators are sniped for jobs elsewhere often. I like having a coach who can ease a new assistant into that role because he's knowledgeable in the system he wants run rather than more of a "face of the team" role.

Not sure Rodger Kent would have qualified, but he was at least a local celebrity in his time. I cannot believe it is December, and I'm still skunked.

Players were very pissed at Bo's dismissal, former and current. My understanding is that they're now in double-digit players who have rescinded a commitment to Nebraska, including two twin brothers (one a four-star, one a three-star, go figure) who said on Twitter that they're officially open for recruiting again - and had a swarm of Twitter freaks tell them to come to their school. Twitter college fans that follow/tweet/DM high school kids should be arrested and locked up, but that's neither here nor there. Pellini from all accounts was what Brewster was supposed to be in Minnesota, but he held the fort longer. He's a great recruiter and player's guy. Mack Brown survived for years and even won a national title in the same role. It's all a matter of hiring great coordinators who can do the X's and O's of the game while you get the best talent into the program. I'll say, I'd rather have the Kill model of team building anyday.