biggentleben

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.

Maddon has mentioned multiple times how much he loves Los Angeles and would like to finish his career on the West Coast. I'm assuming we'll hear soon about Don Mattingly being reassigned or outright fired and Maddon becoming the next Dodger manager.

One BJ Upton, coming up! LOL!!

Well, if he's expendable, I know a southern team that would love to take Perkins off of your hands!

I know that Guerra was on the Braves' radar either one or two years ago, but I'm not sure where they'd be with him. His pedigree would likely get him a deal pretty quickly if the Twins did let him go. I'd love to see more of the medicals with Hermsen as well because he was a guy who looked destined for a career of backend starter production as a control-focused guy. He's seemingly lost his control completely since returning from the injury. The Twins tried him in the bullpen in 2014 a lot, but he's not got the type of stuff that you'd assume to play up in the bullpen.

Proof?! We don't need no stinking proof! It's the internet!!

Sadly, I don't think I'll be partaking, and I'm sad to see that portion of this community leave. I'm not attempting to be a negative Nelly, but I'm really not a Vikings fan, but I enjoy talking football, and the Vikings board is where that was happening. I hope football conversation happens on the "The Sports Bar" board without issue for those who choose to talk football more than talk Vikings specifically.

I think they've tried to move Schafer this season, but there's not a lot of trade market for a guy making over a million to pinch run, even for a low-level type of guy. He's also had some personality clashes with the coaching staff and front office this season, so it's entirely possible this was a "don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya" sort of response from the team.

Completely get what you're saying, but I will tell you that there are three other outfielders, two of whom are center fielders, on the Braves' 40-man roster that are in AAA. Acquiring Bonifacio, who would take really the only value that Schafer was providing to the 25-man - speed, made Schafer more dispensable than the other three on the 40-man, all three of whom I'd place below Schafer in organizational charting. He's likely about the 27th active, and if he was an arm, they'd find a way to make it work, but there's more of him on their 40-man that makes him more removable in their particular case.

In fairness to Schafer, he was no longer in the 25 best players, but he would have been in the 40. He just didn't have options, and he wasn't in those top 25, so he had to be put through waivers to send him down.

Welcome to Braves fans' misery. Pinch hit for a pitcher to use Schafer to move a runner = Net loss from the pitcher hitting and bunting on his own. Not many hitters who you can say that about.

Schafer didn't have options, though, so he would have had to pass through the waivers. That hurt his stock because if he did have options, he would have been highly desirable, but spending a year-plus on the MLB DL took away some options.

Part of why he lasted so long in 2012 was that he had no options left, so any team that claimed him would have to keep him on the major league team, so it's a bit disingenuous to infer he lasted a long time because of talent. I don't disagree that he's just as likely to clear waivers this offseason as he is to be claimed, but I do think on a subjective view that someone will give him a shot even then, especially with a whole offseason to fix what they believe ails him. Of course, what really ails him is that he has two strikes from PED and drugs of abuse and never recovered well from a wrist injury suffered after a very positive start to his 2009 debut season (ruining the celebration of the division rival Phillies following their 2008 World Series victory with a home run to lead off the season). His wrist has never gotten better, and he can't risk the drugs that helped him get where he was. Guys like that, though, seem to get more chances than a guy who simply never produced at 100% health.

True, but he was claimed by one of the first teams eligible to claim him this time. He would have a good chance of being claimed by someone as a 5th outfielder/pinch runner type. The Braves needed him to be more, and he wasn't able to be that.

My point was that the Twins would have to carry him all winter and offer him arbitration in order to have him in spring training. For a team rebuilding, they should either figure out he's part of the future the rest of 2014 or let him go. It doesn't make sense to clog the 40-man. I have a feeling if they cut him loose, he'd have plenty of interest because he has a legit MLB skill on the basepaths.

If he's around in spring training, the Twins had to pay him arbitration, so I would guess the shot is August-September, and then if he doesn't do it then, he's gone.

Before the A's, he was a flyer by the Phillies. These guys sometimes don't work out as well. And Moss has flourished mostly because he doesn't play every day now. That's allowed his power to play up because his .255/.335 line wouldn't acceptable without slugging over .500.

Seth, he debuted with the Atlanta Braves and came up through the Braves system. He was part of the trade that brought Michael Bourn to Atlanta before Atlanta acquired him via waiver claim before the 2013 season. He's a CF in speed only at this point as his instincts in the field are terrible and simply have not gotten better. The only thing worse than his first step is his routes, so not exactly the guy you want to rely on for covering a spacious outfield. His best defensive asset is his arm. His speed does allow him to make up for his first step on quick shots, but on long runs, his poor routes often bite him, and he misses a ball most center fielders can make. Schafer was once a tremendous offensive prospect with good patience, okay power, and blazing speed - the prototypical leadoff guy. Then he got busted in the minors for PEDs. He's never found that patience again since his suspension, though his MLB walk percentage was good, he's often been cited for going after way too many first pitches, but that is an issue of many Braves hitters, so that may be something he's done more with Greg Walker as his hitting coach. Schafer has had an absurdly low BABIP this year, hovering around .215 last I checked, so there's some hope for improvement, but I know the Braves aren't hurt in letting him go after giving him two chances at the big league level and attempting to stand by his side during a suspension. In the clubhouse, he rides that line between cocky and arrogant, and he really irked Chipper Jones and Tim Hudson when they were around. Last season he publicly called for more playing time as BJ Upton struggled, which isn't the greatest "team guy" thing to do. All that said, he's never been mentioned as one that was causing any upheaval in the clubhouse, and the Braves have had issues with that the last few years from Uggla, McCann, and others. Not a bad chance pick up for a team like the Twins. If his BABIP bounces back, he's a .230/.300/.350 sort of hitter that will steal a ton when on base if he has the green light. Not a long term piece, but worth the nothing given up for him.

Puke.

Okay, was just curious! Thanks for all your hard work, Brock. Very impressed by the whole layout!

So were all warning points removed? I still seem to have a 7-month old one...

This hasn't been followed up on, but I will say that Ramirez is the only guy on here who's available and has a MLB future. Hechevarria is nowhere near available, and the other two are fringe guys at best.