Has Wren did enough to compete in 09?
Do you think it is time to apologize to Frank Wren and his front office goons after the signing of Derek Lowe? If you are one of those fans that just wanted an ace at the top of the rotation then I say fo ahead. After all that we said about Wren he just spent $83mm to bring in two pitchers.
We picked up our first ever Japanese born player in Kenshin Kawakami and signed him for three years and around the $23mm range according to a few sources. He is in his mid thirties and for the last year he pitched on a six man rotation. He has pitched every five days before and in 2006 is when he won the equivalent of the Cy Young award. He has not stated any specific goals for the upcoming year but he did say that he wanted to stay in the rotation all year. Well given any for seen circumstances I think he will have no problem at all in achieving that.
Our biggest pick up is Derek Lowe the 33 year old veteran from L.A. This guy really is a workhorse, something that this rotation needs more than anything else. Remember the work load that our bullpen had last year. I seen a crazy stat earlier in the week and I hope I do not get it wrong. Since 2002 Lowe is third or tied with third in wins among all starters. That is amazing. I was happy we got Lowe. Other than the possibility of Peavy I was really hoping to get this guy. I just don’t understand why the Braves was not interested in him before the Smoltz thing went down. The Braves put in a huge offer of four years for $60mm and it has been passed around that the Braves did that just so Lowe can accept the offer quickly. A little paranoid there Wren?
Lowe is like Smoltz. A closer to start his career in Boston, well from 1999 to 2001 and now an accomplished starter.
I am sad to see number 29 go off to what might be greener land up in Boston but you know there is nothing that I can do about that. Just to break up a little contract numbers check this out. Smoltz left the Braves for $5.5mm and the Braves offered around the $2.5mm range. Difference of $2mm. Omar Infante signed for two years with a third year option for around $4.35mm. Smoltz only wanted a one year deal and instead of giving
Smoltz the chance of retiring at the end of the year as a Brave (if that is what Smoltz is going to do) they give the cash to a backup infielder. And the third year option is a club option and it is for $2.5mm. Just thought you might like to know where that $40mm went to.
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Tags: Braves 2009, Derek Lowe, Frank Wren, Kawakamia







2 Responses
Scott January 17th at 11:54 pm
I am still not happy with the off season. The front office looked confused at best. We shhould have gotten Peavy! He is younger and would have cost less than Lowe. Too get that close and seal the deal? Now we have too much $$$ tied up with pitching so we won’t get a power hitting outfielder. That said, GO BRAVES!!!!
Josh January 18th at 7:58 pm
Who cares if Smoltz is gone? He had a nice career but its time to move on. I’m glad that Frank let him go, we don’t even know if he is gonna be able to come back and pitch this year. I didn’t want to see another ‘08.