Talk radio made a good point about Escobar - If you can't get along on a 1st place Bobby Cox team, then there isn't much hope for you. Alex Gonzalez isn't a long-term solution but the Braves got good prospects too.

Same here. They were saying that this Braves season could be special and it'd be terrible to have it ruined by another one of his hissy fits.

I mean, at WORST, this trade is a wash with a more professional player.

Plus, you get rid of JoJo Reyes, who, I'm sorry, is hot garbage.

I like the trade. Let's do this.

That's probably what the deal is for this year. The swap of a young, talented SS who is currently underperforming and has some character issues with a quality SS who will probably roughly comparable defense and not be a clubhouse issue. He's had a much better 1st half offensively than Escobar but if he were to have a 2nd half comparable to his first it would be his best offensive year by a wide margin at age 33 so I think its reasonable to expect him to regress some to a more normal level of output. So who can really say who will have a better second half?

I doubt that the Braves will regret this trade this year but they are trading a much younger and more talented shortstop who is under team control for several years for a decent veteran SS and some midlevel prospects who probably will help the Braves down the line but won't stop you from regretting the trade if Escobar blossoms into a star. Its a gamble. Long term, you probably came closer to describing the best case scenario not the worst.

can't wait for the Giants to make a terrible trade or sit on their hands and miss the playoffs by 3 or 4 games again.

The thing is, Escobar will turn 28 this year, so it's not like he's a young up and comer anymore. If the trade comes back to bite them, it won't be the first time, but the Braves are typically right more than they are wrong about these head case guys. Gonzalez is signed through next year and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts the Braves have a Hot Young Stud in the minors waiting to step in--they always seem to.

Mad Dog Russo (who is a HUGE Giants fan) was just killing them today on the radio...killing the owner for being cheap and wearing bow ties, killing them for having no titles in SF, just generally killing them.

I think the reason I've been so reticent to get on board with this years Braves team is due to last years final 2 month cock tease. I totally got invested and they'd pull within 2 games then fall back to 5. Pull within 1.5 and then get swept by the Nats. Ultimately they just shit the bed and ended the season 6 or 7 back I think.

Braves fans got spoiled with that 14 year run in the playoffs. I think 5 seasons out of the playoffs has made it so there could be a pretty fun buzz around town come September. We'll see. They always have to compete with football come Fall down here.

I wish the cubs could trade their entire roster.

Not only 5 seasons out of the playoffs but I'd argue 11 seasons since we were relevant--5 of the last 6 years they won Division titles they subsequently went out in the first round.

Fair enough. I was reading another article pitching the Braves' perspective which gave some of the history of head cases that they were right on. eg John Rocker, Marcus Giles, etc. Just sayin' SS is a premium position so its not like this is a no risk trade.

Yeah, the whole "Escobar--to trade or not to trade" debate has been going on here for almost as long as the guy has been on the team. I mean, Bobby Cox, the ultimate players manager, has had to sit the guy down, pull him out of games and have numerous talks with the guy because he just can't seem to keep his head in the game.

I think the Hawks have had a similar quandary with Josh Smith.

the Braves run kinda reminds me of the McNabb era of the Eagles, but the lone WS victory spoils the comparison.

I know he's getting banged on but I like Votto not congratulating Byrd last night because he's a Cub. I love old school rivalries where teams actually hate each other instead of David Ortiz waxing A-rod's eyebrows in the offseason.

Been listening to the media bash the All-Star Game today. They claim that it wasn't entertaining mainly because of the lack of runs scored, and that baseball is on the decline in America. These are the same people who were whining about all of the cheating going on during the juicing era and the inflated home run statistics needing asterisks. You can't have it both ways, idiots. Apparently it's more that chicks who dig the long ball.

Exactly. Besides, the reason no runs were scored is because they scheduled the game in the middle of the day in Anaheim, which isn't exactly a prime hitting hour.

its time to trade for a power bat. or a power bottom. whatever.

Gonzalez is average at best.

Much like the Reds.

lol

They got him for his defense. His offense is definitely inflated this year in Toronto.

Defense with an average of 14 errors per season?

Shortstops have a lot of chances. Ozzie Smith made 281 errors in his 19 seasons. That's nearly 15 errors per season, and not all of those seasons were full seasons.

Yea, I was comparing him to Phillips, which isn't fair.

That Zimmerman special on MLB Network is pretty interesting.