| Douglas Benton. 6th December, 2005 - 5:39 pm
 Going into the off-season, the Braves knew they had to add a few pieces in order to make another run at the World Series. Well, this plan hit a few speed bumps before it could even get off of the ground as the Braves lost their closer, Kyle Farnsworth, to the Yankees and their shortstop, Rafael Furcal, to the Los Angeles Dodgers before the winter meetings even began. However, the Braves shouldn’t press the panic button yet, as there are still a few closers on the market and a shortstop already in the system.
At shortstop, the Braves should look no farther than down their bench to once superstar prospect Wilson Betemit, who has played some third base in the last few years. In the past, it was thought of by the Braves’ brass that it would be Betemit who would eventually force Furcal out of Atlanta, not the allure of money. Betemit is a special athlete who can bring more power to the offense, even though they will be hurt at the top of the line-up. So, since you have a replacement at shortstop right on your roster, you can focus your money freed up by the departure of Furcal and the restructuring of Chipper Jones’ contract.
This money should go towards helping the bullpen and more specifically, Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman is battle-tested and can provide the Braves organization with a quality closer until Joey Devine is ready to take over this role. Hoffman’s price has gone up the past few weeks, but I think the Braves propose an attractive team for Hoffman because the most important thing to him is a contending team.
The Braves still have a lot of talented players and they are only going to get better as the “Baby Braves” from a year ago continue to develop and they get some of their starting pitchers back from injuries last season. Like most teams at this level, the Braves are only a few pieces away from contending for the World Series, and the pieces are there for the taking. |
