Atlanta Braves: If I Was Frank Wren...

I love playing GM for professional sports, especially baseball. I always have, and I probably always will.  Building my own team with my kind of personnel, and my type of players gets me excited.

I just did an article for the Rays, so I'll enter a shameless plug here .

However, I'll stop at two teams: my Rays and my Braves.

The spots in question are: an extra starting pitcher, a closer, an outfield spot, and first base.

The Braves have a good problem to have: too much starting pitching. Tommy Hanson, Javier Vazquez, Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Kenshin Kawakami, and Tim Hudson are all viable starters. Hanson and Jurrjens aren't going anywhere, and not many teams will want Kawakami and Hudson, so that leaves Atlanta with Lowe and Vazquez to trade.

With both Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano free agents, Atlanta will need to find a closer. The preference would be to resign one of these guys, but if not, they have a couple options in free agency.

In the outfield, the Braves have one surefire starter: Nate McLouth. Jason Heyward is on his way, and Matt Diaz can certainly be of use, but until Heyward is absolutely ready, they will need an outfielder to take his spot.

Lastly, to preview the Braves question marks, Adam LaRoche is a free agent, causing the Braves to need a first baseman.

Okay, we'll start off in the outfield. Heyward will have a shot at the right field job in Spring Training, but will probably start off in the minors. Hopefully, he'll be ready very soon though. 

That leaves Diaz and McLouth in the outfield. Atlanta needs a leadoff hitter with speed, and McLouth is not that. In my plan, Atlanta gets Coco Crisp to sign a two year deal; long enough to get Schafer ready to play in the bigs. Crisp would play center, McLouth in right, and Diaz in left. When Heyward gets called up, McLouth, Crisp, and Diaz would play matchups, and the hot hand.  

Move: sign Coco Crisp.

At the closer spot, the Atlanta's best option is Rafael Soriano, but he might just command a bigger contract than Atlanta would be willing to make. Atlanta absolutely needs to resign Gonzalez, for a left handed presence in the bullpen. I think Soriano leaves, but Gonzalez stays, leaving Atlanta in need of a set up man.

Move: sign Mike Gonzalez.

Duaner Sanchez is a lottery ticket, but could pay off huge dividends. Chad Cordero is a solid reliever that can close if Gonzalez goes down.

Move: sign Sanchez and Cordero.

Now, onto the starters. We've already established that Vazquez and Lowe are the two to trade. Vazquez had a tremendous year, and his stock might not ever be higher, so this offseason would be the time to trade him. Lowe had a bad year last year, but history tells us that it was purely an anomaly. The last time Lowe had that bad of a year was in 2004, with Boston. 

I would rather have Vazquez on the team, but Lowe's stock is so low, Vazquez would be much easier to trade. I read an article by Tab Bamford that suggested a straight up Vazquez for Derrek Lee trade.  

To me, this seems like an outstanding trade for both sides. Chicago can move Jake Fox to first base full time, and solidify their starting rotation. Atlanta gets a first baseman with power, average, clutch ability, and leadership. 

Move: trade Javier Vazquez for Derrek Lee.

Finally, Chipper Jones needs a true backup. Juan Uribe is a very underrated replacement, and could easily provide good numbers in place of Chipper.

Move: sign Juan Uribe.

To finish, I'll post the roster if I was the Braves GM.

Catcher: Brian McCann

First Base: Derrek Lee

Second Base: Martin Prado

Shortstop: Yunel Escobar

Third Base: Chipper Jones

Left Field: Matt Diaz/Nate McLouth

Center Field: Coco Crisp

Right Field: Nate McLouth (until Heyward)/Jason Heyward

Bench: Kelly Johnson, Omar Infante, Gregor Blanco, Brandon Jones, Juan Uribe

Rotation: Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Derek Lowe, Tim Hudson, Kenshin Kawakami

MRP: Duaner Sanchez, Peter Moylan, Boone Logan, Manny Acosta, Kris Medlen, Jo Jo Reyes

Set Up: Chad Cordero, Eric O'Flaherty

Closer: Mike Gonzalez