The young offseason has come to quite a start for the Atlanta Braves.
With Braves closers Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano hitting the market, Frank Wren looked like he would have quite a task on his hand to secure the back of the 'pen.
Nope.
Within a couple of days after teams made their decisions on arbitration-eligible players, the Braves General Manager succeeded in his task to complete the bullpen.
Here is the Braves' four main men in relieving next year:
Peter Moylan: 2.84 ERA
Eric O'Flaherty: 3.04 ERA
Takashi Saito: 2.43 ERA
Billy Wagner: 1.72 ERA
With Soriano and Gonzalez, Atlanta would have had about the same quality closers at around $15 million; maybe even more.
With Saito and Wagner with short-term commitments, the Braves are spending about $10 million.
Well done, Mr. Wren.
For all of you worried about the risk of having Billy Wagner's arm at the end of games, don't be. Before he went down with injuries, he was a fantastic closer as most of you can recall.
For all of you worried his arm might explode, don't be. It might be a risk giving him the chance to close, but he just came off successful Tommy John surgery, as proved at the end of last season.
And if he does, Takashi Saito is an accomplished closer who could step in and perform the job.
So Frank Wren is doing one heck of a job as the Braves General Manager so far...
Hopefully we can snag a big power bat now.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments