23 July 2007

Update: Ken Rosenthal basically puts a cap on the Renteria-Garland rumor with this post. Rosenthal says the proposed deal with Renteria and a pitching prospect for Garland but that it basically went nowhere. Not too surprising, many reports had said that Garland was the only veteran White Sox starter not on the block. I would be interested to see if Schuerholz turns his sights on Javier Vazquez in a Renteria deal since I believe Vazquez to be the better pitcher. He goes on to say that the Braves are still very interested in Mark Teixeira but that a deal most likely would not get done without Jarrod Saltalamacchia because the Rangers don't really need Yunel Escobar. I'm back from my European adventure after an exciting landing at JFK through wind and rain. I've been trying to stay as current on the rumor mill as possible leading up to the July 31st deadline that is sure to bring some excitement to Braves fans. Now with all of it rounded up, here is a rundown of the Braves rumors floating around in the blogosphere.

• I had heard some fans talking about a supposed Edgar Renteria-Jon Garland swap that White Sox GM Kenny Williams turned down. Most of the message board rumors floating around are pretty unreliable but when Buster Olney's blog turned up a very similar rumor, I was confident enough that it was legitimate. In theory this seems to make sense. The Braves have a decent option in Yunel Escobar, who while being a defensive upgrade over Renteria would be far less at the plate. Still, the Braves would have reasonable offense from a position that doesn't expect much, add a starter who could post a sub-four ERA in the NL, and open up every-day playing time for a very deserving Kelly Johnson. Garland is signed through 2008 with a $12 million tab next year. If there is a holdup, it is undoubtedly concerning money.
• Two BP guys (Will Carroll and John Perrotto) give some very useful in a recent post regarding the Braves and possible targets. The first thing you see is that Carroll contradicts the Olney report by saying that Garland is not on the table. The second is a comment about the Braves attitude towards Salty. It seems that Carroll believes the Braves may be trying to jack up his value by waiting until the last minute to trade away the up and coming Braves prospect. Maybe the most shocking of all though is Perrotto chiming in on Pirates ace Ian Snell. Reports and rumors keep trickling out that Dave Littlefield may be opening up to trading Snell for offensive help. Matt Kemp of the Dodgers and Saltalamacchia are the two names thrown out here. Snell is one of a select few I could see the Braves moving "Salty" for.
• The Diamondbacks are reportedly shopping around right-hander Livan Hernandez, the half-brother of Mets starter Orlando. Some writers say the Braves are interested and some have said the opposite. Livan is the epitome of an innings eater. He has been known to throw 140+ pitches many times before. The problem however is that his performance and homerun rates have been getting drastically worse. Hernandez has ERA's of 6.69 and 5.89 while allowing sixteen homeruns in nine combined starts between June and July, while his ERA was below four in both of the first two months of the season, allowing only four longballs.