Written by Joe Lucia
| 24 December 2009
Sorry it took me a day after the news broke to get this up...holiday season and all.
The Braves have tentatively reached an agreement with 3B Troy Glaus, for $2 million plus incentives. Glaus will likely play 1B for the team. Glaus does not hit for a high average, but has great power, with a career .241 ISO. Glaus is the type of player that can maintain a lower BABIP, as his career mark is a below average .284. Glaus has also battled injuries throughout most of his career, and has missed more than 30 games in a year in 4 of his last 7 seasons. When healthy, he can be an offensive force, judging by the .850+ OPS totals in his last 3 healthy seasons.
As for the move across the diamond, not only is it a necessity with the presence of Chipper Jones, but also, Glaus is not very good defensively at third, with 6 negative UZR seasons since the stat began being tracked in 2002. If you look at fielding percentage, he's a total butcher...but who cares about fielding percentage anymore? He's only played 38 career innings at first, but did a damn good job. Its too small of a sample size to make any judgments based on that alone, but its something to at least consider.
Personally, I like the signing. Its a low risk, high reward deal, and if Glaus's back or shoulder act up at all, the Braves are only out $2 million, which is a drop in the bucket. If Glaus is fully healthy, the Braves have a cleanup hitter who can get them the power they need and give Chipper Jones and Brian McCann some breathing room in the lineup.
For another look at things, check out my colleague Ray Flowers' take of the Glaus signing over at
Baseball Guys.
