For what seems like the entirety of the MLB offseason, the Atlanta Braves have been rumored in trying to trade Jair Jurrjens and/or Martin Prado. Teams such as the Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds have been more of the dominant rumored teams that the Braves were currently “in discussions.” Both Jurrjens and Prado are extremely attractive pieces, and both have a high price tag.
One thing that has come out in these rumors is the Braves’ insistence to acquire a center field prospect in return for any one of these two players. The reason behind acquiring the center field prospect has been stated as a precautionary measure in case the team cannot resign current center fielder, Michael Bourn.
Bourn was acquired from the Houston Astros at this past season’s trade deadline. He is the type of player that teams look for in a leadoff hitter: great speed, high OBP, high contact guy. He is the type of leadoff hitter that the Braves have not had since Rafael Furcal was with the team.
Bourn has steadily improved as a hitter over the past four seasons. He had career highs batting average (.294), slugging percentage (.386) and stolen bases (61 actually tied his career high) this past season and missed tying his career high in OBP by .006. Bourn is the type of player that Fredi Gonzalez and Frank Wren seemingly love.
What I question, though, is whether the Braves are interested in trying to sign Bourn after this upcoming season at all. If they were, they wouldn’t be trying to pry a center field prospect away from a number of teams.
The reason why they are reluctant, I am certain, is the fact that Bourn is represented by Scott Boras. Boras is, in most people’s eyes, a conniving, blood-sucking scoundrel that will squeeze every penny out of your pocket while doing business with you. The Braves will pay Derek Lowe $10 million this season to play for the Cleveland Indians. He is one of Boras’ players that got a nice pay day from the Braves.
Boras will try to get as much money for Michael Bourn as he can. That is his job. The Braves have a much smaller pocket book than other teams and they seem to want to work with Boras as little as possible.
I can’t blame them for trying to have a back-up plan in the event that they do not re-sign Bourn. However, my question is whether they are interested at all. I don’t think they are.
I think they would love to have him but are unwilling to be Borased again. Boras told Dave O’Brien that the harder surfaces make the most of Bourn’s speed and that stadiums with domes have harder surfaces than open air parks. Turner field he said is “too soft.” Boras knows too how much the Braves will have in hand next year and what they might do with it. I suspect he will want a horrible number for a 30 year old Bourn who will be slowing down and without speed is not much good; say 7 years at $15M. Pity is he may well get something stupid like that.
The Braves know how old he is and Boras so I suspect the poking around is doing due diligence. Bourn may be worth say 3 @ 10M with options for 4 & 5 but no more. The Nat’s need a center fielder and think how broke they could be with Werth, Prince and Bourn eating 60M of their payroll. Meanwhile we can’t spare a dime for a cup of coffee.
they’ll make an offer but it will be low. i wouldn’t be surprised if he’s dealt this season if the braves are not in playoff contention due to injuries and better competition from the nats and marlins. he’s a great player but won’t be worth his contract for the final 3 years of his contract.
I don’t feel any of the perjoratives listed above about Boras are accurate, personally. Given that free agency is one of the least efficient ways, dollar for value, to build a team, making it team policy not to deal with Boras FA clients might be a good operating proceedure and a way to actually stay ahead of the curve, though. A smart club can build around not having a chance at those players.
He represents too many amateurs not to deal with him entirely, though, as skipping top talent in the draft because of representation* would be a foolish way to build a team. Similarly, not at least negotiating with Boras clients already on the team would be a mistake…because even though Boras advocates testing the open market whenever possible, he will and has negotiated extensions when his clients want. He works for them, after all.
Bourn is an interesting case because the Braves acquired him at his peak and he was a good value through trade and remains a good bet for 2012, but beyond that I don’t know what his expected worth could be. He feels like a guy who’s maximized his assets right now and any slip in physical ability could send him off a cliff production wise. The Braves should only really open up the pocketbook for players they feel strongly about. Either way it’d kinda be nice to just enjoy the bargain we got in him and move on to other bargains if/when he leaves. I would have liked to have done that with Uggla, too, but I guess they think Uggla is “the one.”
*Except in the case of Paul Kinzer. He gets the full Sato treatment.
I don’t think you know what you are talking about, Matt Rich.
What a fair, well-reasoned response.
You are not the first person to accuse me of ignorance, but still what part(s) of my comment do you find ridiculous? You believe it’s certain that Bourn is the next Tris Speaker? You think we should just let anyone and everyone leave, incuding Tommy Hanson when his time comes, regardless of how their career might have played out by then, because of representation? If a Strasburg or Evan Longoria falls to us in a draft, we should balk if Boras is involved? Paul Kinzer is someone we shoud deliberatey seek out to do business with?
This so called “blogger” wouldn’t know who Paul Kinzer was without a google search. YOU should the lead blogger, Matt Rich!
Thanks for you post, Mr. Ching. If Matt wants to write with rant sports, I can refer him to the management team.