This article says we may be going after Grienke

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/mlb?eref =sihp

by what Wren said the other day I don't see how it happens. They will surely call and see what his price will be but unless he gives us a huge discount I don't see him being a brave. I did a year ago.

we have to go.  but we won't get him unless he just wants to be a brave.  We should come with a strong offer but a handful of other teams will offer 20+ million more.

When Greinke left baseball he attended Braves spring training games. I think the Braves trying to trade for Greinke was a lot like them going after Hudson. Hudson offered the braves a 25% discount, even with that it was hard for the Braves to sign him. Greinke could do the same thing. Even with 25% discount that would be tough for the Braves to match. They were willing to go to 16 mill for AJ Burnett so I think they could do it for Greinke.

And I would love that to happen but I would get rid of Uggla and McCann this offseason to make it easier.

I think we need to focus on a dominant starting staff

Medlen
Greinke
Hudson (?)
Minor

and Beachy...maybe

If they really wanted to they could backload some of the contracts a year and let the expiring contracts after 2013 run out. McCann/Hudson/Prado/Maholm are 1/3rd of the payroll. Uggla we have to live with for a while.

I agree skid. I'd try trading by Mac and Uggla. Mac would help us get more prospects to use n a trade that doesn't need pitching. Greinke would help make the staff nasty and we would still have plenty to get the rest we need.

Bethancourt and Ross could hold down the catching spot as long as u got a huge bat for LF.

We have the pitching we need offense.

I think Wren wants a top flight starter and Greinke actually wants to come here. He may not wanna pass that up. But I'd try my best to trade Uggla before doin anything.

Dan Uggla's contract says Dan Uggla is not getting traded

If u eat a couple million a year u might.

Man I remember Bill 100% guaranteed he would be a Brave after he was traded to Milwaukee. I hope this is still the case.

We don't need one player taking up 20 million on the books, unless you are willing to get rid of our young core players as they start to hit arby. I don't think that is a wise move.

We don't need SP, what's the point of making Greinke one of the highest paid SP in MLB.

I'd rather have Josh Hamilton in CF if we're going to give out a 20+mill/ year to anybody.

BravesFan4Life27 wrote: We have the pitching we need offense.

+1

RunninBrave wrote:

BravesFan4Life27 wrote: We have the pitching we need offense.

+1

We need both. We were 7th in the NL in wRC+ and 6th in FIP-, but were 3rd in ERA- because of our great defense.  If we lose Bourn and don't improve the pitching our team ERA is going to regress big time.

Both strategies are good in my opinion.  If you sign Grienke then you can use Teheran, Delgado and/or Hanson to get the bats you need at 3B and LF (that is if Uggla moves on and Prado goes back to 2B).  If we don't get Grienke then you have the money you need to get some real bats.

I would go after the player that will be elite the longest and that wont have health problems.  In baseball right now it is not uncommon to see players' production yoyo like crazy from season to season, or suddenly become average from one season to the next.  Teams that have consistency are the ones that win in my opinion.  I would build a team around pitching and consistency every day of the week.