Those were the numerous questions lingering on my mind, while I try to fix up the payroll situation for the Atlanta Braves and the up-coming 1996 MLB Season.
The first move we made was trading Tony Phillips, who was often-injured and underachieved during the first two years of his three-year contract. We traded him to California in exchange for 2B/1B Carlos Garcia, OF Bill Ashley and prospect C/3B Joe Bertucci. The move was a cost-cutting move that gets us some depth at second, first & left field.
The next move, we decided to shop around David Justice after all, and Kansas City came a calling. When I noticed Johnny Damon was one of the players being dangled in front of my face, I had to make him part of the offer. I initially tried to add prospect starting pitcher Chan Ho Park to the deal, but was denied, but they were more than willing to trade off one of their bigger contracts in Brian McRae.
McRae gives me an excellent option in center field, he is due to only make $1.66 million in 1996, but afterwards the contracts jumps up to $3.56 million per year from 1997-1999. I thought about trading McRae right away, but decided he will start in center over Deion Sanders, while I will wait to cross that bridge if I want to keep McRae or not, after the 1996 season is complete.
I spoke with Greg Maddux's agent on a possible extension, in which they came back with a 10-year deal worth $73.5 million; The deal would be give him a raise from $4.6 million to $7.35 million-per-year... the pending offer was a no-brainer.
I was surprised when I tried to shop around Fred McGriff that I only got three responses, which involved the following veterans: 3B Terry Pendleton, OF/1B Kevin Mitchell & OF Lenny Dykstra... Each player is past their prime, while all featured contracts that were either equal to or more than McGriff's annual salary. I ended up finally trading him to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for catcher Matt Walbeck, SP Scott Elarton, SS Chris Sexton and RP Mark Mimbs... the deal may make you shake your head, but I had to make room for Jason Giambi at first, plus it saves me some money, and I could use that money towards free agency.
My current lineup looks like this...
- Brian McRae - CF
- Chipper Jones - 3B
- Jason Giambi - 1B
- Ryan Klesko - LF
- Javy Lopez - C
- Johnny Damon - RF
- Jeff Blauser - SS
- Mark Lemke - 2B
- (Pitcher)
My bench will feature the following players...
- Deion Sanders - OF
- Carlos Garcia - 2B/1B
- Bill Ashley - LF
- Mike Mordecai - 2B/3B/SS
- Tony Tarasco - OF
By trading away these combined players, I have freed up $5 million of annual salary, while our budget will get bigger in a few years as well. I made two offers, nothing flashy, an offer for RP Eric Plunk and SS Greg Gagne.
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