Here's the catch. On August 15th, he gets 10-5 rights, which means that, because he has 10 years of service in MLB and has spent the last 5 with one organization, he automatically has a full no-trade clause for the rest of his time with Atlanta. For a team that's rebuilding, that's not good, because they're going to need to re-sign him after next year and it's likely going to be a long-term deal worth a lot of money when he is turning 30. Essentially, they're going to be locked in to paying a guy in his mid-thirties probably somewhere between $15 and $18 million.
Why they didn't consider this before the deadline is beyond me, because they would have gotten more if they do indeed trade him. There was a rumor that he was going to go to Boston for Coco Crisp and others and then be sent onto Houston for Roy Oswalt, so his name has come up. It'll be interesting, because the deadline for whichever team claimed him (and no, I wouldn't be surprised if the Marlins were in on it for a multitude of reasons) is later today.
Why should the Marlins have put a claim on him?
With the way the standings are and the way waivers work, the Marlins get second pick among contending NL teams, only behind Milwaukee, who probably isn't interested. Three things could happen:
1) The Marlins somehow swing a trade for him, acquire a star CF for the playoff run at a very reasonable $4 million dollars, and either keep him for the duration of his contract (through 2007) or 2) trade him in the offseason when there's a huge market for him because of his relatively affordable contract (1 year, $13.5 million) compared to the albatrosses headed to Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano, and because he wouldn't have 10-5 rights with Florida or any other team.
3) The Braves (likely) pull him back off waivers, which they can do because the waivers are not irrevocable, but the rule states that if a team pulls a player off waivers, they can not trade him again that season. That, in turn, locks him into the 10-5 status, which forces a divisional opponent to pay a player a lot of money and not be able to shed the salary, which could potentially slow down the rebuilding process in Atlanta, since the $13.5 million dollars could go to something they really need, like, oh, a bullpen (along with seemingly every other team not called the Mets).
Claiming him would be a smart business move for Florida because it forces the Braves to play their hand. John Schuerholz is no dummy, but assuring that you either get a star or you force your rival to pay for one isn't a bad idea. Loria has shown he will pay to win (Pudge, Urbina, Delgado, Lo Duca), so I'm curious to see what happens.
And now let me do some dreaming...
Cody Ross and Alfredo Amezaga have come out of nowhere to have really good seasons for us filling our huge void in CF. I have no trust in Reggie Abercrombie, at least for this year, to become a playoff-caliber CF. Our rotation is playoff-worthy in my mind. Almost every night we have the better pitcher on the mound. Our bullpen runs hot and cold and could be our ticket in or our locked door out. Our lineup is good. It, most of the time, goes something like this:
1) Ramirez, SS
2) Uggla, 2B
3) Jacobs, 1B
4) Cabrera, 3B
5) Willingham, LF
6) Hermida, RF
7) Ross/Amezaga, CF
8) Olivo, C
9) P
Well, throw Andruw Jones in the middle of that:
1) Ramirez, SS
2) Uggla, 2B
3) Jacobs, 1B
4) Cabrera, 3B
5) Jones, CF
6) Willingham, LF
7) Hermida, RF
8) Olivo, C
9) P
That means every hitter in the everyday lineup except for Hermida, who will be a 25 HR guy eventually, has double digit HR this year. Wow.
