Why Nate McClouth makes the Braves the NL East favorite…

[bcshorts]

• McLouth gives Atlanta a legitimate leadoff hitter. Think Alfonso Soriano, with defense and about five years younger. The Braves also have the opportunity to bat him third at times, especially when Chipper Jones may be out of the lineup.

• Compare Soriano’s average season since leaving the Yankees after 2003 with McClouth’s season last year:
o Soriano: .280/.332/.529 34 HR, 37 2B, 94 R, 87 RBI, 25 SB
o McClouth: .276/.356/.487 26 HR, 46 2B, 113 R, 94 RBI, 23 SB

Although Soriano has considerably more home run power, McClouth makes up for it with gap power and a much higher OBP

• Adding Nate the Great gives the Braves a gold-glove caliber CF, something they have missed since Andruw Jones was 25. Jordan Schafer may have a load of defensive potential, but at times he looked lost.

• Speaking of Jordan Schafer, he can have all the time he needs to straighten himself out in Gwinnett. Don’t get me wrong, we’re big fans of his. But he was overmatched, hitting .176 with 59 strikeouts in 148 at-bats since starting the year at .421 over the first five games.

• We can expect the new lineup to look something like this:

CF Nate McLouth
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
LF Garrett Anderson
1B Casey Kotchman
2B Kelly Johnson
RF Jeff Francoeur

• And the pitching to look like this:

Derek Lowe
Javier Vazquez
Jair Jurrjens
Kenshin Kawakami
Tommy Hanson

• Oh yeah, did I mention Tommy Hanson debuts Saturday? Now to the rest of the division…

• The Mets are a banged up bunch, who lack both pitching and hitting depth. Other than Johan Santana, the Braves AAA squad is as good as their starting staff. Carlos Delgado looks to miss more and more time, and could be out for the season. That leaves only Wright, Beltran, and Reyes as legitimate offensive threats, and Reyes’ legs don’t look to be in good shape. This team is about to take a ride and start fallin’, “Free Fallin’”

• Only the Phillies remain, and forgive me for not thinking Moyer will have a sub-4.00 ERA again (it currently stands at 6.75). Again, other than their ace, Cole Hamels, the Phillies are relying on a mix of aging veterans and unproven youngsters. I’m a little skeptical that J.A. Haap and Antonio Bastardo can continue to pitch lights out. And unless Raul Ibanez is going to actually hit the 62 or so homers he’s on pace for, that lineup is going to come back to earth too. Sure, they’re sitting pretty now at 10 games over .500, but a team can only play over their heads for so long. A year and a half seems long enough.

• Did I mention Tommy Hanson debuts Saturday?

[General]

Hanson has me excited for Braves baseball in a way that I have not been excited since Streak-age Smoltz.

[General]

Also, thoughts on potentially dealing Francoeur? If McLouth can duplicate his success from last year, I think the Braves might move Frenchy. I'm not for it, but it has been brought up several times.

[browntown653]

...he doesn't.

But it was a very good trade and improves their chances greatly.

[ljshorty89]

• The Mets are a banged up bunch, who lack both pitching and hitting depth. Other than Johan Santana, the Braves AAA squad is as good as their starting staff. Carlos Delgado looks to miss more and more time, and could be out for the season. That leaves only Wright, Beltran, and Reyes as legitimate offensive threats, and Reyes’ legs don’t look to be in good shape. This team is about to take a ride and start fallin’, “Free Fallin’”

It's a good deal for the Braves, but I wouldn't go that far. McClouth has had one good year in his career, and there's no reason to believe that he will be anything better than a "decent" leadoff hitter, which would not make the Braves FAVORITES.

Yes, the Mets are banged up, but they will not be banged up all year. Delgado has never once been said to be out for the season, in fact, word lately has been that he could be back by mid-July. That's not even close. Also, you forget to mention that Ryan Church will give decent numbers in RF and Gary Sheffield has proven that he still has a lot left in his bat.

I'm sorry. I agree the McLouth trade is nice, and gives them a MUCH better chance to compete this year, but there's no way it makes them the NL East favorite.

[cjkalt]

It's a good deal for the Braves, but I wouldn't go that far. McClouth has had one good year in his career, and there's no reason to believe that he will be anything better than a "decent" leadoff hitter, which would not make the Braves FAVORITES.

Yes, the Mets are banged up, but they will not be banged up all year. Delgado has never once been said to be out for the season, in fact, word lately has been that he could be back by mid-July. That's not even close. Also, you forget to mention that Ryan Church will give decent numbers in RF and Gary Sheffield has proven that he still has a lot left in his bat.

I'm sorry. I agree the McLouth trade is nice, and gives them a MUCH better chance to compete this year, but there's no way it makes them the NL East favorite.

As much as I hate bcshorts teams by default since he hates mine, I have to agree with him here. McLouth has only had 1 good year cause well, he's only had a chance to have 1 great year and the Mets rotation is terrible at best outside Johan... The Braves with Hanson will have the 2nd best rotation in MLB, and will have excess pitching to trade... when you have 28 teams that want what you have... if u want to make another deal you can.

For the Mets to win everyone has to come back healthy... big if and even then the Braves are the stronger team...imagine if Hudson pitches out of the pen in august/september

[love_that_reefer]

McLouth doesn't make the Braves the favorite but it doesn't hurt them either. Hanson will have his ups and downs (as we have already seen) so you can't count on him to be a savior either.

[RoxFan9]

I do not think this trade will get them over the top. First off McCouth was the Pirates #3 hitter and I just don't think he is the perfect lead off hitter. Also the Braves need to address there bullpen if they can legitinmately get to the top and ahead of the Mets and Phillies.

[love_that_reefer]

His OBP sure doesn't make him the perfect leadoff man.

[cjkalt]

The Mets are on their AAA team, and the Phillies rotation is arguably worse than the Pirates at least the Braves can pitch and now hit better

[ljshorty89]

The Mets are on their AAA team, and the Phillies rotation is arguably worse than the Pirates at least the Braves can pitch and now hit better

Yeah, but the Mets won't be THIS badly injured all year(Reyes back in 3-4 weeks, Delgado back in mid July, Putz back end of July, Wagner back mid August). I don't think the Braves have the bullpen, or enough consistency in the back end of the rotation to be "FAVORITES". They will contend. But they're not favorites by any stretch of the imagination.