John Schuerholz pulls another rabbit out of the hat...getting a veteran for basically nothing in return.  Even if Wickman flops in the NL, the Braves are loaded at catcher:  McCann is a young all-star, Brayan Pena is hitting over .300 at AAA (as he did during his cup of coffee this year in the ATL), Salty just hit another HR in AA (his 26th?!), and the Georgia kid playing at Mrytle Beach is highly touted as well.  Young Ramerez was a Sally League all-star hitting .285, but it's no loss...he was the 20th ranked Braves minor leaguer.

So many guys who call in to sports talk radio discuss trades with no concept of the financial aspect in mind…or what other teams would want.  One guy yesterday went through who could be traded from all the starters, and settled on Renteria as the most tradable.  Everyone would much rather have the lower salaried Betemit or some of the prospects.

CPA respnds...You are right – few people take the time to understand all of the ramifications of a trade… it seems like there is always that one caller who wants to trade Todd Pratt for ARod… With Boston picking up so much of his salary, Renteria is a very cheap alternative at SS until one of the young prospects are ready in a few years… everyone wants to trade LaRoche, but nobody realizes that there are not a lot of .800+ OPS hitting, gold glove caliber SS with 3+ years remaining until they are eligible for Free Agency… My thought is the organization realized last year that Betemit could hit major league pitching, but his range at SS would hurt the team defensively…

I still think Giles will be traded (probably after the season, unless someone is willing to give up a quality relief pitcher for him this month – SD, maybe, who would move him to 3B), if for no other reason than what he should win in arbitration as a 5-year guy versus putting Betemit there – but I don’t think there will be a huge market for him, because you are just renting him for 1 year… the Andruw Jones thing puzzles me as well… everyone thinks he should be traded after the season since he will be eligible for free agency after next season and Scott Boras is his agent… but, I don’t think that will happen because of the following…

I think next year MAY be the end of this era for the Atlanta Braves – and I think JS and Cox will gear this team up for their possible “last hurrah”… I am not saying I don’t think they will stop winning, but with the impending sale to Liberty Media, A. Jones contract being up, Smoltz contract being up (and possible retirement) and Cox and JS being in their mid –to – late 60’s… I think all of that adds up to the possibility for major changes… Liberty might come in and pump some money into the team and try to keep the value up, especially since they will probably only own it 3 years or they may do what some of the small market teams have done (Kansas City, Tampa Bay, etc), and slash payroll while pocketing the increased revenue sharing money… that is why I think even if they lost the next 10 games, nobody of any value to NEXT YEARS team would be traded by 7/31…

I ended up staying up to watch the game last night… the new guy pitched much better than expected (especially after seeing Travis Smith and Lance Cormier fill-in with starts the last few years)… if we get Kyle Davies back next month, he could be a good arm in the bullpen…

Interesting story about Tom Hanks, Ron Howard and Dennis Miller going on a tour of MLB parks, with Hanks saying this was a 50^th birthday present to himself… you would think guys like that would not be excited about just going to different MLB parks…

Last night during the rain delay, FOX was showing ‘The Best Damn Sports Show’ (or whatever the name is) and they had a interview with Chris Webber and Jalen Rose… Webber talked about how college was the best time of his life – hanging out with his teammates, going to parties, just generally doing the normal things you do in college…

And I say...I hadn’t been sleeping good coming out of the vacation, so I fell asleep on the couch watching the game, shortly after Cox took out Barry.  I thought that starter pitched well, too.

I’d just read the Hanks story myself.  What I figured was they were going to all the “new” parks…Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincy.  When Hanks was on Letterman plugging the Code, he talked about camping with a bunch of guys, how they all had these individual brightly #### tents.  I know Miller plays golf, but he’s more into football and baseball than some older celebs who golf, party, or travel overseas.  I’ve read how Bill O’Reilley (who I don’t watch) still goes on annual camping-type trips with his old high school/college crowd, but you’re right, you don’t hear too much of that.  Letterman jokes about doing stuff like that (or just eating dinner) with Regis and Steve Martin, but I doubt much actually takes place.

I always thought it would be fun, if I was in that position, to take 18-20 friends and fill out a baseball camp.

Missed Webber, as well as the promo on the Friday show about the greatest plays in history, which I’d be a sucker to watch.  Peyton enjoyed college, as did Pollack and Greene.  Most ballers are looking to jump to the NBA.  Heard some recent Mike Vick comments, how in high school he was thinking NFL, not about the college experience.