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Braves Seek Right-Handed Bat


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Even though the Braves lost a big left-handed hitter to injury – Rookie of the Year candidate Jason Heyward – they remain focused on upgrading their offense with a right-handed slugger, one major league source said.

Atlanta officials are considering Josh Willingham (Washington), Corey Hart (Milwaukee) and Jose Bautista (Toronto), but it doesn’t appear that any deal is imminent.

All three players will be free agents after the 2011 season. So, for the time being, their current teams aren’t under extreme pressure to move them.

But they are earning reasonable salaries, making them attractive to Atlanta and other suitors. Bautista has roughly $1.2 million left on this year’s contract; Willingham $2.3 million; Hart $2.4 million.

David DeJesus, a left-handed batter, is a less appealing option to the Braves.

The Braves are pitching-rich, and potential trade partners are certain to ask for arms in return. It remains to be seen whether Atlanta would deal away a top pitching prospect, such as Mike Minor or Craig Kimbrel.

On Tuesday, in the Braves’ first game since placing Heyward on the disabled list, their starting outfield consisted of Eric Hinske in left, Gregor Blanco in center and Melky Cabrera in right.

— Jon Paul Morosi, FoxSports.com

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Someone is up doing their homework early... :)

As for the story, yea, we need to get a bigger bat in the outfield. I like Willingham the most out of those options, but the fact that any team we trade with will be asking for pitching, it'd be a shame to trade away top pitching prospects within the division. So that rules them out. Corey Hart is having a great year, but I think it is just a fluke to me. I don't really follow individual players deeply like I do the Braves so I dont know his career avg and things like that. Isn't Jose Bautista like 30 something years old? Why even mention David DeJesus? He is LEFT HANDED..come on Jon from FoxSports.com...get your act together.

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The more I think about it, the less inclined I am to trade a good prospect for anyone outside of a top-shelf player, which isn't available and which we can't afford.

I like the Hinske/Diaz combo in left, and Melky has at least started producing at an acceptable level in center. Obviously Heyward is firmly entrenched in right.

So unless the move includes Melky and brings us back a quality CF, I'm just not sure what good it would do.

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Kemp would be interesting at the right price he's really struggling right now though hitting about .190 in June

That only makes it better for us. If he is slumping right now, his trade value is decreased so we may be able to get him for less than what everyone is thinking.

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Bautista is a fluke. He has already gotten his career high in homeruns and has never come close to having a year like this before. Hart has had good years and bad. Willingham I wish we would have gotten him when the Marlins traded him especially considering how little the Nats gave up to get him. But oh well.

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Bautista is a fluke. He has already gotten his career high in homeruns and has never come close to having a year like this before. Hart has had good years and bad. Willingham I wish we would have gotten him when the Marlins traded him especially considering how little the Nats gave up to get him. But oh well.

****, the Marlins basically just threw Scott Olsen in with that trade too. I mean, he hasn't been a world beater for the Nats, but he would have definitely saved us that $23m we spent on KK.

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****, the Marlins basically just threw Scott Olsen in with that trade too. I mean, he hasn't been a world beater for the Nats, but he would have definitely saved us that $23m we spent on KK.

Yep. I was pissed as **** when I saw that trade. That would have worked out great for us. Frank Wren and a lot of GM's are probably kicking themselves for not taking that deal and running with it.

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