Andy Marte sat down with Baseball Prospectus for an interesting pre-game interview (which may or may not be available for free... I can never tell).

One note: Marte has never played in the Florida State League despite what the good folks at BP will tell you...

 
Chris Waters has been designated for assignment (and removed from the 40-man roster) to make room for another below-average reliever, Armando Almanza.

 
Willie Collazo was taken by Anaheim with the ninth pick in the AAA phase. Adan Munoz was later drafted in the third round by Tampa Bay.

The Braves opted not to select any players.

 
According to Baseball America, Alec Zumwalt was selected third overall by Tampa Bay in today's Rule 5 Draft.

 
The last time the Braves traded away their incumbant #1 prospect was in July of 2000 as they dealt away Bruce Chen (and Jimmy Osting) to the Phillies for 32-year-old Andy Ashby. Ashby was only a Brave for three months before he was granted free agency, but it was a good three months. If this blog had been around at the time, you would've heard me bemoaning the deal and worrying about the future of the franchise. But since Chen and Osting never developed as they were predicted to, and Ashby's arrival coincided with a 3-game seep in the NCLS, I think it's safe to say that the trade will not be remembered through history.

Yesterday's trade might be different though. The Braves received J.D. Drew and "versatile" Eli Marrero for Jason Marquis, Ray King, and Adam Wainwright.

I'll try to do these in order. Drew is a potentially great player when he's healthy. Or maybe if he's healthy. If you ignore the 50+ games he misses every year, and you only count the ones that he's played while mostly healthy, well, he's a superstar. He showed flashes of that in 2001 when he hit .323/.414/.613. At the time that he broke his hand in June of that year, Drew was hitting .330/.426/.688 with 21 HRs and 34 BBs in 218 ABs. He's slipped a bit the last couple of season, but problems with your knees and obliques will do that to a hitter.

Here's his recent injury history:

8/16/03: 15 day DL (Strained right oblique) - Returned on 9/3/03
3/28/03: 15-day DL (Offseason knee surgery) - Returned on 4/20/03
6/30/02: 15-day DL (Tendinitis in right knee) - Retutrned on 7/13/02
6/18/01: 15-day DL (Broken right hand) - Returned on 7/31/01

There were rumors that the Cardinals were going to non-tender Drew in a few days. Obviously John Schuerholz didn't think he could wait that long to get a RF. Drew will be a free agent after 2004 and is predicted to earn about $4 million in arbitration - should things get that far.

Eli Marrero is always listed as "versatile." Really, that's the nicest thing you can say about him. Sure, he plays C, 1B, and OF, but that doesn't mean he plays any of them particularly well. He's supposedly a great defensive catcher, which is what the Braves were looking for to back up Johnny Estrada. And he has a bit of power, hitting a good number of both doubles and HRs. His OBP is just plain horrible. As long as he stays behind the plate, he shouldn't be a liability. He missed most of last year with ligament damage to his ankle.

There are two distinct camps on Jason Marquis - those who think he's an overhyped bum and those who believe he's simply been misused. Both groups should be happy that he's gone. I'm definitely a member of the latter group, and I'm thrilled that he's getting away from Braves and his role as a middle-reliever. The Cardinals, who made this deal because of their lack of pitching, will use Marquis as a starter. And with pitching guru, Dave Duncan, he couldn't be going to a better situation.

Since people love scapegoats, most fans believe that Ray King is a horrible RP. But he really had just one poor month last year. His ERA in July was 9.64 and even most of that was isolated to just three bad games. His cumulative ERA in April, May, June, August and September was just 1.99. I predict that by June, King will be putting up very good numbers for the Cards, and people will complain that he didn't do the same for the Braves...

The clincher for this deal was, of course, Adam Wainwright. It's possible that Baseball America will revise their prospect list for St. Louis and make Wainwright their #1 minor-leaguer. If that happens, that will be two #1s that Schuerholz & Co. have traded away in the past year. Merkin Valdez (aka Manuel Mateo) was just named as San Francisco's #1. Both are expected to be fixtures in the majors by 2005.

Couldn't the payroll-strapped Braves use a couple of cheap and potential star pitchers in the coming years? Sure, there's more talent in the system - a lot more - but no one who is as highly regarded or as ready to contribute as Wainwright.

The 40-man roster is now back to 37, including 18 pitchers. At the very least, this trade opens up the 5th spot in the rotation for one of Bubba Nelson, Andy Pratt or Jung Bong. That's assuming JS doesn't sign a Shane-esque veteran to waste space.

The Rule 5 Draft is tomorrow. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Braves grab someone to compete for a spot in the bullpen.

 
Baseball America just posted a mini-preview of Monday's Rule 5 Draft (although it's far less than what they usually usually put out). They have Alec Zumwalt, David Watkins, Matt Merricks, Bryan Digby all as possibilities to be taken from the Braves.

Most drafted players are returned, although it turns out that 7 of the 11 pitchers selected last year stuck in the majors for the full season.

 
A quick note: John Schuerholz is making sure we have less to talk about next June. After forgoing arbitration with Gary Sheffield and today's signing of John Thomson, the Braves have lost three draft picks in the last 48 hours.

The team could've had their scheduled pick (29th, which will now go to the Rangers), the Yankees' first-rounder (30th), and most likely, the top compensation pick (31st).

As it stands now, the Braves' first selection in the '04 draft will be somewhere around the 60th overall, depending on how the rest of the free agent compensation works out.