Searching for a Silver Lining

Braves nation is reeling one day after the Braves officially removed themselves from the NL East race. On top of the suspected Chipper Jones trip to the DL and Frank Wren putting the "for sale" sign on Mark Teixeira, the Bravos also took another major hit to their starting rotation when it was announced that ace, Tim Hudson will go on the DL. Sadly, The Hudson related bad news didn't end there as Braves officials announced during last night's game that the righthander's MRI revealed damage to the infamous Ulnar Collateral Ligament, meaning that Tommy John Surgery is a possibility.

Is this a mess or what? Braves must not know whether to scream, cry, or laugh at the latest injury news. It's like one kick to the stomach after another right now. Fitting, I'd say, that it's pouring rain in Metro Atlanta as I write this. Can anything go right for this year's Braves? The answer is, of course,... yes.

While it's hard to stomach all the injuries, and gut wrenching losses, and the stretches of dreadful hitting followed seamlessly by stretches of dreadful pitching; all is not lost. Sure, there will be no October baseball, but there could be GOOD news to talk about this week.

There is little doubt that Teixeira and LHP, Will Ohman, will be wearing different uniforms this weekend. While both have been beacons of consistency and production on a team with very little of either, both are highly sought after and will get some nice pieces in return, thus helping the Braves put things back together for next year.

For Teixeira, Atlanta is looking for a ML 1B and a top pitching prospect or one of the two plus a couple other prospects. The two most likely suitors at this point are the Angels and the D-backs.

A package from the Angels might include: 1B Casey Kotchman, P (prospect) Nick Adenhart, and/or 3B (prospect) Brandon Wood.

From Arizona: 1B/3B Chad Tracy, P Micah Owings, and/or P (prospect) Jarrod Parker

The Braves may be smart to try and package Tex and Ohman (similar to what the Rangers did last year with Tex and Ron Mahay) in order to get a maximum return. Of course, things change quickly as the deadline gets closer so it's any body's guess as to who the Braves will end up dealing with.

Also on the block is CF Mark Kotsay, who won't command quite as much in return but will probably get a lot of interest from teams looking for OF depth. I'd much rather be a buyer at the deadline, however, being a seller has it's fair share of excitement as well, but the Braves were nearly both. According to online sources, Atlanta nearly got a deal done with Pittsburgh that would have brought Jason Bay to Turner Field in return for Brent Lillibridge, Brandon Jones, and a couple of lesser prospects. Pittsburgh's owners nixed the deal but talks were said to be on-going. The price tag for Bay will only go down as he has fewer and fewer games to play for his new suitor (Bay is a FA after next year). It might be wise for the Braves to wait until the offseason to grab him.

The deadline deals are fun to talk about, but even more fun could be had this offseason when the Braves have over $50 million coming off the payroll and only a couple players eligible for arbitration. With all that money to spend, this supposed "rebuilding" that so many Braves fans say is necessary could be a very short process. So, to all those Braves fans that feel like their dog just died after all this season's bad news, remember that the sun will come out tomorrow (and it will be really humid) and there is indeed, "always next year."