Rafael Soriano and the Atlanta Braves agreed on a two year contract on Thursday.  The contract will be pay Soriano $9 million dollars.  As long as Soriano can stay healthy I think it is a pretty good deal for the Braves.  Soriano can be lights out at times, and I think he will have very good numbers as long as he stays healthy.

What do you think Braves fans?  Is it too much money for Soriano?

Braves Blog

Mark Teixeira and the Atlanta Braves were able to come to terms on a deal for 2008 that will pay Teixeira $12.5 million dollars to stay with the Braves.  While most Braves were hoping that they would agree on a long term deal, they should be happy he will still be in Atlanta for the 08 season.

I expect Teixeira to play the free agent market after the 08 season so the Braves are going to have to pony up some money to keep the big first basemen around.   Tex will be hoping for a huge year so he can cash in on the free agent market.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays worked out a trade Thursday evening that sent Willy Aybar and Chase Fontaine to the Rays, and in exchange the Rays sent reliever Jeff Ridgway to the Braves.

Ayber got hurt when he first started playing for the Braves and never really got into the rotation of players.  He will get a new chance down in Tampa Bay and I think it will work out very well for him.

Fontaine, the Braves’ second-round selection in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, hit .288 with three homers in 95 games with Class A Rome this past season. This earned the 22-year-old infielder a late-season promotion to High A Myrtle Beach, where he hit .205 in just 22 games.

As for Ridgway, he will definately add some depth to the Braves bullpen which was surely needed.  Ridgway is a 27 year old lefty that appeared in 57 games in Triple A last year and compiled a 3.06 ERA.  We will see what happens with him in the bullpen for the Atlanta Braves.

Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves doctors finally had a chance to look of Mark Kotsay and said he was good to go so the Braves and Oakland Atheltics completed the the Kotsay for Joey Devine and Jamie Richmond trade.

Kotsay will play centerfield for the Braves, a spot that was handled by Andruw Jones for the decade.  Kotsay does seem to come down with injuries quite a bit, so Braves fans better say their prayers he doesn’t hurt himself to early in the season.

Going to the Athletics are relief pitcher Joey Devine and minor league pitcher Jamie Richmond.  Devine is pretty good and I like his future.  I don’t have much to blog about for Richmond as I haven’t followed his career to much.  Devine and Huston Street in the A’s bullpen really makes their bullpen good.

One thing I like about this trade for the Braves is that the Atheltics are picking up a big portion of Kotsay’s contract.  If the A’s wouldn’t have done that, I doubt the trade would have happened.

Braves Blog