It seems as though the Braves are spending that money they cleared off the books. Jon Heyman is reporting on his blog that they are in talks with A.J. Burnett and his agent and he believes that the Braves may be the one team willing to step up with a five year deal. The other teams in the mix, Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles, seem reluctant or completely against giving five years.
GM for the Braves Frank Wren has already said that the Braves are basically out of the Peavy talks. This is another sign that they could be very aggressive with Burnett.
Suddenly, that rotation of the Braves seems a whole lot more dangerous if they have Burnett. Jair Jurrjens, A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez, John Smoltz?, Tom Glavine?, Chuck James, Jorge Campillo. That is a more than solid staff. Plus, the bulpen shakes out pretty well also. If you add in a decent offense with Escobar, McCann, Kotchman, Jones, etc., this team could do very well next year.
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