For Braves Uggla more valuable then Swisher or Nady

Yankees vs. Marlins

Yesterday I noted that Dave O’Brien won’t let the trade rumors around Dan Uggla die and went ahead and commented on them as something that would potential help the Braves in 2010.

Uggla isn’t going to hit .300 or win the NL MVP and sure he strikes out a good amount.

I simply said he was quite an offensive upgrade over Cabrera whose biggest value to the Braves is as a trade chip and provided reasons why this trade could work/happen for both sides.

Being honest here I think Cabrera is actually a downgrade from Jeff Francoeur and the numbers support that.

Here’s also an interesting stat.Which I have to give credit to this guy for.
I checked it and it’s accurate.

Last season Prado’s UZR/150 at second base was -3.6 which was the best in his young career.  Most people believe this to be more indicative of how well he can play the position.  Now compared with Dan Uggla, who’s career UZR/150 is -2.9, Prado’s best season is still worse than Uggla’s average season.

Uggla may have had a UZR/150 of -9.6 last season but just a year ago it was 2.0 and while he’s not likely to be that good or bad in 2010 he’ll probably fall somewhere between which is more or less where Prado would end up.

Given that Chipper Jones’ 133 games played at third base were his most in the field since the 149 he put up in 2003 in left field it’s important that the Braves an some options in the infield. Throw in Troy Glaus’ history of being Troy Glaus and you see where I’m going.

So with all that being said you add a big bat, you get to use Prado where ever the leaky hole shows up in the infield and throw him in the outfield a few times.

The reason Uggla may be of more value to the Braves is he plays second base where guys like Nick Swisher and Xaiver Nady are purely corner outfielders who can play first base which leaves you with a problem should something happen at second or when Chipper Jones needs to take time off.

Either way it should be interesting to see how things shake out.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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