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| ATLANTA (AP) - The Braves have their replacement for center fielder Andruw Jones, competing a trade that brought Mark Kotsay from the Oakland Athletics on Monday. The Braves sent reliever Joey Devine and a minor league pitcher to Oakland, while the rebuilding A's were expected to pick up about $5 million of Kotsay's $7.35 million salary. The deal was finalized after Kotsay, who played only 56 games last year, was examined by Braves doctors. He had back surgery last spring, missed the first two months of the season and returned to the disabled list with back spasms in August. Kotsay said he's completely healed and feels better than he has in several seasons. This is the final year of his contract and he'll get a chance to audition for potential employers in 2009. "Everything is headed in the right direction," Kotsay said. "The back feels great. I started hitting before the holidays, which is the earliest I've ever hit before a season. I look forward to playing in Atlanta and playing a full season again." Kotsay was the last major target for new Braves general manager Frank Wren, who was determined to find Jones' replacement before the team went to spring training next month. Jones, a 10-time Gold Glover, left as a free agent for a $36.2 million, two-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. "If you'll remember at my opening press conference, I said I'd love to find a veteran center fielder who would fit our club for '08 and put us in position to bridge to our younger guys, who'll be ready in the next year or so," Wren said. "I can not think of a better guy to do that than Mark Kotsay." The Braves want to give top prospect Jordan Schaefer another year in the minors before they let him compete for a starting job. In the meantime, the 32-year-old Kotsay stressed that he's not going to be the same type of player as Jones though he is best known for defense, recording double-digit assists six times in his career. "I will never be able to fill Andruw Jones' shoes, nor would I want to try," Kotsay said. "I want to come in and solidify the middle for the Atlanta Braves, be out there every day and contribute offensively as well." Kotsay batted just .214 last season, but he said you can take those numbers "and throw them out the door" because of his back problems. From 1998-06, he averaged 141 games played, 529 at-bats, 71 runs, 11 homers, 60 RBI and a .286 batting average per season. |
| QUOTE (hankaaron44 @ Jan 15 2008, 09:43 PM) |
| I have no clue why they think they have a chance of winning the World Series. |
| QUOTE (braveschopbraves @ Jan 16 2008, 01:33 AM) |
| there's no obvious favorite in the NL East, and no favorite in the mediocre NL, it's a definite possibility. |