Way out in the outfield....

Continuing our theme on the future of the Braves, I'd like to focus our attention now on the outfield.

We are on the verge of Kotsay being traded to the Red Sox, which would mean that our best outfielder is Gregor Blanco (I'm not counting Infante as an outfielder even though he plays outfield quite often. See my previous post for my thoughts on Infante), who began the season as the team's 4th outfielder.

We have the worst outfield in the major leagues, it's not even close. It's very possible that Jeff Francoeur single handedly cost us the season. Although I've never been a fan of blaming a team's demise on one person, Frenchy comes close.

Enough about this year's outfield. Let's look ahead to the future.
In the FA market, we have the likes of Adam Dunn and Pat Burrell among a few other interesting names. The Braves do have enough money to go after an outfielder, but as I've already posted, we also have a more expensive need for pitching.

In the minors we have:

Jordan Schafer (Drafted one round after Yunel Escobar) who is sporting a 1.111 OPS in August.

Brandon Jones (Nondrafted Free agent) has a .981 OPS in August.

Josh Anderson (Drafted by the Houston Astros) has a .978 OPS in August which includes an on-base % of .419. His average for the month of August is .376. Anderson has also stolen 42 bases in the minors this year.

The above minor leaguers have all been on fire the month of August and they are pretty much all competing for a spot on the 2009 roster. Obviously the above stats won't carry over to the major leagues. All of these prospects will have their growing pains.

The big problem we have, as we all know, is Jeff Francoeur. Even though he's amongst the worst outfielders (arguably - THE worst) in the majors, I wouldn't be surprised if Bobby thinks he's amongst the best. The Braves certainly treat him that way at least.

As much as I and everybody else wishes he wouldn't be our starting RF next year, the reality is that he will be back in Rightfield in 2009 whether we like it or not. This is unfortunate, but realistic. In the beginning of July, when Frenchy was sent down, Wren made it clear that he works for Frenchy, not vice versa.

Here's what we are looking at - Frenchy in right field, probably a newly acquired free agent in leftfield, whomever that might be. Centerfield is up for grabs. It's highly possible that they'll go with Blanco in CF for 2009, but it'd be nice to get some pop on occasion.

We have so many questions -
1. What about Diaz? He hasn't been mentioned much here, but will there be a spot for him next year?

2. Blanco and Anderson are kind of the same player - which one (if any) do we keep?

3. Will Brandon Jones and Jordan Schafer need another year of seasoning in the minors?

4. Will I actually watch a game after the September call-ups?