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AJC

Hart knew many Braves fans wouldn’t like Kimbrel trade

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: President of Baseball Operations for the Atlanta Braves, John Hart, had to have realized this trade was going to affect many Braves fans thoughts towards him.  All winter he has said they will not trade Craig Kimbrel, but on Sunday night, they did.  Though most fans know this is a business and guys in Hart’s position must make these decisions, it will be tough for Atlanta fans to trust what he’s saying now.  I’m not trilled about the trade but I had glad they got a lot back for him.  Space on their cap room, the Padres top prospect, a good outfield prospect, Cameron Maybin and the 41st pick in the 2015 draft…plus we don’t have to talk about Melvin Upton Jr. again.

"“Look, he’s a fan favorite, as he should be,” Hart begain. “If I had a son or a daughter – I’ve got grandchildren, and his poster’s hanging on the wall. He’s that kind of a guy. He’s a guy you want to look at. So yeah, did I think about that as I went through this? Absolutely. I mean, I’m a human being. I look at it and go, here’s a popular player, fan favorite, star quality player. It wasn’t something that I relished doing. I certainly understand the fans’ side of this piece, there’s no question. They’re Atlanta Braves fans, as well (as Kimbrel fans). This is a club that we don’t want to see just sort of sink into the morass here for a period of time. We think we’re doing some exciting things, so many good things going on behind the scenes. You leave spring training and look at what we’re doing in the minor leagues and the enthusiasm and the talent level that’s coming. We look up at the June draft and we’ve got five of the first 75 picks this year within this draft, and obviously we’ve made some changes within that scouting staff and we feel this is going to be a home-run draft for us. We’ve got the international piece — July 2 (international) signings are coming, we’re very excited about what we’re going to do down there. And I think at the end, it’s about the Braves.”“Believe me, the fans love players; I love players. I understand. It’s a hard thing. Believe me, this wasn’t something that anybody in this organization had any disregard for fans. This was a huge part of the discussion as we went through it. Look, we understand the popularity within the community, we understand what an outstanding young man he is. How do we define that? Again, all of us have personal feelings, but when you look at what is best professionally and you get from everybody within the organization that it’s the right thing to do and it’s going to give us a chance to get better, you make that call. And that’s what we’ve done here.”"

Inquisitr

Atlanta Braves Rumors: Who Will Be The Next Closer For The Braves?

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Inquisitr may be going a little far with their article claiming that Juan Jaime “has the makings of a closer”.  This guy has struggled every chance he’s had with the Major League club.  The Braves will probably pitch the hot hand for the start of the season and then maybe by midway have a closer in place….or make another trade.  Johnson or Grilli have both been in this spot before but have struggled in recent years.  It will be interesting to see who Fredi Gonzalez decides to go with if the Braves have a lead late in the game on Monday.

"As for an official answer to the Atlanta Braves rumors about who would be the next closer, Hart presented two immediate options for the team. They will turn to former closers Jim Johnson and Jason Grilli to cover ninth inning situations, possibly allowing the hot hand to emerge as a solution at some point. Johnson had closed for the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics in the past, while Grilli served as a closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both guys were brought in to be set-up options in the seventh and eighth innings for Kimbrel.Another guy fans will have to keep a close eye on is rookie Juan Jaime. He has the makings of a closer in Major League Baseball and by dealing Kimbrel it may have opened the door for him to take over ninth inning duties by the end of 2015. He saw some action at the end of 2014, posting a 5.84 ERA and 1.865 WHIP over 12 1/3 innings. Jaime also had 18 strikeouts to show how dominating he was on the mound and nine walks to show he still needs to work on his control."

Twitter

New Braves faces on Twitter…welcome to Atlanta!