The rumors started swirling around what Michael Bourn would be looking for in free agency about halfway through last season, up to five years/$15-17 million. The end of the season came and the Braves offered Bourn a one year $13 million dollar contract through arbitration to assure themselves a draft pick if he signed with another team. To no ones surprise Bourn rejected the offer and settled in with super agent Scott Boras to see where he would sign his mega deal. Well we are past the Winter Meetings and almost to Christmas and Bourn has very few options left. The teams heading into free agency that were at the front of the line in needing a center fielder/leadoff hitter were the Braves (signed B.J. Upton), Phillies (traded for Ben Revere), Nationals (traded for Denard Span) and Giants (resigned Angel Pagan), who all filled their need, all at less than what Bourn and Boras have thought to be looking for. What now for Bourn and why hasn’t a team locked him up by now?

Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The way Scott Boras works is by waiting out the initial rush, let the market drive up the price, then get a huge contract for his client. This time it looks like that has backfired. The asking price was initially too high to begin with for most teams, including the team that new him best, the Braves. Now it looks like Bourn will maybe get half the years and money he was thought to be looking for and might have to take a contract similar to what the Braves offered him in arbitration and then head back out into free agency next year.

Teams are scared away from Bourn not only for the money but the years. Chone Figgins comes to mind when it comes to Bourn. While Bourn is a superior defensive player they are similar in many ways. Both are top of the order hitters with averages in the .270’s, 4-5 HR, 40-50 RBI and 40-50 SB over their careers. The difference is that when Figgins signed his contract he was going to be 32 and Bourn will be 30 and Bourn has struck out over 140 times in three of the last four seasons while Figgins was around the 114 range. Figgins was signed by Seattle for four years/$36 million and was such a disaster he was released this offseason with the Mariners basically paying him not to play for them in 2013. What happened to Figgins is what I think is scaring teams away from Bourn, he lost his speed with both his legs and his bat and became a player that could not even get off the bench even in a utility role for the Mariners. At least Figgins had position flexibility since he could play any infield or outfield position while Bourn can only play the outfield. Bourn’s second half of the season for Atlanta was nowhere near as good as his first half and the strikeouts he piled up have to scare off teams as a player with his speed needs to be a contact hitter to use his speed to get on base. What is the old saying: You can’t steal first base. On the flip side you could say that being two years younger a team could sign Bourn to a three year contract and take their chances, but they would be taking a chance.

Teams that are left that could pursue Bourn are the Cubs, Mets, Rangers, and Mariners but remember Josh Hamilton is still out there as well and is in play for the Rangers and Mariners and I think the Mariners have learned their lesson after the Figgins signing. The only one of these teams that is a contender is the Rangers and besides the fact they could resign Hamilton, they could trade for Jacoby Ellsbury or give the job to top prospect Leonys Martin. Would Bourn want to waste his last productive years playing for non contenders Cubs or Mets?

Could the Braves resign Bourn and play him in left field? That would make the combination of Heyward, Upton and Bourn one of the greatest defensive outfields in baseball history? That is very doubtful as the Braves are thought to have less than $10 million to spend on their team the rest of the offseason and I do not think Bourn would move over to left field as the Braves have already promised B.J. Upton he would not be moved from center field. It will be interesting to see where Bourn signs and what he signs for after making a big mistake in what he and his agent thought he was worth. Bourn priced himself too high from the beginning and now he is paying for it.

Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves were linked to Greinke at the trading deadline last year so they did have an interest. John Schuerholz was asked at the Winter Meetings if the Braves still had an interest in bringing Greinke to the Braves. The Braves President took a long time in answering before saying it is something Frank Wren is looking into but is not at the top of his list. What does that mean? The Braves do have an interest if Greinke will come down on his asking price. The Braves would have to get creative financially because they still have to spend money on a third baseman/left fielder and have to add players to their bench, but they could make it work.

Greinke does have mutual interest in signing with the Braves. He could just name his price to play for the Dodgers or even break the bank with the Rangers so what would be his interest in signing with the Braves instead? The Braves are the closest team to his Florida home and he would be pitching in a smaller media market as he has in Kansas City and Milwaukee where he has thrived over his career. Now Greinke would have to take less to play for the Braves but where he feels comfortable pitching is a bigger issue than the money he signs for because he is going to paid a lot of money regardless of where he signs.

The Braves already potentially have a solid rotation and should have Brandon Beachy coming back around the All Star break but adding Greinke could vault their rotation to one of, if not the best in baseball. However, there are at least some question marks with every one of the Braves starters heading into the season. As good as Kris Medlen was at the end of last season can he pitch as well over a full season? Can Tim Hudson stay healthy, as he has spent time on the disabled list over the last few seasons. With Brandon Beachy’s injury you do not know how long it will take for him to come back or if he will have any setbacks. Even though he pitched well last season for the Braves and Cubs Paul Maholm has been an average pitcher for the most part over his career and which Mike Minor will the Braves get this season the terrible first half or the solid second half Minor? With the addition of Zack Greinke the Braves would fill their need for a power starting pitcher and top of the rotation starter that will strikeout a lot of batters as he has an averaged over eight strikeouts per nine innings pitched over his career. There are not many number one starters in baseball but if the Braves can make it work and sign Zack Greinke that would be a big addition to an already solid Braves team that is looking to go further in the postseason.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Despite the chances of anything changing Fredi is right, something must be done about this playoff system. After watching a format that was severely lacking in fairness there are a couple of changes that should be made for next season and beyond.

The first change that should be made is to change the playoff format to the model that the NBA uses: Once a team qualifies for the playoffs the teams are seeded by wins. Just because a team wins its division does not mean that team should be seeded higher than a team that wins more games despite not winning its division. Some divisions are tougher than others. For example this past season the Detroit Tigers had the least amount of wins in the American League with 88 wins. That was five wins less than both the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers who had 93 wins each and faced each other in the Wildcard playoff game. How is that fair? By seeding by wins it would put the emphasis on playing all the way to the end of the season. It would also still keep the emphasis on winning your division, which is part of the reason why the extra Wildcard was added in the first place. After making this change the Wildcard round should be renamed the Opening or First Round of the playoffs.

The second change is the one Fredi is hoping for, a change of the Opening or First Round of the playoffs to a best of three series. After changing the seeding of playoff teams by wins teams must also have a chance to each host a playoff game after playing 162 games. This could be done by tweaking the schedule a bit during the regular season and/or including scheduling double headers as baseball has done in the past. This past season the Braves had a comfortable lead on the second wildcard for most of the season and ended up with six more wins than the St. Louis Cardinals. No team that plays that well for as long a season as baseball has should have their season come down to a one game playoff, especially if the first wildcard has significantly more wins than the second wildcard. Also, this is not the other major sports where all of their top players play in the playoffs. A team could have a balance of starters while another team could have a top flight starter and no one else and the team with the top flight starter would have the advantage in this current one game playoff system. By changing the playoff format to a best of three it would be fair to both teams.

When asked what he thought of the new playoff format during the season Chipper Jones said that baseball is a game of three to four game series over 162 games and that is how the playoffs should be. Now you want to throw two teams into a one game playoff? Chipper then summed it up succinctly, “Stupid”.