McLouth to the Braves

By Mike

A couple days ago, it was not much of a surprise to hear that the Pittsburgh Pirates had given up on their best all-around player and dealt him to the Braves for three minor leaguers. Nate McLouth was the Pirates only all-star last season, and now it seems like they won't even have one. Coming off his career year, McLouth has started the season off kind of slow. He is only batting .256, but he still does have 9 homeruns and 7 steals. McLouth fills a huge gap for the Atlanta Braves in center field. They lost gold-glove winner Andruw Jones a couple of years ago, and earlier this year depended on their best prospect to fill the void, but that didn't work out as planned. Jordan Schafer was borderline atrocious this season.

Fantasy Impact:

The Braves' stadium's dimensions are very similar to the Pirates, so I don't expect any more or less homeruns from McLouth, but he is under a lot more pressure in Atlanta. Unlike the Pirates, the Braves are potential contenders in the National League East Conference. McLouth could be batting leadoff for the Braves, or he could hit either in front of or behind Chipper Jones. If he does bat around Chipper, he could potentially get more RBI's, but overall I expect much of the same as last year as far as stats go for McLouth.

Prediction: .278 AVG, 25 HR, 100 R, 85 RBI, 25 SB