Braves keep prospect Marte at third

Braves keep prospect Marte at third

The Braves reversed course and decided to keep top prospect Andy Marte at third base, setting up a potential dilemma a year from now: If Marte has a huge season at Class AAA Richmond, will the Braves keep him on the farm another year to keep Chipper Jones happy at third? Will they trade their top-rated prospect? Explore options with Jones?
"There's two things I've come to know," Braves general manager John Schuerholz said Tuesday. "No. 1, you can never have enough talented players, no matter what position they play; and No. 2, whatever log jam you think you have tends to work itself out because of attrition or trades or what have you."

Jones is under contract for 2005-06, with two $15 million vesting club options in 2007 and 2008, which can't be bought out if he reaches 450 plate appearances or is an All-Star the previous season. After playing nearly 2 1/2 seasons in left field, Jones moved back to his preferred third base last June and said he'd be reluctant to switch positions again if the Braves asked.

Marte, 21, hit .269 with 23 home runs in 387 at-bats last season at Class AA Greenville, and may need only one more season in the minors before he's ready to move into a big-league lineup. The Braves had planned to move him to the outfield, to clear a path to the majors. But they scrapped that plan after just two days of outfield instruction this winter in his native Dominican Republic. "The plan is to keep him at third base for this year," Schuerholz said. "We decided we'll keep him at third base because the most important thing for him is his bat, and to have him concerned with anything else didn't make sense. "His bat separates him from everybody, we think. We're going to allow him the chance to let his bat do its thing."

This decision will fuel speculation about the Braves' 2006 plans. Jones would be the highest-paid Brave at $17 million in '06, and has full no-trade protection. "I have about as much idea what's going to happen a year from now as anybody else — and that's no idea," Schuerholz said. "But that'll all take care of itself."

I hope Marte makes it to the Bigs and the Braves manage to keep him and Chipper. But I agree that it makes no sense to have Marte concentrating on learning a new defensive position. He can always move to the outfield once he makes the move up.