Dan Uggla has been traded by the Florida Marlins and will find a new home in Atlanta with the Braves. In exchange the Marlins will get infielder Omar Infante and pitcher Mike Dunn. This reunites Uggla with former Marlins manager Fred Gonzalez, who has taken over the Braves from long time manager, Bobby Cox, who retired at the end of the season.
Uggla's move to the Braves will also resolve issues for the team with the uncertain return of third baseman Chipper Jones. Martin Prado has been doing double duty this past season between second and third and even if Jones returns, Prado can move to left field, so the Braves are well covered now for any situation. Uggla brings his power bat to the line up, hitting .287 with 33 Home Runs and 105 RBI's this past season.
The move comes on the heals of busted contract negotiations between the Marlins and Uggla's agent, Terry Bross. The Marlins tried to sign Uggla now to a 3 year contract extension, well before he became free agent eligible which will happen after the 2011 World Series. The Marlins offered $24 million to extend for three years, Uggla's agent countered with $71 million for five years. The Marlins came back with $48 million over four years, but Uggla's agent didn't budge from his initial counter offer. At that point it was simple economics that pushed the team to start looking for a trade.
The Marlins get Infante, who played in his first All-Star Game this year and hit .321 with 8 Home Runs and 47 RBIa for the season. They also get Dunn who had a record of 2 - 0 with a 1.89 ERA over 25 games in his rookie season.
The teams have been in negotiations on this trade for between 10 to 12 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment