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If Dan Uggla can improve his defense, he could remain in Atlanta for a few years.

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Dan Uggla went on XM radio today and had this to say when asked about joining the Braves:

"It's definitely a spot where I could see myself playing out the rest of my career."

"(The trade) is a best case scenario for me...Extremely happy that I was traded to an organization like the Braves."

While I don't think he'll be spending the rest of his career in Atlanta -- unless Uggla decides to call it career when he's 34 or 35 -- count me in as someone who would like Uggla to come back for a few years once 2011 is up, assuming he produces offensively and isn't totally awful in the field.

Reports said he turned down 4 years and $48M from the Marlins and then requested an enormous 5 year, $71M deal, but at this point it sounds more and more like Uggla just wanted out of Florida and didn't care about the money. It's publicly known he wasn't happy when the Fish let go of his good friend Cody Ross and it's ironic Uggla would ask for $1M more than what Hanley Ramirez got on his last contract. Something tells me they don't really like each other...

Anyways, this is a good debate for the at least the next few weeks. Uggla will have a huge role on the 2011 team and he probably has two or three good years left in him until he starts to rapidly decline. Do the Braves attempt to extend him for two or three years to anchor our lineup, or do they let him go after just one season, save the money and get the two draft picks? He's from the area and there's a chance he would take a hometown discount to remain in Atlanta.

I really haven't stopped chuckling to myself since last night -- this trade is hilarious! Here is Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez' public reaction to the trade (and then I'll give you his real reaction):

While eating lunch, Gonzalez received a text from Wren asking if he would be willing to acquire Uggla in exchange for Infante and Dunn. The Braves manager responded by asking who else they would have to include in the package.

When it was learned that the Marlins weren't demanding more in return, Wren and Beinfest began completing the deal that has brought Uggla much closer to his friends and family members in Columbia, Tenn.

"He's pretty excited," Gonzalez said. "We're all pretty excited about this."

"We're all pretty excited?" No, what Fredi really said was something along the lines of, "Oh mother f&^$ yeah! This is highway f&^$%#n robbery, screw those a&$ muchin Marlins in the mother f^%#%$@n a$#." Or something like that. These are the same Marlins, who just fired Fredi, and now they want to trade him their second-best hitter for peanuts. I bet you Gonzalez thought Wren was playing a practical joke on him at first.

There were several cigars smoked in the Gonzalez household last night ... and a lot of maniacal laughter.

The puns that you can do with headlines and Dan Uggla's name may never get old. ESPN points out a few awesome statistical tidbits about our new second baseman:

Uggla's 154 home runs are the most by a middle infielder in his first five seasons, in major league history (18 more than Ernie Banks). They also trail only Pujols for most home runs by an NL right-handed hitter in these last five seasons.

After watching what Uggla did to them at Turner Field, Braves fans will be quite happy to be able to root for him and not against him. Uggla is a .354 career hitter at Turner Field. His batting average is the third-best of anyone there since the ballpark opened in 1997. His .652 slugging percentage there trails only a pair of immortals -- Barry Bonds and Pujols.

And then he talks about Uggla's defense, which is less that average. Perhaps our new infield instructor, Terry Pendleton will have a few pointers for him. But if Uggla can continue most of those numbers he's put up at the Ted, then he should more than make up for his shoddy defense. Keep in mind that Uggla is in his free agent walk year, so he has some extra incentive to post gaudy numbers.

From Atlanta Braves General Manager Frank Wren on the eve of the GM meetings:

Wren reiterated that the Braves are reluctant to trade young pitchers or top prospects, regardless of position.

"We're hesitant to trade from our base, which we think is getting stronger all the time," he said. "That's what is going to sustain us for a long time, and we need to be mindful of that."

This may be where Wren begins to distinguish himself from Jon Schuerholz as a General Manager. Schuerholz did not hesitate to trade away top prospects. In the span of a year he dealt away his three top pitching prospects in Jose Capellan, Dan Meyer, and Adam Wainwright. Schuerholz unloaded the entire top prospect list on the Rangers for Mark Teixeira, and easily parted with top prospects like Andy Marte, even though on many occasions those prospects never amounted to much.

Wren has been much less cavalier with the Braves farm system, using only second and third-tier prospects in trades, while actually targeting other teams' prospects when making trades (Jair Jurrjens, Gorkys Hernandez, Arodys Vizcaino, Tim Collins), something Jon Schuerholz rarely, if ever, did with any success. The most notable prospect Wren has traded to date is likely Tyler Flowers, but acquiring Arodys Vizcaino a year later for the same guy that Flowers was traded for greatly eases that hit to the farm system.

While I like holding on to our top prospects, I'm also worried that we're possibly passing up the opportunity to get an impact player that could be the difference in another pennant run or in the playoffs. Schuerholz' style seemed to be postseason as all costs, while Wren seems to prefer being a bit more crafty and less obvious with the machinations of his roster construction. Schu's style can't be discounted because it continually produced playoff teams. Wren's style seems to be more the long con, rather than a quick fix. Waiting around for prospects to develop year after year can cause some windows of opportunity to close, but if the stars do align they would likely do so with much more success than the quick fix rosters of the last few years of the Schuerholtz regime. Or at least we hope they will...

Amid all the Bobby hysteria, I almost forgot that Billy Wagner made his retirement official yesterday as well.

"This year has been nothing but great for me," Wagner said. "I thank God I got to retire as a Brave. It's the greatest honor I could ever have -- to be on the favorite team of my childhood. About the only thing [better] would have been if I could have snuck Dale [Murphy's] number on. That would have been about it."

Such an awesome professional. I respect his decision to hang 'em up, but I really wish he was coming back. We would absolutely NOT ridicule him if he were to change his mind. Yes, we'll be fine with Kimbrel and Venters, but they would be really good seventh and eighth inning options if Billy could come back and hold down the ninth once again next year.

ESPN's Mark Simon puts Brooks Conrad into perspective:

Brooks Conrad had four go-ahead home runs in the seventh inning or later this season, the most on the Atlanta Braves, and two shy of the MLB leader, Carlos Lee.

He hit .378 with runners in scoring position (fourth-best in the NL, sixth-best in the majors, minimum 50 plate appearances) and .341 in what are known as "high-leverage situations" (a Next-Level stat, measuring performance in situations in which a team's chances of winning are most dependent on performance).

The moral of this story is that Conrad's value is as a pinch-hitter, and nothing else. Much like Eric Hinske, who hasn't had quite the opportunities to foul-up in the field, Conrad is a utility player in name only -- and would only be forced into full-time duty if more than one starting infielder got hurt. Well, waddaya know.

And yes, read the article and Conrad's name is indeed mentioned beside Bill Buckner's.

From Grant at McCovey Chronicles regarding last night's game:

Braves fans: we’ve been there. It’s of no consolation to you right now, but we know your pain. We’ve had our sternum pulled out through our nose too. Like, oh, Friday night. The Giants didn’t really deserve to win that game. But I’m pretty danged sure the Braves didn’t, either. They both probably should have just given that game to Doctors Without Borders and taken the tax write-off.

Yep.

This quote comes from David O'Brien's quote round-up after Friday night's game two victory. Chipper Jones talks about the double play started by Troy Glaus to get out of a bases loaded jam in the ninth inning:

"He came off the field and said he was about to throw up. Said he’s never really been put in for defensive purposes before [Chipper is laughing here, hardly able to finish the sentence.] When they hit it, I didn’t even know he was in the game. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s Troy.’

"And he made a decent throw and we got the double play. It was just fun to see his reaction, because he literally looked like he was about to heave."

Good stuff, though I'm still not sold on Glaus playing third on any sort of regular basis from here on out. If he has that play to do over again I'm not sure he makes it half the time. That being said, he did make the play, and it saved the game. It looked like raw instinct kicked in from all those years he was a third baseman. Glaus probably surprised himself as much as he surprised everyone else.

See DOB's post for more great quotes from last night's win.