Uggla was a good pick up first of all. His defense is not “liability” imo. His Dwar is a solid -1 and I don’t see it getting worse for at least a few seasons, while his Owar is darned near +4 and last season was his best ever at 4.7. That tells me he could even hit +5 this up coming season. Sure he’s no Chase Utley, but who is? And when you have guys like Beltre getting the contract he got, this deal is a good one, by comparison. Beltre is right around there for his War totals and seems to only excel in contract years. hmmm?

I think Hanley can have a bounceback season if he finds a Santera somewhere to lift the curse from that hideous “341″ amulent Scrooge McLoria gave him to open the season. It’s the kind of thing he can keep throwing in the ocean and have it turn up again in his soup of laundry, you know?

The missing piece in your analysis is, of course, Coghlan. If he recovers and reverts to his rookie form – you will recall he was having a pretty mediocre year before he hurtt himself – the Feesh can contend. Without him, they’re going to have trouble. They need baserunners, contact and situational hitters to hold their own in this division; that Feelie staff will eat free swingers alive. My guess is that there will be 18 potential brutal encounters with the Feelies for which they will probably have to make lots of amends against everyone else in the division. I’m not worried about the Braves per se – not yet, anyway – but the horsemeat and velveeta boys can add lots of games to the Feesh’s loss column this coming year.

As for the Feesh, I’m much happier seeing the extra money spent to build up the (hopefully) stronger bullpen, defense, and the rotation with the risk on Javy. Buck seemed like a priority whether or not Uggla took the offer, and the offer they made was more than reasonable. A full season out of Stanton, increased power from LoMo and Gaby, a strong Hanley, and Infante’s defense should absolutely make up for the loss of Uggla. When the Feesh are benefiting from the defensive downsides of a 35 year old Uggs, this deal should easily have paid off.

No Feelies fan should be too happy about Uggla’s acquisition by the Braves, though. If he begins to develop caterpillar treads after a couple of years, the Gnats will happily take him off their hands.

As a Phightins Phan, I’m happy that the pitching heavy Phils’ only paper-based division competitor would sign Uggly to such a contract and leave such a big hole in the middle of the infield for so long, and take so much money out of the Bravos’ circulation.