Player Profile: Mark Kotsay

[JCStone57]

Lots to Say about Mark Kotsay
Jonathan C. Stone | Braves-Nation.com

With the news breaking about the Braves set to acquire Mark Kotsay from the Oakland A's I thought I would dust off the ol' pen and give everyone a look into the newest Brave, or better yet the first new Centerfielder the Braves have seen since 1998 when Andruw Jones took over the job and never looked back.

Mark Kotsay came our way via trading 2005 1st rounder Joey Devine out of North Carolina State University; most casual Brave fans pin the 2005 National League Division Series loss solely on Devine's shoulders, but every team needs a Bucky Dent and Atlanta now has Chris F*cking Burke, but I digress. Billy Beane has agreed to pick up $5.325 million of Kotsay's remaining $7.325 million dollars on his contract that expires after the 2008 season. So in essence Frank Wren has given us the stop-gap CF Atlanta needs to bridge the gap for Jordan Schafer's eventual arrival.

Mark Kotsay was part of the Bronze-medal USA baseball team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympiad. Kotsay was selected to be on that team after arguably having one of the greatest College World Series performances of all-time in 1995. Kotsay won the Golden Spikes Award and was the Most Outstanding Player for Cal State Fullerton in the 1995 CWS while playing superb defense in the outfield and closed the games out on the mound.

The Florida Marlins drafted Mark 9th overall in the 1996 Amateur Draft and it took him only a year to have his first cup of coffee in the bigs when he made his debut on July 11, 1997. Kotsay manned the outfield for the Marlins until 2001 starting full-time in 1998. Kotsay amassed 54 outfield assists in the three years he donned the fish on his hat. The Marlins shipped Kotsay out west to the Padres in the Matt Clement deal where he had the worst years of his career but he still recorded 28 outfield assists in his three-year stint with San Diego; hitting only .266 in 2003 the Padres traded Kotsay to the A's for Terrence Long and Ramon Hernandez.

Kotsay had arguably his best year in 2004 where he finished 14th in the American League MVP balloting when he hit .314/.370/.459, 37 doubles and 15 homeruns.

In 2005 Kotsay put up similar numbers to his '04 year with a line of .280/.325/.421, 35 doubles and 15 homeruns earning him a three-year contract extension through 2008. In 2006 Kotsay played 129 games battling back injuries throughout the year but still put up a solid .275 average.

Mark underwent back surgery in Spring Training of 2007 and never really got his feet under him when he played in only 56 games but still showed off his strong arm with five outfield assists in only those 56 games.

So for his career Kotsay boasts a .282/.337/.415 line with 103 homeruns and 113 outfield assists in his 11 year career. Kotsay brings a solid bat, a great arm, and superb defense for a mere $2 million out of Liberty Media's pocket. In my opinion I believe Kotsay can bounce back to his career averages in 2008 and will be the perfect bridge for Jordan Schafer.

As for the doubters of the deal who believe Joey Devine is the future Brave closer; the only thing I can do is share my beliefs with you. My belief is that Atlanta has the depth in the minors and majors to replace the loss of Devine. Atlanta has Sung-Ki Jung, Zach Schreiber, and Charlie Morton to name a few. Even in the bigs Atlanta has Rafael Soriano, Mike Gonzalez, Peter Moylan, Manny Acosta, and even Blaine Boyer.

Given that no one was ecstatic about Josh Anderson in CF including me, I must tip my hat to Frank Wren for getting this deal done and at a very minimal risk. Even if Kotsay's back problems return we're in the same spot we were at to begin with. So to Frank!

[gobravez]

Agreed, JC. We have more than plenty of arms to replace Devine. Low risk, high reward!

[SamtheBravesFan]

Well, here's to Kotsay being a decent bridge to Schafer, who will take advantage of the opportunity.

[Wren Mafia]

Given that no one was ecstatic about Josh Anderson in CF including me, I must tip my hat to Frank Wren for getting this deal done and at a very minimal risk. Even if Kotsay's back problems return we're in the same spot we were at to begin with. So to Frank!

I agree, good move. Keep it warm until Schafer is ready

[josephw000]

I disagree about Devine...Devine was showing great things last year and was a surebet to make our ML club...I'll miss him and think he will do well, I dunno if he was the best thing for us to lose just for a one year replacement in CF....if Kotsay kicks ass itll be a great move of course...but otherwise, I dont like it.

[SamtheBravesFan]

I disagree about Devine...Devine was showing great things last year and was a surebet to make our ML club...I'll miss him and think he will do well, I dunno if he was the best thing for us to lose just for a one year replacement in CF....if Kotsay kicks ass itll be a great move of course...but otherwise, I dont like it.

That's just it: he was and never really has been a sure bet. Whether that was due to mishandling or not, the only thing that we're missing was the chance to see Devine's improvements bear fruit. That's what we're REALLY pissed about.

[MPH]

I disagree about Devine...Devine was showing great things last year and was a surebet to make our ML club...I'll miss him and think he will do well, I dunno if he was the best thing for us to lose just for a one year replacement in CF....if Kotsay kicks ass itll be a great move of course...but otherwise, I dont like it.

What great things? Devine only threw 157 pitches in 8.3 innings last year, and 75 of them were for balls. He put on an average of almost two baserunners per inning (WHIP: 1.80). The previous two years were even worse - MUCH worse.

Young pitching prospects - and let's face it Devine has never been anything more than a prospect - are a crapshoot at best, and Devine has never shown the ability to perform consistently at the Major League level in three years of golden opportunities.

Of course hoping to get a productive season from a guy who has missed most of the past two seasons due to injury is also a crapshoot. Maybe Devine and Kotsay will both do well or maybe they will both suck, or maybe one or the other will do one or the other - we don't know - but my money is on Kotsay because he has at least demonstrated the ability to perform.

Maybe Devine will do well someday - so might Diaz and HoRam - but whenever we can fill a need by moving one of these "not yet, but maybe someday" pitching prospects, I'm all for it.

[McCarroll21]

I really like Devine; I like him a lot. I think he'll go to Oakland and have a great career. He will be closing for them soon. They'll include Huston Street in this firesale and Joey will slide right in and take the spot. He's got a good arm, but I'm not sure if it's any better than some of the others we have or already traded this winter.

That last sentence is where it makes sense to me. Dealing from a strength. We've got relief pitchers all up and down the organization. We've got a lot of starters at the lower levels working their way up and all of those won't make it as a starter, thus more talented relief pitchers.

I guess what I'm saying is it's easier to maximize a pitching talent for one inning than anything else in all of baseball. You can take that starting pitcher that is in need of that third pitch and put him in the pen and he'll flourish. Like, how good of a closer would Tommy Hanson be if he were moved to that role? I'm betting he'd be on equal standing as Devine, maybe better due to at least having that extra pitch in his arsenal. Knowing that, replacing Devine and Ascanio, though they may be talented, will be easier than replacing any other prospects we could have dealt this winter just due to their role alone.

In saying all of that, I'm loving the trade. Not only does it do what I said above, trade from a strength and a spot from the prospect totem pole easy to replace, but it answers our biggest question mark, too. Now we have a center fielder. We not only have one that can flash some leather in the field, but he can help out and add a lot of depth to our every day lineup too.

[MSU Bulldog]

A healthy Boyer is just as good if not better than Devine.

[chip&smoltz95]

i must admit i didn't really like the trade at first(also a big fan of devine's potential), but seeing as it's only costing the braves about 2 mil for a somewhat reliable stopgap. i think the move is average to slightly above average; based on the fact that it does appear they are trading a "potentially" good reliever for a one year CF.