Hello, My Name Is: Mark Teixeira.

No team did as much as the Atlanta Braves to improve their chances to win this year and the next at the 2007 Trade Deadline. Even the most casual of observers could note the Braves glaring needs as follows: a quality starter, a consistently effective southpaw reliever, additional bullpen depth and a capable first baseman. In a single day, Braves fans saw 75% of those concerns addressed about as soundly as possible considering the market and can rest assured that the 4th was not neglected, but rather unavailable for improvement. Let's start our review of the welcome additions by taking a closer look at the biggest name dealt this season, 1B Mark Teixeira.

Tex (a nickname that is now under review since he no longer plays for a Texas franchise) is widely considered one of the best young players in baseball today. As a 21-year-old college graduate, he was drafted 5th overall by the Texas Rangers and had a short, extremely successful stint in the minor leagues before getting called up to The Show. He broke into the majors in 2003 and broke out shortly there after. He's one of only three switch-hitters to hit at least 20 HR in each of his first three seasons (he joins one of the other two, his baseball idol, in Atlanta) and the fifth major leaguer, period, to accumulate 100 HR over that same span. He also holds the MLB record for RBI by a switch-hitter. Those accomplishments, however, might lead you to believe that he's a one-dimensional power hitter, which he's not

In his young major league career, Mark has been award two Gold Gloves for his stellar defense at 1B and has maintained a balanced line of .283/.368/.533. Chipper Jones has indicated that having a switch-hitter that is dangerous from both sides of the plate behind him in the batting order will help him immensely and it's hard to argue with that. While Teixeira is seemingly more comfortable in Chipper's traditional #3 spot in the line-up, he'll have plenty of protection as the Braves clean-up hitter and should be extremely successful in Atlanta. He's a renown second-half hitter (his OPS over the last three years is 90 points higher after the All-Star break) so there's more than just hope to the belief that he'll really do well as a Brave and could push Atlanta over the top this year. He also happens to be a very durable guy who, before his short stint on the DL this season, had played in over 500 consecutive games. How long he remains a Brave is the matter of much debate and Atlanta's front office has been derided due to the belief that it won't be for long.

Mark will get $9M total as he completes his current contract this year and is expect to receive another $14M or so in arbitration for next season before he can become a free agent. He is a Scott Boras client and, as such, is expected to test the market at that time; but there is some hope still

Teixeira was born in Maryland and has expressed a desire to return to his home state as a free agent following the 2008 season, so it's not as though money appears to be his only motivation. As such, the Braves are hoping that his college connection to Atlanta (he attended Georgia Tech) might be enough to counteract that attraction and that the obvious difference in the direction of the franchises in question will be enough to put them over the top. It was recently made public that Tex turned down a $140M contract offer from the Rangers, but it's hard to read much into that considering his desire to get out of that franchise. Many believe that this serves only to highlight the fact that Atlanta simply won't have the cash to keep him in a Braves uniform for 2009 and beyond as they're pitted against teams with deeper pockets such as the Yankees, RedSox and Mets in a bidding war for his continued services, but they fail to consider the probability that the Braves will no longer have as many significant financial commitments left on the books and are ignoring Liberty Media's (the new owners of the franchise) apparent willingness to expand the payroll budget as necessary to compete. Regardless, Atlanta has options that will be discussed at length in the upcoming post about the team's revised outlook.

All in all, Teixeira turns a spot on the diamond and in the line-up that was the worst in baseball into a clear strength for the Braves. Many of us have speculated that an acquisition of this sort would be a shot in the arm for the whole team and, as evidenced by the standing ovation that he received after being spotted in the dugout for the first time during a game, the fan base is energized by this move as well. Atlanta now boasts the best line-up, top to bottom, in the National League. As many have astutely noted and I affirm, if you can't improve your rotation by adding a starter, you can help the ones you already have by boosting your line-up and bullpen. The Braves have done just that and, later today, I'll review the relievers we added to our team to complete the makeover. There's a real chance that World Series games will be played in the city of Atlanta once again and, I'm not going to lie, it's about time!