Eric O'Flaherty The Big Question No One is Asking

Eric O'Flaherty had a fantastic season in 2011.

He had an ERA of .98 in 73.2 innings pitched.
His struck out an average of 8.2 batters per 9 innings while only walking an average of 2.6.
Eric was the ideal 7th inning force and lefty specialist against the best hitters in the National League.

And he should be traded immediately.

As good as Eric was in 2011 it would be irresponsible to assume that he will maintain that level of success. He's a very good pitcher, don't get me wrong but he will not have an ERA under 1 in 2012 if he pitches more than a handful of innings. He will probably be better than his career averages so far, not that it's that impressive; 3.14 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 6.9 K/9 in 57 innings pitched shouldn't be too hard for him to exceed.

But here's the problem, and it's a big one; The Braves are paying him nearly 2.5 million dollars next season, and he's the third man in the pen. On a team with a 120 million dollar payroll that's fine, on the Braves it's a fantastic luxury but one that could draw funds away from areas of greater need. In a recent interview Braves CEO Terry McGuirk told a reporter that the Braves had around 4 million to spend, add in O'Flaherty's 2.5 million and the Braves could have had the money to trade for a more talented outfielder or a beneficial free agent signing.

Granted the only valuable players that could have possibly be imaged a fit for the Braves that signed for under 6.5 million are in the class of Cody Ross, Luke Scott and Ryan Doumit but Frank Wren could have possibly turned that money into a more valuable player than even the best seventh inning man. It's possible that some contending team in need of a setup man might have valued Eric even more than the Braves and he could of possibly be moved for a valuable prospect. If the Red Sox traded Jed Lowrie for Mark Melancon, and one year ago Frank Francisco was traded for Mike Napoli, maybe the Braves could have gotten a legit piece for the talented lefty.

It's not that it's a bad thing to have a pitcher of that caliber on your team, it's just that in the Braves monetary situation could they do any better with that money.