He’s a strong RH pitcher who has been tearing up pretty much every level of the minors (he spent last year in AA ball and did pretty well). He hands out a few too many walks and has had some homer issues, but his H/9 and K/9 lines have been extremely promising. Sickels likes him a lot, says he projects as a #2/3 starter. Hanson could probably start the year in Omaha, and if all goes well, be in the bigs later in the year. If we trade Greinke, then I don’t think we have to worry about contending (I don’t think we would contend with Greinke either, but whatever), but if we had Hanson and Cortes coming up to the bigs to start 2010, that would be a huge injection of talent into our rotation.

As for the folks Schaum names—Schafer’s PED use is a big red flag, but he actually put up a decent line in AA ball this year without the juice, and he seems to do everything pretty well. Flowers can hit, but there are a lot of questions as to whether or not his glove can stay at catcher, so I would not view him as the long-term successor to the current Buck/Olivo parade of mediocrity at the position. Escobar’s stats dropped off significantly from his excellent rookie year line, but would still be a productive SS for us and would allow Aviles to shift to 2b full time. I don’t know enough about Reyes to say much about him.

Ultimately, I’m not sure what to make of Schafer, even now that he is presumably off the juice. I will say that if Flowers could stick at catcher, I would deal Greinke for him, Hanson, and Escobar plus a throw-in.

I also think that Hanson/Escobar is probably on the low side for Greinke’s value. If I were the Braves, I’d be thinking…a future Cy Young winner for a decent shortstop and a prospect who could become a #3 starter? Yes, please.

I’d still hold out for Hanson/Escobar/Flowers. If that is too much, I’d add a low-level throw-in with Zack, but that is about as far as I’ll go.