Given the Braves depth with their pitching staff, they are very confident that they’ll be able to get through the season, even if they sustain key injuries.  Frank Wren did a good job of putting together an array of options the team can choose from to fill their needs.  Because of this, we were in a great position going into Spring Training.  However, since everyone has preformed so well this spring, especially in the pitching department, the Braves have an excess of talent.  As rival clubs begin to fill out their rosters, they’re turning to Wren in an attempt to fill needs of their respective clubs.  An outfielder (Gregor Blanco, Josh Anderson, or Brandon Jones) could be traded and contribute to a big league club this season.  Wren has also received inquiries about various pitchers in camp that the Braves may not necessarily have a place for this season but could contribute to a big league club (Jo-Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton, James Parr, Jorge Campillo, Buddy Carlyle, Manny Acosta,  and Jeff Bennett).  Martin Prado could also be moved and serve as an every-day infielder.  None of these moves would so significantly affect our depth that it’d hurt our chances in 2009.

I read this on Rob Neyer’s blog today, one of the best things I’ve read all day:

I haven’t been able to devote enough attention to the Atlanta Braves as I usually do over the past few days due to travel and spotty internet connections.  However, we’re up and running and here’s everything you need to get your Braves fix.

In a recent interview with Esquire Magazine, Jonathan Papelbon took one of the many steps towards replacing Manny Ramirez as the Boston Red Sox’ number 1 clubhouse asshole.  In the interview, Papelbon called Manny Ramirez a “cancer”, specifically saying: “That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go.”

John Smoltz plays for the Boston Red Sox.  That statement, in itself, is one of the most controversial statements ever uttered in the history of the Atlanta Braves.  How on earth did that happen?  The answer isn’t simple.  Nor is it easy, fair, or ideal, but it comes down to the business of baseball, calculated risk-reward situations, money, and a complete removal from emotionalism and nostalgia in favor of certainty and production.

Imagine this.  Frank Wren wakes up on July 9th and sees that the Braves just swept a series at Wrigley Field and are now a half game up on the Mets and Phillies, who are tied for 2nd in the division.  There haven’t been any devastating injuries and everything has played out exactly like we all thought it would.  With 2 and a half months left in the season, the Mets and Phillies are pushing hard to add another starting pitcher and it looks like both Roy Oswalt and Roy Halladay will end up finishing the season in the NL East.  Clearly, if the Mets and Phillies are going to make major moves, the Braves would need to follow suit if they plan to contend for a playoff spot.  With two and a half months left in the season, Wren would need to ask himself who would be a fit for the club to help them make a playoff push.  Well, let’s take a look at some of the options.

Well, I’m back in Atlanta.  After putting close to 1,200 miles on my car in 3 days it is nice to finally be back home.  Ok, I’m lying, if I had the opportunity I’d be headed back to Kissimmee tomorrow.  It was one heck of a weekend.  Anyway, I got a very unpleasant surprise when I turned on the World Baseball Classic as soon as I arrived.  I learned that Chipper Jones was removed from the game with some sort of pulled muscle/injury.  Have I ever mentioned I hate the World Baseball Classic?  I did just watch Gregor Blanco rip a triple though, which is good.

It’s awesome to beat the Yankees, especially in a close game at their stadium.  Especially Especially when they’ve got one of your former players batting 3rd in the line-up because they paid him more money than the Braves’ entire payroll this year.  Anyway, we won 3-1.  No sense in recapping, but here’s some things I noticed:

If you are ever given the chance to attend a spring training game at Champion’s Stadium, I highly recommend you do so.  I greatly enjoyed the opportunity this evening.  The Braves rewarded me for my troubles getting down here by putting on a baseball clinic at the expense of the Astros.  I’ll recap.
Josh Anderson - CF
Kelly Johnson – 2B
Matt Diaz – LF
Casey Kotchman – 1B
Yunel Escobar – SS
Jeff Francoeur – RF
Martin Prado – 3B
Clint Sammons – C
Jo-Jo Reyes – P

Stocks Up:

Chipper Jones- 1/4 with a 3-run shot and a walk playing for team USA against the Phillies.

It’s roster prediction time!  Well, I don’t know if there is a set time to predict the team’s roster, so I’ll do it now.  We’re looking at a 25 man roster out of camp.  12 man pitching staff, 8 regulars, and 5 bench players.  This roster won’t matter much because the team will make a ton of roster moves throughout the season, but here’s what I think it will look like:

Stocks Up:

Josh Anderson- 1/2 with a double.  Anderson is batting .417 with a .750 slugging percentage this spring, though he’s yet to draw a walk.

Stocks Up:

Javier Vazquez- Pitched 3 scoreless innings before leaving for the WBC

Someone posted a link to this article which is entitled “Chipper Jones: The Most Overrated Player in Baseball” on David O’Brien’s blog late last night and I opened it up and read it this morning.  Here’s some excerpts with commentary from yours truly:

Well folks, it’s March.  March means many things to me: my Mother’s birthday, a few teases with warm fronts, March Madness, and Spring Training.  The latter we’ll be discussing here.

Tim Hudson is an excellent pitcher.  Despite never putting together an extended run of dominance that he was starting to assemble before his injury, which I know he is capable of, his career numbers are very good.  In a 10 year career he has a 3.48 ERA and a 126 ERA+.  That’s not easy to do.  Keep in mind he was in the AL for a large portion of his career.  Hudson has won 146 games and lost only 77.  I don’t put very much stock in winning percentage, but wow,  he has won almost twice as many as he lost.  He’s always relied on getting ground balls, but he’s still managed to strike out twice as many batters as he walks.  Overall, he is a player that any team would like to have.  However, this isn’t the only reason he’s the ultimate Billy Bean draft choice.

After the ST game.

Stocks Up:

Jordan Schafer- 2/4 with a double, walk and 3 runs scored.  He did strike out twice though.

With the 2-month beast known as the NBA playoffs approaching pretty soon, we have a clear look at who can contend for the title.  While it is universally accepted that there are only 3 real threats to win the title, Lakers, Celtics, and Cavaliers, 8 teams could realistically make a run at the title if they get hot at the right time.  I’d like to take this opportunity to explain these 8 teams 2008 MLB Playoffs style.

Here’s how the Braves’ stocks are looking:

Stocks Up:

Omar Infante - 2 out RBI double

Spring Training is a great time of the year.  Exciting for the players and management, exciting for fans, and universally optomistic.  The club uses spring training to a) get the team in game condition and b) answer any roster questions.  With the slate of ehxibition games underway, lets take a look at some of the questions that the Braves and their management will try to answer over the next 5 weeks.

Ya, I couldn’t believe it either.  With the world watching on ESPN, the Braves’ kicked their habbit of dropping the 1-run game by coming back from a 7-2 defecit to win 8-7.  Well, the score of the game doesn’t really matter becuase it was pointless.  Anyway, thoughts on the game:

1:26

I turned the game on with the Braves’ still batting in the 1st.  Verlander retired the first 2 batters, Josh Anderson and Yunel Escobar, with groundouts before McCann drew a walk and Kotchman reached on an infield single. Francoeur steeped up with 2 out and 2 on and rolled one to the first baseman to end the inning.  Bad omen?  Hopefully not.  In the bottom half Jurrjens gave up a single past KJ to start the inning, a blooper to right, and walked the 3rd batter of the inning.  Cabrera hit a SF to right and Schafer nearly threw out the speedy Granderson at home, 1-0 Tigers.  Jurrjens then got a DP ball to get out of the jam.  In the top of the second Verlander retired Kelly Johnson then walked Matt Diaz, an encouraging sign.  Prado hit a ball to 2nd base that resulted in an inning-ending double play.  Here we are.  Live Blogging continues.

Well, it’s here. No, not the home opener, or even the season opener at Citizens’ Bank Park. I’m talking about pre-season Baseball. The Grapefruit League. The League, which like the Braves’ own National League has 2 more teams than the other league, begins its schedule today with a full slate of games, 8 that is. The Braves’ will open their Grapefruit League season against the Tigers. Ironically, Jair Jurrjens will get the ball to face his previous organization against another young pitcher, Justin Verlander, whom he personally knows from their days together in Detroit. After Jurrjens tosses his set number of 2 innings, Jo Jo Reyes will follow with the same number. Manny Acosta, Stephen Marek, Eric O’Flaherty, and Juan Perez are all expected to make relief appearances at some point in the game. If I were watching the game I’d be most excited to see Marek and Acosta. Marek I’ve never seen before and Acosta only made 5 appearances in August-September of last year after straining some sort of leg muscle last year during the 17-inning marathon game against the Astros. Speaking of the Astros, tomorrow the Braves play the Astros, and that one’s on TV, ESPN. Check your local listings. Anyway, let’s get started.

Thoughts on WBC:

The Braves have acquired that run-producing outfielder they have been seeking all off-season. Eh, sort of. On Monday, it will be announced that Garret Anderson has signed a 1 year, 2.5 million dollar deal to play for the Braves. This will be Anderson’s first trip to the Senior Circuit, he had spent the past 15 seasons with 3 American League teams, the California Angels, the Anaheim Angels, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (for those of you that don’t speak Spanish, that translates to “The The Angels Angels of Anaheim”). Oh wait, they’re all the same team. So he’s spent 15 years with the Angels and in his career he has batted .296/.327/.469. Unlike the other outfield targets the Braves had in mind (Edmonds, Griffey, Gonzalez, others), Garret Anderson plays above-average defense, even at 37. Last year he rated +1 on the plus/minus system, meaning he made 1 play more than the average Left Fielder. Griffey, for example, was -17 last year. Anderson will likely join Matt Diaz as the big part of a left field platoon in 2009. Anderson’s splits against right-handed pitchers, who he’ll likely get most of his at-bats against, are .299/.334/.481. The story with him is that he hits for a little bit of power, especially against RHP, but doesn’t draw NEARLY enough walks. His career high number of walks is 38 in 2006. There is reason to believe he may improve because he is switching from the AL to the NL (the AL is a tougher environment to hit) and the Angels have always been an organization that encourages their hitters to be aggressive. Hopefully he’ll learn to draw a walk or two and have a good year hitting for power, that’s the Braves’ biggest need right now. I’m not sure about this one. We’ll see. Your thoughts?

In 2008, much like every previous season since 1992, the Braves went to camp feeling confident about their team. The group they had included a rotation of 4 former 20-game winners with what seemed like a ton of depth behind them, a bullpen anchored by a flamethrower with relief-ace stuff and a much improved side-armed Aussie, and one of the most prolific offenses in the National League with 2 of the game’s best switch-hitters and the game’s best catcher as mainstays in the middle of the line-up. Can you blame the Braves’ for feeling optimistic about their chances in 2008? In addition to feeling good about their mainstays, Blaine Boyer was coming back from surgery, they brought in one of the most consistent center fielders in the game, Mark Kotsay, another key bullpen piece, Mike Gonzalez, would return after the all-star break to help the pen down the stretch, and 2008 was supposed to be the year that fan favorite, Jeff Francoeur, put it all together.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves and free agent right-hander Derek Lowe have agreed to a four-year deal worth $60 million on Tuesday, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Earlier this offseason, Frank Wren signed Greg Norton to a 1-year deal to anchor the Braves’ bench as the pinch-hitting specialist.  Yesterday, Wren made another move towards maintaining one of the best benches in the league: signing Omar Infante to a 2-year deal worth 4.35 million with a club option for 2011 worth 2.5 million with a 250,000 buyout.  If exercised, this option would buy out his 2nd free agent year as Infante was scheduled to be a free agent after the 2009 season.

In the same day that saw Kenshin Kawakami announce his signing with the Braves, Derek Lowe agreed to terms with us and will ink the contract pending his phyiscal on Wednesday.

The Hall of Fame welcomed two new members on Monday, as both Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were voted in by the Baseball Writers of America. Both players inclusion in Cooperstown may help shine a new light on the superstars of the 1980s, including Atlanta Braves legend and all around good guy, Dale Murphy.