Jurrjens progressing, Schafer “a process”

Bernanke = One smart dude.

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First? By the way, I am pretty sure that is schafer getting some advice.

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Didnt mean that as a nitpick, just trying to help out…

Great quotes from 6 on Schafer. Explains a lot. Also highlighting once again why Bobby is so revered by the players. Does everything he can to take the blame when someone doesnt succeed.

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maybe it’s Melky

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http://www.twitvid.com/A32D2

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I don’t think we need to worry about Resop maknig the big club. Just a little extra depth in the minors and, who knows, maybe he’s matured a little since he last wore a Braves’ uniform.

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Is it just me or is there no spark this year for the Braves, Im not excited at all which stinks…I guess cause we didnt get any big bats this year and gave up Javier.

DOB TRUTHFULLY isnt this team just another 3rd place team? I mean what have they done to honestly make themselves better this year? Its seems they actually took a step back.

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I have 4 more slots open for my fantasy league leave me a message on the blog I’ll send you an invite I need an e-mail address too

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Mr. Rogers, nope, thats just you feeling that way. I for one am super excited.

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Smitty-
If Schafer is the real deal, and I think he is, it’s a tough call. I think Diaz and Cabrera are under control this year and next. McLouth is under control this year, next year and 10.65 option for third. If you don’t intend to pick up McLouth’s option, then all is equal. Having Schafer and Heyward in the OF, seems you’d want the righty and the switch hitter for balance. If Schafer has the highest OBP, IMO, this is the guy you start especially with the superior defense.

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I really like the new Johnny Cash. It clocks in at about 32 minutes. It’s a pretty easy listen. It’s not going to rival his first 3 American recording records, but it is a humble solid set. I think you will appreciate it. The 4th one was really good especially The Man Comes Around and Hurt. In my opinion it wasn’t as solid all the way through as the first 3.

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atlwolf Remember that game where Bobby put him [resop] in left field for one out, then put him back on the mound

i dont remember it being resop but i remember the game and the move. very shrewd managing by a guy with a short bullpen. i loved it.

mr. rogers I mean what have they done to honestly make themselves better this year?

*sigh*….does that really need to be rehashed? go back and read some old blogs.

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Copper-
The guy has rebuilt the organization that was destroyed by the injuries of Hampton, Smoltz and Glavine as well as the trades for Drew and Texeria. You cannot underestimate the toll these transactions took on the organizational strength as a whole. Never again under Frank. He values his prospects.

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fischerking His [cash's] version was entertaining enough, but not close to the NiN original.

youre right, Cash’s version wasnt close tot he NiN version….he left it in the dust.

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Dylan-
great point – not every thing is so absolute.

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Let’s hope KK and Saito have a better year than Toyota is having so far.

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fisherking04

i completely disagree i think cash knocked it out of the ball park where NIN struggled with their own song. but to each is ther own.

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Hendrix owns that – I thought the verdict was already out?!

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Dylan-
Well yes according to Robert Zimmerman, but I still like his version with the harmonica instead of the guitar. Like I said, Hendrix really pumped some “roids” into his version.

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Resop may be a lot better than the last stint, but I confess I can’t escape the backwards name I always tagged him with when he jogged in from the ‘pen: “poseR.”

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Mr. Rogers,

Thirs place team, really? Let’s compare. OK, anyone can make the argument that the Phillies and Cardinals are better teams right now. But apart from them is there another team that is clearly better? I think you have to put the Braves right there with the Marlins, Dodgers, Giants and Rockies as team that could pan out to be at least the third best team in the NL.

And when you consider that the Braves were one of the better teams in the second half last year (after Frency and Kelly were worked out of the line-up) and when you consider that Hanson and Heyward are clearly two of the elite young players in the league… how can a Braves fan not be excited?

That’s just me…

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Fischer-
I didn’t mind your opinion until you equated Cash to an ametuer. Lets see NIN – Cash, Is Trent Renzor still making music?

I think he just came out with a new album not long ago.

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TnBrian: Re your nickname suggestion on the other blog….good one, ‘cept it is pronounced Mc”Donna” not Mc”Dunna”.

As an aside, my daughter played FP Softball for a rival Henry County school when Heyward was at Henry High and all the girls called him the “Henry Hunk” — which he may not want to hear in the locker room…

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What made the recording compelling for me was the honesty. You can reduce any singer songwriter down to a campfire strum along. But it is the conviction that he gave it that brought me in. Reznor agrees. Not to take away from what you’re saying or anything.But when a songwriter or musician says that someone else now owns it because of a superior version(in there opinion). That speaks volumes. Especially a guy as respected as Reznor.

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I think like all fans we should be optimistic about this club at this time of the year. More so because we have strong pitching and what could be a nasty pen.

That said the wild cards was and still is the offense.

We need all the question marks (more or less) to fall our way for this dog to hunt.

The real test will be our first two series against the Phillies. You will truly know what you have when you play the best team in the division and one that is pencilled in by many to go to the WS again.

ST is all about getting in shape, refining technique and wild fan optimism – which is a past time in and of itself.

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Dylan- I understand and as I think we’ve both said, it’s just differing opinion. And in this case it sounds like I even disagree with the songwriter himself. As they say “to each his own” , I suppose.

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DOB I couldn’t agree w/ you more about the “download only” jack balls that ruined the record industry.

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The chances of Resop making the club are slim unless a few people get hurt. He’s a non-roster invite, so they would have to make room for him, which could get a little tricky. He would need to provide significantly more value than the next guy who’s already on the 40-man.

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fischerking Cash strummed 3 chords and didn’t do anything to enhance it IMO

my jaw just dropped when i read that. what the crap!?! to each his own and all that, but what the heck!?! your post does not compute, buddy.

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TnBrian: Yup, live here and only hear it that way in some really bad TV commercials….but, if he makes the bigs this year, the city officials would probably change it to make it match a cool NN!!!!

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thinbreakness—I agree with the power of the lyrics. And possbly that’s why I enjoyed the video from Cash so much (if you didn’t see it, it is a video of people close to him that he’s lost over the years).

Side Note: NiN released an album a couple of months ago and let people download it for free from thier site. Reznor seems like a really generous dude.

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I’m of the opinion the Braves have backstepped this offseason, and are probably 2-3 years away from seriously competing for the Division crown.

They are relying on too many old heads to stay healthy and contribute, and the crop of kids aside from Heyward isn’t quite ready yet. They have some players that could improve; specifically McLouth, McCann, and Escobar, and Prado defensively, but that collection alone can’t carry the team.

Chipper, Glaus, Hudson, Lowe, Saito, Kawakami, and Wagner may have some life left, but they are all on the downhill side with a realistic expectation of significant physical and performance issues.

Last year was the year they could and should have stolen a title, but Chipper collapsed down the stretch and took the team down with him. This is a third or fourth place team on paper, though I don’t expect them to be significantly sub-.500 unless Chipper and Glaus both tank simultaneously. If that happens they’ll be competing with the Nat’s.

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DAP—I am a guitarist. I knew how to play Cash’s version before ever picking up a guitar. Dylan said it best that it’s more about his voice singing the words. His guitar didn’t lend much to the song as far as adding his own element to it.

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DawgDad-
The Braves don’t play in the SEC. They’ll probably stay reasonably healthy and with the depth, they may suprise you and actually beat the Gators or I mean the Fillies.

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DAP:

The game was on April 3rd, 2008 against the Pirates. Resop started the inning and allowed two walks, putting a runner in scoring position. Bobby switched him to left field to allow Royce Ring to pitch to Adam LaRoche. After Ring struck out LaRoche, Resop retook the mound and allowed the go-ahead single to Nady. The Braves lost the game 4-3. Shrewd, yes, but it doesn’t make sense to keep a struggling pitcher in the game in that kind of situation, especially after he had walked two consecutive batters and with a known Braves-killer (Nady) coming up to hit.

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Oops. That’s Heyman, not Jimmy Gobble…

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Long time reader of this blog ( great work DOB ), first time poster. Chopper, wanted you to know I think you are right on with your 1:11 post. Plus, I think Bobby Cox has been an outstanding manager but since I am a couple years older than he is, I can say there comes a time to retire. His time is now and I wish him well and plan to be there to see his last games. Bought my tickets this morning and it was too easy on line. Good luck Braves in 2010 as I feel it will be a good year. Congrats for the great day yesterday Lew with your time with the Braves.

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sportsmandh Other than the Cards being in a weaker division, I don’t think they’re as strong a contender for the pennant.

i sure do. if they can get to the postseason (hard to imagine that not happening) they have a good chance to win it all.

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Daslied-

Have you heard Trent Reznor’s stripped down version that they play on the radio? It’s really good (as good as the Cash version, which I absolutely love)

(I apologize if this has already been addressed- too busy to do more then a quick scroll back through the blog – yes, even one page of it )

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DOB-

Didn’t see those comments from Reznor, but I have heard him praise Cash’s version

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Cash’s Hurt was genius. It’s what made me appreciate him as an artist.

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Something that I would like explained if anyone can take a stab…If Saito was not in the game (and assuming he doesnt need a translator), could he go to the mound with Roger to talk to KK and translate if needed. Now I understand that he needs to be in the bull pen and all that jazz but I dont think it would be a problem to get from the dugout to the pen in most parts right? What are the rules side of that?

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EAK: I’m pretty sure it isn’t in Kissimee, the Braves spring training camp is held on the ESPN wide world of sports complex which is a part of Disney World…I’m not sure if Dark Star is the city or what not but that is the location DOB has been

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TnBrian: Its been said the Heyward is a very respectable kid he knows that he has an amazing talent but he isn’t the type to go and tell you he does he just lets what he does on the field do the talking

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Damn DOB, you show a little too much interest in male “presentation”. Well I hope JS’s tatmania isn’t something that will be in my face constantly. I would be happy to be rid of him at this point for whatever he’s worth. I’m sort of sick of narcissists.

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“yeah, which is why cash’s version is superior. thats what its all about with cash. the music is good, but its not mind blowing. its basic, blue collar, everyday and real. cash’s delivery is what its all about in all of his music. thats why cash is who he is.”

I can only say that each person has their own opinion so many times. I even menitioned that Reznor even prefers the Cash version. I simply preferred the NiN version. Cash’s version was a stripped down version that lent more to the singing and the original was much more technical.

This is a unique one because I usually wouldn’t prefer the techy version. In this case I did.

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It’s good to see Jesse Chavez on that list… not as much as it would be to see the big 3 though.

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DOB

What do those 0-3 guys make if they are in the minors? Is it a different amount than the MLB minimum ?

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DOB- I am going to be in Orlando in March. The only free Day I have, the Braves are off. Will there be anything going on at camp that day? Will it just be minor leaguers or do some of the vets hang around and take BP, shag flies etc..

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I don’t remember EOF being that big to begin with

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Fischerking, if you’re not impressed with Johnny Cash’s Hurt, I have to wonder if you’re human. To me, it was a wrap on an extraordinary life of an extraordinary American. Very little in this world has moved me like that song and that video.

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jeffrey d-
Hopefully it’ll be better for his back if you believe less weight is better for the knees and back. Or is that just with old and overweight guys like me?

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[...] Jurrjens told David O’Brien that his shoulder feels better. Also in the report was the revelation that Jordan Schafer’s [...]

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There is a firstbaseman playing for the Phillies who has similar stats as Cody Johnson. I don’t think anyone would mind all that much having a guy that strikes out a lot when he has a high production ratio. You just have to realize that a guy who swings hard is susceptible to changing speeds. A some point you have to accept that a guy is either going to be a bopper or a dinker.

Now it’s great when you can have both but it’s pretty rare, especially now in the post steroid era…

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It was definitely Resop. Resop was an outfielder early on in the Marlins system.

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atlwolf, hey man thats some great info there on your 1:57pm post. remember, i said i watched the game and remembered it well.

you forgot to put the game in context.

two games before this happened, the braves played a 12 innings game with the pirates in which every single bullpen pitcher was used.

the next day, the braves got a short outing from jair jurrjens and used 6 bullpen arms.

then, in the game you are referring to, guess who started the game? our friend jeff bennett, who pitched 4 innings, leave the rest of the 10 innings game to the bullpen.

i say again, bobby did some shrewd managing to save the guys in the bullpen while still try to pitch to the situation. i loved it.

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Speaking of tickets…got 2 for opening day. Waited to buy them from the official site but the “best available” was in section 221 and thats too far out for me so I got them off stubhub for $49 each in one of the sections I like. Now I just hope I can go to the game lol.

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If Heyward hit 1.000 wouldn’t he have hit like 500 HR??? I mean, I thought they were all going out of the park…

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Question: which side will the Braves dugout be on for spring training?

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1st base

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Frenchy was never a very good baseball player, which is why he was traded for another guy who’s never been a very good baseball player (Ryan Church). Not sure what people mean when they talk about how “good” he was, unless they’re referring to his first 60 days in the majors.

Frenchy was 3 WAR in 2005, 1 WAR in 2006, 3.7 WAR in 2007. He averaged a 3.25 WAR for every 700 plate appearances during those 3 seasons combined. That kind of WAR indicates someone is a good baseball player, worth about 10 runs above an average player over every 700 plate appearances.

He averaged 2.4 WAR over every 700 plate appearances during the 2006 and 2007 seasons combined. That’s average, which itself is acceptably good.

And if you look at WPA, which measures his actual performance in given situations during those particular seasons, and substitute that performance for the more theoretical batting runs, his WAR in those seasons become slightly even better.

And Ryan Church actually is a good baseball player when he is healthy. The problem is he is never healthy. He’s got a wRC+ of 110, and has been worth 3.4 WAR for every 700 plate appearances in his career. Again, that is an above average player, which means he’s good.

He never, at any level of play after high school, learned how to get on base, recognize strikes from balls, etc. Not sure why we have to keep going over this. If you can’t get on base, you’re not a very good baseball player (unless you’re a pitcher). Period.

Yet he still somehow performed at a level significantly above average in 2005 and 2007, at a level above average in 2005, 2006, and 2007 combined, and at a level that was just average in 2006 and 2007 combined.

You actually can get on base at a rate below average and be a good baseball player if you run the bases better than average, are above average defensively, hit for a batting average above average, and/or slug the ball at a rate above average.

Frenchy didn’t do all those things above average, but he did enough of them above average to raise the level of his production in 2005 & 2007 individually to a level significantly above average, in 2005, 2006, and 2007 combined to a level above average, and in 2006 and 2007 combined to a level that was just average.

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Gil – Thanks. It’s not an experience I’m likely to forget soon. There were several photographers there with huge lenses on their cameras, so I’m sure there will be pictures. Wouldn’t surprise me to see it in Chop Talk, as Patty Rasmussen set it all up. Seems everyone there really likes her – they all came and hugged her- from the coaches to Brian Jordan and Ron Ganr. Quite a popular Lady and a good writer, too.

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Are we seriously talking about Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt? Wasn’t that like eight years ago?

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Lew…did you see the Weather forecast lately?…

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Lew, you make the perfect point. It is why batting stats at the end of spring training are much more meaningful than they are the beginning of ST. Hitters are facing better pitchers then.

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There are forecasting win over 60MPH and more than a foot snow between tonight & Friday for the NE.

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Lew:

If I remember right…none of the hitters can hit any of the pitchers this early in Spring Training right? That changes after a week or two when hitters start getting their timing back.

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DOB, when is ESPN supposed to be at Dark Star?

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Josh- Well, do hitters hit more in the stands at BP with a coach pitching? Same thing here and Lowe is in great shape, Dunn has looked good. Not so sure who else I might have seen with all of the other stuff going on.

It was funny watching Medlen take bunting practice, though.

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Fischerking04, thanks for the info!

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Lew-
Very thoughtful on the hotel room. I might still be married if….nah, I’m a sh!thead.

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Jeff Blauser, read the blog and find out

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Lew: Good to hear on Lowe. I know many are down on him but don’t forget he is one of the hardest working players on the team and is a leader on the pitching staff if for nothing else because of how hard he works.

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I know we keep saying the Braves are cheap (other articles and posts), but they ranked 11 in payroll for 09, and approaching $100M for 2010 if my estimate is correct. Also, taking a look at some of the teams under the Braves (Rays, Rockies, Cardinals, ChiSox, Twins) are perennial playoff teams with the Rockies and Rays recently playing (but losing) in the WS. So I’m not sure we can continue to blame the lack of spending on the Braves, but wiser investments of the money we do have would be nice.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090408&content_id=4170640&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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^^^Josh. Tomorrow. Chris Singleton is heading up ESPN’s coverage of the Braves.

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an article from the Marlins front office that could be revealing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2010/news/story?id=4941647&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines

So lets hope the marlins dont make the playoffs and they fire Freddie Gonzalez so he can be the heir to #6.

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“Freaknik Come Back to Atlanta”….Wow…I remember in 1995 i was stock in front of GT Uni for 5 hrs on friday afternoon..that day i learned about what was Freaknik.

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tommyp if you can’t win on $90-$95 million, find a GM that can.

the problem with the braves is that they spent a couple of years trying to get through contracts that dont fit onto a $90-$95mil team.

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I’m amazed at how many people think the Braves have built a 3rd or 4th place team. Now will they finish there? I don’t know thats yet to be determined, especially with the upgrades this division has made. I don’t however see them as a sub .500 team. I didn’t look it up but I believe the Braves won 88 last year and were a 3rd place team. It usually takes around 90 to get in. Your spot in the division doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story of the year.

The Braves struggled early but finished hot and many of the second half starters are returning. To me the offense is improved. You have a Diaz/Melky platoon taking over for Loaf and Glaus taking over for Laroche which may end up being a wash though Glaus will probably be more consistent through the year. Don’t forget that young players mature and Prado, Escobar, Melky, and McCann probably haven’t peeked. The starting rotation is still solid even w/ out Vazquez. The bullpen may end up being the best in the league. You have a proven closer in Wagner who has shown year in and year out thats hes one of the games best.

Is health a question? Sure. But it is for every team. I don’t think anybody would have said at the beginning of the year that the Mets starting lineup would all go down to injury. It happened to the Braves in ‘08 and got the Mets in ‘09. You never know when it will happen. So far the Phils have lucked out but every team will tell you that you have to remain healthy to win. So health is a big question for every team and only time will tell who stays healthy.

IMO, I think this is a 2nd place team that will contend for the playoffs. Their ability to beat the weaker teams will determine whether they get in. I’m sure if you look at our record from last year against all the divisions lower two teams its probably not very good.

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OJ, really just wanted to drop the nickname.

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The Phils are at $113M for 2009, which is only about 20% higher then the Braves, which can be attributed to their increased revenue based on their recent success. The Yankees are ridiculous at $201M (which is bad for baseball in my opinion), with the Mets in a distant second at $135M, Red Sox third, so the Braves payroll isn’t that bad in comparison, so yeah, money is not the problem.

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…on the main ‘yard here at ESPN Wide World of Family Fun Sports Entertainment Youth Athletic Leagues Cost Parents A Fortune Exposition/Recreation Center.

Holy crap! Try sayin’ that five times fast…

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Jeff Blauser, I get it, but its been said many times already

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Uh-oh. Heyward has a BP where he destroys only a Moped, and it’s “What’s wrong with Heyward?”, LOL.

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but he won’t hit 1.000 with 75 HR Lew

You’re obviously underestimating him, Lew. Sheesh! Get your head in the game!

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Still scoreless….but the US/Swiss hockey game has a ton of action.

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BOBBY COX IS CHUCK NORRIS

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Heath – where are you watching the game?

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DOB
Right now if you could what do you think the braves record will be at the end of this season?

Also what year do you think the braves will have a legit shot at the WS again. 2011 2012 2013?

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but he won’t hit 1.000 with 75 HR Lew

You mean in April, right?

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In the clubhouse yesterday, Andruw declared to a couple of coaches: “I am the best center fielder you guys have in camp.”

To which Joey Cora replied, “You should be. Only pitchers and catchers have reported.” –ESPN

I miss Andruw sometimes…well, I miss the good Andruw.

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Scott

According to a href=”http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090210&content_id=3815766&vkey=news_phi&c_id=phi”]thist[/a] article the phillies payroll for 09 was at 131.5 m.
[
But I will say this, money isn’t necessarily the problem when we already are spending 95 million. However, Wren (and the Braves in general) is doing a good job of finding talent, developing it, and bringing it to the bigs. At least it appears to be headed that way.

With such great talent, unless we flip everybody for young prospects, money will certainly become a problem in the very near future. Hell, as long as Diaz is still producing, coupled with service time and inflation, we’ll be paying him like 8 million in a couple years just to ride the pine.

It will become a problem, unless we are perennially trading off our “eligible for a big payraise” stars for unproven talent with high ceilings.

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whoops. That didn’t work. Here’s the link

http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jspymd=20090210&content_id=3815766&vkey=news_phi&c_id=phi

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And Glaus’ 162 game averages are 675 plate appearances, 575 ABs, 35 HR, 101 RBI. Even allowing for some erosion for age and PEDs, what’s left ought to be plenty. If healthy. SKINK

I always wonder why people quote 162 game averages. They usually have very little correlation to a regular season since most players don’t play in 162 games most years. Glaus has only done it once and sure isn’t gonna do it this year.

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I for one am REALLY HAPPY to hear that there will be more Braves radio coverage with it sounds like decent pre and post game shows. Finally.

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I always wonder why people quote 162 game averages

Because it shows up at baseball-reference.com and people think it actually means something relevant, LOL?

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Wren set this franchise back 3+ years by investing almost 25% of our payroll in 2 pitchers. D. Lowe who was 36 at the time was given 60 million???? I wouldn’t sign that guy for half that. And then Wren gives 9 million a year to a guy that’s never pitched in the big leagues and now will become the highest paid middle reliever in the history of baseball. 24 million a year locked up in 2 guys and since they suck so bad we’re stuck with those ridiculous contracts. I’ll give it to Wren b/c he’s trying/spening $$ but he just flat out has no clue what he’s doing. He built a team that can compete for maybe 62 games not 162 games. After the injury bug hits we’ll be lucky to win 75 games.

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Wow. First off Lowe and Kk do not suck, in fact they are quite good. Second, do you remember the pitching staff in 2008. Pitching is the key for competing for 162 games and they have it.

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Wren Killed Us,

Kawakami is penciled in as the number 5 starter. So the whole expensive MR thing is sorta moot at this point. I’m interested to hear what moves would you have made to change our current status?

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scoots, you totally took that wrong way. Yes, our scouting department is one of the best. Just looking at that list helps me keep things in perspective when I feel like projecting a 2014 lineup with Schafer, Heyward, Freeman, Johnson and Salcedo and a rotation of Hanson, Jurrjens, Delgado, Vizcaino and Teheran.

Those guys from 2005 were all good ball players and still are. But if anyone on here says they predicted in 2005 that only 1 of those players would still be on the roster in 2010, I’ll call them a liar.

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I went and checked out a little batting practice today and have to say…if Escobar can keep from annoying the pants off everyone he might win the NL MVP. That kids is GOOD but he’s sure loud. I have no idea what he was saying – guess I should’ve paid more attention in High School Spanish.

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Wren killed us

Do you ever have problems doing ordinary tasks like talking to people above you in your job or just interacting with people in general? I worry about some of the people like you on the blog. Like how can they possibly complete simple everyday chores when they can’t understand things that seem so obvious. Of course you can say Lowe’s contract looks bad in hindsight but where were you when he gave the contract out? Most people viewed it as a necessary evil. And if you’re referring to Kawakami with your “highest paid middle relief” crap then take it somewhere else. He already has a spot in the rotation and no matter how hard you try to misremember his season last year, you will still be wrong. He had an ERA under 4 and the only reason he moved to the BP was to make sure it was worth it to offer Hudson a contract. Come on man, if that’s the best you can do, just don’t post.

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Oliver Perez on an 11 M/yr contract. Now that would have killed us…

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12 Mill* Sorry, Omar.. didn’t mean to sell your expertise short.

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[...] –Jair Jurrjens is coming along ok from an arm injury scare, but honestly, these stories never end well. Read the AJC story here. [...]

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Wow, Cody Johnson, 180 whiffs… that’s better than a strikeout a game in the majors.

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Winterville – A ton of fans were pissed off the day Lowe signed for $60M. It was like a punch in the gut how much we overbid the Mets by.

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Thrill, that’s still not enough to make me go the Twitter route, LOL.

I’m such a dinosaur.

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J. Schafer has become serious trade bait..just don’t see him working his way into the lineup any time soon. He’s just don’t seem to be a bench player, maybe i’m wrong on that. And, for what its worth, i really hope his decline in productivity last year at such a blazing pace doesn’t come into upper mgmnt’s decision to hold down Heyward. Although i could see their concern…..a little….

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uga

I get the part about maybe over paying but he wasn’t going to come here for less and with the year he was coming off of, there was alot more praise than backlash. It’s just easier to scream about it after he had a poor year.

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Actually, Schafer is more of an argument that the Braves will have Heyward go north, not the other way around. The organization has never been afraid to go with a kid deemed ready, regardless of his minor league time. And, frankly, the team needs Heyward’s skill set this year more than they needed Schafer’s last year.

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Howard was a .300 hitter in the minors (.299 to be exact) with all the HRs and Ks. I wish Cody Johnson the best, but he has a ways to go to be in the Howard conversation.

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Great article by Mr. Bowman.

I’m ready for the season to start…

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That right? Hope it was one with some wit, rather than one that makes me look like a dolt, LOL. SCOOTS

what are the odds?

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Is it “Nate McLouth” or McCLOUTH like so many here spell it. Just askin’.

Nate’s a louth

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Rob from SC -

Not so fast!

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what are the odds?

Heavily against, says Vegas, LOL.

Oh lord. There will be no living with him now!

Like, there was before?

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Don’t know if this has been shared here, but I just found this on Yahoo’s top news site:

“Toyoda faces lawmakers: ‘I’m deeply sorry’ (AP) “

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“I always wonder why people quote 162 game averages. They usually have very little correlation to a regular season since most players don’t play in 162 games most years. Glaus has only done it once and sure isn’t gonna do it this year.” nolie

I don’t have a problem with 162 game averages. To me, especially with a guy with many years of service, it’s a decent sample size of what kind of ratios a guy puts up. For instance, Glaus’s 162 game average for HR is 35. (1 HR every 4.62 games)

According to my trusty calculator, if Glaus plays in 125 games, that means he’ll hit around 27 HR. If he only plays in 100 games, it would be 21. Hell, if he only plays in 70 games he’ll still hit about 15.

You’re always citing sample sizes, aren’t you? Wouldn’t you rather sample size his career, or is a couple of injury laced seasons what you’d base assumptions/predictions on?

My assumption is that if he’s playing in a game, he’s healthy. So, if the guy plays in around 120 games this year, I’ll take that production.

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“Roman Gal

February 24th, 2010
3:40 pm
So Francoeur, traded to the Mets last season, has some sense of what Heyward is going to go through, and sometime this spring he intends to take Heyward to dinner and give him some advice. –Buster Olney

Oh geez…I’m going to have to find a stick to fend off Frenchy!”

PLEASE ALERT BRAVES SECURITY!!!! PLEASE ALERT SECURITY!!!! BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A MAN, MID-20′S, LARGE TEETH, WITH FRENCH-LOOKING NAME ON THE BACK OF HIS JERSEY. HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CAUSE SLUMPS ACROSS ENTIRE BATTING ORDERS, AND HAS ALLEGEDLY THREATENED TO KIDNAP BRAVES ROOKIE PHENOM RIGHT FIELDER AND SPEAK TO HIM!!!! PLEASE TAKE EVERY PRECAUTION TO PROTECT OUR PROSPECT FROM THIS MAN!!!!

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Tim Brando should be broadcasting this third period would have heard “The iron unkind…” a couple of times now. Sheesh.

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Love Albert King.

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Nolie, regarding Glaus: How about if I say “allowing for age and PEDS and taking 20 games off for minor injuries and rest, there’s still plenty left.” Would that be more precise?

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Nate, the ratios are gonna be the same with his career numbers as they are in 162 games.and the sample size is his entire career not 162 games since it’s all based on career totals. Not really the same thing at all. IMO it causes less knowledgeable folks to expect thos numbers whe the player usually plays 10% less. I have seen posters on several blogs/boards express anger when a player isn’t as good as he ’should’ be ignoring the fact that he played less than 162. It is just an artificial and somewhat misleading way to present info.

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Mr. Rogers,

My guess is, by “Oh boy,” DOB meant to infer that a heck of a lot of things can happen in five years. Let’s worry about 2010 first. Beginning with February.

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TennesseePaul…

Were you not excited about the futures of Kyle Davies, Chuck James, Andy Marte, Macay McBride, Anthony Lerew and Blaine Boyer? Other than Boyer, these guys were all top 10 Braves prospects and big things were expected of them. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say all of those guys have vastly underachieved what most of us expected from them in 2005. I agree that the rest of the guys on that list were fringe prospects at best.

Read my earlier post where I clarify that my point was looking at this list gives me a little perspective when trying to imagine the All-Star laden 2014 lineup and rotation.

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Gotcha nolie. I guess for guys like me that pro-rate it, and are aware that a guy is not likely to play in 162 games. But I see your angle.

I guess one could take total games played, total HR and still calculate a HR/game average. I’ll assume that it would be within percentage points of the 1 HR every 4.62 games that Glaus averages 162 games.

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TennPaul you can add Andy Marte with Francouer as the only two being disappointments. Marte came with almost as much hype as Francouer. To begin the season they were the top 2 prospects in baseball. I dont recall which one was one and which one was 2 though.

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America! F*** yeah!

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Also Kyle Davies had some hype too.

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While we’re loosely on the topic of prospects…Cory Rasmus is my pick this year for climbing the prospect list.

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Harper is supposed to be the #1 pick in the next draft, I believe.

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Bryce Harper is the kid that was on the cover of SI, essentially touting him as the LeBron James of baseball. He has prodigous talent, but this is baseball. Who knows how good he’ll actually be. He’s only 17(I think), skipped his Junior year of HS and is entering the draft early.

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I think that the reason that the “Baby Braves” did not (largely) succeed was that they were thrown into the majors too early due to injuries to the Braves starters, had they been able to get more seasoning and be brought up when truly ready then they might well have been more successful. Compare that with Schafer, came up, did not succeed, but is still slated to be a contributor in the future because he is able to go back the Minors and will come up again when he is truly ready.

Hopefully “Heyzilla” (my favourite of the names being bandied around on here) will be ready to play on day one of the new season but the Braves are in the stronger position now of not having to throw him in if they feel he needs to spend some time in AAA.

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Where are the Braves of the Ted Turner era? We made a BIG trade of Vasquez for that big bopper bat of Melky Cabrera (sp), bet the Yankee fans are really hurting over that one. Then we signed that big bopper that no doubt will hit 40 homers this year if he can get out of bed and has played an amazing 6 games at 1st base.

Braves fans there is NO doubt with the offseason pickups, we have to be favored to win the World Series!

I better run down and get my tix right away!

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I better run down and get my tix right away! Old Brave

while you’re at it get some eXlax too, maybe you’ll feel better

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Nolie-

Yes, Todd Van Poppel hears you

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while you’re at it get some eXlax too, maybe you’ll feel better

Because he’s full of crap

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Heath-

VJ is off to work- yeah, he got to watch it on the computer

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What an excellent article by Boog. I even went back to see the game, and the expression chipper made was priceless, Joe giggled, he knew what was going on.

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I want to thank DOB, or whoever flipped the switch that now allows me to come straight to the AJC Braves page from my iPhone bookmarks. A few of us talked about it the other day and now it’s fixed. Awesome. Thank you.

Matt

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Good grief… Francouer and Davies might have been high on the list of Braves top prospects but there were never even considered one of the top 40 or so prospects in the entire minor leagues. And Chuck James? Really?

Heyward and Hanson are not sure bets to make the Hall of Fame or even an All Star team right now. But they are the most advanced prospects to come through the organization since Andruw and Andruw had some pretty solid years. Why are we comparing them to Francouer and Davies and marte and Chuck James?

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“Where are the Braves of the Ted Turner era?”- Old Brave
Ted owned the team from 76-96. Those teams combined for a losing record, however, one championship in his 20th season. This current team will be fine, don’t be such a downer

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DBMJAMS

Boy! Am I ever disillusioned! From what I’d been told about those iPhones, they could “fix” something like that all by themselves without even trying.

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DBMJAMS…..doesn’t matter. I’d STILL take one in a heartbeat if anyone gave it to me!

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TnBrian

Careful, careful…..pretty soon you’ll be accused (like DOB) of having a crush on Heyward.

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Just Pat, no. I don’t have a man crush on Heyward. I feel secure enough in my manhood to say another guy looks sharp. Not cute,handsome or hot … just sharp. I have a fiancee and she’s the only person I call hot and cute.

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TnBrian

I was joking because of DOB’s comments about Heyward’s biceps on one of the “blogettes” and a coupla people seemed to take exception to that. Guess HE feels secure enough in HIS own manhood, too.

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But Brian, you do admit – he’s a handsome man.

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Nolie, I’ll accept that friendly amendment on the 162 game thing.

You know, on nba.com, they give 40min averages. Maybe B-R should do a 140 game calculation.

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OK….guy-o-s……before I open another beer here at the office, it’s time to hit the road for home. It’s COLD here in the FL Panhandle tonight. Glad Lew took some “winter” clothes to ST! Y’all have fun and play nice tonight.

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Nolie I didnt think Chuck could suceed as a starter. At best he would make a good reliever, actually said that several times. He only had two pitches and you just cant be a good starter with that. You can get away with it sometimes as a reliever but not as a starter.

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It’s kinda like “this is just what I DO, man”.

If he’s still like that when he’s pulling $20MM annually, then, it will mean a little more, LOL. He’s still a rook, and he’ll have to wear a dress on a road trip just like any other rook. Tends to keep you from getting too puffed up. As does looking stupid on a changeup, LOL.

TennPaul, good points at 5:01. The glaring need for some sock the last two years probably blinded me to any other offensive needs.

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Just Pat- where in the Panhandle are you?

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BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A MAN, MID-20′S, LARGE TEETH, WITH FRENCH-LOOKING NAME ON THE BACK OF HIS JERSEY. wjones

Calm down. It’ll be ok! We’ll keep him safe, you’ll see!

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Nolie, I thought – I really did – that Chuck was a bit of a savant. He pitched up, you’re right, but as long as he had a four seamer with a little hop on it that was in the 91-92 range, he got an inordinate amount of pop ups. He could have used a third pitch other than that sloppy, inconsistent slider. But between the fastball up and the incredible change, he was on his way to being an improbably successful pitcher.

Once he got hurt, lost his location and was throwing 88, all those high fastballs became belt high meatballs and he was getting absolutely killed. But before that he was very effective with a chance to be more.

In the minors and his first year and a half in Atlanta, he had very good control, despite his odd mechanics with the flatfooted follow through. In fact, I recall his K/BB ratio in AA being something on the order of 11-1.

Oh, well. He’s probably done, and if he hadn’t gotten hurt he would have exasperated me with a lack of focus and strange decisions and HR/9. But I thought he was gonna do more.

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Maybe I’ll bring a beer and my dog with me to work tomrrow. See how that goes.

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And you’re right, I had never heard of it.

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But I thought he was gonna do more. GOV

I’m always pretty skeptical about Braves minor league pitchers cause so many have done well down there and fizzled up here. Some with real dood MiLB stats. IMO when your out pitch is a changeup you need to be real special to succeed. A few do, but most don’t. MLB hitters will eventually adjust to that most of the time. Guy I thought might do a bit better than he did was Kyle.

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Just Pat, don’t kid yourself. You need an iPhone. Also, it’s DMB, not DBM. (smile)

I will admit I laughed a little when DOB referred to Jason’s “rippling biceps.” But hey, thats one of the many reasons I love this blog. DOB isn’t afraid to be real. He says they ripple. I believe they do. Id much rather he report what he sees than tip toe around the truth.

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Scoots and Nolie, I think Kyle was the embodiment of Crash Davis’ warning: “Don’t think. It’ll only hurt the ballclub.”

Dude came up and was unhittable for four starts. Never saw the strike zone again. And the 25% of the time he actually did throw a strike, somebody hit it hard somewhere, often driving in the two guys he’d just walked.

Glad I’m not a KC fan. And very surprised Francoeur didn’t wind up there.

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Gov, the best talent evaluators on the planet could have a hard time seeing into a kid’s head, I reckon. Failure is the nature of the prospect beast, and prospect-hugging (I’m kinda semi on that, my own self) is built on denial of that very fact, LOL. We’re mostly doomed to disappointment.

But, I’d whole lot rather be often disappointed than seldom hopeful. That ain’t no way to go down the road, I say.

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I’m right on the water too-well the house is about a mile from the bay- so it is really unusual here too. Nolie

I thought you were in Tallahassee?

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Denizens, Heywerd was seen (by me) shopping for a lamborghini (my wife works for the dealership) about a week ago. The sales manager said he was a very humble guy. Scares the heck out of me that a 20yr. old could be driving that kind of power. I don’t think he can afford one yet but he was impressed as was I when I saw him. He is huge!! Hopefully he will get one one day.

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lol scoots you’re on point today. PROPS.

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nope KL I’m over above Ft Myers. was in the bend in early 80s for a while.did some work on a masters in tallahassee. nice town but really hot in the summer with no water breeze, as is most all of central fla

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even a baseball genius like me misses one once in a while

Indeed. I know, for me, the infrequency merely exacerbates the shock of the rare event, LOL.

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Sorry I started all the arguing over the baby braves. I wasn’t trying to compare them to Hanson and Heyward. I know these two guys are rare prospects that we haven’t seen since Andruw came up. Just trying to say I ran across that list of players and remembered back to how excited I was about the future of the Braves at that time. I would have sworn to you that at least half a dozen of these guys would be long-term producers in ATL. Just gave me some perspective, that’s all.

I thought Lerew was actually going to be the best out of that bunch. Shows what I know.

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I know, for me, the infrequency merely exacerbates the shock of the rare event, LOL. SCOOTS

so just imagine how big a shock it id to me when I do it. even higher on the Richter Scale

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The what-could-have-been rotation of the late 90’s and early 00’s. Granted, some of these went on to decent careers elsewhere.

Bruce Chen
Odalis Perez
Jason Schmidt
David Nied
Winston Abreu

Abreu might be a little weak in the 5 spot, but I couldn’t think of anymore stud prospect pitchers off the top of my head. Maybe Terrell Wade instead. Any other ideas?

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richbrave

You left out the best player in the DSL that needs to be watched and that’s ANDY OTERO, LHP. This kid put up crazy numbers down there granted it’s the DSL but he dominated his league.

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nolie, it does not bear imagining, my friend, LOL.

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Jay, a great stat line from the DSL team…

Jorge Paulino…30 IP, 7 H, 49 K…

Oh, I almost forgot, 28 BB

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Why would Ozzie get fired for saying something stupid on Twitter? He’s said something stupid in just about every other media and he’s still around

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I owe John Thompson a lot. He threw a no-hitter for me on ESPN 2K3 (XBOX).

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Err 2K5

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I never liked Ozzie’s “Look at how BA I am – Ican say what’s on my mind and I don’t care what you think” attitude.

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dpelfrey

Paulino had great K numbers but his control needs work but that’s key with most young guys. But Otero blew all their numbers away and the thing about him he was one of the youngest guys on the team AND he only 5′9″!!!

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jeffrey d-
What if Ozzie is right about Vazquez?

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First base market looks pretty nice next year incase Freddie Freeman isn’t ready. Lance Berkman, Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko, Adam Laroche, Derrek Lee and Carlosr Pena (hopefully Glaus looks like a good option also, because it means he will have a good year this year)

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What if Ozzie is right about Vazquez?

What? That he’s not a big game pitcher? From the looks of last season, it looks like he’s a lot better in less pressure situations

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What if Ozzie is right about Vazquez?

Well, he did give up one of the biggest home runs ever in 2004.

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I may have selective memory here but I don’t remember him being a big talker when he played with the Braves.

I don’t remember much either, but I do remember hearing that he said something funny when someone got his first hit, or finally got out of a slump or something.

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About to do an auction style fanatasy baseball draft… too soon? Nahhhh.

Interested to see whay Heyward goes for.

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Soph: Nah, Ozzie always ran his mouth. He wasn’t the leader of his organization, though.

Funny how Bobby rubbed off on him not one bit.

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Rob from SC -

At least they are on the other side of the bracket. Won’t have to face them again until the gold medal game. Assuming, of course, we beat the winner of the Czech Republic/Finland game…

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Well, he did give up one of the biggest home runs ever in 2004. joe

mighty limited ‘forever’ you’re using there joe. Most years some pitcher gives up a huge HR.

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Good news. Although Tyler at the Braves Guest Services told me today that tickets were being printed and would be mailed next week, I came home to find my package waiting for me today!!! It’s official – I will be in the stands on April 5!!!!!

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bah!

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wow this hockey game is getting bad

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Russia looks lost

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nolie-
Ha ain’t a Brave anymore. As a Brave fan and hater of the Yankees, I’m dubious about what he did in Atlanta. And since you don’t trust the way the Braves develop pitching prospects like Glavine, Schmidt, Merker, Stanton, Millwood, Bedrosian, P Smith, O Perez, Wohlers, Marquis, Wainwright, Hanson, Medlen, Moylan……oh who cares.

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Nolie … Put down the scotch. You’re in a drunken rage.

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Mixxo-

How exactly is Schafer a wimp?

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Girardi seems like more of a positive manager than Guillen. It will be interesting to see how Javy does. I read one columnist who said he doesn’t think having Javy in the 4 spot will release the pressure.

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ATL signs Salcedo … a good move?
12:50
PM ETAtlanta Braves Top Email The Atlanta Braves have inked Dominican shortstop Edward Salcedo, giving him $1.6 million and will likely start him off in Class A ball.

Salcedo’s story started two summers ago when every team this side of Mars wanted the infielder, but serious questions ensued about his true age.

Those have apparently been resolved, as Salcedo has been cleared by MLB and will report to Spring Training for the Braves.

For a look at what Salcedo might bring to the table for Atlanta on the coming years, we look to our in-house talent evaluator, Keith Law.

Keith Law
Salcedo’s talent level

“The only consistent opinion on Salcedo among baseball people I talked to is that he’s going to hit, followed by the opinion that he’ll probably end up at third base. No one is sure at all of his age, other than a pervasive disbelief in the claim that he’s 18, which would have been consistent with the age in the fraudulent documents that he used to visit the US two-plus years ago when he agreed to terms with Cleveland. Salcedo had been mixed up with some locals the first time around who saw him as a meal ticket and nearly wrecked his career – although his level of involvement in the scam remains unknown – but as soon as he’s cleared to play Atlanta appears to have a prospect who’d immediately be top six or so in their system.”

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nolie-
“I’ve always been pretty skeptical about Braves minor league pitchers cause so many have done well down there and fizzled up here.”

Maybe I just misread, but I figure every ML Club has a low success rate when it comes to pitching.

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The first day of the trade I said he would have a great year here and explained exactly why, and guess what? that’s exactly what happened. All you need to be able to do is look past raw ERA which is park dependent and W/L numbers which are team dependent.

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So is this a joke or is he selling these himself on Ebay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Jeff-Francoeur-Autographed-Game-Used-Braves-Jersey_W0QQitemZ300342042289QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item45edc7deb1

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russia needs to score before this period to have a chance

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That comment by Wren Killed Us came across and half crazy and half mean-spirited jerk with a few half truths mixed in. Everyone was pretty quick to dismiss his comment, but there was some truth to what he said.

Signing Lowe last year was a mistake. I thought so then and I think so now. Wren wasn’t even interested in Lowe until he had missed out on Burnett, and after seeing Smoltz bolt for Boston, Wren was desperate for a big signing and some positive press. Kawakami pitched well last season, but there really was no justification for a three year $24 million contract. 8 million is a lot of money for a number 5 starter. As bad as that is $15 million for a number 4 starter is ever worse.

That money could certainly could have been better spent a year ago acquiring a legitimate first baseman, or left fielder. Lowe’s huge contract forced the braves to trade Vazquez this year, and will prevent them from acquiring other pieces for the next couple of years. In a few years as the Brave’s young players reach arbitration they are gonna have to make some tough choices. It would really suck if the Braves are unable to hold onto Jurrjens or Escobar because of Lowe’s bloated contract.

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Agreed…way too much money for Lowe and KK

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joerochester…………agreed. Dude got hurt then got banished. I can say without being wrong that he beat or held his own against most of the best pitching in the league.

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Furthermore, Lowe was not a 3rd/4th starter when signed. He is now because of the talent that surrounds him. Maybe he’ll pitch better with less pressure to be an ace.

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nolie-
I’m sure you’ve heard tons of BS, but like you’ve said in the past, what benefit is gained from downplaying your own talent. I bet the hype machine has led to many unbalanced trades.

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I am not saying I don’t like KK…I am saying I don’t like KK at $8 mill as a 5th starter…and I don’t care how relaxed Lowe is…if you don’t think that $15/yr for Lowe at his age was a bit high, well, we will agree to disagree

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I’m not coming on here to bash your team. As a matter of fact, I’m a little worried. I think the Phills will win the east, but if the Braves hold on and win the wild card I feel my team will have trouble in a short playoff series against Atlanta. You guys pitching is solid while outside of Halladay I’m not so confortable.

Hamels worries me. So does Blanton,Happ,Moyer and Lidge you just don’t know.

I think Heyward is the real deal. He looks like Howard, maybe even a better all around player.

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JasoninFL……agreed on Lowe. However, the fan base was close to dumping the hotplate into the bathtub if a move wasn’t made. KK was a no. 1 in Japan. He proved his mettle to me with that gem he twirled against Halladay back in May. One of the best pitched games (by both) I’ve seen in a while.

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EatPhillie

You think the Phillies will re-sign Werth?

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THICK the very first thing they teach you when you work for a team is not to fall in love with the talent. The fact that they play for your team should have no influence on what you think about them.

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This comment bothers me. 38year

why? he never told anybody about it, Cox didn’t know or he would have sat him down right away.

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Scarcity is what drives up the price of products. At the time there were no more pitchers worth signing. Would you rather the Mets had signed Lowe and the Braves Oliver Perez for 12 mill? joe r

I agree with you

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nolie-
That’s good business. But I’d imagine good business is also selling an inferior product and knowing what is a superior product.

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nolie

Don’t you build arm strength by throwing

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nolie-
That was my point about the Braves. I’m sure many organizations do it just as well, but the only team I follow are the Braves.

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Is there good Asian food in Atlanta?

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to an extent sure, but not unnecessary stress throwing. Braves minors used to do a good bit of long toss under Leo’s helm. Don’t know if that is still done a lot now or not. Studies prove that too many innings pitched at too young an age raises the chances of injury. Doesn’t happen to everybody obviously, but it does make the odds worse. Once they reach 25 or so it seems to have a lot less effect. So since there are a lot of questions still unanswered and risks to very valuable assets, most teams probably do err on the side of caution. We will learn more and more as studies continue, but it only make sense to be careful. How hard was it for you to hurt your shoulder? Overhand throwing is not a natural action and too much repetition, especially in stressful situations when the whole body tends to tense more and strain more, cab be harmful.

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bobby hillThat money could certainly could have been better spent a year ago acquiring a legitimate first baseman, or left fielder.

I think it takes a little bit of revision to history to assume the braves could have signed a first baseman or a leftfielder. We had a first baseman, and what leftfielder should we have gotten? You think it would have been better to beat the phils offer to Ibanez? Maybe Milton Bradley or pat burrell? Would that have been your solution? No, the money went where it should have gone for 2009. It would have been good not to get lowe for 4 years, but wren had to do what he had to do. The lowe signing is only slightly tragic. There is a lot of positives in having our pitching rotation set for the next several years.

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DAP-
I don’t think some people will ever get the need at the time to sign Lowe. Maybe this year he goes 20-10, 3.35 and 210 IP and people will shut the hell up about his contract. I for one don’t think that honestly addresses the situation, some people just need it.

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And keep in mind that the muscles you’re using really aren’t your big muscles (the rotator cuff muscles). They’re not as well-equipped to handle those high amounts of force as well as a quadriceps muscle or a pec muscle. STEVE

good point buddy

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govclintontyree Frank Wren publicly stated that we needed two pitchers and a big bat in the outfield. He overbought on pitching and had to settle for Loaf ’cause he was broke.

ok, fine. lets see if we can come up with a big bat on the free agent market that wren should have signed instead of getting lowe or kawakami.

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and i say free agent big bats because after the vazquez trade, any trade we made would have required one or more of the “untouchables”, schafer, hanson, heyward, freeman, ect.

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joe

do you mean upscale asian or authentic…we have both (although the authentic can cause intestinal issues if you aren’t ready for it)

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I really doubt that we don’t long-toss, Rob. It is one of those things that I would think (hope) would be pretty ubiquitous across professional circles. Just please consider that there are a ton of factors going into this, such as the inherent ability of the athlete to exert control over his muscles, the inherent strength of his muscles, ligaments and tendons, his conditioning regimen, his age, his mechanics, his intelligence, etc. that contribute to his risk for injury. Generally, the younger the age, the more cautious you are, but is is never a bad idea to err on the side of caution given the stress subjected to the shoulder during throwing.

Now the elbow? No biggie! Just give ‘em a Tommy John and they’ll be good as new, LOL!

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I am sure this has already been asked and I am sorry if it has but is Saito going to be a free agent after this year? I know he signed a 1/yr deal but he has only 4 years of service time according to Cots and it doesn’t say he will be a free agent at the end of this contract like it does with KK’s contract and some of the other Japanese contract details. Thanks!

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I believe Leo suggested in his book that if a you start on Monday, you should take Tuesday off (just run, but you should do that every day, LOL!), long-toss Wednesday, thow a low-intensity side session working entirely on location on Thursday, long-toss Friday, and start again on Saturday. I really like that plan because you get a tremendous amount of low-intensity conditioning that both builds stamina as well as arm strength, and you get a nice chance to work on your command in between starts as well. The key is just to not over do it.

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Haven’t posted here in a while, been busy with school, wrestling, etc…

But anyway, our farm system is shaping up very nicely…some elite talent outside of Heyward in Freeman, Teheran, Viscaino, Salcedo, Bethancourt, and Delgado. Not to mention solid prospects like Minor, Kimbrel, and possibly Hicks. I’m very excited about Salcedo, especially since they’re saying he’s at least going to hit. As long as he can hit, he’ll find a position, whether it’s SS or 3B. I can see him shooting up to High-A by the end of this year.

Our big league lineup is solid…not the best in the division right now, but that’s going to be determined by performances we can’t really project, like Heyward and Glaus. If they put up solid numbers, our team will be in contention.

Here are my projections for the year:

CF McLouth – .263/.354/.456, 20 HR, 68 RBI
2B Prado – .278/.347/.435, 11 HR, 62 RBI
3B Jones – .294/.395/.482, 21 HR, 75 RBI
1B Glaus – .257/.355/.510, 24 HR, 81 RBI
C McCann – .313/.377/.502, 22 HR, 87 RBI
SS Escobar – .309/.369/.475, 17 HR, 72 RBI
RF Heyward – .274/.358/.459, 18 HR, 69 RBI
LF Diaz – .288/.344/.460, 12 HR, 55 RBI

SP Lowe – 14-12, 3.74 ERA, 120 SO
SP Jurrjens – 16-8, 3.24 ERA, 180 SO
SP Hudson – 13-9, 3.64 ERA, 160 SO
SP Hanson – 12-11, 3.55 ERA, 210 SO
SP Kawakami – 10-12, 4.09 ERA, 175 SO
CL Wagner – 33 S, 6 BS

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Yeah, the elbow and knee aren’t too complicated as compared to the shoulder, in terms of range-of-motion. Not too difficult to figure out a good procedure to fix a joint that can really only move in one direction.

Now, in practice…

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nick not Nick, I believe that Saito will be arbitration eligible in 20011 and a free agent after that. That’s how Cot’s contracts has him listed.

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Troy Glaus had a bronze medal.

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Abreu is not a bopper. But Dunn I like. We’ve had the conversation about Dunn many times on the blog.

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Pedro Feliz, I think?

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which one is a free agent? either would be an improvement

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O’Brien, be careful. Schultz has plans to mess with you.

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Thanks, Soph and nolie. Her name’s Katie and she wants to be a journalist. I suggested she play in a band so she’d have something to fall back on.

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Tell Schultz to stop being so objective and get behind the 2010 Braves. Dam the facts.

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Oh, and I forgot a big congrats, Gov!

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Is “Matchstick Men” a good movie?

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Gov – State’s a great school for journalism. Especially with Turner/CNN right up the street.

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I agree with Heath. good flick

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AustinBrave–wow, A&M? My little sis is going for a softball scholarship herself, but nothing as big as A&M. Congrats to her, she must be a top-flight player.

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nolie, feliz didnt even OPS .700 last season. the guys we have might not be able to do much better than that (conrad might be able to) but we already have them, so that a point in thier column.

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I’ll have to add it to my list of movies to check out. Thanks, all. I was perusing Nick Cage movies and came across that one. That man is hit or miss with movies.

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I think I’m going to name my kid Caster Troy.

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Heath – choke city for the Tribe tonight we would have had a shot at 2nd place…

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“from as far back as Guarding Tess”?????????
Raising Arizona?? anyone??????

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This Finland-Czech game is really good…

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Shout Out to Red Rock West.

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DOB

Went through the blog and may have missed it but did Jurrgens get to long toss today or did the rain cut the day short? If he did get to did you get to talk to him or anyone on how it went?

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MZ / DOB -

Just a reminder, I’m in my 20s…didn’t see any of those movies you mentioned. I’m sure many of them indeed are better than Guarding Tess…that was just the one that came to my young mind, and even it wasn’t my favorite by any stretch of the imagination. It was, though, watchable…probably one of the movies you many would label as “cute” or something.

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I dunno, Kiprusoff is pretty tough. He’s been outstanding tonight…

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looks like the Fins…

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Austin Brave:

maybe she can teach you that the proper word is “accepted.” congrats to your daughter.

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Anybody see Tracy Morgan on the Daily Show tonight? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jon Stewart laugh so hard. He couldn’t keep it together. It was hilarious.

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I started listening to and watching some Townes Van Zandt tunes and interviews cuz of his mention here on the blog a day or two ago. Had always heard of him, but never knew of or listened to much of his music.

In a word, damn.

Loved the documentary they have in ten parts on youtube.

And these lines of his jump out:
“I figured there’s Heaven, Purgatory, Hell, and the Blues…and I’m just tryin’ to climb up from the Blues.”
“I’d like to write some songs that are so good nobody understands ‘em, not even me.”

I think he probably hit the last one, and can only hope he accomplished the first.
One cool dude.

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