Braves’ Wren on payroll, ownership; DOB’s Top 50 CDs

I wouldn’t worry too much about Venters and Kimbrel. Venters used to start so I doubt all the innings last year did much more than tire him at season’s end and Kimbrel has been brought along as a closer and spent a good bit of time last year being mentored by Wagner.

Linebrink and Sherrill add maturity and can help out on any of the “kid” problems either have.

Not worried at all -especially since we now have Sherrill to counter Moylan’s lack of success against LH hitters (and vice versa). O’Flaherty’’s healthy again and Christiian Martinez could be a good long reliever.

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“Bat Masterson

December 23rd, 2010
5:27 pm
It would seem everyone is ticked off with the NCAA, as well they should be. They are trying to control an uncontrollable situation and at the same time defend the indefensible.”

That description is almost enough to make one feel sorry for the NCAA! (Almost!)

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SaltyDawg

I have heard of this place called Sugar mountain up in NC that is decent for beginner level skiing. It’s about 5 hrs drive from Atl and might be the kind of place you are talking about. Worth a look I think.

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“cabravesfan

December 23rd, 2010
5:32 pm
MIBravesFan

Oh I know! Rant was not directed at you I tend to get that way when I start talking about the NCAA and it’s hypocritical rules…”

That’s perfectly understandable! When Tom Izzo, of all people, can be suspended for a game for a secondary violation consisting of hiring a guy as a camp coach who has some sort of connection to a recruit (who did not attend the camp), I can appreciate the hypocrisy of the NCAA, believe me!

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Lew_

Nice line on the RC.

I advocate for bringing back the Reserve Clause when I want to rag someone for bitching about free agents or whatever along those lines …………..

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I’m thinking a Don Mattingly-type player. Efrim

if he turns out to be Donnie I’ll be thrilled, not sure that BA will be Donnie-esque though

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Bat-

you sound as bad as me!

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cab _

‘it’s all good”

blink

‘hair on fire’

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“Bat Masterson

December 23rd, 2010
5:54 pm
That description is almost enough to make one feel sorry for the NCAA! (Almost!) _ MIBF

Yeah, I don’t feel sorry for them.

It’s uncontrollable because of all the money involved.

It’s indefensible because of all the money involved.

A lot of poor kids looking around thinking, everybody is making money but me.

Okay, so they get an education. But how many really do?

I could go off on this subject, but ……………”

I hear you. The kids are the NCAA’s “product,” whatever platitudes NCAA officials mouth, and it’s not the student-athletes they are protecting.

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Cool if this is true and he is the leader than you keep him and build team around him. _chadb1733

I’m beginning to question your sincerity , chad.

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Gone til Monday
Merry Christmas to all.

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Wren’s payroll analysis does not add up. He is just taking a hit for McGuirk and LM…. Not sure why other than being threatened with his job if he criticises one thing…

Does Wren REALLY believe we would be better off without AROD or Teixeria?? Really?? When the Redsox and Yankees put a broken down crappy product on the filed, they too had attendance problems! I know. I could go to Yankee game pre Steinbrenner and you could walk all the way down to the dugout and sit anywhere you wanted!
The minute Yanks and Sox got new ownership who wanted to WIN instead of being a tax writeoff…they started spending and bringing in exciting players…which lead to soldout crowds every game….which brought in more revenue and the circle goes round and round…

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A relatively innocuous comment in Wren’s interview should set off some alarms for those of us with a sense of history regarding the Braves.

Wren wants the Braves to get faster/more athletic, a standard response from someone who is the GM on a team that fits neither description. Considering that the only position player of consequence he’s added in the off season is a slow power hitter at a position where speed is a more standard attribute, Wren’s statement may be little more than PR.

By far the biggest mistake Schuerholz committed during his years as GM was his occasional attempt to make the Braves “faster and more athletic.” He made 3 major trades along those lines and all 3 were unmitigated disasters.

After the first 2, the Braves advanced to only 1 World Series after playing in 4 of the previous 5. After the 3rd of the 3, the Braves haven’t been back to the WS. Not a coincidence.

Grissom & Justice for 1 year of Kenny Lofton. Dye for Tucker. And in what may be the single worst talent for talent swap in modern baseballl history, Klesko & Boone for Sanders & Veras.

Speed is a wonderful asset but is far from essential. If the Braves can get faster without sacrificing offensive output, fine. But making a trade mainly for the sake of adding speed (see examples A, B & C above) can backfire, as all three examples did.

Getting rid of McLouth in favor of someone like Podsednik would be fine, but the Braves are stuck with Nate and Podsednik almost certainly isn’t coming here. Given the Braves current makeup, I don’t see them making any similar moves to the 3 Schuerholz disasters, mainly because there are only 1 or 2 offensive-oriented players on the current roster with appreciable trade value.

Sorry if this offends some, but when you put together teams that are almost devoid of players of color, speed and athleticism are not going to be terms that describe the roster.

The Braves used to field teams with guys like Justice, Gant, Skates, Pendleton, McGriff, Grissom, Jordan, etc., Now we have Heyward and…. and….

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that’s possible chad, but I sure ain’t sold on it

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We should do some kind of betting/pool system on how quick the blog turns on Freddie in the first month.

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Soph-

do we count the people who have turned on him already?

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Bat Masterson

December 23rd, 2010
6:07 pm

Cool if this is true and he is the leader than you keep him and build team around him. _chadb1733

I’m beginning to question your sincerity , chad.

The Braves decided a couple years ago this was the way to go…….Chad

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cab, ok how about when the majority of the blog turns on him? Nick doesn’t count.

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spastic defender at catcher
spastic wimp at third
easy out at short
spastic turtle at second
unproven rookia that KLaw thinks little of at first
unproven defender at left
quagmire at centere
possible sophomore slumper at right
short inning wimps in the starting rotation
unproven wild heavers at reliever
unknowns on the bench

we will not only finish last in the division, but might actually have a negative win column

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Sorry if this offends some, but when you put together teams that are almost devoid of players of color, speed and athleticism are not going to be terms that describe the roster. _ mr baseball

Damn Mr Baseball is ‘Jimmy the Greek’, how about that.

What year is this again?

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-5 – 167….that’s a pretty bad season

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“Bat Masterson

December 23rd, 2010
6:24 pm
Freeman and if he doesn’t get off to a start like J-Hey’s, they don’t start calling him a “bust” in April, but somehow I’m sure there will be people on the blog saying that anyway. _ MIBF

Nick thinks Heyward is a bust now, Freeman has no chance, none ……… ”

There are a few bloggers where it’s basically just a given that they’re going to be negative, no matter what the kid does or what DOB tells them.

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http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove10/insider/news/story?id=5950724

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I apologize if the previous article has already been posted. A nice read for Braves fans.

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So has anyone noticed something missing on the blog today?

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nevermind, that’s missing every day so that caint be the answer.

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nolie –

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Well it’s not a something.

Common sense is a nice answer, but you’re right, that would be unremarkable.

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Soph, don’t they, though? It’s not enough that they actually have a “MNF” game that will almost certainly be a good football game – they have to “play it up.”

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For those without an insider subscription…

“This offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies have grabbed most of the NL East headlines. Their signing of Cliff Lee was undoubtedly the biggest free agent acquisition of the offseason. But the attention paid to the newest member of Philadelphia’s rotation has obscured the potential that the Atlanta Braves will improve on their strong 2010 season. Winners of 91 games last season, the Braves sport a young offensive core, increased roster flexibility and at least six viable starting pitchers. Between the lure of the wild card and the uncertainty of the 162-game season, the Braves have at least two good reasons to resist the temptation to overreact and instead focus on adhering to the plan that got them to the postseason last year.

Atlanta already made moves to shore up uncertainty in its infield. They made one of the first big moves of the offseason when they shipped utility infielder Omar Infante and reliever Mike Dunn — both viewed as bench players a year ago — to the Florida Marlins for slugging right-handed second baseman Dan Uggla. The Braves view Uggla as a member of the infield for years to come and are currently in talks to extend his contract. Uggla’s defensive limitations will pair well with slick-fielding Alex Gonzalez, who has been retained after being acquired in last July’s Yunel Escobar trade.

The Braves also believe they have solved their long-term question mark at first base. Since briefly acquiring Mark Teixeira for parts of 2007-08, Atlanta has struggled to find a slugging first baseman who can hit in the middle of the lineup. Lefty-hitting rookie Freddie Freeman, who posted an impressive line of .319/.378/.521 in Triple-A last season, will be 21 years old and in the starting lineup on opening day. With Chipper Jones hoping to return in a significant capacity next season, the Braves have addressed the area where injury hampered them the most in 2010. With Martin Prado (and his career .810 OPS) still in the fold, the Braves can deploy him at third if Jones isn’t healthy or in left field if he is.

Atlanta also took significant measures to add veteran presence to an extremely promising young bullpen, which was one of the most entertaining in baseball in 2010. The 22 year-old right-hander Craig Kimbrel inherits the closer role from a retiring Billy Wagner. Despite the extra pounds Kimbrel has on Wagner, and the fact that Wagner was a lefty, Kimbrel’s high-90s heat may give hitters flashbacks to Wagner’s big No. 1. And Kimbrel won’t be the only one bringing heat out of the Atlanta ‘pen: Jonny Venters can match him pitch for pitch. Venters was the horse of the staff last season; he was just two appearances short of pitching in half the team’s games. Eric O’Flaherty, the team’s top lefty specialist until he succumbed to symptoms of mononucleosis last year, is healthy and poised to return. O’Flaherty won’t have to shoulder the left-handed burden by himself, as the Braves signed Los Angeles Dodger pariah George Sherrill as a free agent for $1.2 million earlier this month.

The Braves also return the top four of their starting rotation, which last year posted a combined 3.80 ERA. Those four — Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe and Jair Jurrjens — will be joined by one of either Mike Minor, who dazzled between Double- and Triple-A in his first full season, or Brandon Beachy, who is just a year older and was perhaps even better in 2010.

All of that is without yet mentioning the most hyped prospect in baseball last season, Jason Heyward, who became the first 20 year-old to have an OBP over .390 since Alex Rodriguez. That is by design. The Braves have been doing what all good teams do: acquiring the players they need, and keeping only those who are truly worth it. It’s hard to identify a position at which the Braves will decline from 2010 to 2011. When last year’s team won 91 games and the NL wild card, such a state of affairs can only be counted an unqualified success. It’s true that other teams will do their best to win games, but that doesn’t necessarily affect the way the Braves should go about planning for the future.

Consider how the Braves could handle their trio of promising young international starters (Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, and Arodys Vizcaino), each of whom spent significant time in Single-A this year. They could ship them off to acquire a player who is approaching free agency. Undoubtedly, they had minor league talent to match or exceed the package sent by the Milwaukee Brewers to the Kansas City Royals to acquire Zack Greinke. But doing so would have required a significant increase in salary and the loss of at least one of their electric arms. By not doing so, the Braves ensured that they will have plenty of options when Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson become free agents after the 2012 season.

The ultimate question, then, is whether the Braves should change their strategy to reflect the new landscape of the NL East. It’s hard to see the argument that they should. Consider that the Phillies were the oldest team in baseball — on both sides of the ball — last season, meaning the Braves’ chances to win will only go up as the years pass. It will be hard, but by no means impossible, for a 90-win Braves team to make the playoffs in 2010. But if the Braves stay the course, as it appears they plan to, they’ll get better as a team as the competition declines. That’s a formula not just for a single year’s playoff berth, but for a run of success that could make the NL East exciting for several years to come.”

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“Soph

December 23rd, 2010
6:50 pm
MIBravesFan, what the heck is up with MSU hoops these days? I know they’ve had a tough schedule but I’m kinda surprised at how they’ve played so far.”

Don’t I know it!! I’m trying to tell myself they start slow every year, but this one seems worse than recent years. I know they have the talent to play better than this. Too many turnovers, not enough rebounding, there was the Nix issue, and when Green and Summers have an off night, we’re in trouble.

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It’s ok, MIBF. My boys in baby blue are having their own struggles. They’re playing better but not quite there yet.

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braveslifer – thanks for the 6:57 pm post!

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Sure thing fellas

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Personally, I thought what Roddy wrote was pretty funny. It usually irks me when athletes apologize for comments that are taken too seriously or out of context, but I’m fine with his apology. I can understand how that comment could be mistaken.

But still. What’s a little trash-talk between rivals?

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Salty Dawg

December 23rd, 2010
5:01 pm
Happy Holidays all!
Looking for some advice and I know the topic of skiing has come up here several times. Any recommendations for a good place to go skiing relatively near Georgia? Just a bunch of beginners, so we’re more concerned about nice lodging that break-neck slopes. I’m hoping to find a cool place to take the family for Christmas next year. A nice rustic type cabin close to decent ski accommodations would be awesome.

We have good friends that have a large cabin for rent outside BOONE, N.C. on the parkway if you’re interested.

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Braveslifer Two thumbs up…..

Chad a short while ago you were a Braves and Phils fan,now its our team.

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Juliet nailed it _ jeffrey d

Uh, wait a minute now………

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You know, the last time I saw this much funny code talk, I was signing up for a British government message board. I assumed they gave me something
“Bondsian” because they knew I was an American. Seriously, guys!

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WOW!

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richbrave – what?

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MIBravesFan:

I’d buy that for a dollar! (ROBOCOP) But very true. It’s going to be a great 18 game series I think. Still believe slots six and seven in the line-ups will be the difference between the two. The rookies [FREEMAN-BROWN] should be a wash.

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To be honest – I’m not sure I ever saw “Robocop,” not the whole movie, anyway. And that was a public message board I was speaking of, btw. It was back when “Commons Question Time” was on CSPAN (is it anymore? Haven’t seen it lately).

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“jeffrey d

December 23rd, 2010
8:22 pm
Gutter….”

Care to elaborate?

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I was telling Bat to keep his mind out of the gutter

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Those are some pretty sad looking numbers, nolie

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“nolie

December 23rd, 2010
8:39 pm
Freddie 244/288,388″

Batting, slugging, and on base? He’s very good defensively, too, you know. Another reason Dan will be better at 2nd for the Braves than for FLA!

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Better

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first one was just kidding around MIBF. second is closer to a possibility, but still I’m not all that serious

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