Braves sign all their arb-eligibles and bring back Moylan
After signing reliever Eric O’Flaherty late Monday, then center fielder Michael Bourn and pitcher Jair Jurrjens on Tuesday, the Braves successfully avoided any arbitration hearings and tidied up the roster and payroll a month before spring training.
The Braves also agreed to terms later Tuesday with popular veteran reliever Peter Moylan, who’s coming off shoulder surgery and hopes to be ready by the early season. He got a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training and $1 million on a prorated basis for time in the majors, plus incentives.
Braves general manager Frank Wren indicated there was a good chance no bigger moves would be made before pitchers and catchers report to spring training Feb. 19 at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
The Braves haven’t made any big acquisitions since losing 20 of their final 30 games and missing a playoff berth on the final day of the season, but Wren believes the team will be improved if some players bounce back after disappointing seasons.
“We’ve felt all winter long that we have a foundation of a very good team,” he said, “and I think this is likely the team we not only got to spring training with but that we break camp with. We’ve talked about it before, how we have a good team; if it performs to its capability we’ll be in the running and we can make adjustments as we go along.”
Significant raises for the four arbitration-eligible players — Martin Prado was the first to sign on Friday – raised the Braves’ salary commitments to nearly $90 million for 2012, a few million below 2011 payroll.
The Braves have said they would keep the payroll the same or slightly higher, and Wren said they want to retain some payroll flexibility to make potential moves during the upcoming season. The Braves have not divulged a specific payroll limit.
“We plan to keep some margin to allow us to make some additions during the season, at the break,” Wren said. “We feel like we’re right where we want to be at this time of the year. It gives us flexibility to make moves.”
O’Flaherty, a left-handed setup man who led the majors with a 0.98 relief ERA, got a 178-percent raise to $2.49 million in his second year of arbitration.
He closed the season with 20 consecutive scoreless appearances and became the first reliever in major league history to post a sub-1.00 ERA in 70 or more appearances. O’Flaherty had 78 appearances, tied for fifth-most in the majors.
Jair Jurrjens, in his second arbitration year, got a $5.5 million deal for ‘12, which also includes potential incentives of $25,000 each for 175 innings, 180, 190, 200, 210, and 215. He made $3.25 million in 2011, a season cut short by a right knee injury for the second year in a row.
Jurrjens went 13-6 with a 2.98 ERA in 23 starts, none after August. In four-plus seasons with Detroit and Atlanta, Jurrjens is 16-13 with a 4.25 ERA in 41 starts in August-September, and 34-20 with a 2.96 ERA in his other 74 starts.
Bourn, in his third and final year of arbitration, got a $2.45 million raise to $6.845 million. He hit .294 with a .349 on-base percentage and majors-leading 61 stolen bases for Houston and Atlanta.
After hitting .311 with a .368 OBP in his last 93 games with Houston through July 30, Bourn was traded and hit .278 with a .321 OBP in 53 games for Atlanta. He hit .254 with a .295 OBP in 30 games for the skidding Braves after Aug. 25, though he did steal 14 bases in that stretch.
Bourn is eligible for free agency after the 2012 season and could be difficult to sign to a long-term extension. His agent is Scott Boras, who advises most clients to explore free agency when they get the right, rather than take a discount to stay with their current team before seeing what else is out there.
Prado got a raise from $3.1 million to $4.75 million in his second year of arbitration, despite slipping to a .260 average and .687 OPS in 2010. He hit .307 with an .809 OPS as an All-Star second baseman in 2010.
After missing 5-1/2 weeks last summer following staph-infection surgery on his right calf, Prado’s power and speed were diminished. He homered and drove in two runs in his first game back July 15, then hit .244 with two homers in 238 at-bats over his next 55 games.
Moylan, a free agent after being non-tendered by the Braves last month, was offered a deal after the team was sure of its payroll situation and confident that his recovery was progressing. He had arthroscopic shoulder surgery in September.
The sidearmer made $2 million in 2011 and was limited to 13 appearances, missing most of the season while recovering from May back surgery followed by the shoulder problem that flared up three weeks after he came back from the disabled list.
Moylan pitched in 80 or more games in three of the previous four seasons for the Braves, coming back strong in 2009 after missing most of ’08 recovering from “Tommy John” elbow surgery. During the 2009-2010 seasons he recorded a 2.90 ERA with 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 136 2/3 innings.
The Braves listened to trade offers for both Prado and Jurrjens this winter, but haven’t been intrigued enough to part with either. Prado is difficult for them to replace because he plays left field but also moves to third base whenever Chipper Jones, 40 in April, is out of the lineup.
Jurrjens was an All-Star in 2011, but other teams have concerns about the knee after he missed the important September stretch for the second year in a row. Jurrjens plans to pitch with a protective brace at the beginning of the 2012 season, and potential suitors will surely be watching.
Wren said it’s possible that veteran pitcher Tim Hudson won’t be fully recovered from back surgery before Opening Day, or the Braves might be cautious with him in spring training after observing how he handles early workouts. That’s made trading Jurrjens unappealing for anything less than a big return.
With Derek Lowe gone – the Braves are paying $10 million of his $15 million salary to pitch for Cleveland – the Braves will have a young rotation after Hudson. Jurrjens is easily the most experienced from among Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor and rookie candidates Julio Teheran and Randall Delgado.
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259 comments Add your comment
Tommy Boggs
January 17th, 2012
7:58 pm
Now sign Cody Ross, wave bye-bye to Matty Diaz
Talls
January 17th, 2012
8:02 pm
First?
Talls
January 17th, 2012
8:02 pm
stared @ it and thought “This is weird no comments…oh i should write something!” =)
Tommy Boggs
January 17th, 2012
8:03 pm
I like Matty, but Ross is much better D and can play all 3 OF spots. Good chance he settles for 1 year deal.
P.S. I wouldn’t never say ‘FIRST’ !!
Tommy is a Fool
January 17th, 2012
8:05 pm
Why would anyone want to sign Cody Ross? You don’t pay FA prices for a replacement level player. Reacquiring Diaz was dumb but you don’t double down on the stupid.
Tommy is a Fool
January 17th, 2012
8:06 pm
Also Ross is terrible on D too
Dawg'88
January 17th, 2012
8:12 pm
Dave….what time do the Braves workout/practice during the 2 weeks before the Spring Training schedule gets underway?
Tommy Boggs
January 17th, 2012
8:22 pm
Ross will come cheap in a couple of weeks. It was a mistake to bring DIAZ back, but you want to keep him as fourth outfielder. Reality is for this team fourth outfielder may have to get 300Ab’s.
You want Diaz filling in for J-Hey in right? Who fills in for Bourn in CF? Matty no D?
AussieBrave
January 17th, 2012
8:22 pm
Hope Moylan earns a spot!
Bill
January 17th, 2012
8:27 pm
Just sign anybody and kiss Matty Diaz good-bye..When he came back last year the Braves took a nose dive!
Good to see everyone signed and ready to go.
Laughing out Loud
January 17th, 2012
8:30 pm
Frank Wren does his work. I hope the Braves bounce back as expected and that they have an outstanding year! Really outstanding would be to win the World Series! We can always hope so! Looking forward to some baseball!
Chop Chop
January 17th, 2012
8:33 pm
Dammit. Why the hell is Moylan back?
Dawgdad (The Original)
January 17th, 2012
8:43 pm
Matty had an off year, so did Heyward. There is a history of Matt coming through against lefties and the Braves need RH bats. Heyward is all POTENTIAL, no history. Give them both a chance.
Wren says be patient for PoTENTIAL moves. Based on past experience that probably means…. Move Hudson to the eighth spot in the order on days when he pitches.
Bill
January 17th, 2012
8:47 pm
Bring back Rick Ankiel for 1 year..cheap ..he can hit for power and play all three outfield positions. Maybe Ordonez for one year..he kills LH pitching. I always liked Betemit, bring him home. These should be cheap..damn better than our bench now.
don
January 17th, 2012
8:48 pm
No more moves needed. Let’s go with what is there.
Where's DOB/Carrol
January 17th, 2012
8:54 pm
seems like ESPN is getting the jump on our beat-writer….
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7472219/atlanta-braves-reach-one-year-deals-michael-bourn-jair-jurrjens
Mitchell
January 17th, 2012
8:57 pm
I’m really just sick of how fiercely protective the Braves have been in holding on to their top young pitchers and how Frank Wren refused to even consider parting with any of them and yet the organization basically has no faith in their ability to take on every day roles as front end starters in place of Tim Hudson or Jair Jurrjens.
We just can’t possibly allow young Mike Minor, Delgado or Teheran to pitch important games for us down the stretch.
I mean, do you really want that? Can you imagine?
Derek Lowe, biggest game of the year, you’re our man. Go get ‘em!
If Tim Hudson isn’t ready to start opening day and Jair Jurrjens is still injured I would have no problems with a rotation of Tommy Hanson, Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor, Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran.
Who wouldn’t want those guys? You just have to let them pitch.
Steve
January 17th, 2012
8:58 pm
Come on Tommy. What’s with the Ross lovefest?
Matty D had a down year, but a full season back with the Braves and I think things will be better. Simply put, he is a solid RH bat and the Braves have VERY few. While Ross hits RH, his career splits are simply not very good against Lefties. So why even have him?
Also of note, as bad as Diaz was last year he still hit 23 points better than Ross!! He also hit .295 against lefties compared to Ross hitting .234. Sure, Ross is still able to hit but he also had .400 AB’s as opposed to Diaz getting spot AB’s. The last three times Diaz has had over 300 ab’s he actually hit in the low teens in homers every season.
Does that mean I want Diaz on this team? Not sure. But I darn sure don’t want to pay Ross decent money considering he isn’t much of an improvement. Last I heard Ross was asking for two years at over $4 million per year. Considering Giants fans can’t wait to run a former hero out of town I would say the Braves need to stay away until he comes down to 1-year at somewhere close to one million.
Joey M
January 17th, 2012
8:59 pm
As this team sits right now, I would like to stand pat. If Chipper goes down early, having flexibility will be necessary. The biggest argument will be do we trade for a third basemen or move Prado to third and trade for a left fielder.
Braves re-sign Peter Moylan to minor-league contract | HardballTalk
January 17th, 2012
9:01 pm
[...] right-hander Peter Moylan last month, but David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the two sides have agreed to a minor league contract which includes an invitation to spring [...]
O-me
January 17th, 2012
9:02 pm
8:54@ Where is Carroll & DOB…DOB reported signing on his other blog this evening..READ son!
BravesfaninWis
January 17th, 2012
9:03 pm
Frank Wren is a idiot. So lets say he doesn’t make any moves this year, this is how it should play out.
1. All the players that struggled last season (Heyward, and Prado most noticeable) turn it around and have good seasons respectively, then all is forgotten and Braves fans are happy again.
2. The team bombs and Frank Wren didn’t make any moves after the team had a huge collapse to end last season and miss the playoffs on the final day of the season, then he looks like a moron and DESERVES to be fired.
When a team has that big of a letdown to end the season knowing damn well all they had to do was win a few of those 20 games that they lost in the final 30 games and boom, they are in the playoffs, then the guy that is in charge (Frank Wren) should be held accountable. Not many times in any sport do you see that big of a collapse and a high end guy keeps his job. By not making any moves to improve your team and handing over the starting SS job to a unproven rookie that doesn’t have near the defense that Alex Gonzalez has, you are taking a HUGE risk, and a risk that shouldn’t go unnoticed if the team misses the playoffs again. If that happens, Wren, Gonzalez, and the entire staff need to be replaced sooner rather than later.
Bill
January 17th, 2012
9:06 pm
Steve he can’t play D.
Fredi's lineup card
January 17th, 2012
9:06 pm
1- Bourn
2- Prado
3- Uggla
4-McCann
5- Chipper
6-Freeman
7-Heyward
8-Pastornicky
9-Hudson, JJ, Hanson,Beachy, Minor, Medlen, Teheran, Delgado
Bullpen- O’Vent’Brell, Moylan
Bench- Hinske, Constanza, Wilson, Ross
Better than most.
san diego steve
January 17th, 2012
9:07 pm
I don’t think they can afford Cody Ross. That would be a lot of cash to pay a platoon player.
go-BRAVOS
January 17th, 2012
9:08 pm
No moves just hope that everybody plays as good as the back of their baseball card??? Didn’t Fredi do this all year long and we choked the season away. Standing pat and hoping and praying the offense will somehow start playing to their capabilities is a little nutty.
I’m sure once again the pitching staff will keep us in it for awhile until they implode like the last few years. Maybe the offense will show up this year but hoping and praying will not fix the problems.
Good job FW.
My Thought
January 17th, 2012
9:08 pm
White Sox just released Mark Teahean Have to pay his salary this year. I know we were interested in him before. GET HIM he can back up both corner spots infield and outfield !!
My Thought
January 17th, 2012
9:13 pm
Blue Jays not White Sox and Teahen my bad !!
Matt Diaz Fan
January 17th, 2012
9:26 pm
Matt Diaz = Hustle and Heart
Bill
January 17th, 2012
9:26 pm
9:06 line up–where is Diaz?
My Thought
January 17th, 2012
9:28 pm
Matt Diaz LF/RF costs salary Mark Teahen RF/LF/3B/1B costs nada Blue Jays have to pay salary can replace both Matt Diaz & Eric Henske (even tho I like him & Matt) and free up another roster spot !!
Nick P.
January 17th, 2012
9:35 pm
here we go again, another year where the Braves hope that if they dont spend more money things will somehow work out for the best! its justplain cheapness and way too much optimism withunporvenproductsthat we haope and beg might workout! I think the definition of stupid is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results! we have become like the Rangers of old, just hope enough fans show up for braves to make a little money, who cares if we win it all or makeit ot the playoffs, and BTW, great proven players, dontbother applying to the Braves, they dont believe in spending money for proven players, i mean look at two years ago, instead of getting a proven hitter and1st basemen, we got Gloss to come out of retirement, missing the year before, tried toteach him how to play first, instead of getting a legitplayer, this is what this storied franchise has dwindled down to, bunch of has beens, and never willbes, this time the entire east division has gotten stronger, so i predict a third or fourth place finish behind the Phillies, nationals and possibly Marlins, onlyone worst than us is the Mets!
afan
January 17th, 2012
9:35 pm
good point My Thought since Braves are cutting corners.
Diaz =joke and Henske slowed down alot last year.
Where's DOB/Carrol
January 17th, 2012
9:36 pm
glad to see I didn’t see the other blog…my faith in DOB/Carrol as the hardest working baseball journalists is restored!!!
chris
January 17th, 2012
9:37 pm
welcome to fourth place or worse braves in 2012…thank God for the Mets there will always be a cushion against the cellar with them in the division…..shaking head as to why we bring back the same team that went 10-20 in September and didn’t really hit a lick all year…we got rid of the best defensive shortstop and clubhouse favorite in Gonzo to take a chance on a rookie unproven and probably likely to struggle and fail to make a trade for a power outfielder to add some punch to a lineup that probably is going to continue to frustrate fans all season…WTG Frank,…this one’s on you mr. general manager…..enjoy the view from the bottom
My Thought
January 17th, 2012
9:38 pm
Thanks afan imagine what the money we pay Diaz & Henske could get us ?? Maybe Keppinger ?
Mitchell
January 17th, 2012
9:50 pm
I forgot about little Kris Medlen in the bullpen. Man, that’s a secret weapon right there not to mention his ability to spot start.
All the people on here who like to talk about the ’70s and ’80s seriously need to stop. It’s ridiculous.
When you know you have a bad team you’re not pulling your hair out at the end of the year. You just find guys to root for, who show promise and hope for the best. As bad as the Astros were last year, there’s almost no way they can do worse. They may not do much better but still.
We’ve had some pretty bad teams in recent years as some might recall. You don’t have to go back that far actually. 2008 comes to mind. That’s still nothing compared to being a Braves fan in 2012.
We really are lucky right now. I said it. This is a great team. As currently constructed the Braves have a chance to do something really special but anybody who’s been paying attention knows they aren’t go to.
They won’t. It’s proven. They are almost unmatched in their capicity to completely self-destruct in the clutch.
We should have reason to be excited about the Braves but there is no reason whatsoever to think 2012 won’t end just as bad if not worse than 2011. And that is no fun.
Seriously, if this team can’t at the very least win a wild card, there’s no excuse.
Somebody other than a hitting coach has to be fired.
I’m done.
Mitchell
January 17th, 2012
9:51 pm
Matt Diaz blows.
Bill
January 17th, 2012
10:01 pm
I really believe that Greg Walker and his Asst hitting coach will make a BIG BIG difference in this team and will be a big plus in clubhouse and dugout. The Man works all the time, he probably will sleep in clubhouse.
Johnny Diaz
January 17th, 2012
10:03 pm
Keep Diaz! The Braves punishment for letting him go last year was blowing the season at the end.
wins-by-a-link
January 17th, 2012
10:21 pm
I had hoped that Liberty Media would have sold the Braves during off season but so far no such luck, FW will continue to operate with limited budget and The Braves will continue to plod along eating the dust of the Phillies and Marlins not to mention the Nats (remember the team that knocked of out of Play-offs) At least the Mets haven’t improved, Maybe we can finish ahead of them.
Mo Better Bullpen
January 17th, 2012
10:40 pm
Does this mean we will have a Mo’ventbrel bullpen now?
phil
January 17th, 2012
10:58 pm
Great news.
The idiot covered in tatooes who has a good sense of humor is coming back to pitch 5 innings this year.
We’re destined for glory now!
Between him, Wayward, JJ, Hanson, Prado, Chipper and McFat, we’re all set for another injury-free, easy trip to the playoffs.
Nothing to it.
'Taggart, where's my froggy?'
January 17th, 2012
11:17 pm
Where’s Sonny Clusters? Somebody wake up Sonny Clusters….
BravesFanSince80's
January 17th, 2012
11:18 pm
I really do have to scratch my head at the comments I’ve seen from snotty folks who insist that most other teams have as many “ifs” on their roster as we do. maybe so, but I doubt it. other clubs who have this many “ifs” aren’t really expecting to be in it by the end of the year, now what does that tell you? I’ve been a fan of this team since I was a little kid sitting with my dad at games where we could be sitting practiclly in the first row by games end because everybody was gone by the seventh inning. I have lost interest in an increasing amount every year since Ted Turner sold the team and then JS took over and FW was hired and so on. In my younger days, even if the club wasn’t very good, there were players and aspects I could find to “get behind” so that baseball for a Braves fan could still be fun. Then we had the playoffs run and NOBODY has any business complaining about any of that. But this team, I just don’t know, there are several players I just flat out do not like. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t often care for the product that JS and FW put on the field these days. Wish some likeable players would come back to the Ted and porn scandal, super whiffing, no fielding second basemen along with hyped up 22 year old pseudo-super athletes with already failing bodies would get the hell out…
Largo
January 17th, 2012
11:21 pm
Same team, same result? The team that blew it last year gets another chance to blow it this year.
phil
January 17th, 2012
11:25 pm
Fire FG!!
And spare us another horrid year of watching Wayward flail around at the plate! I’m already getting sick at the thought of what’s to come from him.
At least Gonzo is gone, sparing us his brand of hacking…
Bill
January 17th, 2012
11:29 pm
Dear Johnny Diaz, The Braves blew the season after Diaz returned not before. Plus Diaz was a bust with Pirates.It was a joke to bring him back. Maybe just a good boy in clubhouse like Moylan. Braves place alot of value on that.
David O'Brien
January 17th, 2012
11:40 pm
Phil, have you met BravesFanSince80s? You guys really need to get together and commiserate.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward)
January 17th, 2012
11:52 pm
Yawn. Wake me when the Braves sign a major league hitter.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward)
January 17th, 2012
11:57 pm
Fredi’s lineup card: Better than most.
—————————-
Yep. Almost good enough to win a wildcard spot last year. Almost.
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
12:31 am
Let me see – now why do we have Frank Wren again? Oh yeah, so he can sit back in his rocking chair and do absolutely nothing in the offseason after a disappointing season. Meanwhile, we want to encourage you disappointed fans to buy season tickets again this year -please! I think it’s past time to bring Ted Turner and Stan Kasten back.
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
12:35 am
Meanwhile, I thought Fredi did a nice job of emulating Bobby this past year- except when the chips were down and we totally fell apart!!
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
12:43 am
Thrilled to see Chipper come back for his 35th season! And he says he’s going to try and go without his walker in the pre-season games. Frank Wren couldn’t have spent his money more wisely!
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
12:47 am
At least back when Jane Fonda was here there was something worth watching at the ‘tail end’ of the ballgames!
Mace224
January 18th, 2012
2:12 am
The Braves won with no-names like Blauser, Lemke, Olsen. There’s hope.
Stinger2
January 18th, 2012
4:34 am
Any item written about the off-season activity of the Braves front office should be entitled “Nothing to Report”.
Granted they signed the same arbitration eligible players
from the team that completely collapsed last September, but where is the improvement?
The Braves have not addressed their major weakness (lack of a legitimate RH hitting power outfielder). The Marlins
and Nats have made moves to be better. The Braves will
be fortunate to not ball behind these teams.
Mike Jay
January 18th, 2012
5:42 am
Wow, more negative nancies than usual in here. FW tried to make moves this offseason but the asking prices from potential suitors was absurd. I would think that after all the Texaria trade bashing around here you negative nancies would be applauding his patience. Of course that would mean you would have to say something positive about the team you ‘cheer’ for…God forbid. FW has proven in the past he WILL make moves to improve the team albeit in a fiscally responsible manner. The days of Turner emptying the bank are over and it is well past the time to get over it. The Braves were one of the best teams in baseball last year before the last month. So do we judge them soley on one bad stretch or look at the season as a whole? I prefer to llok at the whole season and what I saw was a team full of players having career bad years and yet they were right in it untill the very end. Was it a colossal flop? Sure but there is still a lot to be optimistic about…
Nobody in baseball thinks Heyward will have another year like the last.
Ditto Prado, he’s healthy now.
Freeman will only get better.
Full season with Bourne in the leadoff spot
A pitching staff that is absolutely loaded and is soo deep they could almost field 2 full quality rotations.
They have plenty of ammo to make a bold trade during the season and have proven they are willing to do such (just look at last year). I really juts don’t get the negativity, so much wasted energy.
Bart
January 18th, 2012
6:14 am
You gotta love the pitching depth and versatility of this team!
That being said. It will thin down only slightly when they acquire an outfielder. Just remember you have to over pay a little sometimes when you have a glaring need. I’d love to see an Omar Infante type. He is the King of versatility. I’d hate to feed the Marlins anymore pithing though.
Bart
January 18th, 2012
6:15 am
…oh, I wouldn’t count on any trade until near the end of Spring Training.
dap01
January 18th, 2012
6:27 am
Weak offseason, Wren!
Elmer
January 18th, 2012
6:43 am
yes, keep Matt Diaz
cmc
January 18th, 2012
7:12 am
Bravesfansince80’s,
Since you dislike this team so much, I suggest you “get the hell out” and find another team to follow and criticize. If you found a strap of $100 bills on the roadside, you would probably complain that they weren’t crisp enough. I’ve followed this team since the 70’s, and they have always gotten my support, 100 wins or 100 losses. That is what real fans do. Find another team with players that suit you. Got a feeling that may be a challenge.
Lobosolo
January 18th, 2012
8:16 am
Looks like phil has become more of a whiner with another year under his belt… call alexis, fast!!!! Binkies are on her… armchair idiots…. maybe it’s time for all of you whimpsters to move on to a sport you can handle… bocce and shuffleboard season should be cranking up soon… I know it’s like beating a dead horse, but there is still time before spring training to learn SOMETHING about the game, if (and we all know you will) you’re gonna be whining about it for the next year….
SavannahBravesFan
January 18th, 2012
8:44 am
Bart, you said “Just remember you have to over pay a little sometimes when you have a glaring need”. Yeah, the Braves did that before and how did that work out? Lowe, KK?
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
8:45 am
Let Moylan go back to Australia please…
Wren likes his line-up huh ? With a hole as big as Kansas in LF ? Unreal !
SavannahBravesFan
January 18th, 2012
8:46 am
I think the team can compete with who they have now, if there are no major injuries. That is a big IF though. There are plenty of “IF’s” in their lineups, but I have faith in them……as always!
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
8:47 am
Hey Mace, Braves also had Chipper,McGriff,Justice,Andruw,Smoltz,Maddux,Glavine back then to go with Blauser,Lemke,etc.
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
8:50 am
Braves question marks :
Chipper Jones : How long before he gets a nagging injury ?
Martin Prado : Was last year an abberation ?
Jason Heyward : Will be be a Hank Aaron or a Michael Tucker ? I say the latter.
Jair Jurrgens : Injury prone big time.
Tim Hudson : Off-season surgery. Will he be the same pitcher ?
Tyler Pastornicky : Is he MLB ready at SS ? If not not bat J.Wilson is not the answer.
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
8:53 am
Since the Braves like old reclamation pitching projects, go sign Charlie Hough,Don Sutton,Phil Niekro,and Dan Quisenberry. Remember Juan Berenguer,Alejandro Lopez,Donnie Moore,Mike Remlinger,etc. ?
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
8:54 am
At 8:50am, easy for me to say…
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
8:56 am
Braves lost 20 of last 30 games with the VERY same team last year (minus AGonzo). No upgrades.
Bernie
January 18th, 2012
8:56 am
Same team same players who can’t hit. The other teams in the division have improved a lot so the Braves won’t come close to winning the division much less making the playoffs. Way to go Mr. Wren.Wonder what the Braves could get in a trade for you?
Orange Brave f/k/a Billy Jack's BBQ
January 18th, 2012
8:59 am
very productive week. wren has been busy. knew some stuff would happen. have a feeling that we will see some other signings (although minor) to help our bench between now and first week of spring training.
look for me in the right field bleachers drinking beer with julio lugo.
Granny Da Tranny
January 18th, 2012
9:07 am
i guess since Moylan is a great clubhouse guy with a bad arm he deserves a shot ? I remember all the times he was brought in to get a ground ball out and let 2 runs score (of course the runs went on the previous pitcher’s era)….
Larvell Blanks
January 18th, 2012
9:09 am
Nobody in baseball thinks Heyward will have another year like the last.
Ditto Prado, he’s healthy now.
Freeman will only get better.
Full season with Bourne in the leadoff spot
I agree with all of that except the “Freeman will only get better” part. After Heyward’s sophomore slump, you can’t just assume straight-line progression from a good rookie year. It’s quite possible Freeman will slide back somewhat, although I hope not.
chc4
January 18th, 2012
9:10 am
So we basically bring the same team back that collapsed down the stretch while other teams in our division have improved. We will be a pretty good team but that’s it. You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
bvillebaron
January 18th, 2012
9:16 am
Wow what a surprise to see all the doomsayers on here blasting Wren again. May I remind you that the Braves missed the playoffs by ONE, that is UNO game despite losing 20 of their last games. During that slide, neither Jurrjens or Hanson were available to pitch and for some reason that totally escapes me, the continued to parade Lowe out to pitch batting practice for the last month and a half of the season while Teheran, who dominated Triple A basically played catch with the bullpen catcher (if you want to blame Wren for anything, blame him for signing off on that managerial decision).McCann and Prado also faltered down the stretch due in large part to injuries.
The fact is that this team is currently better than it was at the end of last year if for no other reason than Lowe is gone and one of the young pitchers will take his place. PItching wins and in that regard they have 9 proven or top end propsects to fill out the 5 man rotation (Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens, Beachy, Minor, Teheran, Degaldo, Vizcaino and Medlen) and one of, if not the best,(and deepest) bullpens in the majors. They also will have Bourn for the entire season.
Of course the Braves could use an everyday right-handed hitting left fielder, but the options on the free agent market were overrated and overpriced. It makes no sense to make a panic trade just because the Marlins and Nationals made splashy off season moves. In that regard, I actually heard a caller on the MLB radio network call in and ask why the Braves didn’t trade Jurrjens and one of their premium pitching prospects for a left fielder and then say Seth Smith just got traded to Oakland. Naturally, the host told him that the Braves would be overpaying if they traded Jurrjens straight up for Smith, who is a 4th outfielder. As Wren reminds all of you, teams aren’t precluded from making trades until the trade deadline which is the end of July, not January 18th.
Michael G.
January 18th, 2012
9:18 am
How many more years must Braves fans be subjected to “ifs”? If this player performs, or that player performs. They haven’t! Why would they start now?
Philly isnt sitting there saying, “if our guys perform well…..”. They just go out and win. I’d like us to start doing that at some point instead of fading when playoff time rolls around.
Adam E
January 18th, 2012
9:20 am
Just redbox’D the movie Moneyball last night. I’m not sure if it’s about the 2001 A’s team or the 2012 Braves team. Ha!
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
9:24 am
GO BRAVES!!!
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
9:29 am
Why do these people complaining about the Braves subject themselves to what they describe, as the torture of being a Braves “fan”?
It is just a game.
If it made me as sick and angry as it does some of these folks, I would not follow it.
Fols
January 18th, 2012
9:34 am
I love Moylan! I think this team needs a few more tats not less!
He’s keeping Twitter awake.
Larry
January 18th, 2012
9:41 am
OK, but then what are we doing about the manager that piloted one of the great collapses in MLB history?
Answer: Just Tip Your Cap!
After 21 Years as a STH I didn’t buy a single ticket last year and I will not buy one this or any future years until this team moves on from the Goober manager era, hires a manager that is intelligent and strategically aggressive, and encourages the hypochondriac, Chippette, to spend more time on his Texas Ranch.
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
9:47 am
CMC, opinions are like hiney-holes, everybody’s got one and they all stink, especially yours!
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
9:50 am
Same old team – just another year older (Chipper now wearing Depends in the field). Heyward taking young superstar lessons from Franceour. We did pay $10M to another team to take our oldest pitcher off our hands. I’m thinking if the Braves would have just paid me a fraction of that to stay home this year I would have snapped it up in an instant. Come to think of it – they don’t even need to pay me!
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
9:50 am
Lobosolo, if you had a nickel for every time you typed “armchair idiots” you might have enough to spend your time somewhere else! Douche-bag…
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
9:52 am
Tree to be fair they did unload a decent amount of the dead weight, there is a little to be said for the “addition by saubtraction” scenario, it just probably won’t be enough in a much better division this coming season vs last season…
Heathcliff Slocum
January 18th, 2012
9:54 am
Kudos to Mr. Wren for bringing Peter Moylan back. With a healthy Moylan in the pen all year, it’s very hard to imagine we would have fallen one game short of the playoffs.
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
9:56 am
Speaking of Chipper – I understand he’s veering away from the old Ozzie song this year at the plate – was hurting his ears. Says he’s thinking about using the piano-based theme song from the movie The Sting.
Fredi Gone zalez
January 18th, 2012
9:56 am
Finally some good news without music lyrics!
Larry
January 18th, 2012
9:58 am
Heathcliff,
Our Bullpen didn’t fail us; our manager who kept trotting out the over-matched Lowe in must win games and who kept penciling in free swinging hacks in key RBI positions in the lineup did!
PMC
January 18th, 2012
10:00 am
Yay Pete!
Sonny Jackson
January 18th, 2012
10:01 am
Why don’t we let them play for a while before you “fans’ start bashing the team? Also, back off on Diaz… the guy can play, so pipe down and let’s see what happens.
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
10:02 am
unfortunately Peter Moylan is beginning to have too much in common with Mike Hampton
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:03 am
Hell, I love the Music link and lyrics…..better than baseball because you can’t lose.
PMC
January 18th, 2012
10:03 am
Kris Medlen may be better than Tommy Hanson.
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:03 am
agree on Pete Since 80’s….
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
10:04 am
Diaz is a 34 yr old backup outfielder, he is what he is, not worth getting worked up over and lots of us still remember his horrific base-running blunder that pretty much eliminated us from playoff contention in ‘09
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:07 am
Mr Jackson, No love for Diaz..you can always hire a cheerleader.
Heathcliff Slocum
January 18th, 2012
10:07 am
Larry – Sorry to disagree, but even given your complaints a Moylan rather than a Proctor or Linebrink in some key spots would have been at least a plus two or three games.
vesaversa
January 18th, 2012
10:11 am
Pitching became a huge problem when the Braves starters begin to fall like fruit flies which put to much work on the bullpen and in turn help cause the Braves collapse in 2011. I am not worried about the Braves pitching it’s world class what i’m worried about is their offense .
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
10:15 am
CMC, it would appear that there is a common thread here and that I’m far from the lone ranger in my views of the current roster and front office, maybe it’s you who oughtta find another team, just sayin’…
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
10:19 am
Maybe this is where the crybabies come to do their crying.
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
10:25 am
you would know as well as anyone sir reckingball of the drop in with dripping irony variety
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:26 am
The blog is where people express their opinion–if you don’t like don’t read .
Oh, its ok if you agree @10:19 right.
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
10:31 am
I’m only expressing my opinion.
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:38 am
good!
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
10:39 am
your opinion doesn’t have to include name-calling when nobody has called you anything either, that’s just being polite, you know, that annoying stuff your mom tried to teach you when you were little?
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:41 am
agree!
Bill
January 18th, 2012
10:42 am
Have a good day..Now we agree , Go Braves….
Ralph
January 18th, 2012
10:47 am
One more —IF—for the braves this season! Braves make the playoffs.
IF MLB changes the Wild Card rule to “3 wild Cards in each Division”
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
10:58 am
Ralph, ha! awesome…
abby normal
January 18th, 2012
11:01 am
So the Braves will open the season with essentially the same team as last season. Therefore, the problem is the same…..lack of offensive production. Pitching and defense can keep you in games but you have score!
Sonny Jackson
January 18th, 2012
11:02 am
Maybe some of the players feel they have something to make up for and will dig just a little bit deeper this time around? Whatever happens, I’m still ready for baseball, spring, girls back in shorts…
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
11:03 am
I see that the people that really don’t do much of anything but complain about the Braves, don’t like people saying anything about their complaining, in almost every comment.
I am truly sorry that you don’t like being compared to crybabies.
Orange Brave f/k/a Billy Jack's BBQ
January 18th, 2012
11:04 am
I also think this is a good economic move, bringing Moylan back on a minor league contract. Braves aren’t spending tons of my precious beer proceeds and there is only upside here.
anthony
January 18th, 2012
11:06 am
Been a fan since Milwaukee. Not very confident about 2012:
a) coming off of THE collapse
b) the other NL East teams have been improving (well, except for the Mets)
3) we have no shortstop let alone a productive shortshop
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
11:09 am
abby normal, we don’t even have defense to fall back on with current roster, infield d will be near bottom of NL…
MOY
January 18th, 2012
11:11 am
Moy is TNT…Dynamite!!!!!!….. Except when injured to the point of his arm falling off.
Mark Z.
January 18th, 2012
11:13 am
WTF? Lower payroll then last year?
Justafan
January 18th, 2012
11:14 am
Reckingball if it makes you feel good calling people crybabies, well just go ahead~~ We understand its ok.
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
11:15 am
Thanks
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
11:18 am
Enter your comments here
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:20 am
LOL comparing a nothing like Matt Diaz to a true gamer and spark plug like Cody Ross is amusing
Paul B.
January 18th, 2012
11:21 am
Smart move pay a dog like Ross $4 mil and rlease Diaz and still pay him $2 mil. And people in this blog call Wren a bad GM, some of you guys would have this team worst than the Mets.
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:22 am
Yawnnnnnn at Moylan, same ol same ol , way to go Wren , good job giving this team a “different look” this upcoming Spring
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
11:23 am
agreed Paul, keep Cody Ross far away from turner field, he’s a fungus…
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:23 am
@ Paul B, who cares what they pay Ross.. is it you writing the check? is it you paying this guy who always hustles out of the box on every play?
Go back to stone ages
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:25 am
Braves”fan” since the 80’s I think you’re the fungus , you’re probably another annoying Northern Yankee transplant who hopped on our wagon in 1991
Justafan
January 18th, 2012
11:27 am
who said release Diaz-trade him, if anyone else would take him.
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
11:30 am
nope backwoods, bor an raised in Rosman, NC where people are the definition of backwoods, Cody Ross is a troll…
Ozzie
January 18th, 2012
11:30 am
Matt D = mid 30s and done. Moylan was a cheap flier/insurance policy in case one of the youngsters in the pen has an issue. Think 8th guys.
Wren will let Moylan blow out his elbow to protect Venters from doing the same.
The Braves are broke and have been since the season ended. Their ability to do anything of consequence died when they had to take 10mm of Lowe’s salary.
2012 was and is their mulligan year and they know it. They just need to keep fans hopefully that somehow resting players makes the 2012 outlook better.
Problem is everyone rests each year and may get hurt as the season moves along. 2012 will be no different and with a weak bench (and it is weak) two injuries to position players especial 1B or SS and we are in deep yogurt.
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:32 am
Cody Ross is an upgrade to Matt Diaz plus he’s won a WS ring recently . It’s time to get rid of this old guard mentality by bringing back the same ol nothings .
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
11:32 am
nice post Ozzie
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:34 am
I’m just glad they didnt trade for Seth Smith , talking about an over rated player with a horrible sounding name…yikes
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
11:34 am
I agree with your premise backwoods, just not your player selection, I’m no Diaz fan but there is a glaring difference between how he hits lefties vs how Ross hits lefties, it would be a monumentally dumb move
Felix
January 18th, 2012
11:38 am
Lot of Braves getting hefty increases. Have I got it right? In the real world, if one fails at work he/she gets reprimanded, demoted or fired*. But in baseball, if you flop miserably (like last Sept.), you get raises.
* fat cat bank executives excepted, who pay themselves big bonuses with taxpayer money
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
11:42 am
I’m not thinking or worrying about how much $$ to pay a middle of the road journeyman Outfielder as we sit here in late January , I’m along the lines of thinking what a player of Ross’s caliber would bring to the table during those dog days of August and September when we may be possibly fighting for a Playoff birth with a team like Milwaukee or Miami or heck even the Reds
Ozzie
January 18th, 2012
11:53 am
Think about this math:
Lowe – 10mm
McClouth 1.2mm buyout (for a guy who stunk his entire time in ATL)
Wilson – 1.5 with incentives (cannot hit a beach ball with a boat oar)
Prado – 4.75mm (great guy, versatile but is a 2B first and foremost with no spot open at 2B)
Moylan – 1mm insurance policy
That is 18+mm dollars they could have spent on an impact LF and something better than Wilson at SS and as a back up to Chipper.
I like Prado but if he struggles again and even if he doesn’t that is a lot to pay a utility player.
Wren needs help when it comes to contracts beyond 1 yr. You could argue he jumped the gun on Uggla. Imagine if we worked a deal during the early summer pre streak.
backwoods
January 18th, 2012
12:11 pm
tired of prado… **yawnsss**
Fols
January 18th, 2012
12:40 pm
No wonder they optioned for Atlanta in The Walking Dead series…reading this blog is worse than a zombie apocalypse.
You guys are WAY too worried about another epic collapse. Worry about that IF we are even in position to collapse which is half the battle of a regular season. If you want a perfect line-up with big money contracts go hit up the Yankee blogs. Wander over to the Phillies or some of you bang wagon fans can join the fish while their hot. If that’s how you cheer for your sports, just take last years championship team and go buy all their merch. Some would say the bandwagon is the best route…
This is a very competitive line-up with excellent pitching. If our young starters can give us that extra inning here or there over last year…our bullpen with some rest are the best in the business. Other than health which every team worries about, we look great on the mound.
The offense was hard to watch at times but having Bourn from the start of the year will be a great addition. I think we can all agree that Uggla will have a little more consistancy. He is what he is, a pop with low average but i’m sure it’ll be more even than last years joke of a start and 80 game hit streak (or so it seemed).
We can also lump Prado and Heyward in the ‘almost’ HAVE to improve at least a little bit category. Prado won’t surprise anyone if he’s back hitting .300 and a fan favorite. Heyward is a wild card but we all knew he was going to be in our line-up so no shock value there.
Chipper and BMac will be solid…hope for good health.
That leaves Freeman and SS. Freeman is just so strong at the plate, has an excellent approach I just don’t see him falling off the map like Heyward did. Having a rookie at SS should still give us a headache or two. With him batting 8th, my biggest fear are those Heyward, Rookie, Pitcher due up next scenerios.
Obviously we just look for a better start to the year and hope that Lowe/Gonzo will be the addition by subtraction in the line-up. With that being said, a hot start for JJ or Prado could very well mean a swap for the better.
I just don’t see how some of you are sooooo down on this line-up threatening to not see a game? Cry much? You don’t go to the games anyways…..Turner Field is a ghostland these days and it’s due to the very people that call themselves great fans. Sounds more like a whole bunch of TBS fans expecting Yankee like moves from management. We won’t miss you if you leave…
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
12:45 pm
PMC
January 18th, 2012
10:03 am
Kris Medlen may be better than Tommy Hanson.
That my friends is a Fact
Quicherbichin
January 18th, 2012
12:49 pm
Fols.. well said! All these people do is whine, bitch and complain. It could be WAY worse.. we could be the Padres, for example. I like Matt Diaz and Martin Prado.. I see last year as something that won’t continue.. I could be wrong too, of course.. but even if I am.. I won’t be here whining and complaining.. Personally.. i think the Braves could hire Larry as the GM… wonder how much he’d like people whining and complaining about things HE did?
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
12:51 pm
One colossal mistake by FW, not that he doesn’t make more routinely, is by not adding some sort of hitting catalyst to this band of choke artists, he risks a terrific decline in attendance in 2012 due to 2011’s EPIC FAIL! With that decline will be a decline in dollars spent on payroll thus the vicious cycle begins. Good luck to you Mr Wren. Bet on JHey and Prado. We’ll finish ahead of the Muts but that is all.
Marteen is a Ballplayer
January 18th, 2012
12:52 pm
Fols, a voice of reason. I am both cautiously optimistic and concerned all at once. It is silly to think that Prado, Heyward, and Uggla will all have awful seasons again. Same goes for McCann’s second half. I think Fredi adapts too well to have a sophomore slump as our 1st baseman.
Chipper is tantamount to success. Not sure how we are going to bounce our lineup around when he isn’t in it. All I’m saying is that a lineup with Prado, Bourn, Chipper, McCann, Freeman, Heyward, and Uggla is pretty initimidating. And we have a pair of hitting coaches this year that actually have experience.
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
12:52 pm
Fols, if “ifs and buts” were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas…
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
12:54 pm
Fols — No. It won’t be an Epic Collapse (although it’s good to see you admit that’s what it was in 2011) Epic Collapses are labeled upon a team that much is expected of….no one should expect anything of this band of choke artists. Teams mirror their management.
Marteen is a Ballplayer
January 18th, 2012
12:55 pm
Lowe is addition by subtraction. We can even afford an injury and get away with it. We are going to have some growing pains, but I like going to war, especially at the end of a season-long grind, with Hudson, Hanson, Delgado, Teheran, Minor, Beachy, and Jurjens. Outside of Hudson, it is a very young staff and Hudson is a baller. Most importantly, Delgado, Teheran, Minor, and Beachy all have some MLB experience now…that is huge.
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
12:59 pm
“”Most importantly, Delgado, Teheran, Minor, and Beachy all have some MLB experience now…that is huge.”" – This is a very good point and reason for an amount of cautious optimizism. If two of those 4 pan out to be very good you’ve got something…if 3 pan out to be VG to Stars you have the ability to trade JJ and one of them for a real hitter. Good point
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
1:02 pm
Fols@12:40pm………..”Cry much?”, There are a bunch of people on here, that don’t like for other people, to talk about the crying, so please try not to hurt their feelings. Thanks.
Quicherbichin
January 18th, 2012
1:03 pm
Braves Fan since the 80s… I am surprised to see that you call yourself a fan… all it seems you do is whine, I have been watching the Braves since the 60s and I am not bitter like you are.. you seem more like a fan of the Red Sox or Yankees… or hey.. I hear the Cubs need fans.. your type would probably be welcome there.
..An inmate at a correctional facility
January 18th, 2012
1:04 pm
Mace224……….uh, we won with no names like Blauser, Lemke, Olsen…because we had STUDS like Smoltz, Glavine, Avery, Justice and Gant playing for us in the early 90’s.
Fols
January 18th, 2012
1:07 pm
This is why baseball needs to do away with the off-season. Of the 30 or so teams, all but one team ends the year on a good note. That leaves way too many fans hanging miserable all winter.
As soon as the Braves start the year, all the crying will become “I’m such a huge braves fan since 19__! Go BRAVES I LOVE YOU!”
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
1:10 pm
@Fols…ummm only one team in 100+ years has ended the season like 2011 Braves. Do you use an IV for the Kool-aide?
..An inmate at a correctional facility
January 18th, 2012
1:12 pm
Being a fan of a team is one thing. Being out of touch with reality is another. A parent can love their child and say their child who is butt ugly is just as beautiful as any child in order to build self esteem in their child. However, expecting your butt ugly child to seriously compete in a beauty contest would be insane parenting.
Face it, while we’re not as butt ugly as the Mets….we has much of a chance of making the playoffs in 2012..as Stephen Hawking has of winning the next Dancing with the Stars contest on ABC.
Fols
January 18th, 2012
1:12 pm
Braves will go into summer in the heat of the battle and 50,000 bloggers will claim to go to every single game yet there will be 20,000 people in the stands.
Ah the true fans…….the bloggers of the winter…….we hate Wren time of year! It’s refreshing and covered in mold all at the same time. WE SUCK! FIRE WREN! It’s no wonder D.O.B. turns to tweeting about music for a few months
Jim Bob
January 18th, 2012
1:13 pm
Must be nice to get a raise of 3x your salary for hitting the ball 29% of the time. Boras is a worthless weasel.
Fols
January 18th, 2012
1:16 pm
Sorry Bobby……..every team that isn’t the champion right now…………failed. ALL of em. I’d say some like super salary clubs such as Philly, Yanks, Boston failed even more so. Does anyone really give a crap about last year outside of the Champs because they get to sit on that for a year and celebrate it? No. By summer nobody will even remember the Cards let alone the teams that didn’t make the playoffs. You are living in the past, you just need to buy a new calendar man. It’s sports, you flip it!
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
1:21 pm
Fols….I guess guys that are passive, take it or leave it fans can do that. I will not let the EPIC FAIL of 2011 rest until management can show me something more than pay DLowe $10 Mil to leave and sign the jinx Wilson. 2011 takes the proverbial cake. Comments like fattiG saying he will keep all his coaches for 2012 were appalling. JS at least manned up and contradicted that moronic statement.
afan
January 18th, 2012
1:22 pm
80’s, we would all have a merry Christmas..only if you like candy & nuts.
On paper the Braves may look good –but paper don’t play as Wren should have learned last year.
Fols
January 18th, 2012
1:23 pm
Last year? Are you still listening to Party Rockers while your stuck in 2011?
Bobbys' Booger
January 18th, 2012
1:25 pm
Fols…you obviously signed up for the free lobotomies offered for the first 10,000 Braves fans that would renew Season Tickets
Mister Frisky
January 18th, 2012
1:32 pm
Moylan is a wanka.Still a 4th place team.
Brave New World
January 18th, 2012
1:41 pm
Braves have the best bull pen in baseball.
Fols
January 18th, 2012
1:45 pm
When you’ve lived and experienced pre 90’s baseball……you LOVE this Braves line-up! lol
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
1:55 pm
Fols I have to agree with you.
Three of these commentors sound like the same guy, that usually goes by a completely different name, but for some reason, his usual handle isn’t showing up today.
afan
January 18th, 2012
1:57 pm
I been a fan since 66, had season tickets but I’ve never been happy losing. true fans want a winner!
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
1:57 pm
who doesn’t?
Fols
January 18th, 2012
1:59 pm
reckingball…..I was pretty upset with that collapse, especially after my trip to Atlanta, they whooped San Fran, Uggla just wrapped up the hitting streak, things were just way too good.
But man, to harp on it this long? Yikes, you’d think the NFL season would have brushed baseball memories under the rug.
Mitchell
January 18th, 2012
2:03 pm
Tree rollins
January 18th, 2012
12:43 am
Thrilled to see Chipper come back for his 35th season! And he says he’s going to try and go without his walker in the pre-season games. Frank Wren couldn’t have spent his money more wisely!
That’s not nice.
bravesfansince1982
January 18th, 2012
2:06 pm
“Braves lost 20 of last 30 games with the VERY same team last year (minus AGonzo). No upgrades.”
But they did that with Derek Lowe going 0-5 and no JJ or Hanson. Think that made a difference? I do.
This is also pretty much the same team that won 90 games in 2010 and made the playoffs. Why is it no one seems to want to acknowledge that.
Everyone’s so hell bent on dismissing this team based on last September, but there are a lot of things to be hopeful about. I personally can’t wait to see a full year of Bourn and Prado as the table setters. I am also looking forward to seeing J Hey silence his critics. No, we are not going to win a whole lot of 10-9 games, but we certainly will win a lot of the close ones, especially with one of the top pitching staffs in the game.
Everyone needs to just relax and be thankful that Wren didn’t go out and make a move just to make a move. It will pay off in the end. And I have every confidence that should we need a player midseason, Wren will go out and make a move then. But we certainly have enough now to be a top tier team through the trade deadline, and I have a feeling that we’ll all be happy that Frank waited.
Brave New World
January 18th, 2012
2:14 pm
bravesfansince1982 January 18th, 2012 2:06 pm
Bravesfansince1982: I agree with everything you wrote except one: not all of us will be happy that Wren waited; the whiners will contuniue to whine, while Braves fans like you and me will be happy. GO BRAVES!
Mitchell
January 18th, 2012
2:16 pm
You know, I’ve never been a real “F the police” kind of guy but what the f?
Family’s dog killed by DeKalb officer who went to wrong house
By Mike Morris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A DeKalb County family’s dog was shot and killed Tuesday night by a police officer who went to the wrong house when responding to a domestic incident, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The officer went to Bobbie Currie’s home on Silva Court around 9 p.m. in response to a domestic dispute call with a possibly armed person.
The family’s German shepherd, which was chained in the garage, lunged at the officer, and was shot and killed, according to Channel 2.
Currie’s husband, Anthony, told Channel 2 that the officer also pointed his gun at him and told him to put his hands up.
“I said, ‘Why [did] you shoot my dog?’ And he said, ‘Well, I’ll blow your brains out,’” Anthony Currie said.
A DeKalb police supervisor sent to the scene said the officer made an error.
“Subsequent investigation determined that the actual address that he was looking for was actually across the street,” DeKalb police Lt. Dane Cunningham told Channel 2.
The officer is not facing disciplinary action pending an internal investigation, Channel 2 said.
First of all, if you’re chaining your dog up in your garage at night, you probably deserve to be shot.
But what kind of first grade testing do you have to barely pass to get a badge in this town?
I think I’m finally beginning to understand the whole “stop snitching” thing.
bobbymahlon
January 18th, 2012
2:37 pm
Most people that write these blogs are just giving their opinions or venting their frustrations. Unfortunatly there are a few people who only want to call people names and belittle them. These blogs would be a lot nicer to read if the minority would lay off something that will never happen.
rayk
January 18th, 2012
2:49 pm
any GM who thinks everyone is going to play at 100% ability is in a fantasy world. in fact, that is what Wren should be doing – playing fantasy baseball.
they re-signed their own players is basically all they’ve done.
amazing how Beane can get great returns for his pitchers, but we can’t get anything reasonable for one of ours. who knows what we turned down from the Reds for Jurgens before the Reds sent 4 guys to SD.
the fact is that this team has little chance of making the playoffs. we spin our wheels while 3 teams in our division improve.
you can laugh at me now- wait until about late July. we’ll see if Wren still ahs that smug look on his face.
Jay Dubu
January 18th, 2012
2:50 pm
The Braves are putting the pressure on the pitching staff, same as last season. If JJ, Hanson, and/or Huddy go down, it could get really ugly, really fast.
No offensive improvements have been added, and the defense will be less spectacular at SS.
They paid Cleveland to take D. Lowe, but they refuse to pay for a righty hitting OF. Outfielder.
Ralph
January 18th, 2012
3:11 pm
Put all the kids on the field, at least they’d be fun to watch.
Seattle Braves
January 18th, 2012
3:16 pm
Number one goal for Atlanta in the Off Season was to Evaluate thier team and make adjustments.
According to Frank Wren in mid October “We have some things to talk about before next year. We have some young talent we want to bring up and see what they can do at the Major League Level, I believe thay are ready. We will explore all options and come to what we believe to be the best ball club.”
Seattle Braves
January 18th, 2012
3:17 pm
Not word for word, but you get the message.
dap01
January 18th, 2012
3:34 pm
This offseason has been horrible considering we had two simple needs going into the offseason. Those needs are some of the easiest needs to fill for any baseball team.
A leftfielder with average or above average power who hits righthanded. It don’t have to be a full time OF, just someone who can play LF with RH power to help out when Prado is playing 3rd.
A backup or a starting SS to bat 8th: We don’t need Jeter’s offense to bat 8th, we just need an AVERAGE SS to fill in while Pastornicki gets the needed time at AAA. Remember, all of the Braves coaches said at the end of last year that Pastornicki was not quite ready for major league defense yet, but he would get there. Apparently, he is not ready after not playing this winter.
The GM and front office put out a letter to fans promising to increase payroll and not accept losing. We apparently they are having to actually CUT payroll.
What’s up?
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
3:36 pm
My “whining” as some of you so love to refer to it, is based on the fact that we won 90 games to get into the playoffs in 2010, then 89 and didn’t get in 2011, now during this off-season two of our division rivals have gotten significantly better while our GM has evidently made little if any effort to find offensive support for one of the most frustrating line-ups I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching. Please do not misunderstand me, I realize “the collapse” as everybody keeps putting it, is in the past now, it’s over. I get that. Not what I’m focused on. What I’m focused on is we play the majority of our games against our division opponents and they’re better (on paper at least) while our GM makes statements about how he likes the team as is. We didn’t get in last year and our division should be tougher this season than last and we’ve not made a significant addition to the club. Sure, sure, some people may hit better, but I see a distant second to third place finish for us this coming season and a lot of you “bury your head in the sand” fans out there are gonna have mud on your face…
Bill in VA
January 18th, 2012
3:37 pm
2012 wil be 2005 all over again. I’m looking fwd to it!
Mister Frisky
January 18th, 2012
3:57 pm
I’m a dog lover.I’m with Mitchell F da po lice.
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
3:59 pm
@2:16pm………And this affects the Braves, how? Are you saying the Braves need to sign this officer, because he has a killer instinct?
Or is this another, man shoots dog story?
reckingball
January 18th, 2012
4:03 pm
I think that Wren still might do something to address the hitting situation before or shortly after the season starts.
It’s still too early for the bitchandmoan crap, IMO.
bravesfansince1982
January 18th, 2012
4:10 pm
Braves Fan Since80’s, so what would you have done to make this a better team?
Necromancer
January 18th, 2012
4:53 pm
Like someone in a previous post said, I was hoping by now that Liberty Media would have sold the Braves. This team is a pale imitation of what it used to be. This team has been undone by corporate ownership who cares NOTHING about making this team competitive.
I mean….who else would “stand pat” and bring back the exact same folks that were responsible for this collapse? The Braves, of course. Boston paralleled downward the same time we did..and look what they’ve done. They got rid of their manager and have been doing things to improve their team.
The Braves, under current ownership, will be nothing more than mediocre….mark my words…
And I’ve been saying that for a few years now…
Liberty Media HAS to sell!!!!!
bravesfansince1982
January 18th, 2012
5:00 pm
“This team has been undone by corporate ownership who cares NOTHING about making this team competitive.”
Did I miss something? Did we lose 95 games the past couple of years? A wild card in 2010 and fighting for a playoff spot on the last day of 2011… sounds pretty competetive to me.
Necromancer
January 18th, 2012
5:03 pm
Yeah…bravesfan…..does the “Epic Collapse of 2011″ bring back any memories?
Mister Frisky
January 18th, 2012
5:13 pm
This team looks about as exciting as milk toast.
christophorm
January 18th, 2012
5:15 pm
I still remember when diaz got pegged on third with the season on the line, to kill the braves hopes a few years back..The lineup has guys that get in huge slumps..alot of games where they will “Squeeze out” some runs.Not good enough to beat phillys so..
Mets R Best
January 18th, 2012
5:15 pm
We New Yorkers are all smiles and we are not whining one bit about the lack of moves by the Braves.
DawgDad
January 18th, 2012
6:38 pm
” I think we can all agree that Uggla will have a little more consistancy. ”
Holy Cow — NOOOOOO!!!! It took a 30-day hit streak to save himself from an epic sub-Mendoza embarassment last year. The rest of the season he was VERY consistent.
DawgDad
January 18th, 2012
7:08 pm
As I look at this Braves roster the BEST I can see them doing is finishing third in their Division. The Phillies are light years better, the Marlins and Nats will be tougher. There are just too many holes and prayers on the Braves roster to expect a wild card challenge.
If JJ and Hanson aren’t at peak form coming out of the gate this team could be buried before June and they’ll be on the trading block. Shortstop is a prayer with no contingency, and even if Pastornicky stays in the lineup the infield defense is going to be sub-par. This roster will get eaten alive by lefthand pitching. The Braves bullpen figures to be VERY good at the back end, but they don’t have the horses to get to the eighth inning with a lead with any consistency.
Bill M.
January 18th, 2012
7:19 pm
Would the Braves dare make this trade if Detroit was willing??
Tigers get: JJ, McCann, Bourn + low minor league prospect
Braves Get: Austin Jackson, Alex Avila, Drew Smyly & Nick Castallanous
This would free up money for an OF that can hit and drive in runs. It looks like after this season, the Braves will need two Outfielder’s.
Felix
January 18th, 2012
8:03 pm
DawgDad is right on target. You can add to those concerns– the fact that the puny offense of 2011 has not been improved. We are a third place team, maybe fourth.
(oh, but we better watch out cause the ‘rah rah cheerleader’ folks will call us whiners)
atlchris77
January 18th, 2012
8:15 pm
Why does everyone always forget about chris medlen?
Bravesfan54
January 18th, 2012
8:37 pm
Since the season ended I had wanted to see some changes, upgrades, etc, but over time I am convinced that FW has taken the right approach. This was a solid club with injuries and sub-pars that are highly unlikely to repeat themselves. With our young arms and (mostly!) healthier pitching, this club could easily win ten-twelve more games. Kudos to Frank Wren.
Jockich Ahn Smelley, II
January 18th, 2012
8:41 pm
Leo Mazzone on Talk Radio would have more respect if he would stand up and disagree with some of the Braves……..who needs him on Talk Radio??? What difference does it make to have a YES MAN? Anyone can do that and you don’t learn anything with his standard corporate line full of DOUBLE NEGATIVES….I “aint” doing that “NEITHER”…….
Bravesfan54
January 18th, 2012
8:52 pm
Nick P. you’re ‘pizzin’ in the wind’ with you cheapness comments. This is a free-enterprise system where Liberty is solidly in the mid-salary range for a mid-market team. Keep in mind the first Marlins WS team cost his owner $30m in losses, which was more than the entire salary of their 2007 WS team. (Need that repeated?). Look at the Rays success in the last 3-4 years, not going about the mid-40M’s in salary. Contrast that with what the Mets numbers looked like, or, better, the Orioles in the early-to-mid 90’s- $100m for year-after-year cellar teams. The correlation between payroll and success is not a straight-line proposition. (Have Yankees been in WS since 2000?). Clubs with high salaries often gamble recklessly (see ChiCubs). Example, look at the $ Milton Bradley was paid for the last 3 years (Ans: $30M – fellow, I wanna smoke some of what those GM’s are smoking. Do me a favor, and look up the man’s career and what he’s been paid – and tell me (with Jesus listening, ya hear!) what throwing money at a team payroll necessarily does for success! Last time, FW got to Jonesin’ for high salaries, he picked McLouth,KKawakami, and Derek Lowe. Liberty folks don’t interfere, but they are not illiterate and read the same publications and stat sheets that FW does – so, he is making up for some of those hasty moves, and fortunately does not listen to folks like you. Said with respect for your enthusiasm and desire to win, but…we part company after that.
ncbravesfan
January 18th, 2012
9:00 pm
I love how all of the negative nellies are quick to point out the Braves flaws, but not one of them can say how Wren could have realistically upgraded the offense without severly weakening the pitching staff (our bread and butter)
I guess we should have just gone out and gotten Pujols, Reyes, Josh Hamilton and the freakin ghost of Babe Ruth. Maybe then those people would think this team has a shot.
Kwajbraves
January 18th, 2012
9:01 pm
Notwithstanding our flaws, I think that we have a pretty good team. A former Secretary of Defense said “You go to war with the army you have—not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time”. He said that in response of query from a soldier that asked him why they had to scrounge for scrap metal to armor up their vehicles. I feel that is exactly what are we doing with this team. We are covering a very good vehicle with scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass because of budget constraints and hope that it works. I will continue support this team as faithfully as I have been doing for nearly 30 years but I would love for FW to get us a howitzer instead of a bb gun.
Jockich Ahn Smelley, II
January 18th, 2012
9:40 pm
Another Lackluster Year!!! Can’t wait!!!!
Backwoods Lee
January 18th, 2012
10:06 pm
Why does everyone always forget about chris medlen?
————————————————————————-
my guess is because no one takes him seriously as a front of the line starter (top 3 anyway) and in due time he will be a trade piece for some team….hell no way the Braves keep all of these youngsters in the next few years…I can’t remember any team not trading at least 1 or 2 prospects away…..esp. pitchers
jb
January 18th, 2012
10:17 pm
reckingball 3;59
what a idiot..can’t you read.
stop your bitching and crying about the bloggers that don’t agree with your cheerleader opinion. try to say something constructive.
BravesFanSince80's
January 18th, 2012
11:09 pm
I’ve said multiple times that the FA market was a bust so clearly Wren had to go out shopping to see what clubs would move which players. Problem is, he didn’t make much of an effort (at least that we heard and about and from all the rah-rah that came from him and JS earlier I tend to think we heard about most of his efforts) if you don’t consider Seth Smith or Adam Jones to be the missing puzzle piece as I most certainly do not. What you have to do there is read between the lines. What we heard was that the Braves offered the moon for both of them (or package deals if you will) and Wren supposedly didn’t find an aggreeable scenario. Now we see Smith going to Oakland I believe for what amounted to trade fodder, which makes what was reported pretty tough to swallow, clearly the Rockies were looking to unload Smith’s contract with their loaded outfield, so a deal couldn’t possibly as difficult to pull off as Wren would have us believe. In my mind, he just doesn’t see the need to add anybody and is scared to death to trade a pitcher for ANYBODY. Now, that aside, I would like to see a Matt Holiday type outfielder in LF. That would be my perfect storm. Will it happen? No it will not, but a deal for somebody like that would be a lot more possible if douche-bag Wren would turn loose of some pitching surplus and get us some offensive support. Several of you probably think I’m crazy. That’s fine, but I guarantee you that teams with Hollidays running around in their outfield would at least listen to an offer if the name Minor or Delgado or, dare I say it, Teheran were mentioned…
bravesfaninNashville
January 19th, 2012
12:31 am
It seems FW was in a tough spot. He really couldn’t afford to trade Martin Prado unless he was getting a sure thing big RH bat in LF. That’s hard to do for a really really good utility player that only has one full season at 2B in his career. It would have taken a perfect storm of a team that was only short a 2B and had an extra outfielder they would be willing to part with that the Braves would value enough to trade Prado.. Enter the Rockies ….. they were willing to part with Seth Smith (obviously they did to the A’s) but not one of their prized center fielders. The Braves just didn’t value Smith enough to part with Prado and I’m thankful FW held his ground. Baltimore wanted the moon for Adam Jones who is a good outfielder but not worth Prado, JJ and two top pitching prospects. No way…. I’d rather keep Martin and JJ and the prospects because the Braves get more value out of Prado than many teams because of the time off Chipper requires.. I trust 3B to Martin when Chipper is out. JJ can always be traded for a bat if one of several scenarios plays out.
1. Chipper has a season/career ending injury .. ie.. another knee surgery required.
2. JJ gets off to a hot start and is healthy and Hanson and Hudson are solid. This allows us to get top value for JJ with the knowledge of whether we can afford to part with him or not. Right now it’s risky because we have health questions surrounding our staff minus Beachy and Minor.
3. Another contending team is desperate for one more really good starter and is willing to part with a top outfield or 3B prospect that could help a year or two later.
It’s also likely that if Tommy Hanson proves to be solid early he could be dealt as he’s a health risk with that delivery. Some team may overpay for him if they have a shot to win this year. Pitchers like Hanson and JJ can bring a lot because the teams that need them will be in contention now. This means that the trading team may not be as concerned about their long term health as they may see them as rentals anyway because of their agent affiliation. If they’re healthy and pitching well FW will get some good opportunities before the trade deadline…
reckingball
January 19th, 2012
3:26 am
jb@10:17…….What did you say that was constructive, in your comment?
What does a cop shooting a dog, have to do with the Braves?
Don’t like my comments?
Use the scroll, troll.
tyger
January 19th, 2012
4:25 am
Andruw Jones for some “pop” in the OF
Mike Arnone
January 19th, 2012
7:58 am
Pay attention, Cody R. Already signed with Toronto.
cmc
January 19th, 2012
8:20 am
I just saw Matt Holliday mentioned again. Dude has a 7 year, $120 million contract. How do you suppose the Braves fit a contract like this into current budget, a contract for a guy who took himself out of the lineup for Game 7 of the WS and was a no-show in the playoffs?
Brave Hokie
January 19th, 2012
10:40 am
The Braves are losers, & always will be and make me miserable.
Just needed to reiterate this…
Kentavo
January 19th, 2012
10:41 am
I’ll be watching every game that I can, but I’m not too optimistic; mainly because although the pitching staff has potential and Delgado looked real good at the end of last year, we’re going with a very young and inexperienced pitching corps beyond Huddy (and nobody knows how his back will hold up). So, we may be good in a couple of years – might have to take some lumps this year.
On paper, the offense should be decent; there’s now way it could suck as bad as last year, could it?
Ted
January 19th, 2012
10:47 am
Josh Willinghman – Career .836 OPS. Signed for $7MM/year.
Michael Cuddyer – Career .794 OPS. Has played 171 games at 3B (you know, in case Chipper got hurt). Signed for $10.5MM/year.
Carlos Beltran – Career .857 OPS. Signed for $13MM/year.
Carlos Quentin – Career .836 OPS. Traded for two mid-grade P prospects. 2012 salary is $8.6MM.
Martin Prado – Career 0.775 OPS. Makes $4.75MM this year.
Every player above improves the offense in LF and not a single player would have affected the Braves current SP.
However, to fit in one of those salaries, Jurrjens ($5.5MM) would have needed to be dealt as well. Mike Minor (in half a season) had a 0.8 WAR. Derek Lowe was worth –0.3 WAR. Jurrjens was worth 3.8 WAR. Delgado (in 25% of a season) was worth 0.9 WAR.
Losing JJ and Lowe would “cost” 3.5 WAR. However, full seasons from Minor and Delgado would be worth 1.6 WAR and 3.6 WAR respectively – or 5.2 WAR total. Now, even if you want to discount Delgado 50% (which you could also do somewhat for JJ as badly as he was pitching before his season ended), the reality is that a 2012 rotation including Minor and Delgado would be worth about as much as the guys they’d be replacing in the 2011 rotation – if not more. And that’s presuming these guys didn’t improve at all.
As such, Wren could have traded Prado and JJ, received good prospects for both, signed one of several guys who would have been upgrades offensively in LF (or traded two lower level arms for Quentin). And still have Medlen, Teheran and Vizcaino available if Hudson and/or Hanson weren’t ready come Opening Day.
All of this was realistic. All could have happened with the current budget. Any negative impact on the pitching would have been negligible and the pitching may very well have been even better. Yet none of it happened. Instead, we get a non-playoff team that is another year older and now plays in a division where two division opponents are much better (and also gets to play one of, if not the hardest interleague schedules in baseball).
In the end, the “pie in the sky” folks are the ones blindly ignoring the fact that most injured players don’t suddenly stay healthy (Chipper, Prado, McCann and Heyward all are at increased risks in 2012). And while we can talk about players who may get better (e.g. Heyward), why is there no acknowledgement that players like O’Flaherty are unlikely to repeat? Not to mention, Pastornicky at SS is a complete wild card. He could be better than AlGonz – but he could be worse (and if we have to rely on J. Wilson, we know it will be worse). It isn’t being negative to point all of this out – it is being realistic.
bravesfansince1982
January 19th, 2012
10:51 am
“On paper, the offense should be decent; there’s now way it could suck as bad as last year, could it?”
A lot hinges on whether or not Heyward bounces back and plays to his potential. If he has a monster year, it does wonders for our lineup:
CF Bourn
LF Prado
RF Heyward
2B Uggla
C McCann
3B Chipper
1B Freeman
SS Pastornicky
As far as the rotation, I don’t consider Hanson or JJ young and inexperienced. I also think Beachy pitches beyond his years. If the big three (Huddy, Hanson, and JJ) stay healthy, this will be one of the top rotations in the NL.
David O'Brien
January 19th, 2012
11:13 am
Josh Willinghman – Career .836 OPS. Signed for $7MM/year.
Michael Cuddyer – Career .794 OPS. Has played 171 games at 3B (you know, in case Chipper got hurt). Signed for $10.5MM/year.
Carlos Beltran – Career .857 OPS. Signed for $13MM/year.
Carlos Quentin – Career .836 OPS. Traded for two mid-grade P prospects. 2012 salary is $8.6MM.
Martin Prado – Career 0.775 OPS. Makes $4.75MM this year.
Every player above improves the offense in LF and not a single player would have affected the Braves current SP.
However, to fit in one of those salaries, Jurrjens ($5.5MM) would have needed to be dealt as well. Mike Minor (in half a season) had a 0.8 WAR. Derek Lowe was worth –0.3 WAR. Jurrjens was worth 3.8 WAR. Delgado (in 25% of a season) was worth 0.9 WAR.
Losing JJ and Lowe would “cost” 3.5 WAR. However, full seasons from Minor and Delgado would be worth 1.6 WAR and 3.6 WAR respectively – or 5.2 WAR total. — Ted
Herein lies the problem with someone playing out major league baseball on paper through WAR stats, instead of actually taking into account, even in the smallest way, that human beings play the game. And by that I mean, you don’t even consider the fact that the Braves’ only pitchers with significant big-league experience are Hudson, Jurrjens and Hanson, all of whom have at least some degree of health concern. Hudson may not be ready Opening Day, and when we last saw Jurrjens and Hanson they were sidelined by knee and shoulder injuries. The only one who has actually pitched in a game since his injury is Jurrjens, that in an Instructional League game after the season.
So you just casually mention trading Jurrjens AND Prado to add a big bat. Nevermind that by trading Jurrjens, you’d enter the season with an alarmingly inexperienced team that might not have one pitcher with as much as a full season in the big leagues.
Oh, but there’s no “WAR” stat for that, so it doesn’t count.
And with the exception of Cuddyer, who’ll make more than Jurrjens and Prado combined in 2012, nobody on your list can even play third base. So who are you going to have play 3B if you’d traded for, say, Carlos Beltran?
And if you had traded for Beltran — crossing your fingers that his knees will hold up — you’d also have to trim a couple of million bucks somewhere else to make him fit into the payroll, either that or wipe out the payroll cushion the Braves are giving themselves to make a move or two at midseason to fill needs that arise.
Random
January 19th, 2012
11:47 am
Mitchell (January 17th, 2012 8:57 pm): “I’m really just sick. I’m done. “
COSIGN!!!!!
Go to hill, looser.
bravesfansince1982
January 19th, 2012
11:55 am
Bingo, DOB!
The Braves have a good team and if health and rebounds fall into place, then I’d say that this team can challenge the Phillies for the East.
And like I said earlier, there may be a time midseason when we will need to go out and make a change. Then, FW will look like a genius for not being trigger happy this offseason.
MikeY
January 19th, 2012
12:24 pm
I understand the sentiment on re-signing Moylan, and if we needed pitching this would be a good value signing. But with his addition, this gives us 15 MLB-ready pitchers for 2012, plus Fish (Rule 5 draftee).
It is time to trade some pitching for some hitting, preferably right handed hitting. We have an imbalance on this team. We were dead last in the majors last year against left handed pitching.
Fredi’s lineup nightmare
January 19th, 2012
12:39 pm
Fredi’s lineup card: Better than most.
I guess you havent been folowing the last 30 days of last season and the offseason of the teams in our division. We couldnt win the wild card last year and every team in our division made major moves.
Yes the teams we play the most are all stronger and we are banking on Heyward learning to hit inside pitches with his loopy swing and we are banking on Chipper playing what 80 games? Oh yea a rook at short our ace coming off back surgey and Jurgens staying healthy and Hanson whose fast ball has decreased two miles per hour every year since he made the majors. I mean our once sure shot hard throwing young gun now has the slowest fastball of any of our starters. Hanson may have one more year of sub relavence left because his thowing motion is going to end his career.
Guys we did not get better we got worse while every team in our division got better.
bravesfansince1982
January 19th, 2012
12:48 pm
“Guys we did not get better we got worse while every team in our division got better.”
Here’s a thought. Go root for one of those other supposedly better teams in the division. Maybe then you’ll be happy.
Granny Da Tranny
January 19th, 2012
1:12 pm
I think Chipper’s new plate song will be “Half The Man I Used To Be” by Stone Temple Pilots…
Granny Da Tranny
January 19th, 2012
1:13 pm
Send Moylan back down under and toss Fish in the river. Problem solved.
Granny Da Tranny
January 19th, 2012
1:18 pm
DOB, so you’re saying that since Prado can play LF & 3B that Braves don’t need to trade for a LF ? I thought Chipper was the 3B ? So Prado & Jurggens are basically kept as injury insurance ? A pathetic way to run a team not going after a star LF because you’re worried about other players injuries. Teams with money just go sign the LF bat they need. But the minimum waged Braves have to balance their little budget first. Pathetic.
heymmered
January 19th, 2012
1:25 pm
Yeah Granny it’s called a budget.
David O'Brien
January 19th, 2012
1:28 pm
But the minimum waged Braves have to balance their little budget first. Pathetic. Granny
Yeah, what kind of business entity would want to balance its budget?
BravesFanSince80's
January 19th, 2012
1:29 pm
why do so many of you always cop to the “go pull for some other team” line? how ’bout, “go berate fans on some other blog” to all you rude jerks? I completely agree with a previous statement saying something like you can still be a fan of a baseball team while not being sold on the team’s ability to win. For all you rah rah cheerleaders, grow up!
Jesup1213
January 19th, 2012
1:35 pm
Wow. Wren gets paid 6 or 7 (?) figures for sitting on his butt? How do I get a job like that?
BravesFanSince80's
January 19th, 2012
1:37 pm
CMC, can you actually read or do you just look for a handful of words that you’ve memorized? I made it QUITE CLEAR that I knew we couldn’t get Matt Holliday becuase of his contract, just that somebody with a similar skill set in LF is what we really need. But you just go on being you man, you rock!
bravesfansince1982
January 19th, 2012
2:20 pm
“you can still be a fan of a baseball team while not being sold on the team’s ability to win”
I could buy that if the Braves were coming off of a 95 loss season and made no moves, but one pitch of the 2012 season has not been thrown and already, you’ve dropped the Braves to 4th place in the division. You act as if there’s nothing good to build upon and that the team is crap. That’s not being a good fan. Voice your displeasure, but don’t let the lack of offseason movement blind you to the fact that the Braves did not need to improve as much as the horrible 2011 Marlins or the mediocre 2011 Nats. And don’t assume that this team is going to be worse. You have no idea what types of years Prado, Heyward, or Pastornicky are going to have. No one really does. That’s the beauty of sports. You don’t have to be the “rah rah” type, but at least have a little hope that the team is going to be better than just average at best.
Mister Frisky
January 19th, 2012
2:48 pm
4th place.
Ted
January 19th, 2012
3:03 pm
Awesome! Mr. Sarcasm shows up once again running off on tangents and creating strawmen because he’s incapable of addressing the actual points someone raised – and doing so by trying to mock something he’s too stupid to understand.
First, I didn’t consider the potential injuries to Hudson and Hanson because it wasn’t relevant to my point. But, as you evidently suck at reading comprehension, let me try and break it down for you. If Hudson, Hanson and Jurrjens are all hurt to start 2012, the Braves have as much “experience” starting for them whether Prado or Jurrjens are Braves or on another roster. Whether JJ is or is not a Brave doesn’t change one iota the risk that they might start 2012 without one pitcher with as much as a full season in the big leagues. So way to go in creating a strawman that has no relevance to the discussion because you’re incapable of actually addressing the point.
And if you weren’t so effing clueless, you’d know Beltran was a FA – not someone for whom they would have needed to make a trade. And you conveniently ignore Willingham and Quentin as viable options that would have easily slid into the $10.25MM slot created by removing Prado’s and JJ’s salary (and I find laughable that you comment that Cuddyer makes more – by a whopping $250,000 or <0.3% of a $90MM payroll).
But, fine, one way to squeeze out some money for Beltran (if that was the choice) would be not pay Moylan $1MM. As such, I think they could have found a way to squeeze Beltran into the mix if they wanted. But Willingham, Quentin and Cuddyer were all viable options had they not. And, BTW, Mr. “Creaky Knees” played in 142 games last year – a total Prado has never met in his career. Beltran may have injury questions, but let’s not pretend Prado is some Cal Ripken clone either.
As for 3B, well gee, I think Jack Wilson has played there. And Eric Hinske has 457 GP as a 3B. Ideal? No – but neither is the thought of Hinske/Diaz in LF when Prado is at 3B. But that’s what happens when you have a 40 y.o. 3B. Yes, I had thought about 3B. I thought you were actually coherent enough to know about who was currently on the team, but I guess not.
But, no, keep mocking stats that you don’t understand and running off on tangents irrelevant to the main point. I simply brought up WAR to show that, thanks to dumping Lowe, JJ could have been traded without severely damaging the overall quality of pitching the Braves received in 2011 – that’s all. The rest is to show scenarios that WERE realistic and would have enabled an upgrade to the offense in LF – all of which would not have harmed the overall level of pitching AND all of which had nothing to do with the health of Hudson or Hanson. If they’re hurt, Medlen and Teheran are just as available with JJ and Prado on the team vs not. So, no, I didn’t consider it because it wasn’t relevant to the discussion.
Mister Frisky
January 19th, 2012
3:08 pm
Wren out Ted in.
David O'Brien
January 19th, 2012
5:11 pm
Updated list with all planned participants for Caravan stops:
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2011/12/19/braves-caravan-begins-jan-27/?cxntfid=blogs_atlanta_braves_blog
ncbravesfan
January 19th, 2012
5:21 pm
Feel better, Ted? Cause in the end, all your ranting and raving accomplished was … well, nothing. It DID show that you have absolutely no confidence in the 25 men who WILL make up the roster for the 2012 Atlanta Braves. Not sure what that’s worth. Certainly it does not add to this forum, most of whom is hopefully FANS who are optimistic that their team can make the necessary adjustments and make the postseason in 2012.
You can jump up and down til your blue in the face that your prime rib is not filet mignon. But in the end, that’s not going to change it. But you know what? Prime rib is pretty darn good. And in the right situation, it could even be the best meal you ever had.
The Braves are what they are. They have as good a chance as anyone in 2012, and a better chance than a lot of teams. Stop wasting your time ragging on them for who’s not here and get behind who is.
wjones
January 19th, 2012
6:50 pm
Don’t know if anyone has heard, but apparently they found more tumors in Gary Carter’s brain, and his condition has worsened to the point where they are discussing whether to continue treatment. Tough stuff, this cancer.
Ray
January 19th, 2012
6:57 pm
ncbraves, Its funny how so many will point out the Braves weaknesses but will ignore the weaknesses of the other teams as if they have none. There is no team that does not have issues. The Rangers might be the closest thing but they even have some unanswered questions. And all teams not just the Braves will have them answered as the season goes on.
bravesfaninNashville
January 19th, 2012
8:25 pm
It seems the Braves need to pull the trigger at some point and trade some of this perceived high value pitching while it’s so sought after. The odds are good that not all 5 (Teheren, Vizciano, Minor, Delgado and Gilmartin ) are going to be top level starters. We also have Kris Medlin and Brandon Beachy. It would be a shame for some of this pitching to be exposed and have some of the sizzle die down if these guys were needed due to injury to Hanson, JJ and or Hudson. If we could get a true position player either at 3B or OF that is as high on the prospect list as Heyward was we should trade one or two of these guys. We can’t win ball games with all pitchers and no hitters. We have no minor league depth in the OF and we can’t count on being able to sign Bourn and Heyward turning out to be a star at the same time. One of those two things might not happen. I hope the strategy is to get JJ hot again at the beginning of the year and then to get a star prospect in return for him..
jb
January 20th, 2012
8:43 am
Hate to hear about Carter’s cancer..prayer for him and family. Cancer is a killer join relay for life..
Blauser's jokes
January 20th, 2012
10:58 am
I was worried we weren’t going to make any moves in the offseason. Phew! Hallelujah! We got Jack Wilson back! That’s set in stone, right? I mean, we got him for sure, right?! Because if it is true, we have a legitimate shot at 4th in the East.
Brave New World
January 20th, 2012
12:35 pm
Braves will win 90 or so games in 2012 and make the playoffs.
Robert
January 20th, 2012
1:05 pm
One month until pitchers and catchers report. Yippee
Robert
January 20th, 2012
1:13 pm
“and we are banking on Chipper playing what 80 games”
Dont worry. Chipper will play. As long as he doesnt have a hangnail. And as long as he doesnt feel more like taking the kids to the circus than playing baseball that night.
And by the way, Chipper thinks he should hit third
Marty "Taco" Perez
January 21st, 2012
7:58 am
The Braves will be fine..FW is correct in keeping things as they are. There were no real DEALS to be made this off season. Our pitching will prevail and I think our offense will come around Marlins wasted alot of money to TRY and fill new stadium, NATS wasted alot of money just tryin to make a name for themselves with their egotistical owner…Our Brave will be fine…..Not a GREAT, but a VERY GOOD team….and if the Phils have a slip-up, injury, etc…We COULD RE-TAKE the Division
sparky
January 21st, 2012
8:02 am
The Braves have not improved themselves this off season. When Wrenn says he likes this team I want to puke.They may be great guys but the Phillies are kicking your butt. You can’t beat Washington, and the Marlins are on the upbeat. I think wrenn is in over his head.
Shane
January 21st, 2012
11:06 am
And you know who influenced Joy Division…Kraftwerk
In J.S.'s Office Saturday
January 22nd, 2012
11:55 am
J.S.: Frank, I am really concerned about our offense. So tell me, what have you done since we last met to improve the offense? And please don’t tell me again that you hired a new hitting coach.
Frank: I have told Jason to take extra batting practice and then I resigned Matty Diaz.
J.S.: Geeezzzzz………….
South Georgia
January 22nd, 2012
2:44 pm
I will boycott MLB for at least part of season to protest them giving Ryan Braun MVP in spite of positive drug test. No integrity!
David O'Brien
January 22nd, 2012
3:03 pm
I will boycott MLB for at least part of season to protest them giving Ryan Braun MVP in spite of positive drug test. No integrity! — South Georgia
The Baseball Writers Association of America is solely responsible for voting Braun the MVP, and only the BBWAA can take that award back from him. So what, exactly, are you aiming to accomplish by boycotting MLB, which has no say in our BBWAA awards?
NickB
January 22nd, 2012
4:12 pm
There isn’t an expert in MLB right now that isn’t projecting the Braves 2nd in the division at worst. They know that this team has a very good chance at 95-100 wins. Sure the Marlins and Nats got better. But they didn’t get 12-15 games better!!
Nerdbucket Moylan
January 22nd, 2012
5:35 pm
Dave- What blows my mind is that Buster Olney votes for Palmeiro and other steroid users to get into the hall of fame yet Olney says that mlb should strip Braun of his mvp award. Something is really wrong here. Jerry Crasnick said that the hall of fame is a history museum and the hall of fame should be the one to put the asterisk on the steroid users’ plaques. I’ll never read another Olney or Crasnick article ever again.
wjones
January 22nd, 2012
11:23 pm
The votes for MVP have to be in prior to the end of the season. There was no announcement of any drug test for Braun until after his postseason, indeed after his award was announced. So how do they vote for something after the fact? That’s a rather ignorant statement, but I guess you’re entitled to look as stupid as you wish–free country.
G
January 23rd, 2012
7:30 am
Awesome the mediocrity continues… Maybe we can bring back Blain Boyer as well
Bravos
January 23rd, 2012
1:50 pm
I have three words to say: MARK CUBAN, HELP!!
scottatlga18
January 23rd, 2012
3:17 pm
In general, free agent market way overpriced or just no help for Braves sitch–so I have no problem there. Liked Adam Jones strategy, but experts suspect he might be one season wonder w critical flaws (like Heyward), so that trade like all of them has risks. Also, generally, Braves do seem extremely reluctant to trade top-end pitching; last time they included a highly rated young arm: Adam Wainright–nuff said.
Can’t argue too much with hoarding pitching–looking at current 40 man roster seems way overloaded w pitching. Presumably theory is there will always be others willing to overpay for proven or even promising arms as holes in other rotations emerge.
Finally, I wonder if whole pitching strategy might evolve to, say, 14 man staff rotating thru 3-inning or less outings; ie one time thru the lineup. I think current sitch is influenced by arbitrariness of minimum of 5 innings for starter win. Why isn’t current status quo of roughly 6 inning start followed by 2 set-up innings and closer in process of migrating to 4/5 pitchers in regular rotation each game, with win awarded simply to most effective/critical performance each game?
K-man
January 23rd, 2012
4:20 pm
Interesting thoughts on the possible terms of a long-term contract between Braves and Michael Bourn.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/extension-candidate-michael-bourn.html
Extension Candidate: Michael Bourn
By Mike Axisa [January 21, 2012 at 9:23pm CST]
The Astros have gone into full rebuilding mode over the last few seasons, and one of the beneficiaries of their retooling has been the Braves. They acquired leadoff man and center fielder Michael Bourn at last year’s trade deadline for a package of four young players, though he was unable to help them get to the postseason. As an arbitration-eligible player, Atlanta retained his rights for 2012.
The 29-year-old Bourn and the Braves settled on a one-year deal worth $6.845MM earlier this week, avoiding an arbitration hearing during his final year of eligibility. He’s scheduled to hit the open market after the season, and will represent the one legitimate center field/leadoff hitter type in the free agent class. Bourn won’t get Jose Reyes or Carl Crawford money, but he’s poised to land a sizeable multiyear guarantee with another strong effort this coming season.
Though he hit just .278/.321/.352 in 249 trips to the plate with the Braves following the trade, Bourn had his best offensive season in 2011. He hit .294/.349/.386 overall and stole 61 bases, the most in all of baseball and for the third straight year, the most in the National League. His defense is highly regarded as well, with a +22.9 UZR over the last three seasons. In terms of wins above replacement, Bourn has been worth between 4.2 and 4.9 wins in each of the last three years. His 13.8 WAR since the start of 2009 is the eighth most among all outfielders.
Juan Pierre’s five-year, $44MM contract with the Dodgers gives us an idea of what a high-end center field/leadoff hitter type can get on the open market. He hit .298/.343/.383 with eight homers and 160 steals in the three years leading up to his free agency (age 26-28 seasons), while Bourn has hit .283/.348/.373 with seven homers and 174 steals in the previous three seasons (also age 26-28 seasons). Pierre got caught stealing more often (61 to 38), but Bourn struck out more (389 to 118). Pierre’s defense was also a notch below Bourn’s (+8.9 UZR from ‘04-’06).
It’s worth noting that Bourn is a Scott Boras client, and earlier this month we heard that the two sides had not yet begun discussions about an extension. It’s been five years since Pierre signed his contract with the Dodgers, and adjusting up a bit for inflation indicates that five-year, $50MM extension would make sense for both Bourn and the Braves. Atlanta lacks a long-term center field solution in their farm system, but luckily they already have one of the game’s best players at the position in the prime of his career at the big league level. Whether they try to keep him beyond this season is another matter.
chris graham
January 26th, 2012
12:01 pm
seems everyone fans and braves front office is excited to see another year without the playofs. no roster upgrades at all while all the other teams are getting better. APATHY. as a life long braves fan.. 3rd place just isnt fun… we deserve better.
suzie
February 1st, 2012
7:20 pm
what a bunch of cry babies. Team looks good. Linebrink gone I hope.
pray Jason gets on track. Playing him those last games was a big management
boo boo.