Presenting the thumbnail guide to the 2010 Atlanta Braves
This was Ejection No. 150. There has been one more since. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
One more season for a club, one last ride for the Thumb King. Bobby Cox is retiring as manager after the 2010 Braves, who are congregating for spring training, finish playing, and one of the summer’s subplots will be to see if the all-time ejection leader can lay claim to being the first (and surely the last) man ever to be thrown out of a full season’s worth of games. (Meaning 162.)
It will take determination and stamina and some luck, but I’m thinking Cox can do it. (He’s at 151 ejections and counting.) As for his final team … well, let’s let our own thumbs do the work.
Thumbs up for youth. Jair Jurrjens is 24 and nearing All-Star status. Tommy Hanson is 23 and finished third in the 2009 Rookie of the Year voting. Jason Heyward is 20 and might be named the 2010 Rookie of the Year. Freddie Freeman is 20 and might be named the 2011 Rookie of the Year. Arodys Vizcaino is 19 and might salvage the Javier Vazquez trade for Frank Wren. Put simply, the Braves can match prospects with any club.
Thumbs down for age. Chipper Jones is 37 and is coming off his worst season. Derek Lowe is 36 and is coming off his worst season since 2004. The Braves re-signed Tim Hudson, who’s 34 and who had arm surgery in 2008. They signed Billy Wagner, who’s 38 and who likewise had arm surgery in 2008. They signed Troy Glaus, who’s 33 and who had shoulder surgery last summer. They signed set-up man Takashi Saito, who’s 40. That makes two starting pitchers, two key relievers and two corner infielders on the far side of 30, three of whom have had surgery in the past two years. That’s a lot of risk.
Thumbs up for the bullpen. Even if some of them are old, there are a lot of arms here. It will be tough even for Cox to overtax this relief corps. Though he’ll try.
Thumbs down for the outfield. Heyward could turn this into a thumbs-up just by himself, but that’s probably too much to ask of a rookie who mightn’t even begin the season in the big leagues. Without him in the mix, the Braves are looking at some combination of Matt Diaz, Nate McLouth and Melky Cabrera. That’s substandard.
Thumbs up for the rotation. Hudson, Lowe, Hanson, Jurrjens and Kenshin Kawakami — that’s a good group.
Thumbs down for the rotation. With Vazquez, it would have been a great group.
Thumbs up for the farewell tour. Teams across the majors will line up to pay tribute on his final visit. Cox will hate it — after a career in the spotlight, he still gets antsy doing an on-camera interview — but it will be nice to see the rest of the sport acknowledge what too many of us locals have taken for granted or discounted entirely: That this is among the handful of greatest managers ever.
Thumbs down for winning one for the skipper. This is baseball. Rah-rah stuff doesn’t work. (If it did, Larry Bowa would have been Walter Alston.) The desire to send Cox out a winner might flare in September, provided the Braves are still in it, but it won’t be evident in April or June or August. These guys play 162 games. Nobody can stay geeked up for that long.
Loading ...Thumbs up for the Phillies’ flub. The team that has won three division titles in succession had a chance to assemble the best 1-2-3 array since Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz but traded Cliff Lee once they’d landed Roy Halladay. Asked about Halladay, Cox said: “At least we don’t have to face the other guy, too.”
Thumbs down for the feisty Fish. Over the past two seasons the Florida Marlins have won 13 more games than the Braves and have finished ahead of them both times. This winter Florida didn’t do as it traditionally does — sell off its good young players. On the contrary, the Marlins re-upped both pitcher Josh Johnson and second baseman Dan Uggla.
The all-thumbs forecast: Someone else will finish first in the East, but it won’t be the Braves. Florida will edge the Phillies. The Braves will win 85 games, one down from last season, and come home third, same as last season. And then the real fun will begin: Who replaces the Thumb King?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
202 comments Add your comment
bravesfanbob
February 19th, 2010
9:26 pm
For those wondering about Kelly, here’s a link to his record with the Augusta Greenjackets.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Augusta_Green_Jackets
bravesfanbob
February 19th, 2010
9:32 pm
And also, Andy Skeels, who managed the Greenjackets in 2008 when they won the title, was the asst. manager under Kelly for 3 years. He told me he learned more about baseball from Roberto than anyone else he had ever played for. All he did was win a championship his only year.
Paul Stanley
February 20th, 2010
12:14 am
How did Leo Mazzone get on the radio and if he was as good of a “manager” that he thinks he is, why doesn’t anyone hire him?
Robert
February 20th, 2010
12:26 am
Wait a minute. Mr Bradley, in the same article, you acknowledge that Cox overuses his bullpen, but then make the claim that he is surely one of the all time greatest managers?
That is ridiculous.
Robert
February 20th, 2010
12:28 am
“Keeping his players happy and on an extremely even keel made him one of the great in-season managers of all time”
No, having rosters loaded with future HOFers made Cox one of the winningest managers of all time, despite his frequant and pervasive blunders
Robert
February 20th, 2010
12:30 am
“The one constant during that long, long road to the Braves’ relevance in baseball: Bobby Cox. Never fully appreciated, except by true baseball people who realize what he means to the game”
What he means to the game is probably about negative one run per
UGASlobberknocker
February 20th, 2010
8:14 am
If the Braves go injury free, they would still not be a contender as they do not have enough offensive firepower. Where are the runs going to come from? I love Chipper but he may be done; Glaus and Cabrera? I dont think so.. I think Mark is right on with his prediction as the team stands today. Hopefully we can stay in contention and add someone in July. Otherwise, we need a career offensived year from every single player and thats isnt going to happen.
Still, Im ready for the season Go Braves!!.
dead on the money
February 20th, 2010
8:14 am
dead on the money
Robert
February 20th, 2010
8:32 am
Bobby Cox kept my interest and hopes alive through almost every season he has managed the Braves. Even though he only brought us one World Series, the Braves were usually playing in October. Having been a fan from the Bragan to the Tanner years it was great to feel you had a chance to win it all with Bobby there. If you don’t like Bobby Cox as a Manager then you obviously never played for him. I’ll miss Bobby just like I miss all the future HOF players he coached as well as Pete, Ernie, and Skip. (note: I became a Braves fan in 1965 when the Braves played a few exhibition games prior to moving here… I was at the first game selling popcorn in the stands for 15 cents a box.)
bobby cox bye bye
February 20th, 2010
8:37 am
Oh u really think we can be with the phillies i though the Ny Mets were in same as is fla n washington….u want a real suprise will be the Nats in east as they finally win East and phillies 2nd fla 3 Ny mets 4 and guess who in last Cox’s Braves….ah yes i a great supporter of team i do but bobby cox n TP can’t even find a jock strap n pick nose best….now if cox wakes up n manage and wins east he stop n lose in wild card…..But that not look for 1st…washington nats…2..phillies…3..Ny mets….4 fla marlins….and last as always can u guess as cox go’s out as a loser the 5th place braves under Wren n friends…(oh n to rub it in he the don waddell of GM’s both stink while we stay thrashers be in winnipeg in 2012..
Larry
February 20th, 2010
9:12 am
The Braves will win 90 games and win the wild card this year. The Phillies will win the division again. The Cards will win the Central and the Rockies will win the West. In the American League, the Yanks will win the East, the Twins will win the Central, and the Angels will win the West. In the league championship series’, the Braves will lose to the Cards and the Yanks will beat the Angels. In the WS, the Cards will upset the Yanks and win the WS. And LaRussa and Cox will retire in the same year.
Cecil34
February 20th, 2010
11:44 am
Lots of bailing wire and duct tape on this 2010 bunch – hope it works!
todd grantham
February 20th, 2010
12:22 pm
Mark, shelf life of this blog has expired. todd
annoyed
February 20th, 2010
2:19 pm
Mark, where are your comments? all you have done is say kudos to the guy who got first. Calling first on here is for retards who have nothing better to do than see if MB has his new blog up where he is gonna bash on the 2010 world champion atlanta braves!!!
annoyed
February 20th, 2010
2:22 pm
Mark, where are your comments? all you have done is say kudos to the guy who got first. Calling first on here is for retards who have nothing better to do than see if MB has his new blog up where he is gonna bash on the 2010 world champion atlanta braves!!!
you been wont even read this you lazy “bloggin fool”
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:23 pm
Could we please refrain from invoking the name of Bobby Valentine. Seeing his name is nauseating. Bout to yap-up lunch from typing it.
I’d rather have Ted Turner back as manager than Bobby ValYAAAAARGGGGGRRRUUOIT
annoyed
February 20th, 2010
2:25 pm
bobby cox bye bye
you are dumb, is there even one gramatically correct sentence in there? and you’re predicting the nats to win it? Dumass!!!
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:25 pm
annoyed, your redundant comments are annoying.
also annoyed
February 20th, 2010
2:28 pm
annoyed has said some brilliant things
jabborockefeller…not so much
he is a lesser human being than the rest of us
annoyed as well
February 20th, 2010
2:29 pm
ya i dislike jabborockefeller as well
he smells funny…and is annoying
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:33 pm
all of you annoyed people are correct. I concede, i do smell funny. and i am horrible at life, i wish i was as good as all those annoyed people, im going to cry at eat honey nut cheerios!!!! yay!!!
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:36 pm
OK, I smell funny, but annoying, I am NOT!
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:37 pm
the 2:33 Jabbo is an IMPOSTER! Ban him/her at once I say!
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:40 pm
i suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
male genitalia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
steve
February 20th, 2010
2:41 pm
JabboRockefeller is really weirding me out
george
February 20th, 2010
2:41 pm
me too, he must really stink
Nicholaus
February 20th, 2010
2:42 pm
I agree with steve and george. what in the world is wrong with jabbo
MB is lame too he has yet to read any of these blogs
Jeffrey
February 20th, 2010
2:43 pm
jabbo is soooo annoying!!
hahahahahaha
Jeffrey
February 20th, 2010
2:44 pm
i want to stab-o jabbo!!
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
2:45 pm
the 2:37 jabbo is an imposter!!!! ban him/her immediately!!!!
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
3:10 pm
jabby jab jab jaboooooooooooooo!!!!!
Delbert D.
February 20th, 2010
5:32 pm
“Chipper Jones is coming off his worst season…” Add “so far” to that. Trade the guy now to an American League team that is desperate for some semblance of a gate attraction.
Bark Mradley
February 20th, 2010
6:32 pm
way to kill the excitement of opening spring training with a downer blog on how our hometown team will fail. thanks for the support, bradley, you assbasket. leave the braves blogging to dob, since he actually cares about the team and wants them to do well.
JabboRockefeller
February 20th, 2010
8:29 pm
Folks who impersonate other folks should have their IP addresses banned from the site…….
pryguy
February 20th, 2010
8:41 pm
I’ve already wasted my time reading your stuff Bradley, and this is the last straw. It’s February 20, and you are already calling it a season for the Braves. I’m not sure how you write professionally as you contradict yourself consistently. You talk about the drag of a long season and then you just straight out make a call that the Braves will finish third in 2010….look toward Cox’s replacement. What if injuries strike the Phillies? What if Glaus gives us a power bat in the middle of the order and…..just maybe Chipper returns to form (Which all evidence points to YES considering his career). What if the pitching staff is anchored by two veteran aces and 2 future if not already ace-like young arms? I always tell myself to just stick to O’Brien’s pieces, and then I accidentally click on yours and get sucked into the stupidity and negativity. Please write something of substance with some sort of reasoning behind it. In contrast, you ramble….similar to this post except I don’t get paid and I have reason behind not typing Braves 3rd place, let us move on to 2011.
dawg 4 u
February 20th, 2010
11:12 pm
The Braves win 99 games and baely nose out the Phils in the division race in a very exciting regular season from start to finish and then lose in the first round of the playoffs. Sound familiar?
bake
February 21st, 2010
12:44 am
SCHAFER CAN’T GET ON THE FIELD WITH OUR OUTFIELD OPTIONS!!! GET REAL! AND NO BS WITH HEYWARD LIKE WE PULLED WITH HANSON. IF THE KID IS GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY HE’D BETTER BE IN ATLANTA COME APRIL. BOBBY CAN GO PICK HIS NOSE FOR ALL I CARE LIKE USUAL! LOTS OF REGULAR SEASON WINS…LAST I HEARD THOSE DIDN’T COUNT…I COULD HAVE WON 1000 GAMES WITH MADDUX SMOLTZ AND GLAVAGINA
bake
February 21st, 2010
12:46 am
PRYGUY IS A SOURPUSS. QUIT WHINING.
CTim
February 21st, 2010
1:38 am
MB, are you serious? The Braves franchise is done…done. The closest example is the Dodgers, who were dirt as long as they were owned by FOX. Only when the McCourts bought the team did they become relevant and return to the playoffs…same thing, even more so, for the Angels. Under Disney, dirt. Under the present individual owner, perennial contenders, one WS championship. There will be no more playoffs for the Braves until some future owner buys them from corporate ownership. Liberty could care less about playoffs, championships. They only care about profits, avoiding losses, and programming.
sarfdawg
February 21st, 2010
2:18 am
Sorry, but I can’t get excited about this team.
They had some possibilities after last season, but every move that Wren has made since last all-star break has been a disaster. After releasing Church, that basically just means that we lost Francoeur for nothing. Then to let go of Vazquez, Gonzalez, Soriano, and LaRoche only to replace them with Glaus (holy crap, is he still playing baseball?), Saito, and Wagner.
Where exactly is that improvement? Chipper is stealing money yet he fits right in with the rest of the antiques on this team that are nearly 40 years old.
This season could be brutal. I’ve never been a Cox fan, but this is no way to send him out.
Michael
February 21st, 2010
8:28 am
Last year was an aberration. I cannot forecast a team losing so many one run or maybe even two run games two seasons in a row. Hanson, Vasquez, and Jurrjens were raped! Either Jurrjens or Vasquez could have been Cy Young winners and Hanson Rookie of the Year . The Braves foothold is in the pitching. I am not Nostradamus so I have no idea how well Wagner will hold up, but sense tells me the scouts have must have seen something to believe he has rebounded…same goes for Glaus. Lowe may have had a fluke season last year and by all indicators Hudson is healthy. Kawakami seems to rise to the occasion when called for. Chipper too, although getting a bit long in the tooth is still very capable of serious damage to the opponents. The middle infield is as solid as any in the NL East…yeah, I said it. I will take Prado and a more mature Escobar any day. The outfield has little power, and I am not counting on Heyward yet (knowing the Braves history). But they can still manufacture runs. McCann is as solid as steel and has no eyesight problem to contend with this year. I feel the one factor nobody seems to mention is the key set-up man that will surface this year…Medlen. He will shine given the opportunity, I believe.
Oh yeah, they also have one of the best managers in the history of the game. This one is for you Bobby!
Ted
February 21st, 2010
10:34 am
No HR pop in this offense. No speed – Melky brings 10 SB last year. Will have to win the 3-2 and 4-3 games to stay in it. That will be the bullpens job. We will see.
mike
February 21st, 2010
11:12 am
trading vasquez will come back to hurt braves….bad move
reason
February 21st, 2010
11:33 am
One of the main problem with the Braves, is Bobby Cox let’s to many early games get away by not managing the way he should, There quit a few he won’t manage figuring there are still a lot of games to go, and the game behind at the end of the season are mostly the ones the gave away.
Mike C.
February 21st, 2010
12:11 pm
The Braves must have a productive spring training. They have come out of the gate woefully lacking in fundamentals the last few years and the blame for that lies primarily on Cox and the coaching staff. I hope they work on base running, hit and runs, bunting, cut-offs, rundowns, working the count and hitting behind the runner. Without much speed or power, it is imperative that they grind out runs and play “little ball”. They lost too many well pitched games last year due to lack of execution of these time honored basics of the game. So, cut back on the golf and fishing and stay at the ballpark longer!
pryguy
February 21st, 2010
2:25 pm
Bake,
You’re right. Bobby Cox is the worst manager in baseball and the Braves might as well stop wasting their time and forfeit this season and go right into the 2011 Offseason.
bill
February 21st, 2010
2:55 pm
Truth is for many years of our division win streak the remainder of our division was weak. 88 io 90 wins would have won the division most years. Now its good for 2nd or third place and no wild card. The braves won 100 games many times but that meant they were 15 to 18 games ahead.
Bravezilian
February 21st, 2010
4:51 pm
Here’s what’s gonna happen:
Wagner’s arm is gonna blow up mid season. Smoltz will be either unsigned or mediocre as a starter with some lame team. We’ll get smoltz to close for us. We’ll win the World Series.
Then Bobby retires. Smoltz retires. Chipper retires. Everything comes full circle and the Braves start anew.
Jeff
February 21st, 2010
6:11 pm
You made some very good points Mark… but the best one was when you listed our rotation and then mentioned how AMAZING it would be if Vazquez was still part of it!!! I’m sorry, having six quality starters is NOT a problem, it’s an opportunity. Because in my opinion, Hudson will not stay healthy for 8 straight months and Kawakami would be an EXCELLENT middle reliever or spot starter. That way your rotation is Vasquez, Hudson, Hanson, Jurrjens and Lowe, with Kawakami and Moylan and Medlen and O’Flaherty as your middle relief guys.
I just think we should have kept every freakin’ quality arm we had, because this team will NOT score runs. We will have a helluva lot more 2-1 and 3-2 games than 9-6 games. This batting lineup is too old and too devoid of power. So we needed to keep Vasquez and try to dominate with our pitching.
As for prediction, I agree with you… until this team either loosens up its purse strings to sign a mega-watt free agent or can develop some decent power hitters of the Pujols-ARod-Hanley Ramirez caliber, we will be a middle-of-the-road club offensively who can only hope for 82 to 86 wins a year. And that’s not good enough for the playoffs and definitely not good enough to win a World Series.
Championship teams have 4 or 5 guys who are silver-slugger, All-Star caliber hitters, not just ONE like we have in McCann.
Frank Wren are you listening? or do you even care?
dogsbrekky
February 21st, 2010
6:30 pm
Saito will be , how’s your mother, good night, hoorooo and good luck
sub 1.2 WHIP, sub 2.5 era…… lights out at eleven stuff (again)