Fearsome forecast: SI rates Braves fourth-best in the NL East

Where are my kudos?

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Also, SI has a pretty terrible track record for picking World Series winners.

Much like the rest of us, really…

Go Braves! [We win the division - and 92 games - this year.]

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The east is going to have 4 competitive teams but other than the Phillies who may struggle until the break due to injury, who really is that good?

Can’t buy into the Marlins until they prove something. Can’t buy into the Braves unless they hit.

Seriously, the Nationals. Whatever….

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There is no question Fredi blew it last year.

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This Braves starting roster is more than capable of winning 90 games. Their problem is that the margin is RAZOR thin with position players. They can’t afford a single injury because almost all of their ready to play MLB talent is in pitching. They can’t afford any struggles and they can’t afford injuries in the starting 8 whatsoever. Much is made about the bench, and it’s fine in spot duty, you don’t want anyone on that bench playing every day.

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They’re right on the money. This is not a championship-caliber team. Not even close. Poor team speed, below-average defense, not much power, and a banged-up starting rotation. 82-80 might be optimistic.

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Hudson and JJ are gimp… Medlen is a five inning starter. The much vaunted starting rotation will have to depend on Hansen and a bunch of rookies, and more than likely the bullpen will burn out again. The Braves have no shortstop, Prado has already had his career year, Methusaleh is at third. If Uggla hits .150 until July again, and Heyward still can’t find his bat, McCann, Bourn and Freeman won’t be enough to lift this team much higher than fourth.

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“SI rates Braves fourth-best in the NL East”

Consider the source. This is the same SI that claimed the Falcons would play in the SB.

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I think 4th is just about right. I basically agree with Speed Merchant. Many question marks.

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Hey Mark, did you get your Peachtree Road Race entry in??? Spring weather we’re having makes for for good training runs! Are you always behind that desk???

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Ted M,

Since there is “no question,” I would like to ask you: what would you have done differently?

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From that cover of “SPORTS ILLUSTRATED,” it doesn’t appear those DOVE FOR MEN products are helping the skin of Mr. Pujols remain moist and youthful.

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Opinions are like a$$holes…everyone has one….some just stink worse than others….

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Without making a move after that disaster end to last year I don’t know how they got to be even 4. The Mets must really be total crap.

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Si is a garbage rag. We win the division…….

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Hmm Lets see The Nats are up and coming but they also have an overrated team and the Phillies are getting pretty old and the Marlins are still building and we finish behind them according to SI. They are idiots.

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I perdict that the Braves will finish the 2012 season, at 1st place in the NLEast.
Now, how does my prediction, not hold as much water as SI?
Who cares what SI, ESPN, or any other company predicts?
Start the season, let them play, and then we will find out, who does what in 2012?

Where did SI predict that the SF Giants would finish a couple of seasons ago?

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I can’t imagine the Marlins improved themselves by 17 games over last season. Similarly, the Nationals may be marginally improved, but I’d surprised if they were any more than marginally better than last year.

The Braves’ pitching was awfully good last year, and I think we need to expect it to regress a bit. However, the Braves’ offense was equally poor, and one can only hope this means the team will add a bit more focus on being patient at the plate rather than being aggressive. It wouldn’t hurt if Fredi would cool it with the bunting and other small-ball tactics.

We can’t predict injuries, but I imagine somewhere between 88 and 91 wins should be expected.

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Didn’t SI predict the Falcons winning the Super Bowl?

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This isn’t a fredi issue – its an organization issue. From the top down these guys have been selling this team as a contender with the starstruck local media pretty much falling in line as they always have. This organization is committed to being only as good as THEY think they have to be. They aren’t looking outside their organization – if they did they would realize that they aren’t a real player for a World Series – everyone else got better while they stayed the same. Its the culture of acceptance that has been around for 20 years – how long since this organization has won a world series game? A playoff series? The proof is on the field, and all the Braves have proven is that they are pretty good but don’t have the team to realistically contend for a championship.

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How could he not be on probation after blowing that lead last year? Cmon how about some accountability!

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I can’t argue with SI on this pick although I do believe the Braves will win more than 82 games.

Lots of questions and lots of injuries to overcome

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and Nationals not Marlins.

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Sports,

“whimper and cry and call for their mommies”

No, that would be the Mets.

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Meet the Mets, Beat the Mets, Step right up and SWEEP the Mets!

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Every year “they” say the Marlins will be great and the bomb by the All Star break. .. The national will be the next up and coming team…yay… not! .. they still are no good… and I dont have to say anything about the Mets… Soo now we have the Philles and Braves … One has ALOT of injuries .. and the other one seems to be struggling with pitcher.. right this second… soo how does SI put the Braves 4th? … We are no worse than a wild card team… sorry

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I agree with SI

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A lot of things have to go RIGHT in order for the Braves to even PUSH the Phillies for the NL East…a 2nd or 3rd place in the NL East is a lot more likely to happen (unfortunately).

Either way, I’m cautiously optimistic about our chances…

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The pitching will be good. Uggla, McCann, Freeman and Bourn are going to hit. So will Chipper, when he feels like playing, at least during the regular season.

Heyward is the key. If 2011 was simply a sophomore slump the Braves will be in the hunt. If Heyward still can’t hit the ball this season the Braves may as well give up on him – and the 2012 season.

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The prediction is meaningless in the sense there is no way to know how the season plays out injuries etc. I will contend that until they get rid of management and I mean all management and new ownership this team will never seriously contend for anything. It is a shame too given the young arms we have assembled. You go into the season with a broken down 3rd baseman, no true left fielder, a hope in right field and a rookie shortstop, good luck scoring more than 3 runs a game.

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WOW Mark at 10:41am Exactly …exactly the point.

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Man people love to predict a demise.

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Sounds about right to me

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Has SI ever been right with any prediction they’ve ever made?…..I don’t think so……..thier writers both baseball and football have the worst record in picking winners of anyone in sports….and history will prove me right!

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With SI’s track record, I asume their prediction bodes well for the Braves?

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Absolutely.

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Yes SI tends to be wrong…5th place is more likely

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No power at first
No shortstop at all
Nobody at third for about 60 games
No outfield power
Hudson out a month
Jurrjens getting shelled all spring
Vizcaino done for the year

Heck, I have no idea why they think 3 teams will do better than us this year in the East.

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How can I get one of those jobs body painting “swimsuits” on the models?

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Well, we’ve been told we’re not a true fan because we want to see better baseball and we want the organization to stop telling us what big champions they are. NL pennants will tell us that and there aren’t that many of late. We are concerned about Fredi’s seeming inability to get more from the players and about his incessant cap tipping. We are one of the fans that is ready fof Chipper to go. Now, he was special for a long time but it’s been a long time since he’s been special. Say what you will he was no gamer going 0-5 with 3 strikeouts in the last game of the season that could have let them squeak away with a “Wild Card Championship” as they like to call it. He had big hits but not in the big games. That the team could not win in the playoffs back when they could make the playoffs speaks to the difficulty of winning with BobbyBall and now FrediBall when they have players not built for the three-run homer game and neither are they built for the small ball game. Trying to play small ball with guys that don’t/can’t make contact is a pretty tough assignment. Trying to play small ball with the wrong personnel is insensible. We was always one that thought Constanza was a difference maker and he was forcing errors from the other team and the Braves was extending their lead and what does Fredi do? Takes him out for Heyward and still tries to bunt and run and steal but with no good results. Got to tip your cap.

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With this offense? It’s possible. I think we’re good for 90 wins, but the season is going to be a grind.
Last night I watched part of the Cardinals game. They were slapping balls the other way, moving runners over, putting pressure on the defense. All the stuff we’re not doing.
We have the talent, but we have no offensive strategy. We don’t put pressure on defenses, we cannot move runners, and we don’t slap the ball the other way. We don’t have big bats, if we don’t play small ball we’re going to let a lot of close games get away. That’s my fear.
For all the talk in the offseason. I see the same base to base, rely on the homerun mentality of last year. Our pitching will keep games close, but we have to find a way to manufacture runs. If we don’t, we’re dead.

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Well said as usual Sonny. This whole organization needs an enema.

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I don’t put much stock in the “aged” Phillies, the Marlins will nt have cohesion (chemistry) this year, Nationals are overrated. Braves have youth, experience, chemistry. Braves win 95-98 games this year on top of the East

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Who cares?

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PEOPLE! Listen, why is everybody going crazy all of a sudden because SI is saying something alot of you and Wren is in denial of. There are some serious problems with this team and yes it starts with ownership but:

1. An aged 3rd basement who probably wont make it through this season.
2. A utility man playing LF. That says it all.
3. As Mark@10:41 put it, the RF “hope” aint working.
4. They got rid of Gonzo and replaced him with Pastor? And he might not get the starting job! That right there tells me they dont know what they are doing!
5. Starters are falling left and right so they dont know what they are gonna get from any of them. Beachy is the best pitcher now. They should have dumped JJ for anything that could play LF.

Then Wren says that they apologize and are going to do everything possible to make things right and get better. Now, didnt he sound like a politician or what?

But the GM saying “We like our team” Wow the same team that doesnt know how to bunt or work counts, the same squad that was in the lower level in all offensive catagories last season. And they are well on their way of the same this season.

You people can do what you like, i have no bearing or control over what you do, but for me, im not wasting my money on this team. Too much other things i can spend my money on. And people wonder why Atlanta is a sorry sports town? Jeez!

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Save your bullpen arms Juevo-less Gonzalez Cue Card Reader…..oh yeah Freddi, change your number to 0.

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I cant argue with the SI prediction. The pitching staff is not as good as the Braves think and they have no LF, Chipper is a HOF but is below average at 3B now. The Braves just have way too many question marks to be taken seriously at this point.

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After hearing that larry is not going to be around next year, im betting everyone will pick the braves to win the WS in 2013.

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agree with Pat, with Bourn and Prado at 1 & 2, small ball should return to Atl. No reason we shouldnt be up 1-0 bottom of the 1st with 2 and sometimes less than two outs. Btw, can our pitchers maybe learn to freakin’ bunt this spring trainging? You would think stupid Freddi could at least tend to that minor task. Sac Bunts work Freddi……

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It’s hard to be surprised by that forecast – 4th is about where any objective observer would place us. We have too many “if’s” – “if” the young arms come around, “if” our bigger bats have good rebound and/or sophomore seasons, “if” Chipper can somehow, however unlikely, stay healthy and contribute some pop to a very underwhelming batting order. None of this is to say the sky is falling, but with the lineup we have thus far, our Opening Day roster is as far from fearsome as you could find. McCann has no protection with a dimished Chipper and I think we’re about to see the consequences of inaction. Hope I’m wrong and hope Minor and Teheran are revelations but I think we need a close re-examination of expectations. As long as there’s a longer term plan, though, perhaps this isn’t the worst thing that could happen.

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Reggie Ball is true to….the marlins….the only thing that is working for them is now they have the rainbow vibe flowing at the ballpark with those new uni’s. We will be fighting for 1st in the NL East, as it should be.

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PRose, you are correct. I don’t know why people give SI any more credibility than any other media outlet. Just because people are great writers doesn’t mean they are more knowledgeable, and certainly nobody knows what human beings and an inanimate baseball will do. Nine of the 12 panelists picked the Red Sox to win the AL, and 6 picked the Phillies to win the AL. Bravos need another hitter but there’s a long way until the trading deadline.

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Fredi said all coaches would return. Parrish was fired the next day. Fredi said one of the two young pitchers would go to the bullpen. Next day, it was announced neither would go to the pen. Fredi said Pastornicky would start at shortstop but said he didn’t come to camp early because he didn’t know he could get an early start. Whose fault is that Fredi? Fredi said he was glad Pastornicky was getting a chance to work out with Jack Wilson at his home. Wilson reports on crutches having hurt himself the first day of the private session. The veteran ss is getting no work. The kid is not performing. Simmons looks better and may be the players’ choice but doesn’t appear to be management’s choice. Who is making the calls? It isn’t Fredi. Is it Wren? Fredi may be gone sooner than we think. It may be that he’s gone now and hasn’t been told. Can you imagine what the team might have done with a sound manager in place last year? Nothing bodes well for them this year under Fredi’s questionable leadership after an EPIC Collapse and no remedy in sight.

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Seems the minor league prospects have stopped being a strong suit for the Braves. Might be because they have had such low picks over the past 20 years. Could be the new management. Probably some of both. The Braves need to lose over 90 games and be as far away from being “one and done” in the playoffs as possible. They tremble like cold, wet chihuahuas when they play the Phillies. They barely beat the Nationals, Mets, and Marlins. Without pitching, last year’s team would have been far worse, much earlier than the last two weeks. The collapse last season is an omen for the 2012 season. I don’t see the pitching lasting 162 games. Add to that, Freddie Gonzales just isn’t a good manager. He might be a great bench coach, or a terrific Bobby Cox bud, but he showed terrible managerial skills last year. I think SI over rated the Braves. I see them finishing 75-87, but they might beat someone out for last place.

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this is a joke right sports illistrated are those people idiots the marlins finish second and the nats 3rd this is a joke the braves will finish secind jose reyes will get hurt and the nats are to young in my opinion. This is so dumb I have lost so much respect for sports illastratued

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This team blows and everyone knows it,except those who get paid to write about it.The AJC sports staff.SI was too nice.Fifth place.

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yeah mark, we again show we are not an elite organization and one in disarray. even the farm system is under attack by those in the know, saying there is not what we expect in the pipeline to conjure up competitiveness on a budget like liberty has the team on so we can dream of championships. last year was the final sniff most likely. we cant beat the marlins or the nats either even when they were worse than us much less the phils.

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how did SI do with the Falcons prediction last year?

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@gadawgs and jon….CORRECT! They overrated the Falcons and now they have Overrated the Braves

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They may need to put Medlen in the rotation if things get too ugly quick with the rookies.

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Hope Fredi gets fired so we can go hire Francona. Also wish we could fire our owners. The Marlins and Nats spent money to get better while we sat around and did nothing.

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Unless some guys step up, this team is doomed. Starting pitching is overrated. And why should we expect the batting to improve. I think they will only win 80 games and the mets will do far worse at 70

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Gawd, the “fans” on this page sure do whine a lot… Y’all are the biggest joke in the majors….not a one of you knows your behind from third base… no, really…

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Do all of the real fans a favor and start your own 20/20 Hindsight/Armchair whine-sters blog… you goofs certainly don’t know baseball, and you definitely aren’t Braves fans…

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Nope, no more than 60 wins this year.

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It’s spring training!!!! Freddie Gonzalez is a good skipper!! The Braves will win the wild-card and make it to the NLCS. Mark it down!!!!

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Seems about right – Pttching cannot be as good as last year, and we have an outfield with only 1 legit starter (Bourn). Been to 4 Spring Training games – Heyward looks just as lost as last year, despite early reports to the contrary. Made no moves offseason.

Everything points to a .500 season……

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Sonny,

Spot on!

And just how many games were sacraficed last year while Fruiti was experimenting with such ideal lead-off hitters like Gonzalez, Uggla and Heyward…the three of which before Bourne arrived were all not even hitting their weight and were the farthest thing on earth from a lead-off hitter.

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I agree with SI. The Braves have way too many question marks to say they win more than they lose.

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Have you naysayers ever heard the phrase “that’s why they play the games”? To read this dourness on the blog today makes me think the Braves should just pack it in and call it a season. We have THE best bullpen in baseball, great starting pitching, and a lineup capable of scorching earthif they play to their capabilities, which this article and your glass three quarters empty attitudes. Go Get ‘Em Bravos!

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Naysayers+naymanager+nayplayers=naylastplace…that’s ok gregpatrick?????

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What can Wren do? We don’t have any money. We’re too stupid to demote JJ and put Medlen in the rotation. And there’s not a lot of starting pitching or great shortstops available. Prado was supposed to be a weakness, he’s been great this spring. So what can Wren do? Should have fired Fredi last year.

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I think the nail in the coffin moment for Fruiti was when he trotted out Lowe in a must win game after all of the other players had watched him get hit like a slow pitch softball pitcher in his four previous September outings. That made it 0-5 and they lost confidence in their manager’s ability to make the tough, smart decisions thus triggering a state of hopelessness that still pervades this club today.

Then he follows this crime scene finish by practically anointing our newest pitching disaster, Jurrjens, the opening day starter. If you’re a player, would you have an ounce of confidence in this man’s managerial decisions making? Not unless, like my dissenters on here, you have a double digit IQ!

You should NEVER try to replace a long term leader with what you think is the identical type of person simply to appease the players…better to have hired a different type of personality–and strategy–to awaken their competitive spirits.
.

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It probably would be very difficult for Chipper to manage because he’d expect others to have his skill set and not many do. Ted Williams was that way long before they froze his head. Chipper will have another job in the organization and it may be at the trainer’s table rubbing salve and ointment and stretching people and commenting on issues of the day. Would Chipper make a good hitting coach? Well, he sure knows how to hit and if he could communicate it to others (”Uh, that’s it!”) that might be his niche. We just pray it will not be in the uh, broadcast booth. Our hammock bones will not be able to take that.

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Larry the Whiner is in midseason form with his perpetual crying game going on… poor fool doesn’t realize he doesn’t know baseball and is not a mind reader, but keeps on trying to foist it on us through his own daily river of tears anyway, repeating himself ad nauseum… still hasn’t told me how it is that he doesn’t have a manager/gm position in the bigs somewhere…. maybe it’s because he doesn’t know that there’s NO CRYING IN BASEBALL… alexis buys binkies by the box, big man… she’ll be glad to let you suck on one… take that bizarro blubberer Sonny with you… y’all can sit and and swap hankie stories with each other and solve the Braves’ problems…

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Last season’s September collapse was primarily due to lack of hitting throughout the season. This resulted in an inordinate number of close games, and Freddie Gonzalez was too tempted to try to preserve those leads by running his bullpen out to finish the last three innings of too many games. He leveraged his strength too often.

By the All-Star break, smart baseball people looked at the innings pitched by the big three in the bullpen and predicted a collapse. Fredi managed his bullpen as though baseball is a five month sport vice a six month sport!

The sixth month arrived and the bullpen was horribly weakened from way too many appearances and innings pitched from April through August. Again, that was due to the desire to preserve tight margins of victory. Fredi did not have the runs in margin to leave a starter in for another inning without risking the win.

Add in the season-ending injuries to Hanson and Jurrgens, and a number of the talented young pitchers who could have given the big three in the bullpen some much-needed rest, were forced to start games. No rest for the weary!

As easy as it is to focus the attention on the pitching, the truth is that the pitching staff carried the team to the brink of post-season for five months. The offense was offensive-to-the-eye for all of six months! The sole exception being a one-month period where Uggla went on a tear. But, one player on an extended hot streak — even for a full month — is not adequate in this game.

Frank Wren knows the same facts. Yet, nothing was done to find that necessary bat in left field. The reason was pure economics. Wren knows it, but he won’t tell you because if he did then he’d be fired. The truth is the Braves are an economically challenged organization now, already in the middle-of-the-pack in payroll, but poised to sink to the bottom third after this season.

The organization took the extraordinary step of publicly airing the dirty laundry of the inside and self-serving media contract that Time-Warner authored as a parting gift before “exchanging the team for value” to another media conglomerate — Liberty Media. The Braves are now stuck in a horrible and under-valued media contract for decades.

Baseball should step in and force that contract to be voided by pointedly telling Fox Sports Net (beneficiary of the current contract) that it either re-negotiates in good faith, or risk a league-wide reprisal. It should be recognized that the current contract was an inside deal made by two media corporations, devoid of true concern about the long-term viability of the baseball team wearing the script “A” on their caps! But, baseball won’t step in because it doesn’t feel a compelling urge to restore balance and competitive advantage to the Braves. It is perfectly content to reap in richer and richer contracts from the same media organization and sacrifice the Braves to keep the other teams with the better contracts happy.

The best chance for any solution is for a private owner to step forward, purchase the team, and sue Liberty and Time-Warner to void the contract, or at least extract directly from them the missing value — rightly claiming it was a deliberate effort to under-value a contract for mutual advantage.

But, you can bet that any sale of the team will include contract provisions prohibiting any such lawsuit. Liberty and Time-Warner are both fully aware of what they did and why — they aren’t stupid enough to leave a future owner with such a legal remedy. And most likely that is precisely why Liberty cannot find someone to purchase the team. People with that kind of money are not known as being stupid with it! No owner in his right mind is going to purchase a team with such a financial ball and chain shackled to its ankle for that long. The same media relationship that sparked the Braves to national prominence has ended up being the relationship that has set them up for lingering failure!

The true power to emerge now in the NL East is the Washington Nationals. It is no accident either. They followed the same formula as the Braves — draft well and develop your own talent. They have a young and powerful pitching staff. They have improved their offense. The Phillies are old. The Marlins mortgaged their future on an unsustainable cost basis their fan base is yet to prove it will support. The Mets are still the Mets — owned by men who were more concerned about escaping jail time for Madoff-associated financial corruption.

With Chipper to retire, the Braves’ payroll further constricted, and the best players in free agency going elsewhere when they used to always seriously look to the Braves (if not sign with them), the future is not bright. That is not gloomy prediction. The facts of the situation slapped us all in the face cold and hard last September. We may want to savor this last season with Chipper, as it may be the closest on-the-field association with past greatness we are likely to see in a long time to come.

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They used to shoot for a “division championship” and now they hope for a “wild card championship” and probably wlll get neither. We remember when they decided last year that the division might be out of reach and they would just take the wild card and go from there. What happened then? We remember a guy sitting out with flu-like symptoms and saying he’d play if they didn’t have such a big lead in the wild card. They were going to dust Philadelphia and then they’d get to the WS. Well, forty cap tips later they was shamed at home and suffered an EPIC Collapse and still tried to tell us how lucky we were to see how they played until August. The other teams had a run left in them to the pennant and the Braves were entirely flat and Fredi would/could do nothing about it but send Lowe out again and again when Constanza probably could have pitched and done better. Now, we are told spring doesn’t mean all that much and they will be ready for the season and we hope they are right. Somehow we don’t see it being all that useful for Fredi to say, spring is over and the season is starting so start winning now. If he could do that he should have done it in September. One last thing, the Braves organization needs to stop telling us how lucky we are and what winners they are. They compete until crunch time and then they lose with the best of them. That is not Championship baseball from a championship organization. Deer Feathers!

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I’m betting the Braves’ win total is closer to 100 games than it is to 75.

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I used to think that the Kool-Aid drinking crowd was pretty much made up of UGA fans only, but it would certainly seem it is not just limited to them after reading some of the comments here today. Get real folks. The 2012 Braves will be nothing more than the Gimper Farewell Tour with a whole lot of cap tippin’ to go along with it. The regular season will be over before most of these dolts even realize what kind of record the Braves had in 2012.

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@lobo yes…you are a lone wolf. a lost soul of sorts I guess. You are the one that sounds completely out of touch with reality

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This from the same magazine that picked the Chargers and Falcons to meet in the Superbowl…I think I’ll let them play the games all the same.

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I think there is a real chance with the lack of hitters that this could be a disastrous season. But more than likely, I think there is enough hitting and good pitching to give us a fair shot at a wild card. Remember, they’ve added another spot. Florida may look okay on paper but I think they are one rough stretch from imploding and tanking. I think Washington could be a real challenge if their young players come through. Philly should again be the team to beat. I’m more interested in just what the Nats have this year. Go Braves!

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The problem is the Braves have Jair Jurrgens (got killed this spring training) slated as # 1 starter. What team would let a struggling pitcher be the # 1 guy ? No other team would. Every other team except the Mets added good players to their team. The cash-strapped Braves added nothing. Sure the Braves have great arms like Delgado,Teheran,Vizcaino,Minor,Beachy,Medlen,etc. but none of those guys can hit which is where the Braves are really weak.

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The Braves this year will have average to better than average pitching, but their inability to score runs will put them just about where SI thinks they belong. Maybe 30 HR from all the outfielders, which is pitiful. Heyward will continue to have one foot in the dugout, and with that huge slow swing & bat .230 and be unable to hit a slider down and out. Chipper will play through multple injuries and bat .260 in 100 or less games. SS will be an offensive vacuum. Their defense will be OK. 82-80 seems about right to me.

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Wren is an idiot. Braves got hot in the middle of the summer last year, but played like the team they really were in the 1st & last month of the season. The Braves are a .500 team & Moronic Wren believes that he can just keep putting the same mediocre team on the field & expect that past success over the last 2 decades will put the Braves in contention. Wren has NO FREAKING CLUE how to build a ballclub. All the time behind Schuerholz and he didn’t learn a single thing. The Braves will continue to head downward in the NL pecking order as long a Wren is calling shots. Gonzales is NOT the problem, it’s management. Gonzales can only play the players that Wren will get him, and Wren won’t get anybody.

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@Columbus…the main problem with your logic…and there are several, but the main one is Bourne will be traded before the trade dead-line. No chance re-signing him and with the state of health (mentally and physically) of this team, there is no way they compete in the first half. We throw in the towel, get a few players for Bourne and re-build for Wren’s last year 2013. The asterisk** IF they have the huevos to FIRE FRUITI, the team may make a bit of a charge 2nd Half…and I’m all for that.

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GwinnettDad:

Since you are so good at predicting the future, tell me what numbers I should play in the MegaMillions.

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At least somebody looks at it objectively and realistically, unlike some “homer” writers that we all know! I was thinking there were only 3 teams in the NL EAST and that the Braves will still finish 4th.

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Realistic prediction.

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And when was the last time SI made a prediction that came to be? SI and ESPN are not what they used to be. I still see the braves finishing second in a very strong east.

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Wow! A Marlin fan… I truly rare siting like a North Dakota plate

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I have no, nada, zilch, null set confidence in Fredi. There’s a reason why the Marlins made him walk the plank. We should have shopped around and done a real search for Bobby’s replacement.

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@Banned Poster…I would have FIRED FREDI the last day of the season. I would’ve at least entertained hiring Francona.

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Is anyone suprised that we were voted the most miserable sports city in the country. Instead of pissing and moaning about everything, just shut up and support your team….Go Braves

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I have to say first off, I’m disappointed with the lack of confidence most of you people have. This team looks good to me and without a doubt I see these Braves not only making the playoffs but making a deep run. Also I wish that I could discuss whomever wrote the SI article and atleast get some valid points because that prediction just seems ignorant. The Braves also bring back the entire starting lineup minus Alex Gonzalez, while his defense was spectactular, his bat was maybe the worst in baseball. Gonzalez failed to put up a professinal at bat 85 percent of the time, alot of times chasing balls and striking out, not to mention how many times he failed to move a runner over or get one in. I have to say I like this team better than last year because I expect Prado to bounce back as I do Heyward and without Gonzo unable to contribute until the last month of the season we can loose a little defense because over an entire season a contact hitter in that spot will result in alot more runs. Go Braves lets send Chipper out a world champion.

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We guess that same little person is shooting at us with another name saying we shouldn’t blog if we don’t want to brag on the team. If we are not a “true” fan because we care enough to want to see the team do better and we say so on the blog . . . then being a “true” fan must be very dull and boring and confined to double digit IQs. Follow them blindly and accept that they are champions or recognize that they are close but need something more to be among the really successful organizations. That they could not win a game that would have propelled them to the playoffs in September speaks volumes. Sticks and stones will break our bones but calling us a bad fan because we speak out will not hurt us as much as you. If the fans demand more, maybe the Braves will deliver more. If we shut down any discontent with “oh, golly, gee, gee willikers” we will get more of the same and the same right now is an EPIC Collapse in September followed by another in Spring Traininig. If bloggers want to get mad at somebody or something get mad at losing. Get mad at not improving the club. Get mad at high prices and inconvenient transportation and bad parking and muggings and cold hot dogs and bad baseball. Don’t get mad at us. We was state championship.

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Vegas has the Braves as the fourth best team in the National League this year behind Philly, Cincinnati and San Francisco. The Braves odds, at 9.25 to 1, to win the NL are better than Miami (9.55 to 1) and Washington (11.5 to 1). I put my faith in the guys in desert before i put it in SI…

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redbush-
Hey ginger,
you make a good point

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Everyone has a right to their own opinion.
But, I don’t think that opinions of the majority of the people on this blog(or any of the other AJC blogs, concerning the Braves), are reflective of most of the Braves fans, throughout the country, at least the ones that I know and talk to.
That’s my opinion.
GO BRAVES!! NLEast CHAMPIONS 2012!!(my prediction, and it’s just as good as SI’s, imo.)

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I live in Nationals country (Tidewater Virginia) and do believe they are improved and within a few years probably will challenge for the league crown. Right now do not believe they are better than the Braves. Braves are better behind the plate, at first, second, center and right field. If Morse is not playing, the Nationals are no better than the Braves. Desmond is an adequate shortstop, but I believe Pastornicky and Simmons both will be much better. Zimmerman is clearly the better third baseman. The Braves starting staff is better right now (remember that Strasburg is on a 160 inning limit right now) and the Braves are heads and shoulders better in the bullpen. I know that the Nationals always seem to beat the Braves, but think that is one of those things like the Tigers always beating the Yankees back in the 60’s. The Marlins are not vastly improved. They have some question marks in their rotation and their bullpen is not up to the Braves standard. They have some exciting players, but they have not improved enough to vault ahead by 17 games. The Phillies still have a great staff (though not all they are hyped to be) but have serious problems with their age and injuries. I still think the Phillies will win the division and the Braves will finish second with 90 wins.

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The Braves basically did nothing while the rest of the division made moves to improve. It’s hard to argue SI’s logic in that respect. Personally I hope Chipper can stay healthy 1 last time and lead them to 90 or so wins to at least get the wildcard.

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NL East

Phillies
Braves (WC1)
Nationals
Marlins
Mets

NL Central

Cardinals
Reds
Brewers
Cubs
Pirates
Astros

NL West

Diamondbacks
Rockies (WC2)
Giants
Dodgers
Padres

AL East

Yankees
Rays (WC1)
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Orioles

AL Central

Tigers
Indians
Royals
Twins
White Sox

AL West

Angels
Rangers (WC2)
Mariners
Athletics

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“played”

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Spring training means absolutely nothing. Braves are solid. They will challenge for the division.

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Braves probably squeak by Washington this year. Marlins could be great, or could explode – Ozzie and Zambrano would make a great show in mud wrestling. Braves could get lucky and finish second. But they are on the downhill slide. No money for the big team, no money for the farm system. The demon seed is Liberty. We should go to every home game with signs saying SELL THIS TEAM.

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4th behind Phillies, Marlins, and Nats….that’s about right.

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I’d pick the Braves fourth right now, with about 72-75 wins. The Marlins were better last year until they got beat up, then they were better again in September. The question is whether or not the Nats are going to play winning baseball.

The Braves did virtually nothing to help themselves over the winter and they’ve regressed in several areas (Hudson, JJ, shortstop, Chipper’s health, investing more than 10% of the payroll just to keep a player off the roster; another 15% of the payroll is invested in a [hopefully] 3/4 regular). It’s wishful thinking in the extreme to think they’ll somehow improve; it’s far more likely they hit 90+ in the loss column.

I WANT the Braves to win. I still have my 2011 playoff tickets. But this team has played and managed themselves into a position of not deserving the benefit of the doubt.

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Except for their bullpen the Braves are no better than a .500 ball club and thats if they stay healthy. They needed to shore up the offense and that just hasn’t been done. They needed to replace Ffedi and that likely will be done by midseason. Chipper needed to retire last year and likely will be on injured reserve by the allstar break. Lets face it this is a rebuilding year that want be complete until 2014.

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I could have to ya’ll this was coming……

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70 to 80 wins is what I keep seeing from posts… amazing what a slow start to spring training will do to fans.

Braves won 89 games last season. 89. That includes a useless Uggla for 40% of the season. Down years from Prado and McCann. No production out of Heyward. Derek Lowe in the rotation for far too long (the only thing I will fault Fredi Gonzalez for). No Hanson or Jurrjens (both w/ All Star numbers before the break) for half the season and pitching with our AAA rotation 40% of the time.

We have Bourn for a full season and you can’t tell me that Prado, McCann, Heyward AND Uggla are expected to perform any worse than they did last year.

The Marlins signed one marquee player (look at Heath Bell’s K/IP number trends and stats away from Petco and don’t tell me that Mark Buerhle strikes fear in the heart of our lineup). They did not make up 20+ games with three players, one of which is a huge health concern.

The Phillies are injured but until they lose… the Nationals are the one team to watch for. Their previous #1 starter is now their #5 only because Wang is injured. Werth can’t be any worse and Zimmerman is healthy (for now). Their backend bullpen is as solid as the Braves. I’m just glad they didn’t sign Fielder…

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Braves 1st
Marlins 2nd
Phillies 3rd
Nats 4th

But very close battle all year, only about 6 games between 1st and 4th.

Braves hitting will explode this year
Uggla 2B
McCain C
Hayward RF
Freeman 1B
M. Bourn CF
C Jones 3B
Prodo / Diaz LF

will be putting on a show this year

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It is a rebuilding year and the Braves need to decide on their 3rd baseman for next year and get him some playing time. They should decide on next years team and start making changes. This really is a wait till next year moment.

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On a side note. PLEASE, someone break down for me ALL the poor decisions Fredi Gonzalez made last year. And I want something other than over using the bullpen early because with the way our offense was the first part of the season, it’s the only option he had.

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BigTimeTechFan, Sid, AG…

You guys deserve to be on Wren’s Christmas card list.

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LOL! MAKE SOME MOVES? EVERYONE AROUND THE BRAVES GOT BETTER IN THE OFF SEASON. THE BRAVES HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO COMPETE WITH THE PHILLIES, CARDNALS OR THE OTHER NL CHALLEGERS. WHAT MOVE COULD OL’ FRANK MAKE AT THIS POINT THAT WOULD BE SO SIGNIFICANT THAT IT WOULD MAKE THE BRAVES
BECOME FRONT RUNNER CHALLENGERS?

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Have “sucks” and “sucky” been added to the “no-no” list?

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Braves have the worst starting pitching ever.The ownership and management are the pits.Last place!

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Aren’t these the same people who picked Georgia to win the national championship in 2008?

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“amazing what a slow start to spring training will do to fans.”

[Cringe] AG, were you out of the country in September 2011?

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BTW Braves might be 10th best team in the NL….but Gonzalez is the 16th best manager in the league. Hands down.

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Four above-.500 teams in the division? I guess it’s possible, but that doesn’t happen too often with the unbalanced schedule.

This isn’t too surprising, though. The Braves can win the division, but a lot of things have to go right. From a neutral point of view, when you look at three division rivals who made major upgrades on paper, the Braves don’t look like a contender. If everyone is healthy and bounces back, though, they will be good.

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I love the Braves, but we have been bad for several years now. We have the reputation that we don’t spend any money for players. Meanwhile the media hypes hyped them and we get dissapointed. We believe we are going to have a decent season and every year we don’t make the playoffs.Ted Turner made us, and he killed us.
He sold the team to Time Warner and we haven’t been any good since. We are now the Chicago Cubs of the south.

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Chipper will retire after this year. Good! For 2013 we can now cut the Braves BUDGET another $10-12 Million! Then we can increase our bonuses again.

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I see Clusters was busy again today posting his usual worn out negative comments. Rest overnight Clusters and get ready for another day to bash the Braves. Your mind needs to do some more thinking to allow you to find something new to say bad about the Braves

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Wait and see where we are at the end of May before panic sits in.

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I’m surprised they are rated this high. Same team as last year. Better than average pitching, no speed to speak of, defense awful, a weak kneed 3rd baseman and NO clutch hitting. Dismal season ahead

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And what was the Braves prediction in ‘91 in their worst to first year????? uh..

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Anybody out there missing K.K.?

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No power… Liberty Media cheap, cutting payroll… you all just just pull statements out of nowhere.

Liberty Media has kept our payroll steady with a slight increase year to year. We were 4th in the NL in HR last year… I’m just asking that you all be realistic. Fredi had the team that he had. He couldn’t make a trade for a hitter. Wren brought in Bourn who did all right (BA took a dip once he came to the Braves) but with no starting pitching the second half and only half the team playing up to their career averages, what can you do? What could Fredi have done BETTER (better being the key word) in everyone’s infinite knowledge of the inner workings of a baseball team?

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And YES I typed “just” twice back there…

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What a relief to finally hear rumblings of the end of FG as manager!!

I don’t want to lose to have that happen. But it’s likely to happen, period, and maybe we’ll be rid of this guy sooner rather than later.

Fire FG now!!

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What does SI know? They also picked the Falcons and the Chargers to be in the SB last season. I don’t get the love for the Marlins. What did they do? They got Reyes and a closer. We have the best closer in baseball now so that nullifies that move. Also, the NE media bias still picking the aging often injured Phillies. How are they going to win the East with no First Baseman to start the season and a Second Baseman on bad knees. Yes, they have a great starting staff but who is going to hit and play the field for them. The only real returning stars they have who is not injured is Rollins and Victorino. Name the rest of their everyday players. I think what it is is a writer sits down and thinks about the NL East and automatically puts down the Phillies to win it without thinking.

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Hard to argue with the pick, really. The starting staff will have to have a lot go right to be truly “lockdown”. Perhaps if the offense outperforms and the starting pitching is solid they can get back to the playoffs.

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Think I will agree with it. Time for a total rebuild instead of sliding in an Uggla here and there. It could easily be said this could be a fire sale year. If they are 10 under at the break, I could see Bourn, Huddy, JJ (if he gets things under control), Prado, and possibly Uggla being delt. Give the young arms a chance, find a couple stud OF’s. Shift Pastor to 2B, let Simmons and Terdo man the left side. Give the youngsters some experience before 13′.

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The Braves under Freddi G seem to play scared and don’t have much threat to them. We will see. I see the 1.Mets 2. Washington 3.Braves 4.Phillies then the5. Marlins.. Just kidding,
1.Phillies
2. Braves
3.Marlins
4. Washington
5. Mets

Have a great weekend!

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I was at the Tigers game earlier this week in Lakeland, when ESPN showed up en masse, and what an embarrasment the Braves were and especially JJ on the mound. He is done as an effective pitcher and I always thought he was an injury prone doughboy. Heyward looked like he was swinging for the fences in 2 at bats and had his trademark roller to the right side on another..granted Verlander was on the mound ,,yeah, yeah. I predicted an 82-80 season and think that SI is right on the money ,, however I also predict that lands them in 3rd behind Miami or DC ,,, who wahhhh!!!

I predict that Uggla and Prado will be fine offensively and that their fluke seasons were just that last year. McCann will continue to do his thing until late August / Sept ,,when the season wears him down yet again. Freeman will not have a sophmore slump and Bourn will be Bourn. Chipper will limp thru the year until his wheels go flat in June/July and Prado moves to third full time. So, the left field platoon squad of Diaz and Constanza and Hinske will tax Fredo’s brain. Heyward will continue to struggle and Pastornicky will likely be the everyday SS vs. Simmons. I think they become a better team offensively than last year (not real hard) ,, but the pitching that everyone thinks will be as good as last year absolutely will not ,,and this is where 82-80 will be realistic. As I said before JJ is done ,,, we are talking lose-spot-in-the-rotation high ERA,,, but they will save face for him and he will go on DL (serious minus). Hanson is a serious ? from a season-long durability standpoint and I don’t think it ends well for Big Red (minus). I think Hudson will be fine and will pitch within himself and stay off the DL, but not his usual production ,,so good probability (neutral). Minor turns out to carry over his Spring and is ready for the bigs (Plus). Teheran and Delgado,, toss a coin b/c I have not been impressed with Teheran since he came up last year. For a future phenom, he has not looked good and I am sure he will eventually put it all together ,,but not in 2012 ,, so Delgado it is (Neutral to Plus). Bullpen will not perform to last years amazing level, but Fredi will continue to mismanage them b/c even though offense will improve ,,pitching will fall off and Braves will still be scrapping in 1-2 run games most of the year = burned out bullpen. Finally ,, I hope Fredi is on double secret probation and Wren loses his patience when nothing effectively changes and Braves end up playing on either side of 500 ball. The players, the fans, and the media know he is in over his head and will continue to make horrible in-game decisions, only this year they will all be under the microscope. Wouldn’t it be something if Frank asked Bobby to finish out the year, given Chippers and Bobbys lovefest?? I don’t think Cox would do it, just because of all the fanfare surrounding his retirement ,, but who know!?!

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Its AMAZING how many of you guys crap all over Fredi when you same bunch were foaming @ the mouth to sign him before ole #6 was off the bench.
Fredi got the ATL vote cause he sat Hanleys azz down. Everybody here saw that and immediately thought ‘hes a bad azz’,”he’ll fire up this team”…..never mind the fact that the fish were awful and played better when the marlins FIRED Fredi.
Fredi didn’t distinguish himself in Fla. He did the contrary.
But the brilliant people on this blog WANTED him so desperately.
Hes a nice guy just like his players. I bet none of the Braves have ever even killed a bug,or swatted a fly much less a baseball.(’cept Hoss..he’d just shoot it)

You got THE GUY you wanted ATLANTA …Fredi G.
Now you suk on it.

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If Josh Johnson is fully recovered and Carlos Zambrano is comeback player of the year, the Marlins take it. Next year, it will be the year of the Nats.

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Enter your comments here

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since i predicted st.louis in the world series along with texas ….i know
also mr.bradley i have 1 loss in ncaa tourney……as for the braves…….
chipper will hardly play lucky to see 100 games
also dob said fredi start regulars last 12 games,where was heyward today???hmmmm
anyways back to results not predictions
phillies
braves
marlins
nats
mets

i really hate this wildcard play 1 game and u lose
anyways,i also reported that teheran,is worse than delgado,and if i was bmac cant wait to leave atlanta…..chipper wants him t stay,but unlike chipper,or moylan ,bmac is loyal to his wife,does not dress up as a woman,and to also prado,bmac does not miss his mommy all the time,and just like hanson,bmac rarely drinks.

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other predictions……
unc over ohio
nc state over kansas
kentucky over indiana
baylor over xavier

just so u know

bmac will sign extension,ross continue to backup,bethancourt will likely be traded

can someone please tell me why jc bostran is still on the roster?is he nortons twin brother?

oh and just so u know,another exbrave doing great…..schafer batting .384 this spring,coincidence?dont think so ask franceur,harris,others,etc…

infante batting .384 with marlins
johnson signed a 6.45 million 1 year contract with toronto
hope lowe wins 20 games,but im talking hitters not pitchers
mark these wins down tonite…….at least 3/4 wins kansas ,ncstate tossup,dont matter,they lose on sunday.

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2012 Marlins =2011 Eagles

Play some games first. Plus, as much as we depend on an aging Chipper, does anyone think Reyes plays 150 games? Or that Josh Johnson starts 30?

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This blog is just too funny.Thanks,i come here for the laughs,and of course for the ignorant,and stupid insanity.I never knew so many people were this stupid in america!!Most of you have to be from the south where you live in trailer parks,and drink moonshine.,or west virginia.

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This is exactly what is wrong with Frank Wren.

I’m sorry, but pitching prospects are OVER-RATED by this organization. When you pass up opportunities to get cheap, proven, MLB players and resist because you don’t want to give up a prospect when you have 4-5 at a position you are deep at then you are doomed to fail.

The Braves offense is so horrible that even as beat up as the Phillies are they will still score more runs. Last year was not as big of an anomaly as people believe. While many Braves had down seasons we got better than expected seasons from a few as well. It will likely end up about the same this season. Our bench is full of .220 hitters than no one really fears.

When you know you offense is that woeful and you continually pass up opportunities (rumored) for guys like Elsbury, Cain, Rasmus and others .. then you are doomed to remain pathetic offensively. I am glad we didn’t trade for overrated Nunez, but other than that our team needed help and we did nothing.

I am calling it now ..

– Heyward is a bust. Major league pitchers know he cannot catch up to a high fastball, and now he knows it so he is cheating on his swing and getting off-balance. He is done.
– McCann has a couple more All-Star years in him for certain, but will he stay around when the money isn’t there?
– Chipper is still better than average at 3rd. Don’t believe he isn’t, depsite the injuries .. the position is filled with horrible players. Now he is retiring, but maybe, just maybe, JoeyT will be a good fill in next year.
– Bourn won’t hang around because the Braves won’t pay.
– Diaz is finished and should not be on the opening day roster, yet the Braves won’t cut him. I like MattyD, but let’s face it, most of us on the boards could post averages similar to his with absolutely no baseball skill.
– Pastornicky would not be a top 20 ‘positional’ prospect in any other organization. AKA – he makes Diory Hernandez look like a combination of Omar Vizquel with the glove and a mid-20’s Derek Jeter with the bat.
– Prado might bounce back, but even with that his upside is an average LF with a decent batting average and below average pop/speed for the position.

What the Braves have to do ‘RIGHT NOW’
– jettison the aging vets that can’t hack it … like Diaz
– give guys like Parraz/Constanza a longer look .. they will both hit better and play better defense than Diaz … they are both cheaper .. and they are faster and have at least ’some’ upside
– be ready next offseason to actually trade away some of the pitching depth you are absolutely WASTING!

I know we had a down year a few years back when we were stck with no pitching because we relied on too many sentimental vets and prospects (Glavine, Smoltz, Jo-Jo Reyes, Hampton, and James). Let’s face it, it was a horrible year but even then we called up Jurrgens and moved Campillo into the rotation and it didn’t get too bad putching wise. The fact is, the Braves got burned that year and now are afraid to make moves that would obviously be beneficial to the team .. while NOT increasing payroll.

Now I hear that Medlen, a guy who is a #3 starter on all but a handful of MLB teams is going to be put in the pen because we have too much depth at starter … all while our offense is the worst of all MLB teams in spring training? Also considering half the games the Braves have played in had viscious winds blowing out and everyone else was scoring runs faster than Obama can spend my money. This is ridiculous.

Frank Wren’s answer .. sign Dan Uggla, hire a manager who is from the same school as a manager who only brought us one World Series desptie having the best team in the NL for 10 out of 14 years or so, and hope our pitching staff can limit other teams to three runs or less in 145+ games. FAIL!

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The Braves had everything that could go wrong go wrong but still won 89 games. The Braves win 95 games and take the division. Sorry if you so called fans then the Braves will be horrible because X, Y, Z and everything other reason you can make up for why they will suck. It’s just not true!

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Unless Fredi is replaced as manager before June 1st, I’ll have to go along with SI. The pitching is very close to being in shambles due to injuries [acknowledged or not], the hitting was terrible last year and no improvements have been made, and Fredi is just not capable of being a ML manager. Anyone that would continue to run Derek Lowe out there the way he did at the end of the season, just doesn’t have it upstairs. That’s just one example. I think the GM and others in the upper levels of the Braves organiization are insisting on finding this out the hard way. Tip your cap to them.

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EZ. When was your last Mensa Picnic?? Some of us fans actually care about our team’s direction.

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Tim ill bet the house we don’t win the division.

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To everyone who posts using disrespectful names such as “Frutti” and and making other disparaging remarks about FG, I ask this question:
How woukd you feel if your wife and kids read these ugly words used against you when doing your job? Or what if you heard same about your wife and children about their job performance?

Looking forward for some honest answers.

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Sports Illustrated is still in business? Who cares what they predict?

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Frank Wren is a deer in headlights…he don’t have a clue of what to do….Bring Bobby back to make the moves…or shuerholz…he still there…Wren has to go!

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The problems are not necessarily Frank Wren and Freddi G.

Its Liberty Cheapedia.

The good thing is that you do not win pennants and championships with predictions.

It will take great luck and health for them to just maintain 89 or 90 wins.

The apologists can say they were this and that for 5 months but the bottom line is they they blew it. And that goes for the hallowed Kimbrell and Venters duo who ran out of gas late.

Kimbrell stunk in September as most of the team did, and those kids did not pick it up. It was not good enough.

The Braves deserve to be Booed on opening day.

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Well MB… Harold Reynolds picked the Braves to win the NL East and personally, I think more of his opinion than that of the SI folks!

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If the Braves has won one more game would the Fredi critics be as harsh as they are on him right now?

Not saying Fredi is great but there are managers who could have done worse with what he had to work with.

Blame Liberty Cheapedia and Time Warner for the current state of the franchise. It was TW that got us in that louy TV deal and Liberty is biding their time before they flip this team.

The sooner the better. Pls let it not be more corporate ownership.

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I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about the Bravos this year (as i always do). Second place in the division and into that extremely dumb play-in game. I have a feeling the Nats are the new Mets; they’ll be competitive, but I’m not confident they’ll pull out a play-off spot. The Mets are the best Tripple A club I’ve seen. The Marlins are Just a hot mess. It’s gonna be like a reality show on the diamond and I wouldn’t expect anything less from Jeffery Loria — he runs that club like a sleazy South Beach night club. The Phils are the Phils. I see a repeat of the 2010 season, marred by injury at first and then dominant in the second half only to fail in the playoffs.

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If their high draft cHoice savior to be JASON HeYWARd does not step up and be the big time allstar next chipper jones major leaguer like they bet the farm that he would be…all of this debate is worthless. Why is NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE UNDERPERFORMING WONDER KID WHO Was supposed TO BE THE BRAVES FUTURE? Hugh?

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Mark, the Braves will have a hangover effect this season from their disgraceful September 2011, and from blowing the huge wild card lead. Look what happened to the Mets in 2007 and 2008., They’ve never been heard from again.

The Braves are very old in spots, and also injury prone. Kimbrel had a great year last year, but will he have a soph slump? How will Heyward do?

The Braves will finish third or fourth. Either they will be ahead of the Nats, or the Nats will be ahead of them. 500 is a real possiblity. If Fredi G does make it through the season, I think he will be gone at the end of the year.

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For whatever it’s worth, BP had the Braves projected to finish second and win a wildcard last I looked. But it was really close. The Marlins and Nats were right there. While only winning 72 games or so, as some have suggested on this blog, seems overly pessimistic finishing 4th is certainly possible. Agree with George Stein, it’s not likely the bullpen is as good this year as last (which isn’t to say it won’t be good) and there are already issues with the pitching depth in both the rotation and pen. On the other hand, there were several under-performing hitters that are likely to do better this year. We’ll see how it turns out. I think the Braves will finish better than 4th but SI’s prediction is reasonable.

I won’t call Fredi Gonzalez any names, Stinger2 has a point about that, but I would like to add in a tightly bunched, competitive division the Braves are at a disadvantage at the manager position. Most seasons that may not even matter that much, but if the top 4 teams are really within just a few games of each other it could mean everything in this season.

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Fire Fredi G.? Who hired Greg Walker??? While Gonzalez is no Bobby Cox, Frank Wren pales in comparison with Schuerlolz. The hitting this Spring is terrible and I see Walker / Wren as the culprits there.

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phoenix”They’re right on the money. This is not a championship-caliber team. Not even close. Poor team speed, below-average defense, not much power, and a banged-up starting rotation. 82-80 might be optimistic.” Possibly the dumbest comment i have seen. Team speed- michael bourn guaranteed 50-60 stolen bases, plus jose constanza is just as fast and can be a pinch runner at any point. defense- doesn’t win games and a lot of errors last year were due to alex gonzalez who we got rid of. Power- Freeman looks promising will probably get 20 hrs, even if heyward doesn’t bounce back and get 20, uggla is a guaranteed at least 30 which he did last year in what everyone would agree was a bad season for him. plus mccann can easily hit 25 homeruns so the power is definately there. Starting rotation- definitely the most depth on the team, braves can afford to have starting pitchers injured. we got rid of our worst starter derek lowe. tim hudson is still an elite pitcher, jair jurjjens when healthy can do what he did first half of last year. even if jair isn’t healthy hanson has tweaked his mechanics to keep him healthy and beachy is a hard thrower than get give solid innings. if any of them get injured there is still mike minor, a great lefty arm, julio teheran a top prospect and randall delgado another decent prospect. The comment earlier by phoenix was very dumb.

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Don’t get too excited. Not much will change with this team! You get what you see in the spring. Bet on it!

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It is probably better to be picked 4th by SI than 1st, considering past history. The Braves will not overcome the Phillies, but they may end up 2nd. Fredi has used a lot of minor league pitchers this spring. They may surprise us.

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Braves are going to have a good year.

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Yes, fourth sounds about right. Too complacent, too everyone covering everyone’s back. That’s ok in war and police but somebody’s got to step up and call out guys when necessary. Where’s Smoltzie when you need him? No fire, no guts, and again this year no glory. Chipper’s needed a kick in the honey for years now and his approach to the game has ruined our new guys. Where’s Shurltholtz philosophy of “I don’t want major leaguers, I want All Stars”? I guess we’ll be suffering through this year then get a Socia type manager and some players who have fire in their bellies and want to play the game right.

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I think SI has it about right. 4th place sounds correct for this no hittin bunch with staring pitching issues; certainly no better than 3rd.

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Actually this might be a fun season because of little expectations. NO expectations to do better than 4th in the NL East. I think SI has it just about right. Face it, the Braves are going to be stuck in this situation until Liberty Media sells this team to a (or a few) owner(s) with local interest and willing to spend more than 90 million $$ per annum.

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Can we sell Brave stock like the Green Bay Packers do to raise money and get a real Team?

Thanks for the budget Liberty Media.

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Please understand the problem with the Braves, Its not FG and its certainly not FW, Who is a very capable GM, Its the present owners of the Braves, Liberty Media who have stated that they bought the Braves for a tax break and show no interest in winning championships, FW is and has been under budget constraints and is unable to secure the players necessary to compete with the likes of the Phillies and now the Marlins, Braves are unlikely to win Division title and now the wild card may be out of reach, Don’t expect much as long as Liberty Media is in the picture.

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The empty seat syndrome will start early this year. How low is management are willing to drop the price of tickets sales ?

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Talk about coincidences….Chipper “announces” his retirement…then a few days later, has knee surgery to repair an injury that “supposedly” happened an hour before the “announcement”? Whatever….

Up until 3 years ago…I really respected and appreciated Chipper Jones and what he did for the Braves. If he had been honest and said that he was sticking around because he wanted to get the $42 mil over the past three years he was owed…I’d have totally respected his honesty (and would have not blamed him for sticking around).

However, he did what a lot of players do….LIE by saying “I love the game, I want to go out on top” garbage that is a substitute for saying “I want to get paid”.

I lost respect for Chipper for lying to you easy saps who just lap it up like a dog does affection from its owner. I place the blame for Chipper being in a position to stick around like this….on Braves management for not having the foresight to see that just because a 36 year old wins a batting title…does not meant that he’s going to replicate that feat to the turn of him being worth $42 mil over the following three seasons….especially when it’s been since 2003 when he last played in over 140 games.

Braves management’s inability to make the tough decisions FOR US (the TRUE Braves fans who place WINNING over most of you poor sap’s unyielding allegiance to the player) has hindered their ability to truly improve the club.

I guess that the only “positive” that comes out of this…is that Chipper stays on the DL for all of 2012….and we give someone a chance to play third (Prado) who has more fielding range than a turtle….as well as someone who can hit third who actually puts fear into the opposing pitcher and can consistently hit third without needing every other day off for one nagging injury after another (like Freddie Freeman).

We need to get lucky and get an unknown that comes from nowhere and carries us like in the first half of 2010 (Troy Glaus-like) who can play left field (the combo of Diaz-Hinske simply isnt going to get it done).

As of now…we have gaping holes in Left, Right (Heyward simply has shown no ability to adjust to the inside pitches that MLB is going to bust him with time after time), Short (come on, Pastornicky or Simmons will both make Andres Thomas look like Barry Larkin in comparison).

After the top 5 spots of the order….it will look like 2009 all over again (you know, when Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur and company were stinking up the place in the first half of the season).

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Braves are nothing more than a tax write off for Liberty Media and will never be able to compete with the high dollar teams in the league. Time was I loved my Braves second to none…….. but I’ve gotten old and those a%%holes at Liberty have strangled the life out of them, so I’m thinking there are better ways of spending the hot summer than being disappointed by following a choked down handicapped ball club..

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Excellent post Ken Stallings and right on the money.

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Better get used to losing with this ownership.

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Let’s all remember that the majority of their “experts” picked the Red Sox to win the AL championship last year. It is what it is – a prediction.

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The winner of this division is the team that stays healthy. That’s all it’s going to take. I honestly can’t even begin to predict which team that’s going to be. What a crapshoot.

I do know one thing, though, I’ll be ‘chopping through all 162. Opening Day can’t get here soon enough.

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SI’s prediction seems about right. The Braves will battle the Mets to stay out of the cellar.

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All of these teams have question marks. The Braves have leadership, good (not great) pitching, a good bench, and a GM willing to deal, if necessary They will remain competitive through the season.

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I’ll bet you Freddy is on the hot seat!

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Think season rests with Heyward. Time for him to step up. Might as well make a bet on him and roll the dice. Put him in the 3 hole and sticki with him. Braves will do as well as he and Freeman do. No worse no better. So it’s time for him to man up.

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