Braves Rotation Preview

Written by Colin on January 16, 2008 – 10:21 am

Let’s break down the rotation for 2008. We have possibilities for 2008 - a pretty deep roster, especially compared to years past. There are question marks and asterisks and too many older guys for my taste, but all in all, I think it’ll be one of the better rotations we’ve seen since the Big Three were pitching in the 90’s.

#1 slot - John Smoltz will fill the #1 spot again this season. Smoltz is getting older but is 44-28 since coming back to the starting rotation. Last season he was 14-8 and pitched more than 200 innings for the third year in a row. He takes the leadership role for the rotation and should be expected to come near or break 200 innings once again with a low 3 ERA.

#2 slot - Tim Hudson will fill this role coming off a 16-10 season that could have been a Cy Young worthy season had he gotten more run support and fewer blown saves. Hudson is capable of being the ace in any rotation, and last year was vintage Hudson. He’ll pick up 200 innings and hopefully 20 wins this season. I would like to see Hudson with a Cy Young this year, too.

#3 slot - Tom Glavine, back from the Mets, will fill this hole quite adequately. He’s #2 material anywhere else. 13-8 last year with barely 200 innings, Glavine will hope to have a better year back home with the Braves. He’s not the same pitcher that went 21-9 in 2000, but he still has plenty left in him.

Here’s where it gets uncertain.  We’ll leave the #4 and #5 slots open for now and mention each candidate for these slots.

Mike Hampton is running and throwing again after his strained hamstring - which he strained trying to do a hockey style stop in Mexico league baseball.  Frank Wren mentioned on Sunday that his pitches look great - “just like old Mike Hampton” - I believe it was.  Wren doesn’t sound like he’s counting 100% on Hampton to be healthy, but he also didn’t seem to hedge his bets much when mentioning he thought he’d be ready to go and healthy.

Chuck James will likely fill either the four or five slot, depending on Hampton’s health.  He enters his second year of full-time starting, and shows some promise.  He’ll be helped by the presence of Tom Glavine - who has helped decent left-handers become much better left-handers throughout his career.  James pitched 160 innings last year and was 11-10 with a 4.24 ERA.  I think we’ll see this improve as he matures and the Glavine effect kicks in.

Jair Jurrjens - Some say he’s not ready for the big league level yet - and that’s a possibility.  He’s a four-star prospect that we got back from Detroit in the Renteria trade, and he’s very highly spoken of by Wren.  I think we’ll see him get a crack at things in Spring Training and it’s possible he starts for the big league team this year.

Jo-Jo Reyes was mentioned Sunday by Wren in the same sentence as Jurrjens - he views them as bookends - one from the right-hand side, one from the left-hand side.  Reyes started 10 games and ended up with a 2-2 record last year, but he gave up 39 runs in those starts.  Reyes could start for us this year, but we could also see him in the minors.

Jeff Bennett came up for a brief time at the end of last season and had some great stuff.  He started 2 games and had another appearance out of the bullpen and ended up in 2-1 with a 3.46 ERA.  We may see more of that - I know for sure that Cox and Wren liked what they saw.  This guy will end up in the majors sometime in the next couple years.

Buddy Carlyle started 20 games and went 8-7 with a 5.21 ERA last year.  He ate up 100 innings and is a legitimate option to start right out of spring training.  He has experience a lot of the younger guys don’t have and needs to work on lowering his ERA - 62 runs in 22 appearances is a little high for a full-time starter.  Buddy, if you’re reading this, we like you here at BravesBlast.com.

Blaine Boyer is coming off a season in which he was injured and had surgery - and he wrote in a recent ChopTalk issue how he’s ready to pitch either out of the bullpen or start.  Before he got injured, he pitched in 43 games in 2005 with a 3.11 ERA - he’s more likely to pitch out of the bullpen, but he deserves a mention as a starting possibility.  Btw, if he does pitch out of the bullpen, he will provide some of the help Moylan needs to hold it down this season.

So there’s the Rotation Preview - something about each pitcher we honestly think has a shot at making the roster out of Spring Training.  If they’re not pitching in the big leagues, we’ll either see them in the bullpen or more likely at Triple-A.  I think we have a decent rotation this year - and IF everyone is healthy, it’ll be one of the most potent rotations in all of baseball.

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