Mailbag: Future Rotation Options?

Eric wrote the BravesBlast mailbag and asked a question about the future of the rotation.

Being that we have two old guys (Glavine and Smoltz), Mike Hampton who is heading into the last year of his contract and has serious health risks….What are the chances that our young arms like Jair, Chuck James, Morton, Reyes, etc will be able to carry our rotation of the future? Hoping that Tim Hudson will be around to hold down the 1 slot.

Great question, Eric. Our rotation may be dangerous this year and maybe even some of the guys last into next year, but your question is very valid - John Smoltz even said in November that “You can’t have a whole staff of old farts.”  So what will the rotation of the future look like?

Tim Hudson is signed at least through 2009 with an option for 2010, so we’ve got him here for another year or two, at least.  He likes it here and has been shown in the past to be open to contract extensions during the year, which is good.

Let’s break it down and look at the players and the consensus scouting reports.

Jair Jurrjens - Not only does Jurrjens come into spring training as one of the top prospects for this year’s rotation, he has promise for the future, too.  He throws strikes, keeps the ball low, and I’ve seen projections that he could be a future #2 starter.  He’s the Braves’ top pitching prospect according to multiple sources.

Jo-Jo Reyes - Jo-Jo doesn’t crack any top prospect lists, but that’s probably because he’s already played in the big leagues some last year.  It was a bit rocky, but Frank Wren remains confident in Reyes and his stuff - and scouting estimates are that his raw talent is on the same level as or slightly better than Jurrjens.  He needs a bit more development, but we’ll probably see him a bit in years to come.

Chuck James - James has been dealing with some rotator cuff issues that I think are somewhat related to his unorthodox delivery.  That said, James will likely benefit from another year making a run at the rotation (Cox seems to like him for the fifth rotation spot, if he’s healthy), as well as being around Tom Glavine - who has had very positive effects on young left-handers before.  If James has recurring health issues, there are some concerns, but he has potential to eat up innings in the future.

Julio Teheran - This kid won’t be in the big leagues for a while now, but he’s listed as the second best pitching prospect in the organization.  He has a mid-90s fastball, a high 70s late biting curve, and a nice changeup.  Three solid pitches, signed very recently as the top international pitching prospect, and a future so bright he’s probably wearing sunglasses all the time.  Oh, and he’s only 16. Read more »

Braves Handle UGA

The Braves opened spring training today on a good note for Braves fans–an eight run victory over the Georgia Bulldogs at Disney.  Of course, it’s been a while since a college team has actually beat a major league team. That was Miami beating Florida about two or three years ago, that game has a stipulation though–Miami used aluminum bats, college teams no longer do that against Major League teams.

The Braves started their “A” line-up against the Bulldogs and handed top-pitching prospect Charlie Morton the ball for the start. Morton threw two innings of solid ball giving up just one hit. Zach Schreiber followed Morton with his own two shut-out innings. Schreiber gave up two hits, but had three strikeouts. Jorge Campillo pitched two innings and gave up two hits as well. He was followed by Francisely Bueno (2 innings) and Basner pitched the final inning.

Mark Teixiera got things off to a good start in the first with an RBI single. Escobar reached on an error after Kelly Johnson popped out. Chipper walked to put Escobar in scoring position and Tex’s RBI single gave the Braves the lead for good.

Former Marlin Joe Borchard had two hits and scored three runs as the designated hitter and one of the top-outfield prospects for the Braves, Gregor Blanco had a double and two-RBIs in the fifth. Josh Anderson had two hits for the Braves as well.

For the Bulldogs, Josh Fields threw a scoreless inning. For those of you who don’t remember, Fields was a second round pick for the Braves last year. Unfortunately, they did not offer Fields the kind of money the former second-round pick was looking for and he returned to Athens to continue to play for UGA.

In other news around the division, the Mets lost to the Tigers 4-2 (a trend we would all love to see continue, but of course, it’s only preseason), and the Phillies knocked off the Reds 8-1.  The Nationals and Marlins played to a 3-3 tie.

Next up, the Braves play Andruw Jones and the Dodgers today at 1:05 PM in their first true game of spring training.  The starting infield and Mark Kotsay however, won’t be making the trip, staying behind at Disney to get ready to Friday’s televised game (ESPN).  For today’s game, look for Tim Hudson to make the start with Boyer, Resop, DeSalvo and Acosta to fill out the day’s pitching.

Mailbag: On Scott Thorman

Lisa wrote the mailbag and asked:

I just read on mlb.com that Scott Thorman has to fight for his roster spot this year. Who could beat him for the position? I realize Teixeira would start but what about the back up?

There are a couple issues at play here, Lisa. First off, Thorman is out of options - this means that the Braves can’t send him straight to the minors. He would have to clear waivers first, where any team could claim him. But that’s only an issue if he can’t make the team straight out of spring training.

He’s certainly the leading candidate for the position, and the only candidate with big league experience. I think it’s a long-shot that he won’t take the backup role, personally, and I’ll explain why by mentioning some of the other alternatives.

Carlos Mendez - AAA Richmond, 33 years old. Played in 82 games in 2007, batted .278 with 6 HRs and 35 RBIs.

Graham Koonce - AAA Richmond, 32 years old. Played in 58 games in 2007, batted .224 with 10 HRs and 42 RBIs.

Barbaro Canizares - AAA Richmond, 27 years old. Played in 49 games in 2007, batting .344 with 3 HRs and 34 RBIs in 163 at-bats.

As you can see, none of these three guys are blowing pitchers away. You’ve also never heard of them, unless you’re from Richmond or in their extended family. That should tell you something - they’re not the biggest prospects in the Braves organization.

As our staff discussed the options today, we can’t see anyone but Thorman backing up Teixeira this year. There aren’t any better alternatives, Thorman has no options left and we doubt he’d clear waivers. Add in the fact that Thorman has some pretty decent big league experience, and we think he’s the man for the job. His qualifications beat out anyone else soundly.

Unless we want to re-sign the ageless Julio Franco.

Braves’ Decision: Left Field

I answered this question from PhilliesFlow.com in our perspective trade a couple days ago, and I wanted to take a moment to elaborate on some decisions the Braves have to make. From the article:

What do you see as the biggest decisions the Braves will make between now and the start of the season?

The fourth and fifth rotation spots are crucial. Having a solid back end of the rotation to compliment the Smoltz/Hudson/Glavine trio is something we need to know can hold their own. Be honest, a Smoltz/Hudson/Glavine/Heatlhy Hampton/Jurrjens or James rotation is about as mean as any out there. If everyone is healthy, it’s not a one-two punch. It’s a one-two-three-four punch. Now, it’ll only work for a year or so, but it could be nasty.

I think the other crucial decision is who will fill out the bullpen. We have more pitchers overall than we did last year and I think the bullpen will be stronger than it was, but we need to get our guys picked out and they need to embrace the roles they’re given. The only other key question to be answered is who will fill out the left field platoon with Matt Diaz. I think we’ll likely see Brandon Jones out there, but Josh Anderson also wants a piece of the platoon. That’ll be interesting to watch.

With Kotsay playing Center, we’re going to see some interesting competition for the left-field slots. Matt Diaz has the inside track on one half of the platoon, but we are going to see Brandon Jones (bats from the left side of the plate) try and take Willie Harris’ slot as the other half of the platoon. Of course, speedster Josh Anderson is a very talented outfielder also ready for the big time.  If we throw Jones in the platoon with Diaz, we’re sending a very talented center fielder back to AAA ball.  Something has got to give - we have too many outfielders given the positions we need to fill.  No matter whether we end up with Anderson or Jones in the outfield, they’ll be a good compliment to Diaz.

What do you think will happen with our outfield situation?  Who makes the big league team out of spring training?  Will we trade some of them for bullpen help or will we keep them all on hand?

2008 Preseason Awards

We’re going to dig into this year’s preseason and hand out some of our own awards and make predictions as to the end of season awards.

Preseason Team Awards

Best AL Team: Detroit Tigers
Best NL Team: New York Mets (I said it, but I’m not happy about it.)
Most Hyped Team: New York Mets
Worst AL Team: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Worst NL Team: Florida Marlins (this was a no-brainer.  The state of Florida is apparently cursed.)
Best AL Division: The AL East beats out the Central for this title with the Blue Jays being the determining factor.
Best NL Division: The East is strong (and beats out the West) with the Mets, Phillies, and Braves all looking for the division title.  We should see some great baseball out of this division all season long.
Worst AL Division:  The West is going to be ugly with Oakland, Seattle, and Texas.  Texas should be on the rise, but Oakland completely disassembled whatever they had last year in their fire sale.
Worst NL Division:  The NL Central has a couple teams that are decent (Chicago and Milwaukee), but Cincinnati, Houston, and Pittsburgh bring the division down to the worst in the NL.

This year is going to be fun to watch in several divisions - the AL East and Central promise to be intriguing, as do the NL East and West.  The Tigers and Indians are going to create some great story lines, and we’re all familiar with the NL East and the competition we’ll see there this year.

Preseason Individual Awards

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
NL MVP: Matt Holliday
AL Cy Young: C.C. Sabathia
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy
AL Batting Title: Ichiro Suzuki
NL Batting Title: Matt Holliday
AL HR Title: Alex Rodriguez
NL HR Title: Ryan Howard

There we go - our projections for the individual awards in 2008.  No, we don’t think Johan Santana will win the NL Cy Young award this year - he’s a great pitcher, but I think Peavy will pull it out this year.  The others don’t have many surprises - Matt Holliday is a very solid hitter that is only helped by the fact that he plays in Colorado.

Phillies’ Closer Lidge Reinjures Knee

This may change things.  Brad Lidge reinjured his knee yesterday on his first pitch off a mound.  He remains optimistic that it’s just some scar tissue that came loose, but the full extent of the injury should be known today.

Lidge, the Phillies’ scheduled closer, had surgery on the same knee in October, when doctors removed scar tissue.  He was the Phillies’ biggest off-season acquisition, supposedly allowing Brett Myers to return to the starting rotation.

More as we hear it - but this could shake things up.  Without a legitimate closer (other than pulling Brett Myers from the rotation), the Phillies have even more pitching issues than they’d like to admit.  They may need every run that high-flying offense produces, because without Myers in the rotation, their starting pitching is mighty thin after Cole Hamels.

Sick of Roid Rage: Top 5 Things I’d Rather Hear About

We know people used steroids.  We get it.

I just really don’t care.  I can’t tell you how much it doesn’t even begin to matter to me.

In honesty, as we’re ramping up for Spring Training, let’s move past this thing - let Congress stick their nose into things and leave it alone.  Because I don’t think it matters whether or not Roger Clemens injected HGH.  Moving forward, obviously he can’t get away with it.  Let someone else look into the past, Baseball needs to focus on the future, not the somewhat shady past.

So without further ado, the top 5 things I’d rather hear about than Steroids:

5. What team Scott Boras is screwing over now - and who is most vehement in the “I hate Scott Boras” fan club.
4. Whether or not the Braves have enough pitching (I think they do, no worries) Read more »

Nationals Park

Because the Braves will have the privilege of being the first away team to play a regular season game at the Washington Nationals’ new stadium, we’ve decided to give a preview of the stadium for the upcoming season.

Nationals Park obviously gets its name from the team, but about 100 years ago, the former Washington Senators were also called The Nationals and their stadium, the former Griffith Stadium, was also called Nationals Park. Accessibility to the park is also a lot better than Turner Field, as Washington is a lot more commuter-friendly than Atlanta. One of the metro stations drops people off about a block away from the stadium, meaning parking and congestion around the stadium will be a lot more manageable than other stadiums. Read more »

Trading Perspectives - With a Phillies Fan

BravesBlast took a moment recently to exchange questions and answers about the NL East with our pal Erik Grissom over at PhilliesFlow.  Since we always give you the Braves’ fan perspective on things, here’s the division from the Phillies standpoint.

BravesBlast: With the addition of Johan Santana, the Mets are probably the team to beat this year in the NL East.  Where do you see the division breaking down after that?

PhilliesFlow.com: With the addition of Santana, I see the Mets as the front-runners in the NL East.  I still think all three teams are very close, but I would go Mets/Phils/Braves 1-2-3 at this point.

The separation between the Mets and the Phillies is very small.  The Mets did have a better off-season, but the Phillies won the division last year despite the fact that they gave 30 starts to a guy with a 6.29 ERA and with just about the worst offensive production from third base in the NL.  You would think those would be areas in which it would be easy to improve.  Given how close the Mets and Phillies are, I truly believe the Phils are better off in the role of underdog. Read more »

2008 Preview - New York Mets, Part II

We’ve all heard it.  The Mets traded for Johan Santana and they no longer have any flaws.  They’re the strongest team in baseball.  In fact, the Mets could put on skates and beat the 1980 Olympic USSR hockey team, according to some Mets blogs.  You are all also familiar with my stance - Santana is a fine fix for now, but is not a blanket solution for every issue they face as a team.  But, since they traded for Johan Santana after I wrote my initial Mets 2008 Preview, I have to redo this along with my pre-season division predictions.

Read more »

Notes from Spring Training

Since we’re not on-site yet (full time jobs and classes are regrettably taking up most of our time), we have to report everything second-hand for now, but here’s a bit of a digest of the goings-on at Disney’s Wide World of Sports from major news outlets.

• Tom Glavine is fitting in - and everyone loves having him back.  His wife and kids are down in Florida with him, and today even USA Today ran an article on him being back. I appreciate even guys who haven’t played with him like Hudson giving him the respect he deserves.  That said, I have spoken to a few fans who don’t want to see him in a Braves uniform since he dirtied himself by playing with the Mets.  But that opinion is only shared by a small minority.

Read more »


Tags: Jair Jurrjens, Javy Lopez, Johan Santana, Mike Hampton, New York Mets, Spring Training, Tom Glavine
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Who’s Number One? Smoltz or Hudson?

As the pitching rotation continues to shake out, Bobby Cox has to decide whether John Smoltz or Tim Hudson is going to be the rotation ace and start opening day.  Now, I wrote the last article on this and I thought that Smoltz was going to be the ace - simply because it’s tradition at this point.  However, Smoltz said over the weekend that he thought Hudson should take the #1 spot.  Hudson claims Smoltz just doesn’t want to pitch against the Nationals in the first game of the season.

Who should be the ace?  Not that it really matters who is #1 and who pitches #2, but let’s argue both sides. Read more »