Congrats, Phillies.

The Phillies won it all.

We pulled for the Rays. We wanted them to win. We watched a weird, short, continuation of a previous game.

They won anyways.

Jimmy Rollins is cocky, but I’ll let it go just for one night.

Congratulations. Watch out next year, though. The Braves will be back.

Gwinnett Braves’ Mascot Tryouts Nov 18

Get out there and make a fool of yourself - who knows, you could become the first Gwinnett Braves Mascot!  You, yes, you (!) could become Chopper the groundhog. Think of the possibilities! Get a picture with the big league third baseman? Chipper and Chopper. Add in Brian McCann, known for his weight? It’d be Chipper, Chopper, and Chubby.  You get the idea. The possibilities are limitless.

Bring a CD if you want - there will be a CD player, but you’ll need a 3-5 minute routine / dance / whatever you do in a groundhog suit. I don’t know if you’ll actually have to (or get to) wear the suit, but it’s worth a shot.

Details are here.

Go break a leg, because I don’t want to be forced into being a groundhog.

Rays / Phils? Does It Matter?

I’ve been pulling for the Devil Rays during the World Series, and pulling against the team from Philly, mostly because I think it says something for the purity of the game for the Rays to win it all. It reminds me of the Braves in ‘91. Lots of young talent, that team has. The AL East should be interesting for years.

But then I got to thinking - wouldn’t it be cool to knock off the reigning World Series champs next year in the NL East? Or does it really not matter?

Regardless, I’m still pulling for the Rays (like most, if not all of our team) the rest of the series and hoping they come back from a 3-1 deficit. I’d love to see the Rays dominate the AL East for years to come, but that’s another article for another day (or week, if I continue writing at this pace).

Maybe, just maybe, one of the other writers will get online and write a post for y’all (but it’s not looking good). Until then, comment this one up.

Want to write for us? We have ridiculously high standards but can be bribed. Email mailbag@bravesblast.com to get in on the action.

Braves Atop Peavy Heap

The New York Post is reporting that the Braves are atop the Peavy pile and that currently many expect we’ll have Peavy pitching for us next season.

“The Jake Peavy sweepstakes will proceed concurrently with the World Series, and the expectation of major league executives polled over the past two days is that the Braves are going to end up with the Padre right-hander… The Braves…have the base from which to make a deal and a history of packaging youngsters to get veterans they crave such as Mark Teixeira and Tim Hudson. They also are willing to move quickly, as exhibited by the Oct. 29 deal made last year in which they obtained Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez from Detroit for Edgar Renteria, the first major trade of the past offseason. And the Braves appear more motivated than the Cardinals, Cubs or Dodgers to jump out for Peavy.”

That’s what I like to hear. Only question now is how many prospects we have to get rid of to land Peavy for four years.  Yunel Escobar or Kelly Johnson (or both) will likely have to go.  Other names mentioned include Jo-Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton, possibly Tommy Hanson, and even Jordan Schafer.  Who knows what the Braves will be willing to part with, but there are hints they are going to try and keep the carnage as insignificant as possible.  The bottom line with any of the pitching prospects is that we hope they turn into someone like Peavy, and getting Peavy for four years is a pretty good return on a prospect that may not be that good for that long.

Chipper Jones has described Peavy as the “perfect fit” according to the AJC, and also would love to see the Braves go after A.J. Burnet, who will be a free agent.

How you like us now, NL East?

Pete Van Wieren Retires

It’s with regret that we move into a new era of Braves radio announcers. Skip passed away earlier this year. Now, we won’t get any more of his partner, Pete Van Wieren, either.

Van Wieren announced his retirement today after 33 seasons as a Braves announcer.  Pete is in good health and wants to take more time to spend with his family. For the past two years, Pete served as the play-by-play announcer for every game played.

I don’t know about you guys, but listening to the Braves isn’t going to be the same next season.  When Skip died I thought I’d get by on Pete and Chip, or some other combination, but this is a lot of change at once.  Sure, watching the games won’t change, and TV won’t be affected THAT much, but the radio coverage of the game will be changed… Not just will we not have the award winning Bobby Cox show and color commentary, but we’ll miss Pete’s excellent play-by-play announcing.

Pete, take care, good buddy. Come back every now and then so we can get a taste. And at least show up opening day to wave goodbye. This community really appreciates your contribution to the Braves and your dedication and recognizable voice will be missed.

Peavy Rumors And More

Greetings folks - it’s Thursday and time for some random updates.

• The AJC’s Braves blogs appear to be abuzz with the possibility of trading for someone like Jake Peavy, who would certainly be fitted for the Braves, who need an ace for the upcoming season.  The 2007 Cy Young winner was only 10-11 last year, but he did play for the Padres, who, for lack of a better phrase, absolutely sucked. Apparently Peavy is available for the right price, though a proposal has probably not been put on the table yet. Do you think he’d be a good fit?
• Maybe Furcal is cheaper after committing three errors on the Dodgers’ way to the showers for the season, eh? I’d take cheaper.
• What sort of power outfielder do you think the Braves have more chance of landing?  A Matt Holliday type? A Manny type? Xavier Nady? Or should we trade our best box of toothpicks for Andruw (I’m kidding, I’m kidding).

To me, I’d love to see Peavy on the team - but no way of knowing if we can swing it. We NEED an ace. Is Peavy the dude for us?

Editorial at the ‘Nique

Hey everyone, it’s Akshay, back from my three to four month disappearance. I’ve been here, been watching and waiting just to see if the Braves would actually do anything since I left. Nothing on the field, unfortunately. However, we were able to parlay Tex’s walk year into a long term solution at first base. I’ve made it no secret that, while Tex was awesome, Kotchman will be as good if not a better fit for our team in the long run. He’s cheap, he hits in the upper .200s and close to .300 and plays gold glove calibre defense. Sure, the power’s not there, but the doubles are. And Kotchman is a little more likely to steal a base than Tex is, take that for what it’s worth. The other trade was Mark Kotsay for A-ball prospect Luis Sumoza. He had just four hits in 19 at-bats with the Rome Braves (Class A), but his OBP, Slugging and Batting Average have increased every year he’s been in the minors. He is considered a five-tool player, and even if three or four of those “tools” comes to fruition, this would have been a good trade for the Braves. While he is a while away, signing a big time outfield slugger this offseason will help with the transition. You know, maybe a Manny Ramirez or Pat Burrell, or even trading for a guy like Matt Holliday who could bridge the 2009 gap in time for Jason Heyward.

Anyway, I’m writing today to talk about an editorial I wrote for the Georgia Tech school newspaper a little while ago. I’ve been writing for the Technique for a while, but this is the first time I’ve written about the Braves (we had a beyond the White and Gold a couple of years ago when we traded for Tex because of his Tech roots). Here’s the link: Braves need to get serious in off-season. Enjoy. I’m working on a post-season summary for the team and trying to make it a two-three day reading piece. Keep an eye out for that.

Postseason Awards

Because we have nothing better to do, we’re handing out postseason awards to the Braves.

The ZOMG!! A Baseball! award goes to Jeff Francoeur, who swung at nearly every baseball that came close to home plate. And by close we mean within a dozen yards or so.

The Made More Than $1m/Game award goes to Mike Hampton, who, after battling back from seemingly hundreds of injuries, played in 13 games and made around $15m. Sign me up for that.

The Wish You Were Still Here award goes out to Mark Teixeira, who was traded to the Angels. We all wish he could play first base for us for years to come.

The Productivity award goes to Chipper Jones, who deserves the heck out of the batting title after an absolutely blistering start (and not a bad rest of the year, either).

The We’ve All Pinned Our Hopes On You For Years To Come award goes to Jair Jurrjens, who has perhaps the most fun to watch slider in all of baseball and beat the hell out of opposing batters. Final line? 13-10, 3.68 ERA, 139 K’s and 70 BBs. Many veteran pitchers would kill for those stats.

The Please Don’t Be Done Yet award goes to John Smoltz, whom we all hope to see back in the ‘pen ASAP… Just one more year?

The Mike Hampton award goes to Rafael Soriano, who signed a big contract and then managed to not play much due to injuries.

The Get Well Soon award goes to Tim Hudson, who had Tommy John surgery. We all wish him a speedy and full recovery.

The Trade Of The Year award goes to Frank Wren (kind of a shoe-in, as he makes all the trades) for trading one (maybe two) years of an aging Edgar Renteria to the Tigers in exchange for two four-star prospects in Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez.

The Best Catcher In Baseball award goes to Brian McCann, the best catcher in baseball, and on our team for at least the next four years. Brian, develop the sense of loyalty for the Braves that Chipper and Smoltzie have, if ya please. We want you around for a while.

That’s all for now. If you have one to add, feel free to add it - we missed quite a few, I’m sure.

Back Off, We Want Manny (and Furcal)

I have to write this.

The Ropolitans wrote recently that the Mets must sign Manny at all costs in 2009.  I see where he’s coming from, but I have something to say about it.

The Braves need to line up for long-term success. The Braves need a power bat in the outfield, and they need it now. The Braves need Manny to push their offense from good to absolutely pummeling. The Braves should also spend some cash and re-sign Rafael Furcal to play up the middle of the infield with Yunel (sorry, all you KJ lovers). That’d be just fun to watch.

Imagine the lineup:

Rafael Furcal
Yunel Escobar
Chipper Jones
Manny Ramirez
Brian McCann
Gregor Blanco / Josh Anderson
Casey Kotchman
Jeff Francoeur

That’s a scary lineup from a power aspect. That’s a scary lineup from a speed aspect. That lineup could just plain rake.  And, we’d still have some money to get some young pitchers and an ace (hopefully) to bolster the rotation.

Have I mentioned that we have TONS of money to spend this offseason? Let’s get creative and build a fun-to-watch Braves team in 2009. Watch out, Mets. You have competition (I hope).