Is Gonzo Ready To Close?

Mike Gonazales spent most of last season working on rebuilding his arm strength after returning from Tommy John surgery in June.  He is slated for the role of closer for the Braves; a spot where the club has lacked stability and the presence of a true closer over the past few seasons.  In 33.2 innings pitched last season, Gonzo allowed 26 hits, 16 earned runs and struck out 44.

In his first Spring Training appearance on Thursday, Gonzales allowed two runs while recording two outs.  On a 20-pitch limit for the appearance, he faced five batters, striking out Yordanny Ramirez to end his outing.  His fastball topped out right around 90 mph, which isn’t quite up to the power that we have seen out of him in the past.  But Gonzo and Bobby Cox aren’t worried.  Gonzales says his arm feels great and that he had no pain in the elbow and to look for the harder stuff out of him towards the end of Spring Training.

We’ll see how Gonzales pans out in the closer role this season and just hope he stays healthy.  I don’t really know how our options look to fill in for him should he make a trip to the DL.  It adds a little bit more to the game to have a closer that you’re expecting and waiting to see come into to finish off the game.  The question is, will the Braves be able to have him in a position to have save opportunities in 2009?

Who is David Ross?

After his two-run home run off of Roy Oswalt in the second inning of yesterday’s game, David Ross peaked at least a little interest among fans, including the couple of mailbag requests that we received asking who this guy was.  Ross was signed as a free agent to a two-year, $3 million deal in early December to serve as a backup to Brian McCann; a role that was not well-filled by the combination of Corky Miller and Clint Sammons in 2008.

Ross has power potential but has struggled some in the past season.  In the 2006-2007 seasons for the Reds, Ross appeared in 202 games and hit 38 home runs.  After playing about a third of the 2008 season for the Reds, he was released and picked up off of waivers by the Red Sox.  He made only 8 plate appearances for them, recording just one hit.  He brings a career .222 batting average to Atlanta.

He is expected to replace Corky Miller and Clint Sammons as the backup catcher in 2009.  Hopefully this will give Bobby Cox a little more confidence on the days when Brian McCann needs to rest.    Miller and Sammons combined to bat .114 in their 114 at-bats last season.  With Miller going to the White Sox, Sammons will likely spend time in the minors as the younger catching depth for the Braves.

Despite the decline in power numbers for Ross, he still provides a viable option for a pinch hitter and backup behind the plate.  Personally, I look for Sammons in the majors soon, so I was more expecting the Braves to sign Ross for one year, but the two-year signing gives a little more flexibility for the future and to build the catching depth that we have lacked in  the past.

Braves’ 2009 Starting Rotation Preview

Coming off of a forgetable 2008 season, the starting rotation for the Braves has been completely retooled and is ready for action in 2009.  While injuries and lack of depth prevented the rotation from doing much of anything last year, the new signings of Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami give a new look and new hopes for 2009.  

Derek Lowe: The sinker-ball specialist has averaged 15 wins over his last 7 seasons, and boasts a 3.58 ERA over the past 4 years since moving to the National League. He steps up in big games and has a track record of post-season success. He is also quite durable and can be counted on for 200 innings as the ace of this rotation.

Jair Jurrjens: The rookie right-hander was the lone ray of light in the Braves rotation last year, recording 13 wins and a 3.68 ERA in 188 innings. And it wasn’t fool’s gold. Jurrjens is armed with 4 quality pitches, including a fastball he can run up into the mid-90’s, and an outstanding changeup. Teammates rave about his maturity and “pitch to contact”, ground-ball approach to pitching. Jurrjens also has excellent command. Baseball America named him the best control pitcher in the Detroit Tigers’ organization a couple of years ago. Many in baseball believe that Jurrjens is a young ace in the making, and it appears he may have the tools to prove them right.

Javier Vazquez: In 2007, Vazquez went 15-8 for the White Sox, with a 3.74 ERA and 213 strikeouts over 216 innings. These numbers were reminiscent of the success he enjoyed in Montreal before his move to the AL in 2004. Last year, though he again logged 200 innings and struck out 200 batters, his ERA spiked to 4.68. Vazquez should benefit from escaping the hitter’s paradise of U.S. Cellular Field (and the DH) in favor of a more pitcher-friendly, Turner Field. It has also been suggested that Vazquez may find a greater level of comfort in the NL, under the leadership of Bobby Cox. For these reasons, multiple scouts have stated a belief that Vazquez is poised for a big year in Atlanta.

Kenshin Kawakami: Winner of the Cy Young equivalent, Sawamura Award, Kawakami is a well established star in Japan. He has a career record of 112-72 through 11 seasons, with a 3.32 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and a ratio of 1328 Ks to 351 BBs in 1642.3 IP. His best pitches are a cut fast ball with low 90’s velocity and a knee-buckling slow curve.  The Braves are confident that Kawakami will make a successful transition to Major League Baseball to help anchor the middle of their rotation.

Tom Glavine: Coming off of an injury-riddled season, at age (soon to be) 43, there are more questions surrounding Glavine than any other Braves starter. But if he is in fact healthy, there is plenty of reason to believe that he could still be effective. Before the arm trouble began very early last season, Glavine looked sharp. And despite an unimpressive ERA in 2007, he was actually quite good. Glavine finished the ‘07 season with 23 quality starts, which is territory usually reserved for aces in that category. It was no accident that he won 13 games that year. If his arm is sound, he could provide the Braves with another quality veteran starter. After all, Jamie Moyer (a soft-tossing lefty cut from the same mold as Glavine) is several years older, and still getting outs.

OUTLOOK: Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this Atlanta rotation is its depth. While it features noone of the stature of a Johan Santana or a Jake Peavy, the Braves rotation is 5-deep; loaded with quality arms. This rotation figures to be durable, and should eat a lot of innings, taking a great deal of pressure off of the bullpen. And if by chance a Braves starter should visit the disabled list this season, Tommy Hanson (perhaps the top pitching prospect in all of baseball) is waiting in the wings. The Braves also have other quality alternatives for the rotation, including Jorge Campillo, Charlie Morton and Jo-Jo Reyes.

With plenty of talent and depth, this rotation is a safe bet to be among the league’s best.  What are you expecting out of the staff this season?  Who will surprise and who won’t live up to expectations?

Young Bats Produce, Braves Fall

The Braves kicked off the Grapefruit League season this afternoon with a 5-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers.  Jair Jurrjens made the start for the Braves and allowed 2 earned runs in 2 innings of work on 4 hits.  He escaped potential further damage by getting Carlos Guillen to ground into a double-play to end the first inning.  Not the greatest start for Jurrjens, but it’s still early in the preseason and not much to worry about at this point.  Reyes, O’Flaherty and Perez each allowed an earned run while Acosta and Marek both tacked on an inning of scoreless work.

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the fifth, the Braves proceeded to put 3 unearned runs on the board to tie up the game.  Future first baseman prospect, Freddie Freeman, brought two runs in with a two-out single and Brian McCann also added an RBI in the inning, plating Jordan Schafer.  Jordan also cracked the board later in the game with a leadoff home run in the top of the seventh.

Everyone anxious to see Jeff Francoeur at the plate today will still have to wait to see some performance out of him.  Jeff went 0-for-4, but it’s only the first game.  Most will say you can’t count on much that happened today to be telling as to how the season will go.  These early Spring Training games are where we really should be looking toward the young guys and seeing what they can do.

The Braves open up their home Grapefruit League season at Wide World of Sports tomorrow against the Astros at 1:05pm EST.  Jorge Campillo will take the hill for the Braves, making his campaign for a long relief spot in the bullpen.  Catch the game on ESPN.  So one Spring Training game closer to the season, what’s the good news of the day?

Finally The First Spring Training Game

Today, Jair Jurrjens will step to the mound for the Braves to kick off the Grapefruit League season against his former team at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, FL.  Jurrjens is looking forward to facing off against the Tigers, who traded him to Atlanta in October 2007.  Detroit will be sending Justin Verlander to the mound to start the game.

Also slated to appear for the Braves are Jo-Jo Reyes, Manny Acosta, Stephen Marek and Eric O’Flaherty.  Blaine Boyer was slated to throw an inning today but was scratched after cutting his hand on an apple slicer yesterday.  He is expected to make his next appearance.

Aside from Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson, all of the projected Opening Day starters are making the short trip to the game today.  Those two will likely make their first appearance in the televised game tomorrow afternoon versus the Astros.

The game starts at 1:05 EST and we’ll be doing our best to run a game thread here for the game.  It’s the first one of the season so it’s time to start kicking the rust off and getting back into the swing of things.  What’s everyone looking for in this first game today?  I’ll be happy to see Jurrjens have a solid two innings and no other pitchers get injured in the process; a couple of nice plate appearances from Francoeur would be encouraging as well.

Morton Injured, Preseason Pitchers Announced

Chalk Charlie Morton up as the first pitching casuality of the season for the Braves, something that became all to familiar throughout the 2008 season.  Morton was not likely to have a spot in Atlanta come Opening Day, but this is still a setback for the Braves’ pitchers.  Morton had just completed a bullpen session yesterday that impressed Bobby Cox, but strained a muscle in his side during on of his first few pitches of throwing batting practice.  The severity of the injury has not yet been determined.

Kenshin Kawakami continues to impress in Spring Training, throwing his second batting-practice session yesterday.  After throw mostly fastballs in his first session, Kawakami brought a little more to the table this time around, working in the curveball and cutter.  The amount of solid hitting against him saw a significant drop the second time around and Kawakami’s working to make it clear why he was a star in Japan.  We’ll see him in action for the first time this preseason with his Friday start against the Pirates.

Along that line, Bobby Cox has laid out some of the projected starters for the upcoming Spring Training games.  Here are the starters that have been announced so far:

2/25 – vs. Tigers – Jair Jurrjens
2/26 – vs. Astros – Jorge Campillo, Tommy Hanson
2/27 – vs. Pirates – Kenshin Kawakami
2/28 – vs. Blue Jays – Derek Lowe
3/01 – vs. Phillies – Charlie Morton (Questionable)
3/02 – Intrasquad – Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens
3/03 – vs. Panama – Tommy Hanson 
3/04 – vs. Yankees – Kenshin Kawakami

So things are starting to shape up for the pitchers in Florida and we’re already through our first injury of the preseason.  Let’s hope they are limited.  Who are you excited to get a first look at for the season?  I personally can’t wait to get a look at Tommy Hanson on the ESPN broadcast of the game on Thursday. 

Garret Anderson Signed

After a few weeks of us speculating as to how good of a fit Garret Anderson would be for the Braves, it looks like the deal has been made.  The Braves have reportedly finalized a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the free agent and expect for the announcement to be made tomorrow.  Anderson is en route to Florida to join the squad at Wide World of Sports for Spring Training.

Anderson will likely take on the clean-up role for the Braves, a position in the lineup that he’s quite familiar with.  He had a .293 average last season with 15 homers and 84 RBI; 14 of his 15 home runs came against right-handed pitching.  This may lend itself to the platoon in left field with Matt Diaz that Braves fans have become familiar with over the past couple of seasons.  Anderson has spent all 15 seasons of his career with the Angels.

He could provided some much needed pop to the Braves’ lineup with runners in scoring position, a spot that has struggled in the past.  Last season, he batted .338 with runners in scoring position and .356 in those situations with two outs.  These are the type of moments that make a difference in the one-run losses that Braves fans became brutally familiar with throughout 2008.

I’m still not 100% sure on this decision as just a couple days ago, the front office indicated that they would let the young talent give the outfield a shot, but the deal has been done and we’re ready to add some much needed power to the outfield.  Is it the right decision for the Braves at this point?  Let us know what you think.

Glancing At The Roster

Spring Training is underway and there are many many people in camp working out, throwing, batting, and getting ready for some exhibition games. Since it’s entirely too early to begin looking at the roster slots, let’s do just that. The Braves will start the season with 25 men on their roster – but who will make the final few spots that aren’t known yet? Let’s take a look, stating with position players (13 roster slots)

Definite: Brian McCann, Casey Kotchman, Kelly Johnson, Yunel Escobar, Chipper Jones, Jeff Francoeur, Dave Ross, Greg Norton

Probable: Matt Diaz, Josh Anderson, Martin Prado

That leaves 2 slots open for battle – Gregor Blanco, Brandon Jones, and Jordan Schafer probably battle it out for those 2 positions. We may see some other competitors show up as spring training rolls on – and the mix may be thrown off by a veteran acquisition if the Braves decide to go that route.

And now for the pitching staff (12 roster slots, historically)

Definite: Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, Javier Vazquez, Kenshin Kawakami, Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano, Peter Moylan

Probable: Tom Glavine, Manny Acosta, Blaine Boyer

That leaves, once again, 2 roster slots for which many will compete. I’d argue that Jorge Campillo is likely to land one of them (debate that if you want), leaving Jeff Bennett, Buddy Carlyle, Jeff Ridgway, Boone Logan, Eric O’Flaherty and Phil Stockman to fight it out. The edge may go to the emerging top lefty, but that’s speculation.

Play the role of Bobby Cox for just a bit – if you had to write up your expected 25 man roster now, who makes it and who doesn’t? What considerations would you take into account as you make your decisions?

Early Spring Training Review

Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training last Saturday with the rest of the squad close behind.  The non-roster invitees are getting the chance to meet some of the big leaguers and the young guys have the annual chance to prove that they deserve a spot on the team, either at the start of the season, or down the road when injuries take their toll.  We wanted to take a quick look at what’s going on down at Wide World of Sports since most of this week has been taken up with discussing the last few contract issues the Braves have been working out.

Jair Jurrjens has turned down the opportunity to pitch for his native Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic in the interest of preparing for the 2009 season with the Braves.  With The Netherlands not expected to advance from the first round of competition and the Braves wishing for him to return after his first start, the decision was a little easier for Jurrjens.  Coming off of a surprise season last year that left him as the Braves most productive starter, everyone has high hopes for him in 2009.  This leaves Javier Vazquez as the only Braves pitcher in the Classic, pitching for Puerto Rico.

Chipper Jones and Brian McCann are the only two position players that will be participating in the World Baseball Classic.  Chipper received permission to report to Spring Training early with the pitchers and catchers as he will miss a portion of the preseason.  McCann has the toughest of all though.  With at least three, and potentially four, new pitchers in the Braves’ starting rotation this season, he has a lot to learn to prepare for the season.  With his participation in the Classic, he will miss up to three weeks of Spring Training, but he and the Braves are confident he’ll be ready to go by Opening Day.

Kenshin Kawakami will be the first Japanese player to play for the Braves at a Major League level and he has been soaking in everything that Spring Training brings.  He’s been excited to see his fellow rotation members pitch and eager to show what he’s got as well.  His first couple of sessions throughout the week were mostly to get used to the change in setting and get loosened up and he’s expecting to begin his harder sessions and workouts this week.

Peter Moylan is apparently looking great in camp.  It’s still unknown if he will be ready to go on Opening Day, but he is throwing beyond everyone’s expectations right now, including throwing live batting practice to hitters in Spring Training.  Moylan is recovering from Tommy John surgery on May 8th of last year, a surgery that usually requires a full 12 months for recovery.  My biggest concern is that he takes the time to come back correctly and to not rush anything that might hurt his chance of a full return this season.  Moylan will be a huge asset to the bullpen this year if healthy.

Tommy Hanson has been impressing everyone at camp with his slider.  Hanson is consider one of the top minor league prospects in all of baseball and Bobby Cox continually likens the slider that he throws to that of John Smoltz.  It’s doubtful that we’ll be seeing him in Atlanta at the start of the season, but I have the feeling he will make a few appearances in and out of Atlanta throughout the season.  I expect big things out of this kid down the road.

Jason Heyward is excited to impress as many people as he can this Spring Training.  While likely that he’ll start the season in Rome and probably have the chance to make it up to Mississippi, Heyward is not just another prospect.  At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, Heyward is the Braves’ power-hitting outfielder of the future and plays defense to back it up.  At 19 years old, he still has some development to go through, but as MiLB.com’s 3rd-rated prospect in the game, look for him to be making a name for himself in the upcoming seasons.

Those are the main things that have happened as far as Spring Training has gone so far and we’re expecting a lot more news to come from this week when preseason games get started on Wednesday against the Tigers.  Don’t miss your first chance to catch the Braves on TV this season on Thursday when the Braves take on the Astros at 1:05pm on ESPN.  This week will likely start the competition between Josh Anderson, Gregor Blanco, Jordan Schafer and Brandon Jones to tie up the loose ends for outfield positions this season; I’m sure we’ll have lots of news on that this week.

So what’re the things to watch for this week in Spring Training?  Who do you expect to impress?  Who’s not going to meet expectations?  There’s a lot to be excited about.  It’s Spring Training and it’s time for another baseball season to get underway.

No Griffey….Now What?

We’ve finally settled on it, Griffey’s out of the picture. Where do the Braves go from here? Let’s take a look at the 5 possible left field options (that we’re aware of), counting down in order of likelihood:

5 – Xavier Nady: From a performance standpoint, Nady would be the perfect answer to Atlanta’s need for right-handed power. He hit .305 last season with 25 homers and 97 RBI for the Pirates and Yankees. However, his price tag (both in terms of salary, and talent to be surrendered via trade), a contract that expires at season’s end, and his notoriously hard-driving agent (someone named Boras), make Nady the least likely candidate to fill the Braves Left Field job opening.

4 – Nick Swisher: Swisher is a switch-hitting Yankees slugger who the Braves’ believe could nicely address their outfield power deficiency. Before the Griffey rumors began to percolate, Swisher, who is under contract through 2012, appeared to be the Braves top target. However, it was rumored that they wanted the Yanks to assume 2 million dollars of his annual salary (roughly 5.5 million dollars for 2009).
The Yankees are open to Atlanta’s request, but would require “higher quality prospects” in return, which the Braves are reluctant to yield. Given Atlanta’s recently stated commitment to guarding their best young minor league talent, it doesn’t seem likely that the Braves will meet the Yankees’ asking price for Swisher.

3 – Jim Edmonds: The now 38-year-old Edmonds showed Cubs fans last year that he can still club right-handed pitching. His 19 homers and 54 RBI in 292 at-bats against RHP made his humble .250 batting average VS. righties forgivable. On the flipside, he’s a dollar short of worthless against lefties. In 48 at-bats VS. LHP, he hit .146, with 1 homer and 1 RBI. But his ability to slug against right-handed hurlers makes him a viable platoon partner for the right-handed hitting Matt Diaz. He could also serve as a quality back-up Center-fielder.

I think Edmonds makes a fair amount of sense for Atlanta, and he should fit their budget. That said, there hasn’t been so much as a whisper of Edmonds’ name in connection to the Braves, which causes me to think such a marriage is improbable, but that could change at any moment.

2 – Garret Anderson: The longtime Angels outfielder is likely to play baseball without an “A” on his cap for the first time in 15 years. Or is he?Anderson has lost much of his once considerable power, but he is still a solid big league hitter. With the exception of a modest on-base percentage, Anderson’s 2008 numbers compare very favorably to Griffey’s. He hit .293 last season with 15 homers and 84 RBI.

The left-handed hitting Anderson handles lefties well (.290 vs. lefties last season), however, all but one of his homers came at the expense of right-handed pitching, which makes him another excellent (and affordable) candidate to platoon with Matt Diaz in Left.  We’ve covered more details earlier in the offseason.

1 – Let the kids play: If the Braves aren’t attracted to the remaining external outfield options, it would seem that they’re prepared to play their current hand, and reassess the outfield situation a couple of months into the season. The most likely existing candidates for the two available outfield jobs are left-hand hitting center-fielders, Josh Anderson, and Jordan Schafer.

Josh Anderson is out of minor league options, which means the Braves will either have to add him to the Major League roster, or trade him. If the Braves do not import another outfielder, Anderson will battle Jordan Schafer for the starting Center Field role this spring. The speedy Gregor Blanco may also compete for the job. If Anderson fails to win the full-time position in center, he will likely share playing time with Matt Diaz in Left Field. In 203 big league at-bats (2007/2008), Anderson has a .315 batting average, a .364 on-base percentage, and 11 steals in 13 tries.

Jordan Schafer was once considered the Braves top position prospect before a 50-game suspension for alleged “HGH” use last year, however, his star has not fallen. The Braves sill think quite well of the talented “5-tool prospect”, and reviews of his early work at the Braves Spring Training facilities have been positive.

Whether the Braves ink a free agent outfielder, such as G. Anderson or Edmonds, or let youth movement have a go, Matt Diaz is likely to see the majority of his playing time against left-handed pitching. Over the past three seasons, Diaz has hit .319, .338, and .327 against lefty hurlers.

So… if Frank Wren were to call and ask your advice, what would you tell him? Trade away? Sign an inexpensive veteran? Or let the kids play?

Glavine Reaches Deal With Braves

The AJC is reporting that two people familiar with the negotiations between the Braves and Tom Glavine indicate that a deal has been reached. We’ll hope this is true, though with the way things have gone this offseason, it could mean that Glavine is considering a return to the Los Angeles Kings, where he would have started his hockey career.

But seriously, it looks like Glavine will be back with the Braves for sure this year. He’ll probably get $1M guaranteed and about $3.5M in deferred incentives. He’s probably the favorite for the fifth rotation slot, and he’ll be the only lefty in the Braves’ starting rotation.

He’s not the youngest anymore – and he spent time on the DL last year for the first time in hie career, but Glavine is still a decent pitcher if he can stay healthy. He’s convinced his arm is back in good shape and is expected to join the Braves in camp as early as March 1 and be pitching in exhibition games soon thereafter.

What do you think Glavine brings to the back end of the rotation? Is his arm or experience more important to the Braves this season? Will he stay away from the DL?

Francoeur Signs Contract

Just a day or so before heading to Arizona to have his arbitration hearing, Jeff Francoeur has reached a contract agreement with the Braves.  Now the focus can turn towards Spring Training and bouncing back from the tough season he went through last year, batting only .239 with 11 home runs.  The agreement gives Jeff a base salary of $3.375 million with some small incentives to push the contract a little past $3.4 million.

This is a huge step in the right direction for Francoeur.  I’ve been concerned as the days have passed, and we got closer to the schedule arbitration hearing date, that going to an actual hearing was the last thing that he needed to do for himself, his performance and the team.  Frenchy is no doubt still a little fragile mentally after the tough going he experienced last season, and the process of the arbitration hearing likely would have been damaging to him.  The Braves would have been able to make a strong argument at the hearing for their salary figure, which was $2.8 million, given past performance.  Jeff had requested $3.95 million.

In other contract news, Chipper Jones and the Braves are in the process of negotiating a contract that will keep Chipper in Atlanta for a few more years.  Chipper has always played in Atlanta and only wants to play in Atlanta.  As we discussed earlier on in the offseason, not giving him a new contract to keep him here is not an option.  There are still a lot of details to work through for the soon-to-be 37-year-old third baseman, but at least the front office is making the effort to get talks underway.  Chipper has continued to maintain that he will not discuss a new contract once the season begins.

So the contracts are signed, no one’s headed towards arbitration and we’re one step closer to getting baseball season started for 2009.  Next on the list…..figuring out who is going to fill out the rest of the outfield to give Francoeur a hand.