Who’s Ready For Baseball?

It seems hardly fitting that today is the first Spring Training game for the Braves.  I’m sitting here staring out the window in Atlanta to a very gray day outside and watching my car slowly get covered in snow.  I’ve lived in Atlanta for 9 years and it has snowed maybe 3 times since I’ve been here, but I’m pretty sure this is the 5th significant snow this winter.  That’s all irrelevant for the most part however.

In a couple of hours, the Braves are scheduled to take the field for their opening Grapefruit League game against the Mets.  It’s mid-60s there, slight chance of rain, but nevertheless, it’s time for baseball.

So here’s where we are and what we’ve learned thus far in Spring Training:

Jason Heyward hits bombs. We’ve heard it plenty from every news source covering the Braves (and a number that really aren’t).  Parking lots.  New nets to protect cars.  We get it.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m pumped to see this kid play, but I’m just ready to see how he handles live pitching.  Batting practice is one thing, but I have no doubts that he can bring it at a big league level.

Jair Jurrjens is okay. It’ll be a few days before his pitch counts start to increase again, but all indications are that Jurrjens will be okay in the long run.  I’d much rather the training staff takes their time with him and keeps him healthy down the stretch this season.

Derek Lowe is the opening day starter.  I’m not terribly sure I agree with this, but it’s a showing of confidence from Bobby Cox so I can accept it.  Any situation where Tim Hudson is your number four starter…..I’m okay with it.  I’ve heard a little distaste about that fact, but seriously, step back and look at it.  If this rotation is healthy, it’s stacked.

The games don’t matter. So maybe we haven’t really learned this one in Spring Training, but it’s just a reminder to everyone that the outcome of Spring Training games isn’t the real thing we should be looking at during this time of year.  Keep your eye on individual performances, watch the young guys get the chance to show off a little, and get pumped up for baseball to get started back up at the Ted.

So that’s that, Braves vs. Mets at 1pm today.  Tommy Hanson will throw a couple of innings and I’m looking for another big season out of him.  What are you looking at in Spring Training?  Young guys?  Old guys trying to regain form?  Either way, it’s time for baseball.

Braves Beat Mets In Opener

I hate to be the guy who says it, but we’re all thinking it: Finally, the Braves benefitted from every at-bat Jeff Francoeur had.

Don’t get me wrong – I like the guy – but I am glad he’s not hacking away for our team as we’re trying to take a crucial series from the Mets. This first few series after the All-Star Break are important. This one, particularly so. After a polite and well-deserved ovation, Francoeur hit into a double play on the first pitch – vintage Francoeur. There’s a microcosm of his career with the Braves – we love him, but he hacks and gets out. He went 0-4 on the night.

The real story is Chipper’s continued dominance of the Mets – he poked a go-ahead RBI single through the infield to give the Braves a lead they wouldn’t give back. Lowe pitched an excellent game, the bullpen was great, and the Braves took home the first game of the series.

Now it’s time to do it again – we need to take this series!

Braves’ Pitching Abounds

The Braves starting pitching continues to excel this season – and while Frank Wren searches for some more offense to back up the staff, the Braves are not lacking in starting pitching depth.

Derek Lowe is 6-3 with a 3.49 ERA (8 quality starts), Jair Jurrjens is 5-2 with a beautiful 2.59 ERA (7 quality starts), and Javier Vazquez is doing ok – he has an even 4-4 record with a 3.58 ERA (7 quality starts). Behind that, Kenshin Kawakami appears to be struggling at 3-6 with a 4.73 ERA, but you’d be having trouble too if you only got an average of 1.7 runs scored per game when you were pitching. With such lousy run support, it’s a wonder Kawakami has three wins.

Glavine is ready to come to Atlanta and start. Whether or not he’ll be good, we’ll see. He’s ready though. Kris Medlen had two rough starts but was great in his last start as he struck out nine in six innings of work. He may just have a chance to stick around and prove he has the stuff he needs to excel in the majors. And of course we have Tommy Hanson honing his skills in Gwinnett, waiting to make the 45 minute drive south and show us his stuff. Oh, and Tim Hudson is on track for a return in August or September.

So what happens now? We’ve got Tommy ready to pitch, Medlen to give some playing time to, Hanson to fit in, and 2 pitchers that are doing alright.

I think the odd man out, interestingly enough, is Javier Vazquez. He has a high strikeout rate, but the Braves give him the most run support while he’s on the mound (5.5 runs per game) and yet he’s only 4-4 – and the Braves are only .455 when he gets the ball. To give you an idea of how bad that is, the Braves are .400 with Jo-Jo Reyes starting. Kawakami needs more run support, but with that run support he’ll likely be much better. He could end up being the odd man out too.

Who’s the odd man out? What does our rotation/bullpen look like at the end of the year?

Lowe Outduels Santana, Braves Win

This is why we signed Derek Lowe.

While the Braves’ offense faced Johan Santana, Lowe went to the mound in the brand new Citi Field to ensure the Mets continued the trend of offering Santana little or no run support. Santana, for his part, was very good – he held the Braves to seven hits and two unearned runs in 6 1/3 innings. But the Braves’ offense backed Lowe’s great start with enough productivity to take advantage of the Mets’ errors. What was a tie game turned into an 8-3 win for the Braves – and Lowe improved to 5-1 on the year.

Santana has had some bad luck against the Braves. Despite being arguably the best pitcher in baseball, he’s 0-4 against the Braves in six starts (Braves have won 5 out of 6). The Mets are paying Santana a LOT of money and though he’s been effective, he’s not walking off with the win against the Bravos. After yesterday’s outing, Santana’s ERA is a ridiculous 0.78, by the way. Interesting tidbit: The Braves are the only team in baseball Santana has faced without winning.

This is why Derek Lowe is the ace of the staff – he’s a big game pitcher. “I love facing guys like that – especially Santana,” Lowe said, “He’s going to beat you more than you beat him. But it’s fun to pitch in those games, when every pitch could be the game.”

Interestingly enough, Lowe offered some high praise after the game for Jair Jurrjens. “We have our best pitcher going tomorrow,” Lowe said – referring to the young Curacao native. I’ll also point out that New York’s beloved “Larrrry” was sitting out of last night’s game.

Star of the road trip: The Braves are 5-1 on this 8 game road trip so far, and you have to pin a lot of it on Casey Kotchman, who has 10 RBI in the past 5 games. Kotchman is hitting the ball well and showing us why the Braves thought he’d be a good fit at first base.

Braves at Nationals, Game 1

Derek Lowe takes on the Nationals tonight as their #1 prospect Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound in his major league debut. The Braves have lost six in a row in Washington and need a series win after losing five of their last six this season. The Nationals have done some roster shuffling recently after a dismal 1-10 start to the season – so Braves fans, remember it could always be worse.

Brian McCann is out of the lineup tonight as he’s still experiencing some eye dryness. He may need lasik surgery before he can return – hopefully that’s not the case. Either way, good thing Dave Ross got healthy just in time for this. Fortunately Chipper should play tonight – the Braves are a much better team when opposing pitchers have to think about pitching around him.

The Braves need to step it up and take at least 2 out of 3 from the Nationals. They’re an easy team to take it from – and we need to be back on track soon so we don’t fall behind early in the season. Hopefully our bullpen is less sucky without Blaine Boyer.

DLowe, Braves Fall To Marlins

Derek Lowe didn’t start the night off in a good way. Two walks, two pitches in the dirt (one wild pitch), and one run given up before the Braves came up to bat. Fortunately, Kelly Johnson led off with a triple and scored in the bottom of the first. Similarly, when Lowe gave up 3 runs in the top of the 5th, the Braves answered with three.

But let’s be honest, if your bullpen gives up six runs (5 in the 9th inning), chances are you’re sunk, no matter what happened in the first five innings. Rafael Soriano and Eric O’Flaherty were the only good spots for the Braves – Soriano pitched a perfect 8th inning and O’Flaherty struck out his only charge. Peter Moylan struggled (needed to get that ERA back above 20.00), Blaine Boyer couldn’t find the plate (seriously – he had no clue where it was) and Jorge Campillo had to come in and close the game out in the bottom of the 9th. If we were the Yankees, we’d have sent in Nick Swisher to pitch at that point.

In the end, we lost 10-4. Not even close. The bullpen’s gotta work these jitters out – last year I got so sick of one run games – this year I am going to get mad even faster if we continue to give up six runs every time our bullpen shows up. An ERA of 7.00 from our bullpen is hardly anywhere near acceptable.

Oh, and by the way – if you’re heading out to the game – grab a few layers. It gets downright COLD at night with the wind blowing.

Lowe v. Miller, Chipper Sits

Derek Lowe takes the mound tonight for the Braves as they take on the Florida Marlins and Andrew Miller. They look to bounce back from last night’s 5-1 loss, but they’ll have to do it without Chipper Jones, who is sitting with a thumb injury. We’ll update this live from the game, so check back frequently for updates!

Even though Jonathan and I are going to be at the game tonight, feel free to use the chat room and comment thread to offer your opinions and insight on the game.

The Good News and the Bad News From Philly

Well, that sucked, didn’t it?! Sure, the Braves achieved their goal of winning the series in Philly. Still… that Wednesday loss stings. Badly. It was punch to the gut. No… that’s not strong enough. It was a kick to the groin. With a size-15 steel-toed boot.

This was a disgusting loss. Sickening. It was all I could do not to throw the remote through the living room window. Part of me feels that Blaine Boyer and Jorge Campillo should take turns beating the #$@%^ out of each other just to make peace with the universe after that pathetic display. (Moylan must be forgiven, under the circumstances. It was, after all, his very first appearance since undergoing Tommy John surgery).

That’s the bad news.

But despite the physical illness all Braves fans no doubt share after Wednesday’s bullpen meltdown, there is good news to report after this opening series. A LOT of good news, actually.

Here are some things Braves fans can take away from this opening series in Phili:

• Derek Lowe looks like he’s up for the challenge of being the new Atlanta “Ace”.
• Jair Jurrjens was very good in his start, and Javier Vazquez was solid against a tough lineup in a hitter’s park. 
• Though he got off to shaky start, Mike Gonzalez settled in and closed the door in game one. He then breezed his way through hitters in game two. And Rafeal Soriano was excellent in his first appearance of the season on Tuesday. Back end of the pen looks solid. 
• Brian McCann appears to be locked in, and could be headed toward a big season. 
• Chipper Jones looks like he’s ready to make good on his promise to hit a few more into the seats this year (that is, when he’s in the lineup). 
• How about that KID?!! There’s a long way to go, but Jordan Schafer has given us reason to think he might turn out to be a legitimate Rookie of the Year Award candidate. 
• Yunel Escobar (who may have been robbed of a homerun on Tuesday) is showing some nice pop in his bat early. 
• Jeff Francoeur’s game-one homer, and solid RBI single up the middle on Wednesday provide further evidence that he’s back on track. 

The Braves’ offensive depth and balance was on display, proving that there are no coffee breaks in this lineup for opposing pitchers. Every single member of this lineup is a quality, professional hitter – with at least moderate power – who can hurt you. I’m not sure there’s another lineup in the league that can say the same.

And oh yeah… I suppose it is good news that the Braves did, after all, win the series on the road, even if they did throw away a sweep that was all but in their pocket.

And there’s more good news for the Braves… in the form of bad news for the Phillies. It is quite clear that the defending champs have starting pitching problems. There is a lack of depth in the Philadelphia rotation that will go from apparent to neon-lights if Cole Hamels misses any more time this season.

But the Phils aren’t alone. There is also some doubt surrounding the depth and quality of the New York Mets’ rotation, after Johan Santana. Doubts that Mets’ #2 starter, Mike Pelfrey, did nothing to alleviate Wednesday night with a lackluster performance in Cincinnati.

There are no perfect teams in the NL East. Each team has potential problems areas. Many expected offense to be a weak link in Atlanta’s game. But after getting a live look at this Braves lineup; after seeing the kinds of swings Jeff Francoeur is putting on the ball; after seeing the kind of talent (offensive and defensive) they now have roaming Center Field; and after seeing the depth and balance of this lineup… I’m not buying the notion that Atlanta is offensively challenged. I think this lineup is going to be a strength for the Braves. And decidedly so.

The offense looks good. The back end of the bullpen looks good. And unlike their two most talked about division rivals, the Braves appear rich – or at least reasonably well off – when it comes to starting pitching. That leaves middle-relief as the only apparent pothole on the post-season highway.

My point is this: If the Braves do indeed have a middle-relief problem… then they have a better problem than the one potentially facing the Mets and/or Phillies.

A middle-relief sized crack in the hull is a helluva lot easier to repair than a starting pitching sized gorge. And the Braves certainly have the trading chips, should they find it necessary to bolster the middle of their ‘pen. Also, it should be noted that, in addition to the Mets’ starting pitching challenges, they too have unanswered questions where their middle-relief is concerned. 

In short, despite a game-three finish that drove me into a frenzied fit of profanity reminiscent of the furnace-fighting scene in A Christmas Story, I’ve seen enough to earnestly say… “I like the Braves chances this year.”

How about you? Good news? Bad news? Whaddya think of this team after watching them play the champs up in Philly?

Braves Baseball Is Back!

It’s far too late for me to write a game recap (forgive me, I was in Phoenix last night watching the game from a crappy hotel room) – but I do want to throw together some thoughts I had last night during the game. Please feel free to add your own, argue with mine, or just sit there and read this complacently before moving on to another website.

Derek Lowe Is Solid

He’s not going to wow us every night with heaters – he’s not the typical power pitcher ace most people think of – but he’s a very solid, methodical pitcher who is going to give us quality start after quality start. And when he’s on – like he was last night – he can be very, very good.

Francoeur Will Be Back

You saw Francoeur’s line drive home run last night – he’s going to hit the ball hard night after night this year. Once he gets more used to his stance, we’ll see more power forthcoming – but I’ll take the Francoeur we saw last night. That said, he needs to work on his throw from the right field corner to third. He’s got a reputation to keep.

Jordan Schafer Is Fast

Did you see how fast he cleared the bases after his homerun? What about when he almost ran over Kelly Johnson who was taking a couple steps back to field a fly ball in short right center? The guy has legs. What a night for his first game – a single, an intentional walk and finally a strikeout that made him look silly. I think we’ll see some good stuff from Jordan this year – I’m certainly looking forward to it.

The Braves Looked Good

Lowe pitched well. Schafer showed us a little bit of what he can do. Francoeur looks good. But let’s not forget Chipper – who did what Chipper does – stroking balls comfortably the other way. Yunel almost knocked a homer of his own. Kotchman showed us some defense. McCann crushed a ball that almost landed in another state. Gonzo came out of the bullpen with (a little too much) energy – but once he gets that under control he’ll be the dominant closer he is. When all was said and done, Lowe had an 8 inning, two-hit performance and the Braves beat the Phillies 4-1.

For the first time this season, New York Mets fans cheered for the Braves. And when the Mets played today, Braves fans cheered for the Reds. It’s baseball season, folks. It’s back, and so are the Braves. Now we just have to prove that to the rest of the baseball.

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?

Pitchers & Catchers Report!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s baseball season. Pitchers and catchers report today and begin their official workouts tomorrow. Several players have already been around working out and throwing – Brian McCann, Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami among them.

Kawakami is followed, of course, by the Japanese media as he was one of Japan’s star pitchers. It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts to American baseball as other Japenese pitchers have had mixed results switching leagues. Javier Vazquez will also be switching leagues – though only from the AL to the NL.

It’s not yet known if Tom Glavine will be the fifth starter or on the roster at all, but his talks with the Braves recently resulted in an increased amount of deferred money, bringing his offer to $1M this year and $3M in incentives that would be paid over the next few years. I think this is more along the lines of what Glavine was looking for and we’re likely to see him sign soon. Keep in mind that’s my opinion.

Brian McCann is in camp ready to take the first pitch as workouts begin tomorrow. Dave Ross, the Braves’ new backup catcher, and Clint Sammons will battle it out for the backup spot, but Ross will almost certainly land the slot barring something unforseen.

The rest of the squad starts spring training Wednesday, but to me, this is the first day of the baseball season. Go Braves – let’s take no prisoners and grind out a great season!

State of the Rotation

With just a few weeks left until the beginning of the 2009 spring training season, the Braves still have a few questions that need to be answered. The rotation is pretty much set (unless something crazy and unexpected happens in the next couple of weeks) and seven out of the eight fielding spots are set. We signed a back-up catcher in David Ross, who, with a .222 career batting average, is a huge upgrade over the backup catchers we’ve had the past few seasons.

Other signings obviously include Derek Lowe (Starting Pitcher), Kenshin Kawakami (SP), Omar Infante (2-year deal, IF util) and Greg Norton (PH). Omar Infante’s signing is very important because it gives us a legit utility guy that can play all eight positions and could probably pitch if you asked him to (….maybe not). Greg Norton gives us a great late game hitting threat and a guy that can play the outfield and first base in a spot start situation…he could probably pitch too…

Finally the signing of Derek Lowe, while ridiculous and criticized by many, gives us a light in one of the darkest off-seasons we have had. Lowe may not be the savior we were looking for in Jake Peavy, but there’s one major difference between the two: Lowe wants to be here. Yes, he is making 60 million over the next four years, but with the same money Peavy would not have been willing to be “the guy” and really did not want to be here even with the same money. Plus, I am of the mind that Peavy would have been more of a Mike Hampton than Lowe is with his elbow troubles. Lowe has pitched at least 30 times every year since his first year as a starter in 2002.

So with the rotation looking like it is, the Braves may have one of the better rotations in the league, far better than last year’s potential rotation of John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Tim Hudson, Mike Hampton and Jair Jurrjens. This year’s looks like: Lowe, Kawakami, Javier Vazquez, Jurrjens and a slew of young talent headed by Morton, Reyes, Campillo and Hanson at the five spot.

Here’s the thing though, last season the Braves went into the season unsure about a lot on their pitching staff: Will Smoltz’s shoulder hold up throughout the season? Will Hampton actually throw an official pitch? Will Glavine have anything left after the meltdown in New York the prior season? Obviously the answer to the first question was no. Mike Hampton did throw a pitch, but too little too late. And Glavine barely made it into the summer before he landed on the DL for the first time for a pitching-related injury when he tore the flexor tendon in his left elbow. Tim Hudson, the most durable of the bunch, was not willing to disappoint the Braves by breaking the string of injuries to starting pitchers (seriously guys, I’m pretty sure ALL of the starters we used last year got hurt in some capacity, Smoltz, Glavine and Hampton are obvious, Jeff Bennett was out, Chuck James was shut down early as well and Jurrjens had that freak injury falling down the dugout steps in Chicago).

Should the Braves have the benefit of making the postseason this year, they will have one of the most dominant three or four man rotations with Lowe, Hudson, Jurrjens and Kawakami/Vazquez.

Here’s a numbers breakdown of the starters with respect to last season and their careers:

• Derek Lowe – 2008 – 34 starts, 14-11, 211 IP, 3.24 ERA, 147 Ks, Career – 255 starts, 533 appearances, 126-107, 85 saves, 1275 Ks, 3.75 ERA

• Kenshin Kawakami – spent 10 seasons in Japan, seven of which he pitched over 160 innings – 2008 – 16 starts, 20 appearances, 9-5, 117 IP, 2.30 ERA, 112 Ks, Career – 231 games, 106-62, 1201 Ks, 3.17 ERA

• Javier Vazquez – 2008 – 33 starts, 12-16, 208 IP, 4.67 ERA, 200 Ks, Career – 353 starts, 127-129, 2015 Ks, 4.32 ERA

• Jair Jurrjens – 2008 – 31 starts, 13-10, 188 IP, 3.68 ERA, 152 Ks.