Second Round of Cuts, Javy Retires

Written by Colin on March 22, 2008 – 7:11 pm

The Braves cut Javy Lopez and six other players today from their Spring Training roster, prompting Javy to announce his retirement and end his comeback bid.  Bobby Cox revealed that Javy lost the battle for the backup catcher position because his arm wasn’t strong enough.  Cox spoke with the catcher about starting the season in the minors, but Javy decided against it and announced his retirement.

Fans will be disappointed to see Javy go - his seasons in the late 90s with Atlanta will be remembered as his prime, when he consistently made the All Star team and put together a reputation based on his offensive firepower.  He’ll retire with a .287 average, 260 home runs, and 864 RBIs.  Javy, thanks for the great seasons from 1992 through 2003.

Also cut from the roster today were outfield prospect Jordan Schafer, Brandon Jones, Ryan Drese, Jorge Campillo, Francisley Bueno, and of course the woeful Jo-Jo Reyes.  None of these are very surprising - they all need more work before they can compete at the big league level.  We’ll hope the bad spring won’t discourage Jo-Jo Reyes, who has potential but cannot for the life of him put together a decent string of outings.  We’ll see Schafer here next year (or towards the end of the year) for sure.  Brandon Jones is talented but needs more patience at the plate before he’s ready.

On we move through spring training - we’ll have more on cuts as they come.


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Posted in Roster Moves |

Drese Sinks Braves vs. Tribe

Written by Jonathan on March 22, 2008 – 7:05 pm

For most of the day Friday, the Braves pitching staff looked solid.  Using a strong start by Jeff Bennett (in substitution for John Smoltz) and two hitless innings from Blaine Boyer to finish the game, the Braves allowed only 4 hits and 0 runs in 8 innings of work.  Unfortunately for the Braves, all 9 innings count.

That other inning of work for th Braves went to Ryan Drese who struggled to find control for his entire outing.  Facing 11 batters in his one inning, Drese issued 6 walks, 1 hit and 6 earned runs, creating the 6-4 loss for the Braves.  At one point, Drese issued 5 consecutive walks, certainly cementing his place in the minor leagues to start the season.

In a game of few highlights for the Braves, Jeff Francoeur looks to have bounced back from being beaned in the face early in the week, going 2-3 and scoring a run.  As we enter the last week of the preseason, it’s good to see everyone getting into regular season form.


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Posted in Game Analysis |

Braves 5, Tigers 4

Written by Jonathan on March 7, 2008 – 10:53 am

The Braves held off a late push from the Tigers yesterday afternoon to land a 5-4 victory, pushing their preseason record to 6-2.  Tom Glavine made his second start of the preseason for the Braves, yielding 2 runs on 4 hits.  Glavine handed the ball over to Ryan Drese to close out the third inning.  Drese faced 5 batters through the 3rd and 4th innings, issuing only 1 hit and gaining himself the win for the game.

Dontrelle Willis took the hill for the Tigers, pitching 3 solid innings, issuing only 2 hits and striking out 3.  Armando Galarraga replaced Willis at the start of the 4th inning and, through the next 2 innings, was accountable for all 5 of the Braves runs on the day.  The Braves took advantage of the 3 walks issued by Galarraga and doubles by Yunel Escobar and Joe Borchard to paste 5 runs on the board in the 5th inning.  Escobar was 2-3 on the day with 3 RBIs, increasing his preseason batting average to .500.

The Braves held the 5-2 lead into the 8th inning, when Braves pitcher Damian Moss gave up 2 runs on 3 hits before closing out the game and obtaining the save.  Zach Schreiber also contributed 2 innings of scoreless pitching for the Braves.  The Braves face off against the Tigers once again today when Mike Hampton takes the mound against Tigers veteran, Kenny Rogers.


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Posted in Game Analysis |

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