2009 Atlanta Braves

[Bellsprout]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

We signed Hinske, and we look done for the offseason.

That's all you need. You're going to the World Series now!

Seriously, how has Hinske managed to get himself to the World Series in each of the last 3 years with 3 different teams? Lol.

[Heisman316]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

That's all you need. You're going to the World Series now!

Seriously, how has Hinske managed to get himself to the World Series in each of the last 3 years with 3 different teams? Lol.

Perhaps he's Irish?

IDK, Atlanta needs his luck, and he's better than Greg Norton.

IMO, good signing.

[Speedy]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

he's better than Greg Norton.

It wouldn't have taken much of anything to be better than Greg Norton last year.

[Sportsforever]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

It wouldn't have taken much of anything to be better than Greg Norton last year.

Ya...I was better than Greg Norton last year.

[mattlanta]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Before I head to bed, here's what I think should be our 25-man roster to start the year off...

25-Man Roster

SP Tim Hudson
SP Derek Lowe
SP Jair Jurrjens
SP Tommy Hanson
SP Kenshin Kawakami

LR Kris Medlen
MR Eric O'Flaherty
MR Jesse Chavez
MR Michael Dunn
SU Takashi Saito
SU Peter Moylan
CL Billy Wagner

CA Brian McCann
1B Troy Glaus
2B Martin Prado
3B Chipper Jones
SS Yunel Escobar

LF Matt Diaz
CF Nate McLouth
RF Melky Cabrera

CA David Ross
UT Omar Infante
CIF/COF Eric Hinske
DH Mitch Jones
IF Brooks Conrad

Lineup could look like this...

1. N. McLouth
2. M. Prado
3. C. Jones
4. T. Glaus
5. B. McCann
6. Y. Escobar
7. M. Diaz
8. M. Cabrera
9. (Pitcher)

When Heyward comes up, either Diaz or Cabrera whichever one is better off to the bench and at that time in June, we'll know which of the two that is, will go to the bench as the OF'er and Mitch Jones will go back to AAA. Craig Kimbrel, when ready, will replace either Michael Dunn, Chavez, or O'Flaherty again depending on which one of them is doing the worst.

[KSUowls]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Solid 1-5 when we just got rid of one of the best? I would've said solid if we kept Vazquez but that's not the case. Lowe,Jurrjens,Hudson,Hanson,& Kawakami is a decent rotation but with Javier being gone I fall short of calling it a solid rotation. The way Lowe pitched last season then you can say we have 4 decent starting pitchers really. I believe Lowe is losing it.

The Eric Hinske signing again has me scratching my head. We get another player that we can pay lightly in comparison to somebody else. Another player in the "washed up" category. We LOVE some old farts in that front office.

I didn't like the Glaus signing & don't like the Hinske one either. That's TWO guys probably in their last few seasons of MLB playing for us. Go figure Frank Wren!

JJ is a solid #1 and unless Hanson has a sophomore slump he also has #1 type potential. I don't really think we can complain having 2 anchors for the staff. Lowe appears to be over the hill, but still not a bad #3 guy. Hudson is still a bit iffy since this will be his first full season since that injury, but he looked pretty good in limited action. Certainly as much as you could hope for from a #3/#4 guy.

I liked the Glaus signing. It doesn't do much for the future, but for one year (Bobby's last) hopefully it will yield some results

[mattlanta]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

JJ is a solid #1 and unless Hanson has a sophomore slump he also has #1 type potential. I don't really think we can complain having 2 anchors for the staff. Lowe appears to be over the hill, but still not a bad #3 guy. Hudson is still a bit iffy since this will be his first full season since that injury, but he looked pretty good in limited action. Certainly as much as you could hope for from a #3/#4 guy.

I liked the Glaus signing. It doesn't do much for the future, but for one year (Bobby's last) hopefully it will yield some results

I think Tim Hudson will start off as our season opening pitcher. Jair Jurrjens may or may not be the #2, but it really doesn't matter after the #1 or #5 spot. Hanson won't be the #1 just because we don't want him to have too much of an innings boost because of obvious reasons.

Tim Hudson
Derek Lowe
Jair Jurrjens
Tommy Hanson
Kenshin Kawakami

...is what my rotation would look like.

[mattlanta]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

I was talking about this in another thread, but I'll bring the discussion over here instead... imagine if all of our prospects were to pan out to their max potential. Our team makeup would look like this:

SP Tommy Hanson
SP Jair Jurrjens
SP Arodys Vizcaino
SP Julio Teheran
SP Randall Delgado

CA Brian McCann
1B Freddie Freeman
2B Martin Prado
3B Yunel Escobar
SS Brandon Hicks

LF Cody Johnson
CF Jordan Schafer
RF Jason Heyward

Maybe our lineup would look like this:

1. Schafer
2. Escobar
3. Heyward
4. C. Johnson
5. Freeman
6. McCann
7. Prado
8. Hicks

[Speedy]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Johnson has some serious power but it's pretty much all or nothing w/him.

Hicks has a lot of minor league time ahead of him as he only hit .230 something w/nearly 30 errors.

Freeman & Heyward I'm really licking my chops over; I really hope to see a couple of prospects establish themselves in the bullpen b/c that's a hole I see upcoming.

[mattlanta]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Johnson has some serious power but it's pretty much all or nothing w/him.

Hicks has a lot of minor league time ahead of him as he only hit .230 something w/nearly 30 errors.

Freeman & Heyward I'm really licking my chops over; I really hope to see a couple of prospects establish themselves in the bullpen b/c that's a hole I see upcoming.

We have Craig Kimbrel, who has closer potential, Kris Medlen, Luis Valdez, and Michael Dunn.That's not exactly a bad batch of minor league relievers. No one really relies on their prospects mainly for their bullpen either.

[Speedy]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Kimbrel definately has some talent but also has a lack of control; I think he averaged about 6-8 BBs per nine.

[Jgainsey]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Solid 1-5 when we just got rid of one of the best? I would've said solid if we kept Vazquez but that's not the case. Lowe,Jurrjens,Hudson,Hanson,& Kawakami is a decent rotation but with Javier being gone I fall short of calling it a solid rotation. The way Lowe pitched last season then you can say we have 4 decent starting pitchers really. I believe Lowe is losing it.

The Eric Hinske signing again has me scratching my head. We get another player that we can pay lightly in comparison to somebody else. Another player in the "washed up" category. We LOVE some old farts in that front office.

I didn't like the Glaus signing & don't like the Hinske one either. That's TWO guys probably in their last few seasons of MLB playing for us. Go figure Frank Wren!

I guess you definition of 'solid' is different than mine. If we had held on to Javy we easily would've had the best rotation in our division if not the entire National League. Even with out Javy, we still have 3 guys(Hudson, Jurrjens, Hanson) that aren't quite full fledged aces, but are all capable up putting up ace like numbers every time they step on the mound. Then there's Lowe, who will more than likely improve on one of his worst seasons, and at the very least, he'll be a durable innings eater. After that you have Kawakami in the five hole, who after a year of getting used to a new league, should probably improve on his decent numbers from '09.

If that's not a solid rotation, I don't know what is.

[mattlanta]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Kimbrel definately has some talent but also has a lack of control; I think he averaged about 6-8 BBs per nine.

That's why he's not ready for the majors. You expect that from young pitchers with electric arms. They don't know how to control it yet, but when they do, watch out.

[mattlanta]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

I guess you definition of 'solid' is different than mine. If we had held on to Javy we easily would've had the best rotation in our division if not the entire National League. Even with out Javy, we still have 3 guys(Hudson, Jurrjens, Hanson) that aren't quite full fledged aces, but are all capable up putting up ace like numbers every time they step on the mound. Then there's Lowe, who will more than likely improve on one of his worst seasons, and at the very least, he'll be a durable innings eater. After that you have Kawakami in the five hole, who after a year of getting used to a new league, should probably improve on his decent numbers from '09.

If that's not a solid rotation, I don't know what is.

+1

Compared to last year's rotation of:

Lowe (overpaid veteran?)
Vazquez (questionable coming into the season)
Jurrjens (sophomore slump?)
Kawakami (will struggle with his transition from Japan?)
Reyes (AAAA player for life?)

and throw in Glavine...

Ours right now is better than it was last year going into the season.

[jt45]

Re: 2009 Atlanta Braves

Apparently, Damon's price has come down and Atlanta is still very much in the mix according to Dave O'Brien. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/0...nny-damon.html