Worst kind of fan. when NCSU sucks to you start to pull for UNC?

1/9/2009 1:09:35 PM

Dude's an alias, don't waste your time

1/9/2009 2:30:47 PM

signed Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami. looks like a solid signing... his stats in Japan were MUCH like Hiroki Kuroda's prior to coming to MLB.

for the record, i really like the vazquez and kawakami additions, but to make them effective, we still need an ace.

in related news, we're very close to signing lowe. he's a #2 i believe, but one of the best #2s out there. i've always thought he was the second best pitcher in FA this season after sabathia.

lowe
vaz
jurrjens
kawakami
morton/campillo/hanson

hudson [after he returns]
lowe
vaz
jurrjens
kawakami/morton/campillo/hanson

not a fantastic looking rotation, but i'm sure there have been worse that won a significant amount of games. i'm not calling the division title, but the outlook at least looks a little better than a couple of weeks ago. i'd say we duke it out with the marlins for 3rd. however, we were only 5 GB last year deep into the season before injuries really hit our rotation (smoltz, glavine, hudson, hampton as usual), so we might surprise. especially if francouer isn't an automatic out (i'm not singling him out, but he was a complete failure in 08... even if he's mediocre he'll be a tremendous improvement).

losing smoltz hurts us all, but turning right around and signing lowe is probably THE best thing that could immediately be done.

1/11/2009 12:06:20 PM

FYI

Game 7 of the 1991 World Series is coming on ESPN Classic tomorrow night at 8:00. The game will obviously bring back some bad memories, but I personally am excited about seeing some of the old guys.

1/11/2009 4:19:06 PM

Braves sign Lowe to 4 year $60 million deal.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/01/13/braves_lowe.html

1/13/2009 11:09:36 AM

That's a pretty big contract for a 36 year-old pitcher

I like it, though. Maybe we can find some offense and actually make a run at something this year.

1/13/2009 11:13:16 AM

Fucking Boras. Now the Mets are going to HAVE to overpay for Ollie Perez. At least he's younger, lefthanded and kills our rivals... but still, I wanted Lowe.

1/13/2009 11:42:59 AM

Lowe is a great pickup just for the innings he will chew up alone

1/13/2009 3:25:24 PM

I really wish Huddy wasn't hurt. That and another OF bat to hit like 4-5 would be nice. Jermaine Dye? Is anybody still out there?

1/13/2009 11:15:09 PM

Braves landing Lowe - that can only help if he stays healthy ! What does their starting rotation look like now ?

1/14/2009 10:14:35 AM

It looks a lot like the third post on the page

1/14/2009 10:16:47 AM

OK I admittedly don't know some of those guys. How are you feeling that rotation will do this year Ernie ?

1/14/2009 10:39:34 AM

If healthy, they couldn't do much worse than last year's staff. Lowe, Vaz, and Jurrjens should all be good for 200+ innings. I don't know anything about this Kawakami guy, but I like our young guys a lot, especially Hanson. It probably won't be the best rotation in the league, but it's a better than expected stop gap for a year. Unfortunately, we aren't going to score any runs to support these guys.

1/14/2009 10:48:30 AM

I heard the Braves lost there TBS contract, is this just a rumor?

1/14/2009 11:27:18 AM

Are you serious?

That happened before last season

1/14/2009 1:01:59 PM

Quote :

"That and another OF bat to hit like 4-5 would be nice. Jermaine Dye? Is anybody still out there?"

manny... i'm just sayin

1/14/2009 3:07:53 PM

Even though he is a head case and all I think he would do well in atl. I would still take him in pinstripes too

1/14/2009 3:26:37 PM

I are always serious

1/14/2009 4:19:47 PM

It's exactly one month until our quest to rule the shitter begins.

1/25/2009 3:08:20 PM

can anyone give me a projected lineup and rotation?

1/27/2009 8:55:49 AM

It gets kinda tricky around the 5 hole. Depends on if Francoeur/Diaz are worth a shit.


1. R SS Escobar
2. L 2B Johnson
3. S 3B Jones
4. L C McCann
5. R LF Diaz
6. L 1B Kotchman
7. R RF Francoeur
8. L CF Anderson
9. Pitcher

1. R Lowe
2. R Vazquez
3. R Jurrjens
4. R Kawakami
5. Campillo/Glavine/Parr/Morton/Reyes/Bennett


This is just my guess... you could bump anderson up to 2 and johnson down somewhere I guess since anderson should have a little more speed

[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 7:08 PM. Reason : we need a lefty... durrrr harrison]

1/27/2009 7:04:48 PM

Don't forget Tommy Hanson

What's the deal with Glavine, anyway? Is he going to get an invite to ST?

1/27/2009 7:10:24 PM

The article on the Braves website says Frenchy has changed his approach to hitting and will be batting cleanup this year.

1/27/2009 11:12:47 PM

That would be awesome. Really need a RH hitter with some power in the OF, but who really knows with Francoeur. Also, if he can be the 4-5 hitter that we need him to be, that leaves money to lock up Glavine who is apparently healthy and can be ready by spring training.

1/27/2009 11:56:37 PM

Quote :

"Frenchy has changed his approach to hitting and will be batting cleanup this year."

In Richmond?

1/28/2009 12:28:00 AM

Ernie bringing the funny.

But seriously, the article had Chipper stating Francouer has adjusted his stance and is mashing the ball to both fields. Sounds optimistic so we'll see if it translates.

1/28/2009 8:10:14 AM

^^I almost made that same joke when I read that.

Francoeur literally can't get much worse than he has been. He could change it to batting left-handed and standing on one foot and his OPS would probably go up from last season. Owing to our lack of depth at the position, I'm still willing to give him another chance, but if he's batting .220 after the first month of the season again, I say bench him.

1/28/2009 2:04:12 PM

Quote :

"I think we can avoid arbitration with Kotchman"

Quote :

"The Braves avoided going to arbitration with Casey Kotchman when they signed the first baseman to a one-year, $2.885 million contract Saturday. It was near the midpoint of salary figures exchanged by the team and Kotchman, who hit .272 with 14 homers and 74 RBI in 143 games last season for the Braves and the Los Angeles Angels."

2/2/2009 4:37:39 PM

The Braves offered Glavine a contract between $1-2 mil.

2/8/2009 1:06:28 PM

Andruw signed a minor league deal with the Rangers for $500k

2/8/2009 5:35:08 PM

my heart skipped a beat for a second between the first and 3rd to last words of your post

[Edited on February 8, 2009 at 5:43 PM. Reason : ]

2/8/2009 5:42:57 PM

I would take Andruw at that contract and price. Just in case he got in shape and was still a .250, 30 HR guy who could play pretty solid defense.

2/8/2009 5:45:48 PM

braves are apparently in the mix for griffey

2/14/2009 5:07:04 PM

cool

2/14/2009 8:22:41 PM

yes they are. i heard them talking about it on the radio a few days ago. i hope this will be where he stays

2/14/2009 8:25:48 PM

2/14/2009 8:51:55 PM

What happened to the Braves going after Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady?

2/15/2009 8:45:15 AM

yankees probably want too much, i don't blame the braves for not going that route.

nady has one year left on his contract AND is a boras client.

swisher is OK, but he has 3 years (+team option) left on his contract, but it escalates to the point where it doesn't merit the amount given the numbers he puts up (09:$5.3M, 10:$6.75M, 11:$9M,
12:$10.25M club option ($1M buyout)).



griffey isn't a bad option, and would likely form a solid LH/RH platoon with diaz in LF. consider this:
diaz OPS's 869 v LHP and 706 v RHP (using career #s since he hasn't been in ML long)
griff OPS'd 841 v RHP and 649 v LHP (in 08)
and OPS'd 943 v RHP and 735 v LHP (in 07) and such is the trend throughout his career.

i think you could end up with '09 composite platoon numbers of
295/380/480 with 25 HR, around 90 RBI.
granted, this would be best case scenario i think, but in reality wouldn't be much worse, maybe
285/360/460 with 20 HR, 80 RBI

not too shabby... only thing is the defense wouldn't be more than just adequate, but IT IS LF, not the most defensively liable position in the field.

2/15/2009 9:04:10 AM

Hey Ernie - What do you think of "The Kid" on the Braves ?

2/15/2009 10:28:23 AM

Like most baseball fans my age, I grew up worshiping Griffey. If the Braves sign him, I might move to Atlanta.

2/15/2009 1:40:16 PM

likewise, but i won't be moving to atlanta

2/15/2009 2:37:08 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=3911165

not really braves related anymore, but mike "the living injury" hampton now has an irregular heartbeat to add to his resume

2/16/2009 3:07:32 PM

Man... That dude will do anything to collect a check without working

2/16/2009 7:04:29 PM

Looks like a contract could be signed by tomorrow.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/02/17/braves_griffey.html

2/17/2009 1:14:41 PM

Should sign Glavine soon and that will set him up to be a potential 5th starter. Honestly if he can stay healthy, he will make a solid #5 solely on the fact that he won't walk 4-5 guys a night like most shitty #5s (see Jo Jo Reyes).

Braves actually have some starter depth in that Campillo can start, or Reyes, or possibly Hanson if necessary, plus Morton is still an option. Obviously none of those guys are really anything to get excited about, but it is better than trying to sign a shit hole like Shane Reynolds or Buddy Carlyle once a starter gets hurt.





[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 4:49 PM. Reason : sss]

2/17/2009 4:48:33 PM

fuckin hell.. junior to seattle.

i guess that leaves garret anderson or jim edmonds as our most likely LFer for 2009.


this has been a rough offseason... or at least it was more publicized than in recent years. the peavy saga was long and arduous, we chased burnett and would have nearly overpaid for him if the yankees didn't outbid us, smoltz defects to boston, then furcal uses us to up his offer from LA, now griffey all but agrees to join atlanta only to finally decide on seattle. what else am i missing?

2/18/2009 8:37:15 PM

We're going to lose our best left-handed relief pitcher(Ohman) from last year

2/18/2009 9:07:56 PM

Our starting right fielder is Jeff Francoeur

2/18/2009 9:18:17 PM

i retract the jizz...in...my pants

2/18/2009 9:23:11 PM

haha, you guys trip me out...

i'm hoping frenchy can bounce back at least SOME. i wonder how many runs he cost us last year, and if he was merely just bad, and not atrociously pathetic, it would've been the difference in a couple of games i imagine.

apparently he lost a good bit of weight and has changed his batting stance, so at least he's trying something. before last year, he hulked up and it supposedly made his swing all wonky.

2/18/2009 10:03:04 PM