The Braves have won 5 games in a row, and there’s no reason to think that this recent success is going to flatten out.  Atlanta is almost a certain lock to make the playoffs; they’re 8.5 games ahead in the wild card race with only a little over 30 games left to be played.  But it seems, at least over the past 10 years or so, that when the Braves get into the postseason they can’t make it past the division series.  This years club though, in my oppinion is the best team the Braves have had in a long time.  Every element is covered with these 25 players:  We have great speed with Bourn and Jose Constanza.  We have power with Dan Uggla, Freddie Freeman, and Brian McCann.  Chipper Jones dosen’t have the power he had earlier in his career, but he’s still capable of hitting a homerun, and is a solid contributor on a nightly bases.  When you have Chipper Jones as your 6th hitter, you have a good offense.  We have a great pitching staff led by Tim Hudson, who has been phenomenal lately.  Tommy Hanson’s arm needed a rest and hopefully when he comes back from the DL he’ll be the guy who won 10 games in the first half of the season.  Jair Jurrjens has struggled since the all-star break but he rebounded with 6 1/3 scoreless innings tonight against the Cubs.  Brandon Beachy has been great in his last 3 or 4 starts as well.  Even Derek Lowe has pitched really well in 2 of his last 3 starts.  So we have 5 good pitchers, and we really only need 3 in the postseason.  We have the best bullpen in Major League Baseball.  O’Flaherty, Venters, and Kimbrel are better than anyone is the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.  The Braves got a big lift from Arodys Vizcaino who came up from AAA and is doing a fine job from the bullpen; if there was one weakness for the club, it’s that we didn’t have a good right handed releiver; Vizcaino takes care of that problem.  Plus Peter Moylan will be back very soon.  We even have a good bench; Erik Hinske and Brooks Conrad can give you power off the bench, and David Ross is the best backup catcher in baseball.  With a team that has so much depth, there’s no reason that we shouldn’t be able to get past the division series this year.  If we’re able to get to the championship series we’re probably going to have to play the Phillies.  That I think would be a great series.  They have their 4 aces (Halladay, Lee, Hamels, and Oswalt), but we have really good pitching to match them.  I think both teams offenses are pretty even, and I think the Braves have the better bullpen.  I honestly couldn’t give a guess as to who would that series; but I can say that it would be a great series and the Braves would have just as good of a chance as the Phillies.

 

 

Dan Uggla:  Dan Uggla hit his 30th homerun of the year tonight, and shows no signs of cooling off.  He’s absolutely crushing the baseball.  I don’t think the Braves could have done much in the playoffs if Uggla wouldn’t have started hitting.  That left a big hole in the middle of the lineup when he was struggling so badly.  Hitting between McCann and Freeman provides protection for both of them, and gives Uggla plenty of RBI chances.  We’re going to need him to continue hitting well if we’re going to play deep into October.

 

Other:

-Here are Braves Players Quotes after tonights win against the Cubs, courtesy of the AJC: http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2011/08/23/braves-quotes-after-mondays-win-against-cubs/

-Freddie Gonzalez sais that Jose Constanza’s injury isn’t serious and he’ll be back in the lineup in a couple of days.

-Mike Minor starts for Atlanta tomorow (Game Time-8:00 EST)

 

Thanks for Reading.

 

 

The Braves will be five games ahead of the San Fransisco Giants for the National League Wild Card going into Friday night’s game versus the Chicago Cubs.  And with only 44 games left in the regular season, 5 games seems like a much bigger margion than it actually is.  But with the Braves playing as well as they have been lately (winning 2/3 from the Mets and sweeping the Marlins on the road) theirs no way they’ll give up that lead.  And there’s really no reason why they shouldn’t only get better:  Jair Jurrjens, who has struggled since the allstar break, finally admitted to being injured and is due to come off the DL healthy this week.  If he can be anything like he was in the 1st half, this will provide a huge boost.  Basically the same thing happened to Tommy Hanson; he skipped a start this past week to let his ailing arm rest, and will be back Tuesday.  Getting both of these first half Cy Young candidates back healthy will help Atlanta get back to the kind of ERA they had in the first half, instead of the staff ERA of 5.00 since mid July.  Big help is also coming back to the lineup card; Brian McCann starts his rehab assignment Friday with AAA Gwinett.  He was arguably having his best season of his career before being injured in late July trying to throw out a Pirates base stealer.  And it’s not just injured players that are coming back to the team that are good signs.  Martin Prado is killing the ball right now batting behind Michael Bourn.  Bourn and Jose Constanza are running all over the place, scoring runs that the Braves wouldn’t have scored a month ago.  Alex Gonzalez is hitting over .300 in his last 10 games.  Not to mention Dan Uggla has a 31 game hitting streak.  Tim Hudson is pitching his best baseball of the year; he won again last night, going 7+ innings.  The club also made their bullpen a lot better yesterday, releasing Scott Proctor and calling up top prospect Arodys Vizcaino to take his place.  So the future definitely looks bright over the next couple of months for this team.  But, the big question is, can the Braves win in October?  It all depends on two people, in my opinion:

Derek Lowe-Yes, I said Derek Lowe.  If the Braves want to advance past the divisional playoff round they’re going to need Derek Lowe to be typical post-season Derek Lowe.  Lowe has always been good on the big stage in the playoffs, and he needs to do so again this year.  The reason he’s so important?  I think in a five game playoff series you have to expect at least one win from Tim Hudson.  But after that, who are you getting your wins from?  Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens, even if they gain back the form they had earlier in the year, don’t have much playoff experience.  Plus, they’ve proven to be slightly unconsistent over their short careers.  And don’t get me wrong, they could each throw two hit shutouts, but they could also give up four or five runs through five innings too.  In a five game playoff series, pithcing is how you win.  Derek Lowe goes a long way toward how we win in the divisional series.

Brian McCann-It’s going to be very important for McCann to come back from his injury well, and for him to play well in the playoffs.  If Dan Uggla and Freddie Freeman can keep hitting well, I think you’ll see Brian McCann move up to the 3 spot in the lineup in front of Dan Uggla who’ll bat 4th.  Freddie Freeman will bat 6th in front of Jason Heyward.  That’s a very dangerous lineup, but for it to be fully effective we need Mac to provide power and run production in the middle of it.

 

The Jason Heyward, Jose Constanze Situation:

Let’s get one thing straight before we dive into this: Jose Constanza is not a better player than Jason Heyward.  He’s just not.  He’s a solid player, a good player, but not a guy who could be the star of your team one day.  This is a classic “ride the hot hand while it lasts” plan by Fredi Gonzalez.  And I think it’s a good plan.   Constanza is getting on base in almost every way possibble by using his great speed, and it’s no secret that Jason Heyward has struggled this year.  But the chances of Constanza batting .450 for the rest of the year is 0.00%.  But while he’s hitting so well, there’s no reason to take him out of the lineup.  But in a week from now, in all likelihood, Heyward will be back to playing every day because Constanza will have cooled off.  It’s a good situation to have.

 

Other:

-Peter Moylan will be joining the bullpen some time this month; he threw breaking balls for the first time since getting injured yesterday.

-Bobby Cox gets his number retired this weekend.

 

Thanks for Reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Wren finally made his move on the day of the trade deadline yesterday, aquiring Houston outfielder Michael Bourn for Jordan Schafer and 3 minor league pitching prospects.  Bourn, who leads the NL is stolen bases, will be in the lineup tonight for the 1st time as a Brave against the Washington Nationals.  This was a great trade for the Braves because it gives them a really good leadoff hitter; something they haven’t had since the departure of Rafael Fucal.  It was also a good trade because it didn’t cost Atlanta any of their top pitching prospects.  With Bourn at the top, the lineup becomes much deeper since Martin Prado can now become the full time number 2 hitter.  And when Brian McCann and Chipper Jones both come back, the lineup could look like this:

1.Bourn

2.Prado

3.Jones

4.McCann

5.Uggla

6.Freeman

7.Heyward

8.Gonzalez

 

You know you have a good lineup when Jason Heyward is batting 7th.

Bourn will also create runs with his speed.

 

Other:

-Freddie Gonzalez said that Jose Constanza will stay with the Major League club.  This could mean that Scott Proctor will be released.

 

Thanks for Reading.

According to Buster Olney, the Giants “are at the 1 yard line” and are about to aquire Carlos Beltran.  Beltran, who’s having a great year thus far, has been a possibble trade target for Atlanta for the last couple of weeks.  The Mets would have most likely traded Beltran to the Braves if Atlanta would have been willing to part with one of their 4 pitching prospects (Tehran, Minor, Delgado, and Vizcaino).  In my opinon, they should have made the deal, especially with Brian McCann and Jordan Schafer heading to the DL.  But Frank Wren refused to pay the price that he felt was too high for a “rental” player, meaning Beltran probably would only finish this year with the Braves before leaving for free agency.  To me, the Braves lineup was already a little shaky before Mac and Schafer went down; now, it’s down right scary.

The lineup could presumably look like this:

McLouth-Batting under .230

Prado

Heyward-Batting under .230

Uggla-Coming along but still batting under .200

Freeman-Rookie

Ross-Backup Catcher

Gonzalez-Batting under .230

Hinske-Utilitly player

-That lineup has a lot of question marks in it.

There may be other options on the trade market.  Hunter Pence would be a great move, but the Astros reportedly want 2 of our top pitching prospects.  Michael Bourn would be nice, but he would also demand 2 prospects in all likelihood.  Maybe Frank Wren has something he’s considering.  Hopefullu

 

Last Night’s Game:

The Braves fan in me was extremely happy to see the Braves get a win.  But the baseball fan in me was dissapointed to see such a great game end on such a bad call.  And yes, it was a blown call; Lugo was tagged.  No one wants to see a 19 inning game end on a blown call like that.  This is just another reason that MLB needs instant replay.

 

Other:

-Colby Rasmus was traded to the Blue Jays.

-It’s now being reported that Philadelphia is making a big push for Pence.

 

-Thanks for Reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erik O’Flaherty in the 7th, Jonny Venters in the 8th, and Craig Kimrel in the 9th.  This has been the formula in the Braves bullpen for the entire season thus far.  And it’s been a great combination.  O’Flaherty has an ERA under 1.00, and Venters is close behind him with an ERA under 1.50.  Kimrel has the Braves rookie record for saves with 31..and we still have over 2 months left in the season.  But as good as they have been, their is big problem staring Freddie Gonzalez’s club right in the face:  They’re overworked.  Venters has already completed 60 innings this year, with 56 appearances.  O’Flaherty and Kimbrel have both pitched in 50 games already.  The obvious explanation would be to use these guys less, but the problem is the Braves don’t have anyone who could replace these guys and perform at the same level.  Not even close to the same level.  If you take away O’Flaherty and Venters in the 7th and 8th innings, you’re left with Scott Linebrink, George Sherill, and Scott Proctor to get through those innings.  The bullpen just isn’t deep enough.  Peter Moylan hopefully will be back by the end of August, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll be 100% after being injured.  The Braves will spend the next 8 days looking at the trade market, trying to require a right handed outfielder and releiver.  I think Mike Adams would be a great addition to our bullpen.  He could pitch either the 7th or 8th to give O’Flaherty or Venters some rest.  If we could get Adams plus get Peter Moylan back, our bullpen would compete with anyone’s.  But, if the deadline passes without the Braves making a trade, the strain on O’Flaherty and Venters especially could hurt this team a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the trade deadline nears on July 31st, the Braves stand in a good position to make a move if they decide to.  The Braves are usually reluctant to pull the trigger on a major trade, but they have the depth in their minor league system to do so this year.  There are two noticable “holes” in this club: an outfielder, and some bullpen help.  Despite his struggles, you have to think that Jason Heyward is going to turn it around at some point this year.  And when Chipper Jones comes back from knee surgery in the next 8-10 games or so, Martin Prado will be back in left field.  Right now the options in center field are either Jordan Schafer or Nate McLouth.  Schafer brings a tool the Braves don’t usually have: Speed.  But he struggles at getting on base to use his speed.  McLouth has quite frankly failed to produce offensively since coming to Atlanta 2 years ago.  Neither look like very formidable options.  That being said, I like Schafer and wouldn’t mind if he stayed in CF for the remainder of the year.  But, that also being said, there are better options out there..like the 3 guys in the pictures above.  If the Braves could have anyone they wanted that’s out there on the market, I think it would be Michael Bourn.  Bourn is like Schafer times 2.  He’s the fastest guy in Major League Baseball, and is having a really good offensive season.  His teamate, Hunter Pence, would also bring alot to the table, but in different ways than Bourn.  Pence would bring power and run production instead of speed.  Either of these players would seemingly be a great fit for the Braves, but the chances of landing either is pretty slim.  Why?  The Houston Astros are being sold, and their new owner isn’t particularly thrilled with the possibility of losing 2 of his really good players on an already bad team.  There’s always a chance that the Braves could offer up a couple of “A” grade prospects too good for the Astros to pass up, but like I said before, the Braves usually don’t do that.  I would guess that to even have a chance to get Pence or Bourn, Julio Teheran would definitely have to be in the deal.  I don’t know if the Braves are willing to pay the price of young prospects to improve a team that is already set to make the playoffs.  The more realistic option is probably Carlos Beltran.  Beltran would be a rental player, meaning that he would probably not stay with the team he’s traded too after this season.  Plus, due to a contract stipulation, the team that lost Beltran to free agency wouldn’t receive a compensation draft pick when he signs with another team.  So, even though the Mets are asking for a nice prospect for Beltran, a lot of baseball insiders think the Mets might lower their asking price closer to the deadline.  Beltran could play center field, and would provide a nice offensive boost in the middle of the lineup for the Braves.  The bad thing is, there are a lot of teams interested in Beltran: The RedSox, Giants, Pirates, Yankees, Tigers, and Phillies just to name a few.  The good thing is, the Braves have more pitching depth than any of those teams.  I think the deal for Beltran is possible, but it could go either way for sure.

Now, we’ll address the bullpen need.  Simply put, Erik O’Flaherty and Jonny Venters need help in the bullpen.  If Peter Moylan can get back to the club in August, that’ll help a whole lot.  But there may be some releivers out there to try and trade for.  Heath Bell is the major prize among releivers, but he’s a closer, and Kimbrel’s not going anywhere.  I don’t think we have a role that he’d be happy with.  We need to find someone who can work the 6th inning if need be, and give either O’Flaherty or Venters a night off sometimes.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether Derek Lowe will be traded.  I can’t make up my mind about this issue.  Lowe really isn’t as good as he’s getting paid for, by absolutely no means.  But he’s good in the playoffs, or at least he has been in the past.  If Lowe were to be traded that would leave the Braves with Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Tim Hudson, Brandon Beachy, and Mike Minor in their starting rotation.  Could we trust Beachy and Minor to deliver down the stretch?  If we traded Lowe, we could free up a lot of money to use either at the deadline this year, or next year during free agency.  I wouldn’t be angry either way it goes.

 

 

Thanks for Reading.

The season is just over halfway completed, and this is usually the time that end of the year player awards are one of the hottest topics around Major League Baseball.  If the season ended today, these are the players I think would win the award, along with who I thought would win them at the beggining of the year.

NL MVP:

Before Opening day-Albert Pujols

Now-No clear front runner

There is really not a good candidate for this award at this point of the year.  Jose Reyes and Matt Kemp are each having great years, but neither of their teams will probably make the playoffs.  Of course, playing on a good team isn’t required to win the MVP, but very rairly is it given to a player whose team dosen’t make the playoffs.  My best guess, and notice I say guess, is that Prince Fielder is the best candidate right now for this award.  Of course alot of things can change in the next couple of months.

Other Candidates-Joey Votto, Brian McCann,

 

AL MVP

Before Opening Day-Adrian Gonzalez

Now-Adrian Gonzalez

I wrote when I picked Gonzalez for this award at the beggining of the year that I thought he would have a huge season in hitter friendly Fenway Park.  Gonzalez has indeed had a terrific season, hitting .354 with 17 Homeruns and 77 RBI’s.  Jose Bautista, along with his 31 homeruns isn’t far behind in this race, but once again, he’s playing on a team that most likely will miss out on the playoffs.  If Adrian Gonzalez can match his 1st half stats, I think he’ll be our AL MVP.

Other Candidates-Miguel Cabrera, Mark Texeira,

 

NL Cy Young:

Before Opening Day-Matt Cain

Now-Jair Jurrjens

Jair Jurrjens has had an unbeleivable first half of this season, but he has Roy Halladay right on his heels.  If the season ended out right now, it would have to be Jurrjens to take home the award.  His 12-3 record with a 1.87 ERA speaks for its self.  I think this will be the closest award race in baseball this year.  One person who I think is definitely worth watching: Cole Hamels.  Hamels gets under appreciated, probably because he pitches alongside 2 of the best pitchers is the league.  But Hamels has just as many wins as Halladay (11) with an ERA a few points lower.  This is going to be a close race.

Other Candidates-Tommy Hanson,

 

AL Cy Young:

Before Opening Day-Jon Lester

Now-Justin Verlander

Already with a no hitter this year, Verlander is having an ecxeptional year.  Not only does he have an ecxellent ERA, but he is also at the top of the league in strikeouts, wins, and innings pitched.  CC Sabathia is going to put up a good fight; during his last 4 starts he has an ERA under .50.  Verlander seems to have a rubber arm.  He’s poised to have a terrific second half.

Other Candidates-Jeff Weaver, Josh Beckett

 

NL Rookie of the Year

Before Opening Day-Freddie Freeman

Now-Freddie Freeman

When I think of the rookie of the year award, I try to look at both pitchers (who hardly ever win the award) as well as hitters.  I almost put Craig Kimbrel down for this pick, but after thinking about it, I realized that without Freddie Freeman the Braves offense would be substantially worse.  Of course the bullpen would be hurt without Kimbrel, but not as much as the offense would be without Freddie Freeman.  Freeman is only getting better as the year goes on.  He should win this award.

Other Candidates-Danny Espinosa

 

I’m not going to pretend to know much about American League rookies, but I have seen Michael Pineda pitch a couple of times.  He’s going to be a great pitcher, and without any front running offensive rookie in the AL really standing out, Pineda should take home the award.

 

 

Why I hate the way the All-Star game rosters are decided:

Please exuse the rambling that will follow.  Managers should not get to pick their own players for the All-Star game!!  Bruce Bochy picked his own guy (Tim Lincecum) who is 6-7 with a ERA ove 3.00, instead of Tommy Hanson who is 10-4 with an ERA well under 3.00.  It’s ridiculous.  There’s absolutely no exuse for that happening in a game that’s suppposed to feature the BEST players of both leagues.  If the managers are going to get to pick their own players for the game, they have to be fair about it.

 

 

Prediction for Home Run derby:  Prince Fielder wins it.

 

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the All-Star game

Since Jordan Shafer was called up from AAA to play center field and hit leadoff, the Braves have a very impressive record of 12-5.  Although Shafer is only hitting around .200, he has consistently been getting on base and playing great defense in center field, not to mention his terrific speeed.  There’s a reason that the Braves have been playing well since this guy got called up.  If this had happened at this time last year, there would have been no question to whether Shafer would stay in the starting lineup because of Nate McLouth’s year long struggle last season.  But McLouth has bounced back with a reasonably fair season; he’s hitting above .250 and more importantly he’s hitting with consistency.  At least he was until his season was interupted with an oblique injury requirng him to go on the Disabled List.  Nate is due back toward the end of this month, but with Schafer playing so well, should McLouth regain his spot in the lineup?  I don’t think so for one simple reason:  We need speed at the top of our lineup.  Ever since Rafael Furcal left, the Braves have been looking for a good leafoff hitter.  Martin Prado is certainly capable of producing in the leadoff spot, but he dosen’t have the speed of Shafer, and with Prado batting 2nd or fifth, our lineup becomes much deeper.  McLouth isn’t a bad hitter, but like Prado he dosen’t have the speed of Shafer, and his Own Base Percentage isn’t what a leadoff hitters should be.  It all boils down too that Schafer is playing too well to leave the lineup right now; he can get on base alot of different ways, and his speed speaks for itself.  I would suggest trying to trade McLouth for some help in the bullpen; O’Flaherty, and Venters need some help.

Heyward Update:  Jason Heyward played in a rehab game at AAA Gwinett tonight, going 1-3 with a double and a walk.  It’s possible that he could be activated during this upcoming series with New York either Wednesday or Thursday.  Having Heyward back will be a big boost to our offense.

Braves pitchers for upcoming series with the Mets:

Tuesday-Jurjens  Wednesday-Hudson  Thursday-Minor

 

Thanks for readng.

The Braves sit in 3rd place in the NL East, behind the Marlins and Phillies by about 4 games.  Most baseball experts picked Atlanta to finish at least 2nd in the East, and most picked them to at least win the Wild Card.  But they also thought that Dan Uggla, who just signed a 5 year extension with the Braves for over 60 million dollars, would produce offensively like he has his entire carreer with Florida.  Instead, the big bopper we signed to hit 30 homeruns and knock in 100 runs from the five spot in the lineup, is hitting less than .200 with 7 homeruns and a handfull of RBI’s.  If Uggla played for the Yankees, or Phillies this wouldn’t be too much of a problem for them considering they have more hitters just like Uggla to relie on.  But the Braves are a team bulit around pitching, with good hitters, but not power hitters.  Uggla was supposed to be that piece to the puzzle that would add power and run production in the middle of a lineup that would hit and get on base around him.  I do beleive Uggla will get it going and be that piece that we need him to be, and when he does, the Braves with their soldid pitching, are going to be a tough team to beat.

Other:

-Brian McCann just hit his 2nd homer of the day to tie the Reds 6-6 in the fifth inning.  Hopefully we can pull this one out.

-Bigger blog coming sometime in the next few days.

-Thanks for Reading.