Braves Report

I feel obligated to write something, even though the off-season has been relatively quiet recently. Personally, however, my team didn’t make the playoffs and I am getting antsy for some new sports. That is why I think I’ve decided to get MLB.tv for the 2010 season, because I just don’t think I can go another year of only listening to the Braves on the radio. The thought of this has been getting me excited for what’s coming up, so I thought I would just expand on my thoughts for the first time in what seems like a while.

So where to start? How about pitching? I think we have to give McDowell credit where credit is due. I am actually very happy with the way our pitching staff is looking. It sucks that we lost Vazquez, but maybe he was one of those cases of over-performing when he was with the Braves (*cough*Jaret Wright*cough*) and not be too good next season, but only time will tell. Besides him, I still think we have a pretty strong rotation, but that really depends on a lot of factors. Hudson can’t be injured. Lowe can’t be pissed off about this team wanting to trade him. Hopefully Hanson doesn’t come back down to earth. Kawakami needs to be able to win non-crucial games and not only a big-game pitcher. Jurrjens desperately needs more than a run or two of support from our offense, but I’ll get into that later.

Next, the bullpen. I like the bullpen. Wagner was a big addition, as was his goatee. We re-signed Moylan. Soriano and Gonzalez are gone, which while I think they did a good job in 2009, they created more drama for the team than was necessary in the 8th and 9th innings.

So, for pitching in general, I’m not too concerned. I think in the past the problem has mainly been the bullpen that screwed us over (going back to 2005 [Kolb, Reitsma,Wickman, Sosa...]). But I think that’s basically been fixed. The problem, as I see it, is this team just doesn’t have a consistent/powerful offense. So let’s look at that.

Chipper did play 143 games last year, which was the most of anyone on the team, but he was exhausted.

“Chipper, do you think you can manage 143 games next season?”

He’s getting older, and at this point in his career, I’d frankly like to see him hitting for average (.364 in 2008), and then have a true power hitter knock him in. The Braves signed Glaus for first base. Unless he produces markedly more than LaRoche, I’m not convinced dumping him was the right thing to do. If he’s worse because of his injuries, then I think this move will have been absolutely terrible. But maybe the Braves can resign LaRoche a few years down the road?

What about the rest of the infield? Prado will probably play second, he’s good, hopefully he doesn’t come back down to earth. I like Yunel, assuming he got rid of his attitude problem. McCann is always going to be McCann, which means some power and a lot of base hits.

And then there’s the outfield, which had the least homers in the majors last year. It looks like it’s going to be Melky, McLouth, and Diaz. McLouth won’t be injured this year, but Diaz and Melky aren’t power hitters. I think we can realistically expect 45-50 homers from the three of them, which is just something I don’t think this team can afford to do again.

The main problem this team has had over the past few years has been its anemic offense that only shows up some of the time. They cannot consistently drive in runs, which leads to a lot of low-scoring games which they ultimately lose. I think the pieces are in place for the pitching staff, although there are a few concerns there, but the heart of the problem lies with the offense. This inconsistent offense means the Braves end up losing a lot of games that they should win to teams like the Reds, the Pirates, the Reds, and the Reds. I think this team could be a contender but is only a piece of the puzzle short. The Braves added Glaus in the off-season, but I think another power hitter in the outfield is still necessary. Maybe I’ll be wrong. I hope I’m wrong. But as for now, we already know this team can compete against the big teams (they pushed the Phillies around last year), but if they can’t win the games they’re supposed to win, they’re going to lose.

Here’s to hoping that I don’t regret purchasing that MLB.tv subscription.

As the old adage goes, you can never have too much pitching. That is the philosphpy the Braves took into the draft on Tuesday. Holding the 7th overall pick, the highest since the team took Roberto Kelly second overall in 1991, the Braves hoped to select local product Zach Wheeler but he was snatched away by the Giants with the pick before. The Braves selected Vanderbilt lefty Mike Minor with the pick.
Minor profiles as a guy with little upside. He currently projects as a number 4 starter. Minor’s stuff is average, he gets by with pitch ability. His fastball sits anywhere from 86 MPH to 89 MPH. His best pitch is a plus change up.  He has  solid curve and uses a slider for his primary breaking ball. The slider does have good depth on it. His pick off move is probably the best in this year’s draft.  Minor is a low risk, low reward guy. What you see is basically what you get.  The Braves in my opinion would have been better suited  taking a high upside guy here rather than selecting Minor.
The only other pick the Braves had today was the 87th pick. With that pick they turned their attention to the Ivy League and selected Princeton’s David Hale. Hale projects as a power reliever in the pros.  His fastball routinely sits at 92-93 but he can dial it up a notch to 95-96 when he needs to and has topped out at 97. He has flashed a plus slider at times and has shown some feel for a change up. He played two ways at Princeton so having him focus on pitching should help him progress more.
The Braves hold the 7th pick in each round the rest of the way. I expect the Braves to return more towards their roots and start to pick more high school kids with high upsides. A few names to keep an eye on for Wedsnday’s rounds: Austin Adams, Luke Bailey, Colton Cain, Brody Colvin, Matt Grahm, David Nick, Jonathan Singleton, and Zach Von Rosenburg. I will have a write up on the draft when it is complete.