Braves Report

Now, most of you (Braves fans) have probably come across a recent article under the title “Why The Mets Are Better” which came from ESPN and was posted in the AJC. And most of you probably know who wrote the article, and once that was discovered all was understood. But that doesn’t mean we weren’t left angry, or confused. So, even though I’m a bit late (hey, better late than never), I thought I’d post my thoughts on why the Braves are better.

1.) Rotational Depth

If you don’t think the Braves have a deep order then you just haven’t been paying attention. Let’s look at the projected opening day order: Hudson, Glavine, Smoltz, Hampton, and James. Now, I’ll be damned if that doesn’t look pretty solid. But that’s just the starting 5. Now, let’s look to the farm: Jair Jurrjens, Jeff Bennet, and Jo-Jo Reyes. I’m stupid, how many pitchers is that? 8, I think. How many do the Mets have? Let’s see, shall we? Santana, Martinez, Maine, Perez, and Hernandez. With Santana in there, it makes their starting 5 stronger, but not by miles like Mets fans claim. They’re actually pretty evenly matched and are eerily similar. Hudson = Santana; they’re both young, dominant, and have had very few injury problems. Smoltz and Glavine = Hernandez and Martinez; all of them are old, but can still pitch very well, but an injury may be right around the corner. James = Maine; both are very young, good stuff, but are still unproven, and prone to collapse. So, for the most part, both rotation match up, but the Mets fall short when comes to falling back. The Mets, like the Braves, have a rotation that could easily snap with injuries. The Braves have the upper hand though in being able to call on guys. The Mets don’t have much to work with. They pretty much have Pelfrey. If the Mets have injury problems this year I their staff, things could go downhill quick.

2.) Offense

Around the horn, and around the field are superior in most positions to not only the Mets, but the Phillies as well. Teixeira sure as hell beats out Delgado, and is a more all-around player than Howard. At 2B it’s debatable. Utley of course is the winner, but Johnson can go toe to toe with Castillo. At SS, Reyes is better, but don’t scoff at Escobar. Before long, he’ll be a thorn in the Mets’ side. 3B, c’mon now. Please stop with this nonsense that Wright is better than Chipper. No, just no. Last year, Chipper had a .337 BA, with .604 SLG %. Wright had a .325 BA, with a .546 SLG%. That’s over 10 points less than Chipper in BA, and over a 50-point difference in SLG%. And Chipper only played in 20 or so games less than Wright. He ranked in the top 3 in BA, SLG, and OPS last year, and finished 6th in MVP. Chipper was also pretty close to winning the batting title. He also was pretty flashy with the Glove, but despite not even being the top 5 in defense, Wright won the Gold Glove (huh?). Let’s move on. At catcher, don’t even bother. I firmly believe that McCann is the best catcher in all of baseball (better than Mauer and Martin) and most certainly better than Schneider and Ruiz. In left, you could say Alou is better than Diaz, but he’s in the hospital so much how can you tell? Skip Center, Beltran is better than Kotsay. Right Field though, is where it is. There’s not comparison. Francoeur probably has the best arm in baseball, and some best raw talent we’ve seen in quite some time. The Braves have assembled quite a dynamic squad on the field this year.

3.) Bullpen

The Mets fans will be up in arms about this one, but then again this whole article will get them exercising again, so I don’t care. Wagner is old. The Mets are wary of even using him anymore. Soriano (when he wants to) blows away people on the mound. Moylan will have stiff competition with the return of Sanchez (if he’s the SU), and while it’s unlikely he’ll repeat the stellar year he last year, don’t expect him to be a Billy-Ray Cyrus. Filling out the rest of the pen is Boyer, Yates, and Ohman. They can certainly match Sosa, Shoeneweis, and Heilman. But this is the one thing that cements the Braves bullpen as better than the Mets: Mike Gonzalez. When he returns, the Braves are going to get a serious boost that could just catapult past the Mets.

4.) Bench

In the deal for Santana, the Mets gave away their depth. Not just their pitching depth, but also their bench. Also, with deals for Schneider, Pagan, and Stokes the young guys were erased out of the picture. The Braves, meanwhile, have the amazing utility man Omar Infante, powerhouse (if he can make contact) first baseman Scott Thorman, scrappy middle-infielder Martin Prado, and solid outfielders Josh Anderson, and Brandon Jones. Also, don’t be surprised if the tubular, radical Jordan Shafer makes an appearance on the team sometime this year.

5.) Bobby Cox

Yes, Bobby Cox. In what may be his last season in his storied career, don’t expect him to sit idly by and watch the game pass. But don’t expect him to drastically change things up and start losing trust in his players. This is Bobby we’re talking about here. Bobby has been through so many times, and has much more experience than Randolph. He won’t let his team let the Mets run away with things. I mean, we’re talking about four-time manager of the year, the leading manager in ejections, and the fourth winningest manager in baseball history. This may be the end of the road for Bobby, expect him to make the right moves.

Peter Moylan kicks ass. No, wait, he totally kicks ass. You want to know how much he kicks ass? He has to wear long sleeves because he has sleeves. That’s right. Not only does he look like he’d eat your face off if you look at him wrong, but he’s also got tats to make you think twice before asking him for an autograph. But, I kid; Pete’s a great guy. But he still totally kicks ass.

Now, no offense to Mr. Blackwell, but I believe the Braves dominant Aussie, the “side-winda” from down unda, Pete Moylan is the most intriguing, and unique player on the Braves. Now, it’s really not fair to single out one Brave on the team and call him “special” or “unique” because the Braves are full colorful characters. But, in Pete Moylan’s case, you can do just that.

Originally from Attadale, Australia, Pete was a Pharmaceutical salesman in the continent country before the Braves discovered him. In ’97, he failed to make the majors, even with a 90 MPH fastball, which he has improved since then. Almost a decade later though, he was found on the Australian National team in the World Baseball Classic. After seeing his blazing speed on the mound, the Braves quickly signed him to a AAA deal in Richmond. Then, on April 11th, after former-Brave Joey Devine went down, Pete got called up. After being sent down almost immediately, Pete came back to Atlanta on May 4th, 2006. Unfortunately, Pete saw the light of AAA once more, and signed a AAA deal with Richmond at the end of Spring Training ’07. This would be Pete’s last trip with Richmond in ’07 because after the forgettable Chad Paronto was injured, Pete stepped in, and never moved. He then went on to be the most dominant pitcher in the pen for the Braves last year, boasting a tremendous 1.80 ERA coupled with a 5-3 record.

Yes, Pete was incredible last year. The Braves asked much of him, and he gave it all back in return. And this year is going to be no different; in fact, it may be more demanding. The reason being that Mr. Moylan will be assuming the role of the Setup man in front of the dominant Soriano.

There are two questions revolving around Pete and his ability this year. Can he be dominant in the pen again, and as the Setup man? And, Was last year just a fluke? To that, I say yes, and no, but that’s just me. We’ll have to wait and see if Pete is up to the challenge. Until then, all we can do is wait, and hope that our starting staff can actually eat some innings this year, and give him, and the rest of our bullpen a break.