Braves Report

John Smoltz is no longer a Brave. Words that any Atlanta fan never thought they would hear as long as they lived. The only time that kind of sentence would be appropriate would be John’s retirement announcement. But, we aren’t going to get that fitting ending. No, a certain team from Boston will get to bask in Smoltzie’s twilight while us Braves fans, the ones who grew up watching him, have watched him for almost two decades now continue to watch as our team is run directly in the southern direction.

This latest departure, clearly the most severe, is just the icing on top of the most abysmal offseason that any Braves fan has ever laid witness to. We’ve lost out on two ace pitchers. We’ve lost out on a talented young arm from overseas. We were royally conned out of a shortstop that was undoubtedly on our team for several hours. One by one, we’ve seen free agents pen contracts elsewhere, and due to unexplained stubbornness, we’ve been unable to complete trades that seemed very possible to pull off. And now, we have to say goodbye to one of the most recognizable Braves of all-time. A hall of famer who no one could match in intensity or resilience, especially not in the playoffs, will be donning a new uniform this upcoming season. Unbelievable. Wren is now left with no choice but to sign some pitchers now (and now it seems he is doing just that).

But, is this the end? For some bizarre reason, I don’t believe that it is. Smoltz’s departure is just yet another one of the glory day players off on his journey elsewhere. I hate to say it, but wake up Braves fans. We have got to stop clinging to days long since passed. Though we won’t admit it to ourselves, we all know that our next winner won’t involve Smoltz, Glavine, or Chipper, who will most likely follow suit after Smoltz now. I mean, what’s to stop Larry from looking for a winner when he becomes a free agent next offseason? Because, though I think we’ll be improved greatly at the end of the season than from the start, we still won’t be able to achieve championship caliber.

I know. It’s hard. It sucks. Life’s over. But, I believe without a shadow of a doubt, that us fans need this. We’re like drug addicts. We need our Smoltzie, or Tommy, or Chipper fix much too often. It’s about time we kick this habit. It’s deteriorating our health. How can we expect to improve if we keep going back to it, expecting these things to lift us up and beyond?

So, I don’t believe that John Smoltz’s absence marks the end of “The Braves.” No, in fact, I think it marks the beginning of something…new. It may seem like the end right now, but remember, you’re just suffering from with drawl symptoms.

The Braves have acquired veteran starting pitcher Javier Vazquez along Boone Logan, a left handed reliever from the White Sox in exchange for  Brent Lillibridge, Jon Gilmore, Santos Rodriguez, and Tyler Flowers.

Stay tuned to Braves-Report.com for continuing coverage of this breaking news and all your off-season needs.

I’m not dead. Not yet, at least. Life has been extraordinarily busy and I’ve been really bad about writing (guess which work I’m not doing so I can do this post!), but I just wanted to express my thoughts and rant about the Peavy ‘trade’.

The whole ordeal has, more or less, been a fiasco. It appears to me that the Padres, Kevin Towers, their GM, in particular, have lost their mind. While the trade talks were still going, the deal likely would’ve been Peavy for Yunel Escobar, Gorkys Hernandez, possibly Blaine Boyer, and either Jo-Jo Reyes or Charlie Morton. Regardless if I believe that the Braves should find a way to get rid of Reyes by any means necessary, I don’t think this trade would’ve been such a great idea. Sure, the pitching for the Braves has been weak for the past couple of years (since they got rid of Leo Mazzone?), but that wasn’t their fundamental problem. Two or three years ago the Braves’ suckiness definitely could’ve been attributed to their bullpen, who blew something like 26-odd games, but that wasn’t the story last year. From what I remember, even though the pitching staff wasn’t the greatest, it was the truly inconsistent hitting that did them in. I recall a few games where they only managed a handful of hits. To get rid of Escobar, one of about three consistent hitters on the team, then, would be asinine.

Now, I know that the Braves are somewhat eager to get rid of Escobar, despite his solid year. It may have something to do with Bobby thinking he has an attitude problem, or not. I don’t know, but I do believe that the offense is still a problem. It’s essential to get one or two power hitters on this team, either in the outfield or at first base. There has been some talk of Renteria becoming a free agent and possibly rejoining the Braves. This would be great, because he was clutch when he was on the Braves and a fan-favorite, but it’s consistent with the idea of getting rid of Escobar. I propose that if the Braves somehow do land another shortstop, to Escobar move to second, so as to replace the defensive liability that is Kelly Johnson. My rational side is telling me, however, that come Opening Day, we’re going to see Johnson at second and Prado at shortstop. Such is life.

Going back to the Peavy trade, we saw the Braves being dragged along by the Padres while they contemplated other deals with the Cubs, Yankees, and whoever else (all of which have fallen through, by the way), which shows the unrealistic nature of a club that is trying to drastically cut its payroll and is facing some of its own problems. I never recall John Schuerholz dealing with this type of drama, but the way the Padres have been stringing Frank Wren along has been nothing short of disrespectful.

So while the trade talks have since ceased with Peavy and the Padres and the deal seems dead, this Braves fan hopes that they stay dead. Or, at the very least, the notion of even getting rid of Escobar disappears immediately.

One of the few bright spots for the Braves this season has been the play of Chipper Jones. Chipper completed the year with a batting average of .364, which was good enough for him to win his first Batting Title. He beat out Albert Pujols, who hit .357.

His .364 average is the highest to win a NL batting title since Barry Bonds hit .370 in 2002. It was the highest to win a Batting Title in either league since Ichiro hit .372 in 2004 to win the AL Batting Title.

He became the first Brave to win the Batting Title since current hitting coach Terry Pendleton hit .319 in 1991. He became the 11^th Brave to win it. He joins the likes of Terry Pendleton (.319 in 1991), Ralph Garr (.353 in 1974), Rico Carty (.366 in 1970), Hank Aaron (.355 in 1959 and .328 in 1956), Ernie Lombardi (.342 in 1938), Rogers Hornsby (.387 in 1928), Hugh Duffy (.440 in 1894), Dan Bouthers (.373 in 1889), Deacon White (.387 in 1877 and .367 in 1875), and Ross Barnes (.425 in 1873 and .432 in 1872).

He is the first switch hitter to win the award since Bill Mueller won the AL Batting Title in 2003 hitting .329. He fell just short of beating Micky Mantle’s record of .365, the highest of any switch hitter in a single season. He was a single hit short of beating that record.

Chipper, as many may recall, hit .400 until June 18^th, 73 games into the season. His lowest average was .356, which came on September 6^th. He had 3 months in which he hit .400 or better; March/April (.410), May (.417), and September (.408). His worst month average wise came in July when he hit just .270.

Congratulations to Chipper Jones, for winning his first Batting Title in his Hall of Fame career.

With the announcement last week that Major League Baseball and the umpires agreed on implementing an ‘Instant Replay’ system for questionable home run calls in every ballpark, more information has surfaced about when this system will start being used. Today is that day, according to ESPN, and it is generating mixed feelings. The reason for choosing this particular Thursday is so that it will not disrupt any series currently being played. Why they’re starting it at the end of the season, however, is a bit more confusing, and adds to the somewhat amount of controversy about it.

Baseball purists believe that this decision will open the floodgates to all future actions and change the game as we know it by eliminating the human error factor. As for me, I’m not so sure. For one, that seems like the ‘slippery slope’ argument, and that just isn’t the case. The umpires’ union is too strong to let its workers be replaced by a QuesTec-type system, and I expect Hell to freeze over before a machine is calling balls and strikes instead of a human being. Rather, I think people need to realize that this will be an aid for the umpires.

As pointed out on this week’s House of Braves Talk podcast, they’re implementing this change to get calls right. Specifically, the ones that really alter a game. Immediately as a Braves fan, one relevant situation that comes to mind is a game a few years ago against the Nationals, where Henry Blanco hit a home run just over the base of the left field wall against the Nationals. Frank Robinson came out to argue that the ball was foul, the call was overturned, Bobby came out and argued some more, was probably ejected, and the incorrect call ended up being the difference maker in the game. Had this system been around those years ago, they wouldn’t have botched the call and cost the Braves the game. The point being, umpires shouldn’t cause a team to lose, especially when the call isn’t subjective, like on a home run.

That said, critics have pointed out that this might extend the length of already long ballgames. While this is probably true, what is another 4 minutes added to one in every 300 games? Honestly, I can’t even really see this system being used much. Apart from maybe 3 or 4 times a year, how often are home runs really called into question? As long as MLB doesn’t go overboard with this, which I don’t think it will, hardly anybody will notice it. Proof of this is that they are starting to use the system on an arbitrary Thursday at the end of August. Personally, I believe they should have waited until the start of the new season, but I doubt that the system will cause a noticeable difference in the way the game is played. Other sports, particularly football, which has a much more extensive replay system, have been using this technology for years without changing the face of those games. Frankly, if this Instant Replay can make the game more fair, I don’t see any reason why MLB shouldn’t go ahead with it.