Archive for February, 2010

The Atlanta Braves are not the best team in baseball. They are not even the best team in the National League. That doesn’t mean the team lacks the talent to send Bobby Cox into retirement with a smile on his wrinkled face. I’m not going to be a homer and say the Braves are going to win the World Series. We’ll hope they make it into the postseason. There are a lot of questions that the season will answer. For example, will Troy Glaus provide any boost to the Braves offense? Will Martin Prado be able to continue his improvement [...]

Johnny Damon, 36, signed with the Detroit Tigers for $8 million today. The Tigers and the Atlanta Braves were rumored to be in the hunt for Damon, but the Braves offered HALF of what the Tigers offered, according to some media reports. The Braves half-serious attempt at signing Damon probably means that young outfielder Jason Heyward will start the season with the team.  The only other outfielder with power is former Brave Jermaine Dye, who hit 27 home runs last year with the White Sox. His average isn’t so hot, .250 with the White Sox in 2009. It’s blowing my [...]

Chipper Jones is usually the first guy on the Atlanta Braves who is asked to comment on some new player in the farm system. But I cannot remember one as remarkable as his comparison of Jason Heyward to Fred McGriff. McGriff is a bit of an unsung hero for the Atlanta Braves because when he signed with the team, the Braves appeared at times simply unbeatable. So it comes with great excitement when Jones says a player in the organization reminds him of McGriff, as told to the AJC. “His swing’s obviously a little different, but he looks like a [...]

Johnny Damon is considering offers from possible three our four teams but his agent, Scott Boras, has already said he prefers to play for either the Atlanta Braves or the Detroit Tigers. Well, apparently the Tigers offered the 36-year-old outfielder possibly $3 million more than the Braves did. Bye Bye Johnny. I’m mad. There was no way a team was going to offer Damon the two-year $20 million deal he was seeking through his agent, but $7 million seems fair for a guy who hit the most home runs in his career last year and had almost 90 RBIS with [...]

The Atlanta Braves are considering adding Johnny Damon to the outfield if the price is right, according to the AJC. But the Braves organization flatly denies any interest in the Yankee outfielder. But FOXSports also says the Braves and the Tigers are considering signing Damon to a contract. Damon lives in Orlando and the Braves have spring training near his residence. So do the Tigers. And both teams are on the East Coast. Adding Johnny Damon would fill a gap for the Braves. He’s a decent outfielder with some power. I guess the decisions depends a lot on whether the [...]

I am almost scared to make this post in fear of all of the flamers who will comment, but I am wondering if Barry Bonds could help the Atlanta Braves reach the playoffs this season. The Braves do not have a true power hitter. Whether Bonds can still hit for power is unknown, but his agent has made it clear that Bonds has stayed in shape because he wants to play still. The scorned player embattled in the steroids controversy, hasn’t played baseball in two years. No team showed interest in signing him last year. It looked like baseball had [...]

There will be a lot of pressure on Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson this year. With the departure of Javier Vazquez, the Braves will be looking to Hudson to match the loss in innings, strike outs and ERA if the Braves plan to compete this year is going to work, according to the AJC. There is some optimism on the part of Hudson: “Physically I feel better than I did five or six years ago … My arm hasn’t felt this good in eight years. It feels good to be in that good a shape. I’d been having aches and [...]