Archive for March, 2011

Hello again everyone! I’m happy to report that I’m back and blogging today from Sumter, SC. The last few days have been very hectic, between my other job and family stuff. The whirlwind landed me here for a few days as we celebrate my Father-In-Law’s birthday. He’s a great guy and we even got to watch the game together today as the Braves played flawless baseball on their way to a 2-0 win over the Nationals in Wahington, DC. Sweet! As some of you may remember, I promised to try out a new feature when the season started. In essence, [...]

Following up on yesterday’s post, the Braves traded Scott Diamond to the Twins for reliever Billy Bullock. Bullock is a setup man/closer of the future judging by his minor league numbers – 105 Ks in 74 innings and 27 saves. Baseball America had Bullock as the Twins #15 prospect but he is at least two years away and obviously the Twins saw the left handed starter Diamond as a more urgent need.  As I said yesterday we needed to get something and while I would have preferred an everyday player, you can never go wrong with a 6’6” 225lb flame [...]

I said a week or so ago we’d know soon whether this was a new ear or more of the same. Cautiously I’d say that today’s roster changes indicate a new era. In case you haven’t heard Joe Mather was placed on waivers and Scott Proctor released, while Brooks Conrad, Brandon Hicks and Matt Young join David Ross and Eric Hinske on the bench. Conrad goes on the basis of last year’s heroics and nothing else. he’s not shown he can catch the ball any better at second or short and playing him at 1st as they did once this [...]

Hello again everyone from southeast Michigan! Can someone please tell me this: if it’s spring, why is it 8 degrees outside this morning? Sheesh!! As I browsed the ‘net Friday and yesterday, I ran across some pretty neat Braves stuff. Then I watched yesterday’s game and ran across some not-so-neat Braves stuff. At least the sound was lost on the MLB.TV feed here in Michigan for most of the time that they had Frank Wren in the booth, as most of what I did hear from him was standard team P.R. Anyway, here are some of the “sounds of Spring” [...]

Hello again everyone from lovely Michigan. It’s springtime. It’s 15 degrees outside. It’ll be 10 degrees by morning. Let’s play two! Now that spring training is drawing to a close, I think it’s time to put on our thinking caps and decide how many games the Braves will win this season. You noticed that I called this a prediction. I want to make sure that this isn’t confused with a projection. We’ve all done projections at some time or another. You know, where you used past history, or formulae, or algorithms or whatever to arrive at a conclusion. That’s science. [...]

Hello again from the world-class winter wonderland! Today is turning into quite the news day. First, word leaks that the Braves are (or at least may be) for sale. Then we learn that Brandon Beachy has won the fifth starter’s job, based on his performance this spring, and that Mike Minor was told that he would be sent to AAA Gwinnett to work on his off-speed stuff. Fredi Gonzalez was quoted as saying that Beachy gave the Braves a better chance of winning right now, and that’s why he won the competition for the fifth starter’s job. That’s when things [...]

Hello everyone from ice-covered Michigan! I just saw this one come across the wire and wanted to make sure that you all saw it as well. According to Forbes, Liberty Media is apparently preparing to sell the Braves. This information is part of their annual “Business Of Baseball” report. You can read the entire article here.

There were two items that caught my eye when I got time to actually catch up on Braves news tonight. The first was the loss of two minor league pitchers on waiver claims today. The second made me think it might be time to go back to the future. Late this afternoon in what may have been whiplash from being hypnotized by Scott Boras into signing Oliver Perez, (no really they signed him, I didn’t believe it either) the Nationals claimed Lee Hyde from the Braves . Hyde was originally a fourth round of pick in the 2006 but had [...]

Hello again everyone! It’s a miserable afternoon here in Michigan; cold, drizzling freezing rain, so cloudy and overcast that it’s hard to tell it’s still daytime. Now that I have the cheerful, bright, and happy news out of the way, I thought I’d pass along a report on today’s appearance by the Braves designated LOOGY (Left-handed One Out GuY), George Sherrill. Let there be no doubt: not even Bobby Cox could put a postive spin on his results today.

Hello again everyone from the ever-changing landscape that is southeast Michigan. Temperatures are taking a nosedive and it looks like all our rain may change to snow and ice. Or, then again, it might not. Great job of forecasting, huh? But, on to brighter things: the 2011 Braves. Having left all of you salivating for an answer to the question “What is the one truly important roster decision for the 2011 Braves”, let’s wait no more!