The Tomahawk

Other pitching possibilities

Mac Thomason — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:00:37 +0000

This is always a tough bit, and I’m sure I’ll miss somebody. Anyway, the best-known reliever I haven’t covered yet is certainly Scott Proctor, who had two good years of bullpen workhorse work with the Yankees and Dodgers (traded for Wilson Betemit!) after two years Jeff Dedmon wouldn’t sign for, and who went down [...]

Jo-Jo Reyes

Mac Thomason — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:00:56 +0000

Jo-Jo Reyes Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. I am generally reluctant to state that any ballplayer’s problems are mental or emotional. In the case of Joseph Albert Reyes, I am here to say that the guy’s a froot loop. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for him to not be a serviceable major leaguer [...]

Manny Acosta

Mac Thomason — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:01:11 +0000

Manny Acosta Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. So, what is his deal? Is he a flake, or is the ability he occasionally flashes an illusion? Acosta throws as hard as anyone on the staff, is not a one-pitch pitcher either, and yet he goes through periods where he can’t get anyone out. It’s [...]

Interlude: Bobby’s bullpen management

Mac Thomason — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:00:13 +0000

I’ve gone through the bullpen mainstays, and I’m really not up to tackling Manny Acosta right now. So let’s talk bullpen management. Last year (this stat is from the Bill James Handbook) Bobby was the manager most likely to use a pitcher on consecutive days. I think we all knew that, instinctively, [...]

Spring Training Starts Today

BenMurphy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:09:19 +0000

Wow, what a long winter it has been. But that doesn’t really matter anymore, because spring training is here and it starts today at 1:10 PM EST against the Mets. Coverage will by on SNY, as well as MLB.tv. That is, as long as the weather holds up. Go Braves!

Eric O’Flaherty

Mac Thomason — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:00:45 +0000

Eric O’Flaherty Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. The Mariners tried to sneak a live arm back to the minors last offseason, but the Braves caught them in the act and wound up with one of the better lefthanded relievers in the game. I was critical of O’Flaherty early on, when he had trouble in a [...]

UPDATE: How my health situation resembles the Braves offense in early 2009

Mac Thomason — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:05:53 +0000

I am going to be allegorical here, because it’s basically the only way I know how to put this. My oncologist prescribed a new treatment this year; let’s call it “Yunel Escobar” because it is annoying and showy but effective. And Yunel led off the treatment with a triple. Yay! It would be [...]

Peter Moylan

Mac Thomason — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:00:16 +0000

Peter Moylan Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. Makes return from Tommy John surgery look easy. In less than a year, he was ready for the start of the season. Well, almost. After his first two appearances he had given up five runs and hadn’t retired a batter. After that, he was pretty [...]

Takashi Saito

Mac Thomason — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:00:58 +0000

Takashi Saito Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. Is old. Saito has pitched well since he came to America in 2006, but he was 36 then and will be 40 this year, which is probably why the Red Sox let him go despite a 2.43 ERA, and why the Dodgers before them let him go after [...]

Billy Wagner

Mac Thomason — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:00:20 +0000

Billy Wagner Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. He’s 38 years old. In a way, he seems younger — I mean, he goes by “Billy” and he’s short and I easily remember his entire career. (Then, I’m increasingly old.) On the other hand, it seems like he’d have to be older, as he’s accomplished [...]

Kris Medlen

Mac Thomason — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:00:23 +0000

Kris Medlen Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. Normally I’d do an “Other starting pitching possibilities” post, but there’s only one real possibility if someone can’t start the season, and it’s Medlen. Medlen has a lot of positives as a starting candidate, in that he’s pitched well as a starter in the minors and has great [...]

Kenshin Kawakami

Mac Thomason — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:00:27 +0000

Kenshin Kawakami Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. It’s kind of interesting that Kawakami isn’t getting more love, because he pitched pretty well last year. His 7-12 record didn’t show it, but his 3.86 ERA did. 13 of his 25 starts were quality starts, but actually he had only five starts in which he gave [...]

Derek Lowe

Mac Thomason — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:00:13 +0000

Derek Lowe Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. Last year, I wrote about Lowe that “When dealing with pitchers, the most important thing to look at for the next year is not the age, but what they did the previous season… The main thing I look for when projecting pitchers forward is strikeout rate; if they’re losing [...]

JJ is OK…..WHEW!

Murph2TheHall — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Did you just hear that collective sigh of relief??? That was all of Braves Nation sighing after young ace pitcher Jair Jurrjens MRI came back clean this morning. The MRI showed no damage to the rotator cuff or labrum, only some slight inflammation in his right shoulder. JJ should be a able to resume pitching as soon as next week and should have no problem being ready to make his first start this season.

Jurrjens was flown back to Atlanta yesterday after having lingering soreness after starting his throwing down in Florida a week early. He also said he felt a "pop" in his shoulder last week while making a throw during a low-key game with other pro players in his native Curacao, then had some soreness when he did some light throwing in Florida. JJ thinks the problem resulted from too much lifting weights during the last month of the off-season. The Braves think he has nothing more than the type of soreness sometimes associated with the resumption of throwing following an off-season.

So put away the panic button......for now anyway.

Tommy Hanson

Mac Thomason — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:00:36 +0000

Tommy Hanson Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. That was a good rookie year. A little too good? Hanson went 11-4 with a 2.89 ERA, struck out 8.2 men per nine, and improved as the year went on, so that in his last eleven starts (August and September) he was 6-2 with a 2.56 ERA [...]

Tim Hudson

Mac Thomason — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:00:55 +0000

Tim Hudson Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. Hudson only made seven starts coming off his surgery, which means, among other things, that the looking-at-players-and-making-subjective-judgements-type-people have a better idea about what to expect than looking-at-numbers-and-making-supposedly-objective-judgements-type-people like me. The Braves were obviously impressed, signing him to an extension. His seven starts were pretty good, four quality [...]

Jair Jurrjens

Mac Thomason — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:00:44 +0000

Jair Jurrjens Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. “Tell your statistics to shut up.” — Charlie Brown I don’t want to believe the statistics. What they tell me is that Jurrjens’ 2.60 ERA last year is unsustainable, that he didn’t “really” pitch any better than he did in 2008, that he was just lucky. And that [...]

Reunited and it feels so gooooood….

Murph2TheHall — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:56:00 +0000

What a reunion for the Braves and Tommy Glavine! After the way Tommy spoke out against his former team last season about the way he was released I wasn't sure this would ever happen, but it has.

Tom Glavine has OFFICIALLY retired from baseball as the 4th winningest left-handed pitcher in history and has joined the Atlanta Braves in their front office. His official title is special assistant to team president John Schuerholz. Kind of odd considering that is who Glavine had a big problem with last season. But its all water under the bridge now I guess.

Glavine will work with Schuerholz on both the baseball and business ends of the organization. Also, he will be in the broadcast booth for Braves games on both the radio and television. Most of the broadcast responsibilities will be with the club's radio partner, 680 The Fan. But he will also do television work during some games broadcast on FOX Sports South.

Welcome home Tommy!

Spring Training Invites

Murph2TheHall — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:46:00 +0000

Here is a list of the non-roster invites to the Braves major league spring training camp:

Pitchers
Mike Minor
Craig Kimbrel
Eric Cordier
Scott Proctor
Chris Resop
Mariano Gomez

Infielders
Freddie Freeman
Brandon Hicks
Joe Thurston

Catchers
Jesus Sucre
Braeden Schlehuber
Orlando Mercado
J.C. Boscan

Outfielders
Jason Heyward
Cody Johnson
Matt Young
Brent Clevlen
Mitch Jones

Braves pitchers and catchers are to report to spring training on Feb. 19 and other position players on Feb. 22. The first full-squad workout is Feb. 23.

Braves making a run at Damon

Murph2TheHall — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Captain Caveman may still end up wearing a Braves jersey after all. Apparently things are starting to heat up again with the Braves and Johnny Damon. The Braves have offered a 1 year deal (with deferd money) and have also asked Chipper Jones to reach out and contact Damon to give him his best sales pitch about why he should come to Atlanta. Hopefully Chipper can get through to Mr Damon and let him know that he is needed. Maybe Chip will invite Johnny out to his ranch for a some fishin'.

Got these nuggets off Dave O'Brien's twitter:

-Chipper wouldn't confirm team had him call Damon, but said JD "Would make us a deeper team ... give us a legit leadoff hitter w/ some exp."

-Damon and Boras haven't backed off from demand for two-year deal; Boras says he already has at least one 2-yr offer but won't name team.

I'm sure no one has offered him 2 years, that is just BorASS posturing IMO. I really am surprised that the Braves haven't made this happen yet. I thought they would be going all out for Bobby's last season to try and send him out a winner. I guess we will just wait and see.

Other outfield possibilities

Mac Thomason — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:57:56 +0000

Two other outfielders are on the 40-man, these being Gregor Blanco and Jordan Schafer, both of whom had 2009 seasons they would rather forget. Blanco, who spent all of 2008 with the Braves, wound up spending most of 2009 in the suburbs, and did not hit either there or in his major league action. [...]

Jason Heyward

Mac Thomason — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:00:48 +0000

Jason Heyward Minor League Statistics & History – Baseball-Reference.com. I’m not really the person to write this; I don’t know a whole lot about prospects, and have only seen him play a couple of times. Suffice it to say, Heyward is a once-in-a-generation prospect, the sort of player every sort of evaluator puts at the [...]

Melky Cabrera

Mac Thomason — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:00:26 +0000

Melky Cabrera Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. To get one thing out of the way, Yankee fans are idiots. Anyone who thinks that trading this guy for a Cy Young candidate hurt their ballclub needs professional help. Melky (shorter to type and a better search term than “Cabrera”, as well as a first name that sounds [...]

New Braves 2010 BP Cap

Murph2TheHall — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:53:00 +0000

Some of you probably haven't seen that the Braves will be sporting a new BP hat this season. No red bill this year, but a red outline around the classic white A and some white piping. Looks different, but not bad. What do you guys think?

Javy Lopez Interview

Murph2TheHall — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Ran across this interview with former Braves great Javy Lopez. He talks about a lot of topics ranging from catching, and not catching Greg Maddux, winning the 95 World Series, the next Braves manager, and of course steroids. The steroids part is very confusing to me. He never comes out and says that he took them, but to me he is acting as if he is giving the interview from the point of view of someone that did. What do you think?

Check it out HERE.

Nate McLouth

Mac Thomason — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:00:28 +0000

Nate McLouth Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. McLouth was fairly disappointing afer coming over from the Pirates, as he was pretty much average. He was average on defense, which was a step up for him (even though he’d won a Gold Glove in 2008, as he’d actually been quite bad that season) but average at [...]

Braves appear to be passing on Damon?

Murph2TheHall — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:08:00 +0000

For now, it looks like all the Johnny Damon talk was all for not. The Braves are not currently pursuing the once shaggy haired outfielder and unless the price tag comes down quite a bit, will not be looking at him any time soon either. I think the Braves would love to have Damon if he were to sign for about a $2 million, one year deal, but I just think someone else will give him more money and maybe a second year. At this point the only way the Braves call Damon is if they have an early injury to one of their outfielders, but I don't think Damon will still be around to take.

I still think Damon is a better solution than Melky at this point. Damons home/road splits were not that different last season except for the power numbers. His average, hits, runs, RBIs and doubles were basically the same at home or on the road. The only big difference was the homers, 17 at home to 7 on the road. But the Braves didn't really want him for his power but for his abilities as a lead off man. The only big question I have about Damon is if he can still steal bases. He was 12/12 last year, but that was a career low for him in attempts for a full season. Is that a sign the legs are going, or did the Yankees throw up the stop sign so their big bombers could hit with men on bases? Either way, I don't think this is a move that will make or break this team, but I think he could have helped.

Weird stat from last season

Murph2TheHall — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Last season the Braves starters led the majors with a a 3.52 ERA and worked the second-most innings (986). But, they still had four relievers who ranked among the majors' top 11 in most appearances, including Peter Moylan with a franchise-record 87 appearances and former closers Mike Gonzalez (80) and Rafael Soriano (77) to go along with loogy Eric O'Flaherty (78). I find it kind of odd that our starters pitched the second most innings, yet our pen was worked as hard as any other team. I think it comes down to Bobby Cox needing to trust more arms in the pen other than his go-to guys. Hopefully the bullpen can be a bit deeper this season to save the arms of Wagner(37) and Saito(40). I don't think either vets arm will hold up for 75 games.

Matt Diaz

Mac Thomason — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:00:59 +0000

Matt Diaz Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com. Bounced back, big time, from his 2008 annus horribilis and had, statistically, his finest season, due to a big walk spike that pushed his on-base percentage to .390, and a career high 425 plate appearances. He was much less reliant on batting average than earlier in his career, [...]

“Camp Roger” kicks off today at Turner Field

Murph2TheHall — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Tim Hudson is ready to shake off the off-seaon rust get this season started to prove he is injury free and ready to be an ace again. He showed up today for the first day of the Braves two week long voluntary pitching camp at Turner Field. Hudson, along with Peter Moylan, Kris Medlen, Eric O'Flaherty, prospects Todd Redmond, Lee Hyde among 9 Braves pitchers that reported this morning. Jurrjens, Kawakami, newcomer Mike Dunn and even star rookie Tommy Hanson are expected to participate in the 2 week long camp. The annual two-week pitching camp serves as a pre-spring training starting point for pitchers to prepare for the real work that begins Feb. 19 in Florida.

Only 17 more days til pitchers and catchers officially report!!