*Official 2009 Atlanta Braves Thread*

Some buzz that makes me a little nervous. There is some talk that if Zack Wheeler is not on the board when the Braves pick in the draft, the guy they like is Alex White from North Carolina. Now, Alex White has very good stuff with a fastball that he can pump to the mid 90s. However, this is a college pitcher that does not have great command of his pitches. He is essentially a two pitch guy who will likely project as a relief pitcher in the majors.

If Wheeler is not on the board, then I hope Atlanta chooses to go with Texas high school right handed pitcher Shelby Miller or California left handed pitcher Tyler Matzek.

If they take Alex White, I have a feeling it will turn out like the Joey Devine pick. A hard throwing righty who projects as a relief pitcher in the majors that has poor command of his fastball.

 

Nice move by the braves getting Mcclouth. Locke was sporting a 5.16 era when traded and while he has upside it looks like he certainly needed a change of scenery. Hernandez I always felt was an overrated prospect and the fact he has absolutely no power means he will be lucky to become a Juan Pierre type. Its a great deal for Atlanta as Mcclouths contract is reasonable and hes controlled for a little while longer.

I wonder if this is a prelude to any other moves as there were whispers last week that Boston among other teams had interest in Frenchy.

As a mets fan, you can imagine I was not too pleased by this.

 

The Teixeira deal was terrible, especially since they got back so little afterwards for him. Imagine if the Braves had those guys back right now? Especially Feliz to go along with Hanson? The rest of the NL East would be crying right now. The Braves could have put Salty at 1st and as back up catcher, Elvis at SS, maybe push Escobar to 2B and Johnson to LF. Harrison could be in the rotation or the pen. And with Heyward and Schafer in the minors. That's some scary young talent.

Franceour's OBP is less than .300. Theo Epstein loves OBP. Do the math it ain't happening and probably never was to begin with. The Red Sox had scouts at the Braves games to scout for when they play them later this year, and apparently Franceour is a big Red Sox fan (he apparently has a Sox mastercard or something) so the writers ran with that story. I don't think it was anything more than rumor.

 

He's a hometown guy. I always assumed he had been a Braves fan. This is a little disappointing if true. If you grow up somewhere with a sports franchise [especially baseball] and don't support them, well that's almost like treason to me.

 

Yeah, I love the McLouth trade. It's nice when you can get a guy under contract, who's only 27, and not give up any of your top prospects.

As for his defense, he's got good range and a above average arm. He also had something like a .997 FP last year.

As for Glavine, he needed to go. Although the timing is weird considering he's pitched 11 straight scoreless in his rehab starts. But if it came down to Glavine and Hanson, aIm glad Hanson got the nod.

Hopefully we can make a run now.

 

i have heard the Braves announcers state that Francouer's dad is big Red Sox fan. but i also recall hearing in the past of how Jeff and his dad spent alot of their summer in the stands in Atlanta during his youth. i also doubt the trade to Boston is going anywhere.

Buster Olney has a piece on ESPN's insider about Adam Dunn ending up in Boston by the trade deadline. i don;t have insider, but the teased it on the front page at ESPN.com this morning.

 

I dont know the extent of Kevin Youkilis' injury, but with the way Big Papi is going they need another bat to keep pace. I just dont know if Frenchie is that bat. Dunn makes alot more sense.

 

Youkilis isn't hurt he's back in the line up today.

I've also read in a few places Feanceour is/was a Sox fan.

 

Wren seems to have made it clear that his minor league performance had nothing to do with whether or not he could be effective in the big leagues again. Apparently they did not even take those rehab start stats into consideration. He shutout the Augusta GreenJackets for six innings Tuesday night but I've seen those guys play and I'd have to agree with Wren here. A world of difference between those kids and MLB players. He also made it clear the move was about ability and not money. Tough break for Glavine though. Makes me even more angry I missed what will now be his last Braves start ever. Even if it was class A ball.

 

Looks like McLouth will bat 3rd and Chipper cleanup. I thought for sure we'd see Nate bat leadoff, not sure how I feel about this.

I think Kelly might be better suited for 6th or 7th in the lineup and Nate's average might be a concern in the 3 hole. Although, he should see some great pitches hitting in front of Chipper.

 

It would be a mistake to put him in the 3 hole. Why doesn't Escobar lead off? Does he not take pitches? Looking at the stats he is a .300 hitter and has .368 OBP. If I had control of the lineup I would go:
1.Escobar
2. McLouth
3. Chipper
4. McCann
5. Anderson(Not really a fan of anyone that could go in this hole)

 

I was actually talking to one of my friends who's a Brave fan (not Rocky Raccoon) and actually said I'd bat Escobar first then McLouth, Chipper and McCann. I like that top of the order right there.

 

The only way the McClouth trade benefits Francoeur is if Francoeur watches from the bench.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2009/05/31/the_managerial_ranks/?page=1

On the last page:

Jeff Francoeur, OF, Braves - One thing that makes sense about Boston scouting the struggling Francoeur is that he's a big Red Sox fan (he used to carry a Red Sox Mastercard until his Braves teammates made him get rid of it). Francoeur has struggled for two seasons now, so we're not sure there's real interest. "That's news to me," said a Sox official.

I think carrying about a Sox Mastercard is pretty die hard, I mean even I do have a Sox credit card. Haha.

 

No, Escobar does not take pitches. Infact, he's seeing less pitches per AB than just about any other hitter in the NL. We tried him in the leadoff role sporadically the last couple years, he's better in the 2 Hole IMO.

 

Just read this great article about Tommy Hanson.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...05/tommy.hanson/index.html?eref=si_topstories

My favorite part:

 

this just makes no sense to me, with Tim Hudson due back in August, and the Braves offense. it makes no sesne for me on the Boston end either. but somebody is feeding this stuff to Buster Olney, and he is biting still.

 

Agreed. Trading Francoeur for Brad Penny would be an absolute head scratcher. It would most definitely mean that someone from our starting staff will be moved to the bullpen.

Either way, when Hudson comes back a starter will be moved to the pen. Maybe they'll put Hanson down there ala Adam Wainwright and David Price.

 

KK will be in long relief, before TH ever sniffs a bullpen. I cant see how Frenchy draws any interest from Boston...but Brad Penny back to the NL and sliding KK and Medlin (simply for this season) to the pen is a great idea.

Rotation of Lowe, Jurrrjens, Hanson, Vazquez, Penny for the rest of '09 would be quite formidable.

 

Supposedly Mark Bowman is squashing this rumor. He says the Red Sox have no interest in Francoeur.

 

yeah the article mentions KK to the pen, and that he does fine, til around 45-60 pitches each start. sounds like a middle reliever to me.

 

I've been campaigning for KK to be moved to the pen. I'm just not that high on him as a starting pitcher. He has already had one episode of arm fatigue this season.

Personally, I would have left Kris Medlin in as a starter and moved KK to the pen for the time being, even though I feel Medlin's future will be as a set up man.

Tommy Hanson is coming up, and he needs to be the 4th starter so he can start at least a game every week and not have his spot skipped on off days.

 

The lineup continues to disappoint. It was mentioned during the game last night that Atlanta is 3-22 in games where they score 3 runs or less. Yes they've scored that little in about half of their games up to this point. I don't have to tell anyone how little power they have. Which might be OK if they were better at manufacturing runs. But when you can't bring home a leadoff double you're obviously not good at that either. Instead of trying to convince us that Glavine was finished, maybe Wren should be looking for 4 or 5 more hitters for next season. The McClouth move was a step in the right direction.

 

The offense is pathetic right now. Its a shame that quality pitching performances are wasted on a nightly basis.

 

This lineup has approached laughable. McCann led off the last inning on third via an outfield mistake with no outs and they found a way to screw that up. Escobar gets thrown out at second on a stinkin hit from McClouth. They pull off a double steal, Norton has a good AB and then Kelly promptly strikes out on three pitches. Speaking of Kelly, I think I'd be a better leadoff hitter than he is at this point. Chipper left the game with an injury, this is surely karma over the Tom Glavine situation. I'm not superstituous but I can't think of any other explanation for such pathetic performance since it happened. When was the last time they scored a run? Tuesday or Wednesday? What a joke, keep McCann and the pitching staff [and Chipper if he doesn't have to go to IR or something] and replace the rest of them with their Gwinnett counterparts. Could it be any worse? I doubt it.

 

Joe Simpson just answered my question. 19 innings and counting since the last Braves run scored. 19 innings.

He's such a homer. He's talking about gaining ground in the division with a rally. Yeah right, has he been sitting in the booth watching the game? <end rant>

 

The Tommy Hanson Era Starts Today!!

Everyone sit back, relax, and enjoy watching the young righty who will eventually be the Braves ace pitcher and the Roy Halladay of the National League make his debut today. Do you realize that Tommy Hanson had more strike outs than walks and hits combined? Tommy had 90 strike outs in 66 innings of work while allowing only 40 hits and 17 walks. Only Clay Bucholtz had a lower WHIP than Tommy Hanson in the International League.

Tommy has a fastball that he can consistently throw in the mid 90s with great command. He also has an above average slider, above average curveball, and an average change up at this point. He throws all four pitches with very good command. His command has really improved as he has ascended through the system. His walk rate went down with each level he went up, which is a great sign to me.

I just hope the bats will give him some runs today. I don't see any bat help from the minors until Jordan Schafer gets his swing sorted out and the trio that is at Myrtle Beach are ready.

 

Can't wait to see this kid pitch today. Should be a good one. Maybe the offense will score more than 0 runs.

 

Hanson has looked really good so far. Two earned runs through five so far. He's only thrown 68 pitches as well.

And I guess Chipper isn't dizzy anymore. A triple and two homers and he has accounted for all of Atlanta's five runs up to this point. He knew the last pitch he hit was going to the low outside corner and somehow he hit it out.

Edit: Make that four earned runs in 5+. Braun is wearing him out and has almost matched the day Chipper has had. He has been very good against the rest of the lineup though so I wouldn't say there's much need to worry. Especially given this is his first big league game ever against a pretty good hitting team. Not sure if he'll make it through the sixth though. Walk, HR, and now another hit.

 

I wouldn't call this the debut he was looking for but he clearly has a bright future. He has some nasty pitches which he showed early in the game.

 

Yeah he had 2 strikes on Braun and missed with the fastball. Can't throw a fastball up and over the middle to a guy like Braun. Can't even do it with Mike Cameron, who just hit another 2-run homer on another fastball that ran up and in. Seems like he might be trying to overthrow it because his other fastballs have looked pretty straight. His slider and curveball looked pretty good.

 

It just feels like he pitched so much better than the score indicates. Not every team will make him pay for every single mistake the way the Brewers did today. I mean the kid didn't get away with anything.

 

HOW MANY **** BLOWN BASERUNNING CALLS IS ATLANTA GOING TO FALL VICTIM TO THIS SEASON?!

Are you kidding me, Counsel was clearly tagged out going for third and is called safe. The throw beat him by a mile. I know an ump's job is difficult but you have to try hard to blow a call like this. Where's instant replay? It won't slow the game down any longer than the manager going out to complain about the call.

 

McClouth came up big with a double to tie it up. Escobar showed some nice patience and knocked him in to get the lead.

 

Chipper had a shot at the cycle with a double in the 8th but not surprisingly they walked him. Too bad. Has Chipper ever hit for the cycle?

McClouth had a nice hit and is making his presence felt early. Now they need to hang on this and take this momentum into the Pittsburgh series.

 

His stuff was electric. He just needs to learn how to hit his spots a little better. Also, he needs to learn that he doesn't have to strike everyone out. Braun burned him because he was sitting dead-red fastball with two strikes.

He'll rebound. Plus, I'll feel much better when McCann is calling the game instead of David Ross.

 

Gonzalez can't find the strike zone. I smell a blown save if they don't get Soriano out there soon. Hopefully not.

Edit: Got the double play. Huge. Looking much better now.

 

Nice win. Got Hanson off the hook for the loss, avoided the sweep, and maybe they can carry this forward because they desperately need a series win against Pittsburgh. Their schedule gets extremely tough soon.