*Official 2009 Atlanta Braves Thread*

i mentioned the Frenchy trade thing coming up in Bowman;s blog, back in post 297... was surprised nobody commented on it. the Red Sox angle is interesting, wonder who would be in the mix?

i do think Frenchy has upside still, but for whatever reason he is not reaching his potential offensively.

unfortunately after this season, we will be in the same boat again, needing another outfielder either way. Garrett Anderson wont be back.

and apparently the only thing standing between the Hanson and his shot at the bigs is Glavine.

it is time for Tommy to accept a role in the bullpen, IMHO. but it aint gonna happen.

 

I think at least we'll have pitching taken care of, which means they can work a little harder improving the lineup.

 

Unless they make corrections to their swings and cut down on the strike outs, Cody and Jordan could combine for 400+ strike outs if those two play in the same outfied together. Cody has struck out close to 70 times this season in around 160 at bats. Yes, he's hit 16 home runs and is slugging .650+, but the strike outs are definitely a concern. For comparison, in roughly the same amount of at bats, Jason Heyward has 9 home runs with a .550+ SLG and has struke out only 24 times.

Cody has monster power, but if he doesn't cut down on the strike outs, he won't hit much higher than .230 when he gets to the big leagues.

 

The draft is coming up in a little over a week. The first day of it is June 9th. The Braves will be picing 7th in the first round. They do not have a sandwich pick or a second round pick. The Braves gave that up as compensation when the signed Derek Lowe. Their next pick is 87th, which is the third round. The 4th round is 118th. The 5th round is 148th. The sixth round is 178th.

I have my wish list for who I would like to see them draft. Mind you, I am not one that is in favor of drafting a bunch of senior college guys. IMO, their upside tends to be less than a high school player or a juco player, and a younger player has had less time to develop the bad habits some senior college guys have. They are more moldable.

Anyway, with the 7th pick the player I hope the Braves are able to get is Zack Wheeler, a RHP from East Paulding HS in Dallas, GA. Zach is a projectable rigthy with good command of three pitches and a fast ball that can touch 94 on occasion. Fall back options if Wheeler is gone would be Tyler Matzek, a lefty from Capistrano Valley HS in Mission Viejo, CA, Shelby Miller, a righty from Brownwood HS in Texas, and Bobby Borchering, a 3B/1B power hitting prospect from Bishop Verot HS in Ft. Myers, FL.

At the 87th pick, two prospects that I am intrigued with are Luke Bailey, a catcher from Troupe County HS in LaGrange, GA, and Billy Hamilton, a toolsy SS/OF from Taylorsville HS in Taylorsville, MS. Bailey was considered to be a first round pick going into the season, but he had to have TJ surgery. This may drop him. If he's there, I'd take him and let him heal. The Braves need a good young catcher in their lower minors. Braden Schlueber has not quite hit the way they expected him to hit. Hamilton is a speed guy who is one of the top two HS players in Mississippi. He has football scholarship to Mississippi State, but he is very likely to sign if drafted high.

With the 118th pick, I would like to see Atlanta take Jake Cowan, a righty from San Jacinto JC. The JUCO ranks have been very good for the Braves recently. They have gotten Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlin, Cole Rohrbough, Tyler Flowers, Craig Kimbrel, David Francis, and JJ Hoover from the JUCO ranks recently. The aforementioned Braden Schlueber was also a JUCO guy, and a guy who will start playing when short season starts up Adam Milligan is JUCO outfielder that is one to watch. Brandon Jones is also a JUCO product.

With the 148th pick, if the Braves haven't taken Luke Bailey already, I'd like to see them go for Miles Hamblin, a catcher from Howard College in Texas. Howard just won the JUCO world series with a 64-1 record. Miles is a power hitting catcher with average receiving skills. He hit .448 with 16 home runs on the season. Otherwise, I would look at Daniel Fields, a shortstop from the University of Detroit Jesuit HS who has good size and may eventually project as a third baseman.

With the 178th pick, I would like to see the Braves pick up Joseph Sanders, a thirdbaseman from Auburn. Sanders put up good power numbers this season with 19 home runs. He's solid with the glove at third base as well. This is a position in the system that is very lacking at this point. I'd also look at Randy Henry, a RHP/SS from Stone Mountain JC in Arizona.

 

That's completely false. For every high school player with big time upside that gets drafted (Arod, Justin Upton) there are examples of college players with the same (David Price, Matt Wieters, Evan Longoria, Stephen Strasburg). Sometimes it takes a player the time in college to develop into a big time prospect after he wasn't even drafted out of high school like Longoria or Strasburg.

In fact it takes high school players longer to develop because they don't have the experience playing against tougher/better competition and actually getting coached at the higher level. Just take a long at players drafted out of college and how quick they make it to the major leagues compared to high school players. The high school players are the ones that tend to have bad habits and need time to develop and get coached.

There are some teams that will not draft a high school player in the draft, especially pitchers, and are teams, like the Braves that usually target home town based high school players.

 

I would prefer to have the inexperienced high school guy that I can coach to play the way I would want him to play rather than the college guy who is going to be set in his ways. When the Braves broke their philosophy and drafted Joey Devine, I was against that pick. Atlanta would have been better off taking Colby Rasmus, who was available and went one or two picks after they took Devine.

 

I think if you use that logic you won't be overall successful and any GM or Scouting Director that thinks like that probably wouldn't stick around. I understand what you're saying about wanting players that follow in the organization philosophy but by doing that you will pass up on some solid to stud college prospects, plus who's to say that the college players don't fit in the philosophy anyway? By using that logic you'd be willing to pass up on Longoria, Wieters or Price to draft a high school player? Better yet if the Braves had the #1 pick in the draft you'd be willing to pass up on Strasburg to draft the best high school prospect? It's just not a good practice to use. You're also assuming that a college player 'set in his ways' is a negative, which isn't always the case. And you'll have to give them much more time in the minors to develop compared to a college guy who most of the time is only a year away. You can't just not draft college players because of one bad draft pick a few years ago, stuff like that happens all the time in the draft. Bottom line is teams should draft the best talent on the board.

 

There are exceptions to every rule. With that said, if I am looking at a pick and I have a college player and a high school player rated about the same, I'm taking the high school player. In the 2007 draft where David Price went first, I would have taken Jason Heyward with the first pick. The fact that he lasted so long is amazing. There are a lot of teams that took college guys ahead of him that are wishing they had taken Jason now.

Plus, with the Braves, they haven't been drafting at the top of the draft in a long time. The last time they had one of the top two picks, they took a college position player named Mike Kelly in 1991. Mike Kelly never lived up to his potential.

 

Fair enough, I respect your opinion but don't really agree with it, although it makes perfect sense you feel that way considering you're a Braves fan and that's how the team has drafted for a long time now. I think you have to take each case and player seperately though. Perfect example just looking at the 2007 draft, high school guys like Mike Moustakas and Josh Vitters were taken over Matt Wieters.

I do however think passing on David Price for Jason Heyward might be a bit of a homer pick as Price not only has ace potential but is a left handed pitcher. No knock on Heyward but you can name the ace left handers in baseball on one hand, players like Heyward are more common.

Good debate though!

 

Well, with Price and Heyward, you are comparing Baseball America's #2 rated prospect in all of baseball with Baseball America's #5 rated prospect in all of baseball. You make a good point about Price being a left handed pitcher that has ace ability. There was a good thread on an Atlanta Braves board recently that asked the question who would you rather have, Stephen Strausburg, David Price, or Tommy Hanson? You could make a case for David Price considering that he is a left handed pitcher. I would make a case for Tommy Hanson because he is so ridiculously dominant and is a strike out pitcher with almost 13 K/9 in AAA this season. I'm sure some would go with Strausburg based on what they think he can do at this point given his ridiculous strike out numbers at San Diego State.

Would I pass on Strausburg for a high school player? No. To me, that is a totally different situation than looking at high school pitchers Zack Wheeler, Tyler Matzek, and Shelby Miller vs college pitchers Andrew White, Tanner Scheppers, Mike Minor, and Andrew Oliver. In that situation, I would take Wheeler, Matzek, or Miller over any of those college guys.

 

I actually know Bobby, his mom and mine are pretty good friends. He is a total stud and I'd love if the Braves drafted him.

 

Jordan Schaefer got sent down to Gwinnette, and Gregor Blanco was recalled. he will be playing CF tonite against the Cubs.

he has been hitting very well the last couple weeks in AAA according to Mark Bowman.

Bowman also threw some praise at Garrett Anderson, and admitted he judged him too harshly before. Bowman says he had previously mistaken GA's lack of emotion as not caring and/or not wanting to be in Atlanta. he now says that is just teh way he is, and never gets too up or too down, and is not fake for the media like some (unnamed) players.

 

Good because Schaefer was pretty overmatched at the plate. He can take some time to get to where he needs to be. He has a bright future, no need to ruin him.

 

That works two ways. While I think your opinion and philosophy on the matter have some merit high school players also carry a bigger risk. They carry a higher fail factor then college players who are slightly older and while they may have less upside, you also have a better idea of what they will become. There is risk/reward to both sides of the drafting philosophy; to me its more about how quickly the team needs help and how quickly you need to push a kid through the system to get to the big leagues. If you can afford to be patient, you may take the high school kid and gamble on his upside. If you can't afford that luxury you may take the kid that is ready to help you sooner. The fact that the majority of the kids drafted wont ever see the big leagues means to me that you try and minimize risk when you can and take the kid who has a better chance to ever help your club.

 

Games like that can turn around a season, let's hope so. I watched the ninth, that was a big time AB for Francoeur.

 

Awesome game. And to hear the sad Cubs announcers on WGN was great.

BTW, did you guys see the sign that dumbass Cubs fan held up? He was trying to say Turner Field was "Wrigley South" but he spelled his hometown "Douglaville, GA" instead of Douglasville. What an idiot.

 

Watching visiting Cubs fans hanging their heads really did it for me. I love seeing visiting fans leave in misery. Just unfortunate I wasn't there. I've been to a game against the Cubs at the Ted and I didn't notice any more of a presence there than other visiting fans honestly. People like to mention the 03 playoffs but honestly the Cubs have had such an epic run of futility that their sad fans will flock to any stadium IMO when the Cubs actually make a postseason run.

On a side note, Glavine pitched here in Augusta for the Rome Braves last night but I missed it due to work. Smoltz and Glavine have both been here in town over the past two weeks and I missed them both. He pitched six scoreless innings so we'll probably see him back in Atlanta soon.

 

Wow...


News: The Braves released Glavine on Wednesday, according to FoxSports.com -- a day after he tossed six shutout innings in a rehab start. The report say the Braves released him because his velocity was down and he was due bonuses for being activated. It said he was throwing 76-78 mph in spring training and 83-86 mph recently. "I don't know what else I can do," Glavine told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Physically I felt good and I feel like I'm ready. I'd love to get to Atlanta and help the team. I'll go (to Turner Field) tomorrow and prepare to pitch on Sunday, wherever that is."

I didn't figure this would be the end of Glavine's career. The Braves really gave him a raw deal, if this report is true, then again, Hanson, should have made the staff out of ST.

so....Come on down Mr. Thomas Hanson......

 

While the Braves probably shouldn't have even signed him in the first place, this is clearly a financial move as they would have to pay Glavine $1 million just for making the big league roster. Hanson probably should have been up in mid-April but of course its all about money and service time. I am though surprised they pretty much kicked Glavine to the curb without even giving him a chance, again I think it probably would have ended badly anyway. I wonder what Chipper thinks of all of this.

 

Glavine could draw interest from Tex, CHW, SD, SF, SEA off the top of my head.....just dont think he has much left in the tank.

 

I'd be surprised if any team signed him, especially a team in the AL. It would be just an utter disaster.

 

The Pirates have traded Nate McLouth to the Braves, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It's a very good deal for the Braves, who needed a legit stick in the outfield. The Pirates will reportedly receive three prospects, with MLB.com's Mark Bowman reporting the return as pitchers Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke along with outfielder Gorkys Hernandez. Locke, a second-round pick in 2006, has the most upside, but he's struggled mightily with his control this season. Hernandez is a speed and defense centerfielder while Morton is a bottom of the rotation starter stuck in Triple-A. Jun. 3 - 7:06 pm et

 

Prospect Tommy Hanson will be promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett to start Saturday's game against the Brewers, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

With a 1.50 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings, Hanson is the best pitching prospect in the minors. The move will go a long way towards bolstering the Braves pitching staff, with Kris Medlen moving to the bullpen to replace Jorge Campillo. Jun. 3 - 7:22 pm et

 

That's too bad as I wish Charlie would have stuck around with the Braves, I would have enjoyed seeing him have success with Atlanta but he really didn't have a spot for him in the rotation, hopefully he gets that shot with Pittsburgh. The Pirates certainly got some nice players back in the deal though. It's probably a win/win for both teams.

 

Great move. I think we had a serious lack of power in the lineup. This should help out Chipper and McCann. And it will be good to finally see Hanson. Hopefully he rounds out the rotation and at the very least eats up some innings.

 

He's overrated in the OF. He's not a very good defensive player even if he won the gold glove last year. He's more of a corner OFer. But the kid can hit and that's what the Braves needed.

 

as far as the Glavine move; we still have to make room for Hudson later this summer, so there really was no place for him except maybe the bullpen, and i would rather see Medlen get some big league seasoning there anyway, which appears to be what is gonna happen.

also, like y'all have already noted, with his velocity down in the low to mid 80's in his rehab assignments, Glavine probably is done. so why pay him the million?

if the club is willing to fork out an extra million, let it be to another piece of the puzzle we trade for, before the trade deadline.

glad we got a bat for the outfield.

 

Looking at his contract, Glavine would get $1 million just for getting called up, another 1.5 million after 30 days on the roster and another 1.5 million after 90 days. Braves made the right call there. That's just wasted money, especially when guys like Medlen, Hanson and even Morton (before he got traded) would have been better bets. It's a shame Glavine's HOF career is probably over and he's getting released over money but it could be worse, he could be Roger Clemens.

 

What a day for Atlanta. The McClouth move will instantly improve the lineup. I wonder what this means for the long term future of Schafer who clearly has a lot of work to do. I hate to hear about glavine but it's not that surprising. It's probably karma for spending five seasons with the Mets. J/K

I can't wait to see Hanson pitch on Saturday.

 

I don't think McLouth is a centerfielder long term. I think he will play there for now, but I see him eventually moving to a corner outfield position. I feel the Pirates felt the same way if thy had kept him, because they would have eventually put Andrew McCutcheon in center and moved McLouth to either left or right field.

 

Then he could probably replace Garrett Anderson in left field long term.

 

So this kid pinch running for Francoeur attempts a steal of second in the bottom of the ninth, he's clearly safe by a fairly large margin and is called out by the second base umpires. What a load of crap. Replays backed up that it was a terrible call. Maybe baseball does need instant replay b/c I'm not sure how an ump is supposed to make the right call when the runner's body is blocking where and when the tag is coming. This ump just screwed Atlanta royally.

 

the Braves did not get the benefit of a couple calls. not only that steal, but right before the Cubs scored their two runs early, there was a check swing on a full count third strike that would have been a strike 'em out, thrown 'em out double play to end the inning.

only problem was they didnt ring Lee up at the plate, said he didn't go around, even though the replay showed otherwise IMHO.

so the walk nullified the DP, and the next hitter crushes a double to CF for the two run lead.

 

but on the bright side, i read that McLouth had just signed a three year deal in spring training, so he is signed thru at least the 2011 season.

 

Anytime the ball beats the runner to the base, the umpire is going to call the runner out regardless if the second baseman or short stop has actually made the tag. Most umps are at a poor angle to see if the tag was actually made.

 

I can understand how people would feel that way so just point people to these examples: Jeter has won 3 gold gloves yet is considered one of the worst defensive SS in the game, Michael Young won one last year and was moved off the SS position in the offseason, Palmeiro won one in the mid 99 and only played 28 games at the position. Gold gloves are a popularity contest that are given to big name guys, not a true judge of defense.

 

Young got moved over to make room for Elvis Andrus, which reminds me of how bad the Mark Teixiera trade was for Atlanta. The Braves gave up three major league starters and another prospect that has the potential to be a starter in that deal, and they basically got Casey Kotchman out of the deal.

JS was a great GM, but he made some bad trades at the end. The Adam Wainwright for JD Drew deal and the Mark Teixiera deal stand out and will continue to be trades that the Braves will look back on and say ouch!!