Well, the season opens up tomorrow night in DC for the Braves and they just finished up their spring training season with a rain-shortened victory over the Indians. Overall, this spring, the Braves finished around .500 if that means anything to you. It shouldn't, but you know how some people can be. Not specifically you, reader, though maybe you are part of the problem. If so, stop.
Simply put, the Braves seem to be right about where they were before spring training opened. Jair Jurrjens did what he needed to, Mike Hampton was able to make some starts, Jeff Bennett's support continues to be strong, and Kotsay's back is still not in 50 million pieces.
Some surprises, of course. Gregor Blanco beat out Josh Anderson, Brandon Jones, and Joe Bochard (or Chard) for the fourth outfielder spot, which was good to see. Javy Lopez was cut and retired and the second catcher spot has yet to be resolved with Corky Miller and Brayan Pena both breaking camp for the moment. KJ and Esco will man the first two spots in the order and Kotsay will just have to deal with the 8th spot.
The Braves found some sad team to take Tyler Yates (thanks Pirates) and got a gift in Ruben Gotay. Seriously, Luis Castillo isn't that good, New York. Gotay might be defensively challenged, but he ain't a bad middle infield hitter. He always scared me when the Braves faced the Mets.
In the end, what this team is right now is hardly a sure contender. There are a lot of question marks. But I believe there are less this year than last year and anytime you can say that, it's a plus.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Nice to see another Braves blogger! Keep up the good work. I'd like to see some more thoughts, especially since we're six games deep now.
Post a Comment