CF and other stuff

-Happy Friday to ya. Since Andruw Jones left, center field has remained a big question mark. Well, according to DOB, the Braves are possibly considering Mark Kotsay and Corey Patterson. I have spoke on Patterson often because I can't possibly fathom why people continue to talk him up when his career OBP is under .300. Not a typo, kids. Kotsay, on the other hand, is a perfect addition on paper. You look at what he brings to the table and while it won't aw you, it certainly will be productive.

.282/.337/.415 career, .264 career EQA, formally an above average CF.

The last three years have been trying for Kotsay, but he is obviously the best player for what he brings, for how long the Braves need to commit, and money invested (surely Oaktown would pick up half of the check or sent a grade B prospect to give the Braves some kind of compensation for Kotsay's salary). I am not saying I would do it...but dammit, I'm considering it.

-MLB Trade Rumors talks up Mike Cameron to the Braves. As I have said, I am back-and-forth on Cameron. He's not as bad as some make him, not as good as others make him. But he truly is a poor man's Andruw who is faster on the basepaths. Not a terrible direction to go. He also as a suspension over his head. Eiii...

-A couple of 2006 Braves signed new contracts. Marcus Giles, who spent last year with the Pads, signed with the Rockies for a measly minor league contract and spring training invite. Braves fans have spoke of Giles often with the steroid label. I think it is probably accurate, though he was one of my favorite Braves. It's pretty sad how his career has tapered off despite the fact he is just 29. Elsewhere, Chris Reitsma reups with the Mariners. Here's hoping he has success.

-Sean Livingstone of the USA Today penned a organizational report. There is literally nothing in this report that is all that interesting. But read it if you want a cheat sheet on everything you already know.

Busy Week, eh?

-Well, I am back. The Mitchell Report was released to wall-to-wall coverage by ESPN, but it has been less than satisfying. On one end, the sheer randomness of players mentioned (big stars, bench players) is kind of scary, but we expected that, right? What bothers me is that the players do have a legitimate beef to be concerned about the amount of evidence cited. However, this was not a criminal investigation, but a view at the usage of steriods and HGH in baseball. In that, it was probably fairly successful. One player cited, Andy Pettitte, has admitted to usage. For two days.

“If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize.”

If? Um, Andy, IT _SO_ WAS! While I think HGH is way overblown as an effective performance enhancer, your usage is still clearly wrong. For a fun bit, check out Pettitte's talking up God, as reported by Fire Joe Morgan via BeliefNet, here.

-Thankfully, no current Braves (*ahem* Chipper?) made the list, but twelve former Braves did. You have to take this with a grain of salt, however, because the Mitchell Report's star witnessess both worked around the New York players more than any others so if you were a roided up freak not calling New York home, you were a bit more safe. The former Braves to make the report are: P' Paul Byrd, Darren Holmes, Kent Mercker, Denny Neagle, John Rocker, and Mike Stanton; C Todd Pratt, 1B's Ken Caminiti, Matt Franco, and Wally Joyner, and OF's David Justice and Gary Sheffield. Byrd, Holmes, and Sheff were all apparently using or at least purchasing drugs during their time as Braves. No Marcus Giles, Javy Lopez, or Jesse Garcia, but again - they didn't ask the Braves clubhouse guy.

-Justice did add to his dickdom. I should patent that word. When approached about his own steriod usage, Justice named names as if he was about to get killed. He still gets reported and now, his names are reported too. In the 20's, he would be sleeping with the fishies by now.

-The voice of clarity is Jeff Francoeur. He essentially read and thought about the Mitchell Report for a day and then went to play golf because it didn't mention him. Such a needy bastard.

-Other stuff happened this week. I have a weak source to comment on here, but a livejournal post here reports two things of interest. One, the Braves might be seeking Damian Miller, a perfect backup catcher. Good defender and has some pop. Would make for a great backup, but with a few teams still looking for a starter behind the plate, he will be looking for starting time until that is cleared up. Also brought up was the rumor that the Braves might be interested in Steve Finley. God, I just threw up in my mouth.

-Willie Harris and Peterson Orr are Nats Orr is getting closer to Canada and signed with a former Canadian team so you know he's psyched, but Harris was less thrilled of leaving Atlanta. I love how the article implies that Harris "tailed off?" because of less playing time. Dumbass homer Willie articles.

-Finally, DOB is back to report that the Braves are quite interested in former Rockies closer, Brian Fuentes. However, he is due at least $4.5M in arbitration, his final year of arbitration, and the Rockies have no need to trade Fuentes, when makes his package tough to benefit the Braves.

-Um. Merry last week before Christmas.

Whoa...what the hell?

Been out of it for a couple of weeks and missed time to comment on a trade. Damn you, Wren. I had an agreement with Schuerholz to keep any amazing trades on the DL until I was ready to comment on it. For my part, I will catch up with a column to be posted Monday or Tuesday at chopnation.com so be sure to check it out. Both players acquired in the deal were soon after added to the Baseball America Top Ten Prospects for the Braves organization.

1. Jordan Schafer, of
2. Jason Heyward, of
3. Jair Jurrjens, rhp
4. Brandon Jones, of
5. Gorkys Hernandez, of
6. Brent Lillibridge, ss
7. Cole Rohrbough, lhp
8. Jeff Locke, lhp
9. Tommy Hanson, rhp
10. Julio Teheran, rhp

I think Hanson is a bit too low and Heyward might be a bit too high, but a good list overall. Elsewhere, a hilarious column found here poises the question, "Is David Eckstein as good as Renteria? Maybe, maybe not..." That made me chuckle.

What else is going on in Braves world? Well, Tom Glavine seems like a sure bet to sign. I guess I just have to accept that when Schuerholz and Wren talked about improving the staff, they really meant Glavine above anything.

Jeff Francoeur won a Gold Glove. Yet again, that award is a useless display of defensive ability. Congrats Francoeur nevertheless.

Andruw Jones met with Stan Kastan. Apparently, nothing was discussed. Andruw playing coy? Things are so different! Speaking of now former Braves, the Braves traded Hiram Kyle Davies for Octavio Dotel, got nine games out of him, and declined his option. Oh, how miserable that deal makes me.

Wren flatout said the Braves will not be after a free agent closer. Wonder if Schuerholz has told Wren yet that loose lips sink ships or however that oddass phrase goes. Since taking over, Wren can't stop flapping his yap about whatever new thought he has. Still, if this one holds out, kudos.

Well, that's about all that is going on. I'm sure by the next time I post, the Braves will have signed Jesus because Wren loves to mess with my lack of posting during the week. Bastard.

Week in Review

When I work during the week, I rarely if ever keep track of the Braves, baseball, my cat, or my bathing routine. Perhaps I've said too much. Anywho, here is a recap of the week's events involving the Braves. Some of this may be old news to you, some of it may have been mislooked, but all of it is NEWS! I feel so Dan Ratherish.

The Savannah Morning News mentions that maybe John Schuerholz's decision to move to President was due in at least part to the fact that he didn't want to deal with Glavine or try to replace Bobby Cox. Hear that, John? The SMN calls you a pussy. What now?

Meanwhile, the favorite target of this blog, the AJC, had a Frank Wren piece from Jeff Schultz. It's your basic fluff piece with a little history on Wren that you probably will never be asked about on Jeopardy. This Schuerholz/Wren shake-up is kind of reminding me of the Bill Parcells/Wade Phillips shake-up in Dallas. One guy is the bigger personality - both in the media and the way he is portrayed. However, Wren won't have direct contact.

I'm still not sure this setup will work so well. If Schuerholz feels the itch to do the GM job, it could break down rather quick.

Crooked Pitch had a look at the Braves outfield in 2007. Decent objective piece, though he is dreaming if he feels Brandon Jones can be the starting center fielder in 2008.

Speaking of center field, Torri Hunter has expressed a desire to play in Atlanta next year. Last year, I railed against getting Tom Glavine and this year, I would rather have Glavine than Hunter. If you look at Hunter's career, he has two pretty good years, three pretty shitty years, and four average to slightly better-than average campaigns. Why the hell would I want to pay $13-$15 million for that? Yes, he is coming off a solid year, but he still posted a pedestrian .334 OBP and a hardly notable .505 SLG to go with his 122 OPS+. All told, his year wasn't that much better than any other year.

Put it this way. As I was preparing for my next chopnation column, I came to the conclusion that on a money paid, production received scale, Mike Cameron trumps Hunter and I'm hardly that much of a fan of Cameron.

DOB is hyping up Jordan Schaffer. Hopefully, the kid keeps progressing, but this lovefest is getting a little scary. I believe a lot of people are convinced that Schaffer will be the starting center fielder. You have to learn from the Andy Marte's of the world that just being great in the minors and having solid potential doesn't make a star right away. "Think Grady Sizemore meets Steve Finley?" I hope he is more on the Sizemore side than Finley. The latter was a good guy, nice defender, but an average hitter. Sizemore is a damn force.

Finally, news came out today that Paul Byrd bought $24,850 of HGH between the summer of 2002 and the winter of 2005. 2002 was Byrd's career season with the Royals when he came out of nowhere to suddenly win 17 and post solid numbers. The Braves signed him in 2003 and he spent two years in Atlanta in which he started just 19 games. Maybe the HGH made him more prone to injury.

Now I'm of the camp that really downplays the impact HGH has on a player, especially a pitcher. HGH simply buils immature muscle which would be good for someone who needs girth like an offensive lineman, but not so helpful for a guy like Paul Byrd - who is a finesse pitcher. Nevertheless, this is the kind of stories that you kind of get used to. I tend to like Byrd, but jeez, you were an idiot.

A-Z Reviews: D

After so little to talk about with the B's and C's, D delivers some interesting figures.

Kyle Davies
-Hiram, as I called him, was exactly what I love in young pitching. Velocity, a solid curve, and the youth on his side. However, what he lacked was...production. In the slightest. It was straight up horrible at times, including last year. Even Lance Cormier would occasionally have a nice week or two. Davies seemed to have a game in which he might turn the corner, only to suck horribly. Such was the case on May 22nd, when he dominated the Mets over eight innings and even hit a homer. The next game, eight runs in 4.1 ING to the Phillies. He then gave up just a run to the Cubs before five runs to the Marlins. Quality starts were isolated. So, the Braves made the choice to listen to deals and they got one in the form of Octavio Dotel from the Royals. Davies continued his inability to stay productive for just consecutive starts in the AL, but then spoke of how the Braves clubhouse was part of the problem for him.

2008 Outlook: Even in Kansas City, Davies is running out of time to make something of himself. He stayed healthy last year and pitched a MLB personal best 136 innings, but that meant he wasn't quite averaging five innings in his 28 starts, hardly anything to write home about. I wish him the best cause I've always liked him, but at a certain point, you need to produce.

Joey Devine
-The Braves simply want Joey Devine to fail. From the 2005 horrible failures to this year as he got jockeyed between Mississippi and Atlanta so many times, he'd be forgiven for wearing the wrong uniform, Devine has had a certain mystique about him. Great movement, closer material, and after 2005 failed, the Braves tried to go slower with him. Injuries nearly took an entire 2006 campaign from him, but in between all the call-ups, one thing was for sure. Devine had a great year. In 57 innings between Mississippi and Richmond, Devine racked up 78 strikeouts and walked 19. Only two people hit a homer off him. Used almost entirely as the closer (43 games finished out of 50 overall games), Devine logged 20 saves between the levels. In the majors, Devine's control was a problem (8 walks in 8.1 ING), but the strikeouts were there.

2008 Outlook: It's now or never for Joey D. He burned his final option this year. But after initially looking like they were trying to screw up the kid, the Braves took a more reasonable approach this year and the results were great. He may still go through some growing pains next year, but at least the star is still lit and there is some hope.

Matt Diaz
-For the longest time, Matt Diaz was a mystery to me. On one side, the guy could hit. On the other, players typically don't go searching for a shot for that long of a time and finally get one as they get closer to 30. So, I've accepted in a sense what Diaz is. This year, he set career highs in nearly every category, including a sweet 16 walks (w00t!). Also new highs was the .320/.368/.497 clip he posted. His defense in left is oddly loved by stats when I have only seen a crazy man. Maybe, in his insanity, his defense comes out. I dunno. I do know the platoon he was in with Willie Harris was an absolute joke over the final two months.

2008 Outlook: There is a growing contingent of Braves fans who want to see Diaz get his shot. In a sense, he's earned it. For two consecutive years, he found a wake to post a BABIP in the very high .300's. In 2006, it was .380. In 2007, it was .392. That certainly puts a damper on the "it was a fluke" charge. The worst thing you can do is underscore what Diaz did do because it was pretty solid. On the other hand, Diaz is hitting arbitration and the Braves have Brandon Jones, a guy with a solid future in this game. It's a tough call, but I think he'll be back, though Bobby still may not give him a starting gig.

Octavio Dotel
-Traded around the deadline for Kyle Davies, Dotel was a solid pickup...for about two weeks before Dotel did as Dotels do and got himself hurt again. In the past three seasons, Dotel has appeared in 62 games and pitched 55.1 ING. While with the Braves, his strikeout arm flourished. He gave up a few runs, but pitched very solidly with a FIP of 2.23. This after saving 11 with the Royals and putting up decent numbers there (though a high WHIP of 1.52 is nothing to write home about).

2008 Outlook: Dotel has an odd player's option for next season. He finished 25 games this year, good for a bonus of $600K on his 2007 salary of $5M. His player's option came with a base salary of $5.5M, plus the $600K, making the salary $6.1M. Oh, but the team can decline the option. Why not call it a mutual option then? I'm sure the Braves would be interested in bringing him back, but not at that salary.

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Credit to Rain Delay for the Devine picture.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe...

Ryan Langerhans comes back with a fury!!!!!

Four days after scoring the winning run in a Nationals walk-off victory as a pinch runner, Langer attempts to start a seven-run rally all by himself with a two-out triple in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately for the Nationals, they only have one Langerhans and lost 9-2 to the Braves, but the message was clear.

Ryan Langerhans is back and better than ever.

Yes, technically, Langer was only around for Tuesday's astonishing victory over Florida. He entered after Dimitri Young had walked and scored on a Jesus Flores double, but Langer is one of those guys whose impact is best explained by the unexplainable.

He is to baseball what Larry the Cable Guy is to bad redneck humor. Without him, baseball is incomplete.

Welcome back, Langer. Just when we thought the world was without saviors, Langerhans shows us all that greatness is just a recall away.

He Still Could Be a Contender

Andy Marte is beginning to feel it again and whatever it is, it is good.

The third baseman who was twice traded during the 2005-06 offseason is 13 for his last 31 (.419) with 3 doubles, 2 homers, and 9 ribbies. Even more impressive, he has walked three times to just five strikeouts. Before those nine games, Marte had struck out 57 times for Buffalo and walked just 16 times so any news on that front is good news.

Obviously, a small sample size can make any player look like Superman. Nevertheless, when a former prized prospect begins to look like...well, a prized prospect again, it's time to take a moment and ponder. Marte will turn 24 in October so he's hardly looking at a clock expiring. Remember, Wilson Betemit needed a few years to get it, too.

A few years, the choice between Marte and Jeff Francoeur was well discussed on Braves forums. Who was the better prospect, the patient power hitter who reminded people of Matt Williams or the free-swinging good looking kid who seemed like Dale Murphy was back with the Braves. I always stuck with Marte. But after posting a near .100 IsoOBP at Richmond in 2005 that saw him receive a brief cup of coffee with the Braves, Marte slumped after his trade. He walked 47 times between Cleveland and Buffalo last year and was off to an even worse start this year before recent times. When a .275 type hitter with power isn't walking, it's probably the old adage at work. He's not seeing the ball well or he is trying to do too much. Well, Marte is sitting back and making more contact and letting his power do its thing. The results have been thoroughly impressive.

I still think he'll be a consistent power hitter for 15 years.

It'll also be nice to get those people off my back that are still holding it over me that Marte hasn't been that good yet.

I love being right too much.

The Mullet Has Been Cut!

...maybe in more ways than one.

Craig Wilson was cut (via dumbass DOB) and the Braves have decided that Jarrod Saltalamacchia (3 for 12, 1 RBI) should be kept over Wilson's hair.

You will not be missed much.

Having the (Dodger) blues...

Rafael Furcal was and is a very flawed player. At times, he seemed to get the Little Man Syndrome and try to show how much of a man he was with big homerun power. Other times, he simply was too nonchalant in the field. But, all players have their little demons. Some have really big demons (see: John Rocker).

However, I never miss Furcal more than when the Dodgers come to town. In the top of the fourth with the Dodgers down by a run, Furcal pushed a bunt toward shortstop and Edgar Renteria, his replacement, had no shot. Maybe he would have been able to get there if his name was Furcal? Eii, who knows. But nonetheless, it was Furcal’s speed and guile that did pretty much what you are always told you cannot possibly do. He stole first. He would later score the game-tying play and the Dodgers would score again to take the lead in the fourth.

In Renty’s defense, he did make a nice play on a Luis Gonzalez groundout that should have probably been turned into two, but Kelly Johnson fumbled with the ball a little, turning the play into an RBI fielder’s choice.

Furcal received a lot of criticism in Atlanta and some of it was justified. Like I said, he did try to turn into a power hitter when he was better suited to use his speed and OBP ability, like he did his first year when he put up an IsoOBP of .099. To put that in context, entering tonight, Kelly Johnson IsoOBP was .149 (a number he is not likely to continue). Furcal had it all in 2000. He stole 40 bases, reached base nearly 40% of the time, and got a Rookie of the Year award because of it.

However, he failed to live up to that particular hype again, though he did have impressive years in 2003 (109 OPS+) and 2005 (100 OPS+) before leaving Atlanta. His defense always looked worse than it really was. Yes, he committed between 23 and 31 errors in four of his first five years, but he was getting to balls you only dreamed of. He was also throwing out people he has no business throwing out.

Not that I do not like Renty and for the money, he is a better player.

I just miss Furcal every now and then.