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.

Boring Week of Nothing

-Well, there was little to talk about after this week. Let's see, Mike Hampton is hurt. Major surprise, right? Chances are pretty good that his winter league action is over. After one inning. Seriously, I can't wait until his contract is up.

-Speaking of Braves no longer being Braves (terrible movie title), Peterson Orr was released. Can I get a w00t, w00t?

-w00t, w00t

-If that wasn't enough for a w00t, w00t...maybe the fact that Lance Cormier has been DFA'd is enough to get ya excited. At least, two of the medicore players who aren't good enough to stick around won't continue to get shots.

-In other transaction news, the Braves have offered arbitration to Ron Mahay, but declined to offer it to their other free agents, most notably including Andruw Jones. One final nail in the coffin for Andruw's time as a Brave.

-Braves are supposedly quite interested in getting in a few deals at the winter meetings, but no idea who will be their main targets. I still think Coco Crisp might be a focal point. Either way, I doubt we'll see a Lastings Milledge type deal.

Catching up...

So, the Braves have had a busy few days. Time to see what's up and all that jazz.

Tom Glavine has signed a one-year, $8M deal. Had he been anyone else, I would have had a meet and greet. But that would be dumb. Anyway, the deal was finalized and Glavine said it was for the best. As much as I love nostalgia and my recent purchase of the TMNT movie plays up that fact, this signing does little for me. It's not a bad signing, but it's not a good signing. It just makes sense. Personally, I doubt Glavine will do much more than John Thomson when the latter was healthy. I have been wrong before, though. See: saying "I've been wrong before, though."

Braves added three pitchers to their 40 man roster in efforts to protect them. I often find at least one name that pisses me off to see. That name is going to be Charlie Morton. In years past, it was the likes of Mike fucking Hessman. Morton has had a nice fall league, but he's never been that good. I guess he could theoritically get it together as a bullpen guy, but don't see why he needed to be protected. Also added were J.C. or Jairo Cuevas and Zach Schreiber. I've heard the latter is a no stuff, good minor leaguer. Cuevas, however, has a live arm. Still, none of these names are that interesting. I guess there weren't many good players to be protected.

Um...oh, also in that article, Peterson Orr was desiginated for assignment. Can I get a w00t, w00t?

Happy thanksgiving peeps.

A-Z Reviews: O

Hey, I'm back for a few days and here is a report on the one O for the Braves. Not an orgasm, pervs, but a player.

Pete Orr
-Peter bothers me. First off, I'm never a big fan of people whose name can also mean penis. You can shorten it to Pete or go with Peterson, but the dick is still there, Mr. Canada. Second...ugh. He is a horrible offensive player. Sure, he hit .300 in 2005, but that just means he was that year's Nick Green. After slumping to .253, he was down to .200 this year, a season sandwiched around demotions. In 395 plate appearances over his career, Orr has drawn 14 walks. Come on, man! His SLG this year was .215. One extra base hit. Jeez!

2008 Outlook: On the plus side, Orr's a great guy. Which makes me think he'll be okay that he won't be a Brave next year. The Braves, if Willy Aybar is healthy, have eight infielders next year worthy of a major league spot. They also have the solid Brent Lillibridge, the better-than-Orr Wes Timmons, and coming off a surprisingly-good-year Diory Hernandez. It was a good run, Orr. My bet is that a AAA team will pick him up OR he joins the Can-Am league, an independent league that will allow him the opportunity to play some in Canada.