First Signs of Spring

Last week, on Thursday the 15th to be precise, I heard the three most beautiful words in the English language: pitchers and catchers. Now, before your mind wanders and you start thinking strange things about me, I’m talking about baseball. All other position players are due at camp this week, but pitchers and catchers report first and thus signal the beginning of spring and the first glimmer of hope that the long, cold winter is almost over. I don’t know what to do with myself between the end of football season and the beginning of baseball. Watch hockey? Pshh. C’mon, I live in Georgia.

So, in honor of spring training I figured I'd give my opinion on the outlook of the Braves this year and my predictions for the NL East. Since no one really reads this anymore it won’t matter if I’m way off, but if I’m right I’ll have the evidence to prove it.

Bull Pen: A
The key off season moves this year strengthend the bull pen: the Braves picked up Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano. These two excellent set up men, and possibly occasional closers, along with regular closer Bob Wickman, give us one of the strongest pens in the league. This will make this season a lot less stressful. Last year, Braves fans started rocking like Leo every time Bobby came to the mound with the hook. Look for this to take a big load off starting pitching as they won't feel like they have to go 7 or 8 innings each outing.

Starting Pitching: B
The starting rotation is still a question mark. John Smoltz should be strong as ever. Word is that he’s the type that won’t let his recent divorce affect him on the field, and since he’s in the last year of his contract he’s going to want to put up some good numbers to stick around a few more years (with or without the Braves). Tim Hudson is back, but will we see the Huddy of the last few years, or the one that was one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball when he played for Oakland? The biggest question mark is Mike Hampton who is planning to return from missing a season and a half because of injuries. Let’s hope he can return to his pre-injury form. Closing out the rotation will be Chuck James, a rookie who showed a lot of promise last year. If everyhing comes together, this staff is an A+.

Infield: C+
The biggest losses in the off season did a number on the right side of the infield. Marcus Giles was released as a free agent and Adam LaRoche was traded to the Pirates. Giles has always been one of my favorites, and his off the field spirit will probably be missed more than his bat. As for LaRoche, I’ve gone from not liking him because of his lack of hustle to coming around some with his amazing second half offensive performance last season. Whatever you think about him, he leaves some decent sized shoes to fill. Rookies will be taking over at both positions, Scott Thorman at first and Kelly Johnson at second (who hasn't played second since high school) so only time will tell how that will work out. Look for prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia to perhaps come up late in the season. If he can find his bat and pick up some skills at first, we could be set there for a while.

As for the rest of the infield, we look pretty good. Edgar Renteria is a soft spoken guy that speaks loudly with his bat. He had a couple of great hitting streaks last season. Chipper is Chipper. The main question is: will he stay healthy? If not, we'll have a very young infield as his replacement will probably be Willy Aybar who came up in 2005 with the Dodgers. Behind the plate, we have probably the best young catcher in baseball. There’s nothing not to like about Brian McCann. Overall, there are a lot of holes, so we'll all be counting on Bobby to work some magic.

Outfield: B
There are two main questions in the outfield: who gets the starting job in left and will Frenchy draw a few walks this season? Ryan Langerhans and Matt Diaz are the two guys in the running for the left field spot. While Langerhans is a great defensive outfielder, he has struggled at the plate. Diaz is a better hitter, but hasn’t been as strong in the field. Perhaps there will be a platoon, but I have a feeling one of them will end up on the trading block. Spring training may just determine which one. Jeff Francoeur is a great left fielder and has promise to be one of the league’s best hitters. Now if he could just lay off the first pitch… He only drew 23 walks in 651 at bats last season. I'm surprised it's even that high. Andruw Jones in center is the strongest part of the outfield. Word is he’s in the best shape he’s been in for years at the start of spring training and he’s also going to be playing for $$$. This is the last year of his contract, and he’s up for a HUGE raise if he performs well (unfortunately, it most likely won’t be with the Braves who have a payroll cap that will likely stay with new owners Liberty Media). At the very least, we’ll get one more great season from him. Be sure to catch some games this year just to see Andruw, because this may be the last time you see him in a Braves uniform.

Bench: C
The bench is very young and will most likely be playing musical chairs as Bobby tries to come up with the right combination for the open infield spots. If Chipper goes down, the bench will be even thinner. We're not going to have a lot in the line of pinch hitters, but we will have some speed and some hustle. Pete Orr deserves mention here. He's no great threat right now, but he plays like a ball player. He hustles to first even on a little bouncer to the mound. Hopefully his spirit will be contagious.


Overall, if the pitching and infield questions work out, the Braves have a good shot of taking the division again this year. Pitching is what always won it for us in the past, and if we can work out some kinks, we could be staring down on the rest of the East, as it should be.

Prediction for final NL East standings:

1. Atlanta Braves – Yea, gotta go with the hometown team

2. New York Mets – Will be very tough again this season, but pitching is the question, espcially their aces. Pedro has been injured and Glavine is getting up there.

3. Philadelphia Phillies – Have a good shot of taking the whole division, I’d put them no more than a game back from the Mets. Ryan Howard is amazing: there's not reason he won't hit another 50 home runs this year with the short porch at Citizens Bank Park

4. Florida Marlins - A young team loaded with talent. They'll be the team to beat in a couple of years, of course they need to get their front office in order first and get out of Dolphin Stadium.

5. Washington Nationals - Still in transition and trying to rebuild. Wait until they get their new stadium and a permenant home.