Braves: Positives and Negatives

Two things have happened to the Braves, one positive and one negative which have directly impacted the jump in the quality of play we’ve seen:
First, the negative: They realized that if the offense doesn’t win the game the pitching can’t. That had to be a tough realization for these guys to come to. On Braves [...]

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Bookends: the Leadoff Hitter and the Closer

There are two spots on every team that, it can be argued, individually, are the most valuable of all: the leadoff batter and the closer. For the Braves to make a serious run at the Mets this season these are two spots that will have to be addressed.
They are the first and last guys on [...]

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Livan Hernandez to the Braves?

Why would a trade for Livan Hernandez make sense?
1. We could possibly trade Marcus Giles for him, opening up the possibility for Wilson Betemit to become a regular player at second base. (I realize the rumor mill has Betemit on the trade block, but I feel like the kid could be a better player than [...]

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Baseball Tonight

Watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN, Harold Reynolds comments on the value of the closer, saying “No other team has the benefit of a Mariano Rivera in the bullpen,” continuing by saying that the Yankees are in good shape because of their closer.
Later in the segment, they move on to talk of the Braves, John Kruk [...]

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John Smoltz

The Braves are not going to trade John Smoltz for a closer. Why? Because: John Smoltz is one of the best closers in the majors.There’s no closer available for trade that even comes close to John Smoltz. The only possibility would be Mariano Rivera and he ain’t going nowhere. Also: there’s no guarantee Mo would [...]

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The National League East Division Winners Will Be…

The lead the Mets have built is virtually insurmountable, or so the analysts will tell you. The Braves were behind 13 games at the All-Star break, and no team has ever lost a division race when leading by at least 10 games at the break. Can the Braves do it? Sure they can. Just because [...]

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MLB Umpires Need to Learn Their Place

Sunday’s game’s home-plate umpire was hay-haired Bruce Dreckman. The portly pontiff cast out the Padre’s bench coach and manager, and to make matters even worse he tossed Jeff Francoeur and Bobby Cox in the seventh. But the most glaring discrepancy of all was the manner in which he tossed them. He practically ran, ran, towards [...]

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Negatives

There’s opportunity-o-plenty in the National League this year, folks, and the Braves are in a perfect position to take advantage of it. I know a lot of you will say the Braves are too far back to make a serious run, but here’s a list of some first-look negatives that could actually turn out to [...]

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The TBS Curse

Looks like TBS is dropping the Braves telecasts for a series of Sunday games in which the Braves may or may not be playing. Next year will end the 30-year run of Braves games on TBS. It’ll be a sad day in sports, one in which I may weep openly.
To make matters worse, I heard [...]

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Braves Midterm Report

Braves Midterm Report is available from mlb.com. Some highlights include:

Horacio Ramirez has shown dominance in his return to the rotation: he could be an ace in the making.
Smoltz, as usual, the staff ace, despite the push to pass the title to Hudson.
McCann: power numbers should improve as foot heals.
The starting rotation will be strong if [...]

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