Braves Bits: An April Review

Sorry for the absence of posting, but were back with a review of the first month of MLB. Coming into the season the Braves had many question marks surrounding the team. 1B/2B, OF, bullpen, and starting pitching were all concerns in one factor or another.

Here were are on May 1, 2007 and Atlanta is in 1st place of the NL East at 16-9. One year ago today the Braves were in 2nd place with an 11-14 record. For April, we saw better starting pitching sans Redman and a stronger bullpen from a year ago. That's why were winning along with some other positives.

Kelly Johnson- Kelly has done way more than anticipated at this point in the season. He's batting .326 5HR 15RBI and he's accumulated 24BB to 16K's. You can't ask much more out of your leadoff hitter than that.

Brian McCann- Brian McCann started out on fire, but has since cooled off. McCann maybe trying to hard right now, and just needs to relax and get back to the way he can hit.

Tim Hudson- Perhaps one of the biggest ? marks of the year. Hudson is finnally pitching the way Braves fans have expected since he arrived. Hudson is going deep into games while keeping the runs down at a minimum. Huddy even set his career high in K's in one game last week.

Jeff Francoeur- Remember last year when Jeff got off to the slow start, there were rumors of him being sent down to Triple A. Francoeur is producing and producing well.

Chipper Jones He's staying healthy and collecting the hits.

Andruw Jones Hasn't quite got into the swing of things yet. Jones will provide the much needed HR from time to time.

Wickman/Gonzo/Soriano Wickman picked up where he left off at the start of the year, but has now landed on the DL with back pains. Gonzalez had some elbow trouble earlier in the month, but seems to be okay now. Soriano is pitching the way we expect him to pitch.

I could keep on going, but just wanted to make focus on a few highlights for the month. Lastly, Ryan Langerhans was traded Sunday to the Oakland A's for a PTBNL or cash. Langerhans is a good def. OF. He's similar to a Chris Duffy, CF for the Pirates. Hopefully he'll find success at Oakland.

Bewildered Mets

Atlanta 4
New York 2

That's the season series record so far. The Braves produced late inning fireworks to knock off the Mets in front of a dissapointed Met crowd, always a plus. Tim Hudson continued his strong season Friday night by pitching eight brillant innings. For some oddball reason Oliver Perez looked like a Cy Young against the Braves yet again, while on Sunday Edgar Renteria and Kelly Johnson teed off three run homers to get the big W. Atlanta will begin a three game series against the Marlins tonight. Here's your probables:

Mon: Davies (0-0 4.50 ERA) vs. D-Train (3-1 5.25)

Tues: Redman (0-3 8.62) vs. Vanden Hurk (0-1 9.00)

Wed: Hudson (3-0 0.62) vs. The Olsen Twins (2-1 7.50)

After the series in Florida, Atlanta will travel to Coors Field in Colorado for a weekend series against the Rox.

Aybar Out & Mike G. has Elbow Pains

I don't expect to see Wily Aybar back in a Braves uniform again. Aybar has been suspended indefintely for not showing up to games and skipping physical therapy. I think that some Braves fans really wanted Aybar to work out(I'm one of them). I'm not sure what has happened to this guy, but you can't screw around and expect to play in Atlanta. Aybar has been on the DL since March with a bad, sore, broken, sprained, tweaked wrist. Well atleast Wilson Betemit is playing poorly with the Dodgers.

Mike Gonzalez will have an MRI done on his elbow after experiencing some soreness. The elbow has been troublesome for Mike over the last couple of years. Gonzalez says it's just soreness and nothing more. All I can say is that you don't like to hear about this stuff two weeks into the season.

Harrison might be pitching soon

Did anyone catch the Schuerholz interview on Braves radio a few days ago? Callers were calling in asking questions about prospects, Redman amongst other things. Schuerholz did indicate that Matt Harrison could be pitching sometime during the second half of the season or possibly sooner. It all depends on Redman's stability, Cormier's health and performance and same goes for Davies.

One caller asked about Salty and his role since McCann signed a long term deal. JS responded saying that McCann has to show durability another year and if something happens and he gets hurt, Salty will be called upon. If McCann stays healthy and productive then Salty will move to 1B.

Those Annoying Nats

Maybe it's because the Nationals are playing better? Is it the abnormal weather temps that are causing the Braves bats not to get hot? The Braves have not lost a season series thus far this year as they wrap up the 2 game road trip tonight in Washington. Matt Chico whom the Braves took out for some in game bp last week readjusted and defeated the Braves this week. I just get dissapointed when the team loses to the Nats because I know these games will matter later on. Redgardless, tonight Smoltzy will take the hill against Jerome Williams. After the game the Braves will head home for a two game stand against the Cubbies before heading to NY for a weekend series against the Mets. Here's the probables for the Cubs series:

Wed: Davies (0-0 2.70) vs. Zambrano (1-2 7.88)

Thurs: Redman (0-2 12.96) vs. Hill (2-0 0.64)

Do Mets fans really root for Glavine?

I know for a fact that a couple of friends of mine, which happen to be Mets fans aren't very fond of Tommy G. Yes, he pitches for their favorite team, but he came from Atlanta and that where he's had a large majority of his success. Sure there are some Mets fans who are Glavine fans, but I have to wonder if most Mets fans still see Glavine as Brave and not a "true" Met.

Atlanta has been fortunate enough to have a rich minor league system that has allowed production at the major league level. I'm going to guess that the Mets only have four players Milledge/Reyes/Wright/Heilman that have gone through the ranks. Building a team through free agency is something the Mets enjoy doing.

Money for nothin'...

For the second year in a row, a player sucking up about one-fifth the team's payroll will be sitting out the season. The entire season.

I'll cut Mike Hampton some slack for the 2006 season. Lots of guys sit out a year after getting The Tommy. It sucks, but it happens. Injury is part of the game and is something players, managers, and general managers are used to dealing with. But for a team to go two complete seasons- in a row- without a guy they're counting on, and to be paying the guy the kind of money Hampton makes? I don't think so.

There's now a big, gaping hole in the Braves' rotation. Mike is owed $14.5 million this year. Fourteen-five would help out a lot with the filling of said hole. My proposal to Mr. Hampton: forfeit your salary this year. Give the money back to the team. You certainly haven't earned it. The team certainly could use it. Be the team player-- take this one for the team, and then come back next year and earn the bucks Atlanta is paying you.

Trading for a Starter

Will the Braves look toward other options now that Hampton is done for the year? I think this could very well happen.

1. Is Mark Redman's pitching performance up to par?

2. Cormier is untested

3. Davies returning from injury


Mark Redman signed with the team to provide the Braves with a reliable innings eater while Cormier/Davies/Hampton healed from injuries. You have to know what to expect with Redman. He's going to give up some runs, most pitchers do. He's a back of the rotation guy that pacman's up innings. Lance Cormier suffered an early season injury and hasn't made a start thus far this season. Although, Cormier showed some signs last year that he can be a starter. Kyle Davies was optioned to Triple A, but after Cormier went down he was called back. Kyle pitched real well this past Sunday, but which Kyle will we see next outing?

Coming into the season you couldn't have been 100% positive that Mike Hampton would be your 3rd or 4th starter sometime down the road. He's too injury prone, but there was always a hope, right? The 4th/5th spots just seem really questionable right now. It's still early in the season , but remember these games matter just as much as the games played in July/August. This should be intersting to follow to see how the Braves handle it.

Hampton's Season is Over.....Again

The hopes of a healthy Mike Hampton return for 2007 have been vanished away. His season is now done as he will have surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. The outlook is that he will not be able to throw again for atleast 6-9 months. Hampton is still due $15M for 2008. The reality is that Mike just needs to retire. He's tried coming back and it hasn't worked out. This is a big dissapointment for Braves fans yet again. Some people are fed up with the guy because he's making soo much money that could be used elsewhere. If Mike was bringing in $2M a year; it wouldn't be as bad, but he's taking up 16.5% of the entire payroll and that's what most people see.

Atop of the Division.....for Today

Toppled the Mets for the first time in a over a year Sunday. I believe it was the first time since April 6th, 2006 that a team other than the Mets were in 1st of the NL East. This was a good series that allowed the Braves to gather some momentum and say "hey, we can play with these guys, there not supermen."

Kyle Davies pitched better than most probably anticipated yesterday. Brian McCann and Frenchie came through in the 8th, while Wicky brought it home in the 9th. Today is an off day before Atlanta will host a three game series again the Nats before the weekend matchup with the Marlins. Here's your probables:

Tues: Hudson (0-0) 1.29 vs. Chico (0-0) 13.50
Wed: James (1-0) 1.80 vs. Williams (0-1) 6.00
Thurs: Redman (0-1) 7.94 vs. Bergmann (0-1) 9.82

From the looks of it, it would seem that this should be some easy W's for the Braves. Last year the Nats weren't very good, and this year there worse. Washington's SP is pretty sad. They have sent packing 3 of their starting 5 from last season: Armas, Hernandez, and Ramon Ortiz. Those guys have been the usual suspects the Braves have faced in recent history during the Montreal/Wash. era. Either way the Nats play the Braves tough, and hopefully we'll sweep right through them. Maybe in this series Andruw will find his bat.