Well, since pitchers, catchers, and a few position players have reported, I figured it was time to drop out of the 2008 thread and kick start a thread for the 2009 season. The big acquisition for the Braves was the signing of pitcher Derek Lowe, who will be the ace of the pitching staff that also holds newly acquired Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami, to go along with the young and promising Jair Jurrjens. If Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano can stay healthy, the Braves will be set in the bullpen in terms of the late innings. As far as the offense goes. Chipper and McCann are studs, and their health is extremely important to any success the Braves want to have this season. The 2008 struggles of Jeff Francoeur, Kelly Johnson, and Yunel Escobar will be something to keep an eye on this spring. If they are able to bounce back, the Braves lineup will be looking solid. The Braves are currently in the market for a left fielder, and current rumors are saying the team is looking into Ken Griffey Jr. to fill that void. Other players mentioned have been Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady, who the Yankees would be willing to trade. I've been a huge fan of Griffey's throughout the years and the thought of him in a Braves uniform is enticing for sure. How much he has left in the tank though is a huge concern I would imagine. We are about 6 weeks away from the opener, which is also the first game of the 2009 MLB season in Philadelphia on Sunday night April 5th. The Phillies and Mets are the teams everyone is talking about, and understandably, but I believe we can compete with them if we can put the pieces together and stay healthy. I'm excited! And I'm looking forward to having some great discussions with the other Braves fans on the board. Mets, Phillies, Marlins, and Nationals fans are welcomed here too. GO BRAVES!
By the way, I'm glad I found other Braves fans here to talk with. On the other site, I started the thread for the 2006 Mets season because I knew there was a lot of Mets fans and I wanted to talk baseball. I felt kind of lost talking about the Mets. And at that time I loved David Wright and Carlos Beltran (and I still like Wright).
Reports are that Peter Moylan is throwing well so far and may be ready for the start of the season. If he is ready for the start of the season, then we have a very good trio to finish games off with in Peter Moylan, Rafael Soriano, and Mike Gonzalez. I think the bullpen will be stronger this year because we now have some inning eaters in the starting rotation. Derek Lowe and Javier Vasquez will both go for 200+ innings. Hopefully, Jair Jurjjens is ready to go for 200+ innings this season.
after initially feeling really down about the offseason, things turned 180 degrees with the Lowe signing. and if we can add the production of a healthy Griffey in the lineup for 100-120 plus games, all the better. once football shuts down for the offseason, i get really bummed til spring training kicks off. thanksfully that time is here. Go Braves!
You can never count out the Braves. Even with a somewhat disappointing offseason (not landing Peavy, not suring up LF, etc) I feel this team can make a push. I remember winning the divsion with Russ Ortiz as our ace. Obviously the other NL East teams are much better now than they were then, but as you said Rocky - Lowe, Vasquez and Jurrjens should be a formidable rotation. Moylan coming back will be huge. Last year we struggled when having to use Boyer, Acosta and/or Resop in key, late inning situations. Frenchie can't possibly be as bad this year as he was last, and Escobar was banged up most of last season. It'll be interesting to see if Jordan Schaeffer makes the club and how he'll contribute after the sterorids debacle.
It looks like Ken Griffey Jr will decide tomorrow on whether to sign with the Braves or Mariners. I think the Braves will get him unless they have completely low balled him an offer or showed no interest whatsoever in the face to face meeting with Griffey Jr. today. Griffey is campaigning to play for the Braves. He apparently contacted Chipper Jones to make sure everyone knows how much he wants to play for the Braves and Bobby Cox in particular.
I've heard rumors that if the braves do sign griffey, he will be in a left field platoon with matt diaz.
another thing in Atlanta's favor; apparently Griffey has a daughter playing high school hoops in Atlanta. read that today.
not the mets, phillies, marlins or nationals dude this is the only bad news ive heard and some more info about our bullpen link I'm pretty excited about this year. I will say however, its not so much my expectations as the fact that baseball is back.
I'm a Big Braves fan, but it is hard for me to dislike the Florida Marlins. I like the way they run their franchise. They may have the best overall scouting department in baseball. They just continue to produce top level talent out of their minor league system. The Braves have produced some top talent recently, but they have traded a good bit of it away. I do appreciate Frank Wren's approach by making some of the prospects unavailable in a trade, though I wonder if we have bordered on overvaluing some at times this offseason.
I'd like to see him play in Atlanta, Griffey Jr is one of MLB's class acts. When healthy he still can play a bit as well.
Griffey has wanted to play in Atlanta for years. Had it not been for us making a serious push to get A-Rod before the '03 season he would've signed then.
Well, it looks like Griffey will be signing with the Braves: http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/02/17/braves_griffey.html
Welcome, and nice first post in the Braves thread. Don't mind the smell, Lucky eats alot of red meat.
griffey and glavine should be announced soon it seems.......... but they won't have the official announcement till tomorrow.
Frenchy is the X factor. You know McCann is going to rake so if we can get anything out of our 6 hole that lineup becomes dangerous. Im assuming Kotchman will hit 6 and Francoeur 7? Who knows.
Not certain unluckyL, it seemed to me that a couple of Braves all sort of adopted a certain swing and he may have been one of them.
Very happy about the Griffey signing. He was my favorite athlete growing up, and he still remains one of my favorites. I hope he can stay healthy and be productive. He is supposed to be platooning with Matt Diaz in LF, so it should keep him fresh.
MLB and the Braves site are reporting that the signing of Griffey is premature, and he has "made no decision as of yet." http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/...t_id=3839370&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
At this point, it's pretty much a guarantee. I already look at him as a Brave. Whether it's official or not.
that's what we all thought about Furcal returning... i ain't counting my chickens before they hatch this time.
Or maybe I'm an idiot. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3917214 He's signing with the Mariners
Yep Seattle it is. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/...ed-back-to-Seattle-on-1-year-deal?FSO2&ATT=MA
That is something I cannot and will not disagree with. Seriously though between Furcal, Griffey, Burnett and Smoltz, Frank Wren is turning into a worse closer than Jose Mesa.
saw it on the Braves web page... is Seattle even sniffing the playoffs this season? he could have been a difference maker here. though maybe this leads to us getting Swisher, who is growing on me, the more i think of that option. rather him than a one year stop gap like Garrett Anderson, whose name i have seen mentioned as a fall back since Griffey isn't coming.
He also doesn't have the kind of money in the organization that Sheurholtz once had. Ive said it once I'll say it again; the Braves have never been big on signing high-priced Free Agents. As for Griffey, Im not ready to pile on Wren yet. It's not like he was gonna hit 30 bombs this year. If this means Brandon Jones gets to platoon in left with Diaz than so be it.
i agree, it would have been nice to get Griffey, even in the twilight of his career, and it would've helped bring in some more fans to the park and increase revenue, but it was not a make or break move. i would not mind seeing what the young guys are capable of, or trading for Swisher if the price tag isn't too high.
My comments were tongue in cheek and not to knock Wren by any means especially since I feel Furcal screwed them over and they weren't going to out bid to get Burnett.
Anyone who takes LF is just keeping it warm until Heyward is ready to make the jump. Kid is gonna be a stud.
