Braves Offseason Preview

It won’t be easy, Braves baseball will resume next April. And for the first time in 20 years, it will continue without the iconic Bobby Cox. After 91 wins and a disappointing first-round exit from the postseason, general manager Frank Wren will have a busy off season ahead of him as he preps the team for the PBE (Post-Bobby Era).

We’ll leave the managerial search for another day, when the dust has settled a bit on this season and the candidates begin to emerge. I’ve already made it clear who I would like the successor to be, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, let’s focus on how the Braves can improve on the field by Opening Day 2011.

Game 2: Braves Find New Life

 

With his 11th inning shot into McCovey Cove, Rick Ankiel was the hero for the Braves in Game 2. (Justin Sullivan/Getty)

 

The clutch plays came from unlikely sources tonight, but nobody in Atlanta will complain. First, Alex Gonzalez’s two-run double sent the game into extra innings. From there, the Braves relied on a gutsy pitching performance from Kyle Farnsworth, some tricky defense by Troy Glaus (at the hot corner for the second time all season), and a very long, very loud, game-winning homer from Rick Ankiel to tie the National League Division Series at 1-1.

Farnsworth entered the game in the bottom of the 10th, after Billy Wagner pulled his oblique muscle on an Edgar Renteria bunt single. Wagner pitched to one more batter, but doubled over in obvious pain after fielding a sacrifice bunt. The word on Wagner’s injury is a pulled oblique, so it’s doubtful he pitches again this series. This is obviously terrible news. Barring a minor medical miracle, Craig Kimbrel and Johnny Venters will probably shoulder the bulk of the late-inning work from here.

As for the ejection, think it’s a coincidence that Cox was ejected by the same ump who made the erroneous call on Buster Posey’s steal attempt in Game 1?

“Well, I brought that up,” said Bobby, when asked about it in the post game presser.

After two innings, it looked to be a long night for Atlanta.  Tommy Hanson never  struggled with his control early, and left a mistake fastball up to Pat Burrell with two runners on. The 3-run homer was bad enough, then in the next inning, Hanson gave up another run, this time a single up the middle from pitcher Matt Cain. Not gonna lie, with the Braves mired in a 15-inning scoreless streak, I thought that the 4-run lead was insurmountable.

The players believed though, and more importantly, Chino Cadahia believed. He believed in every player who the fans were no longer able to trust. Chino put his faith in the scapegoats, the easy targets, the guys who get ripped endlessly in the press, the guys who nobody believed in. Much has been made about what is missing from the Braves’ lineup, and what the Atlanta hitters can’t do. Credit to them for not listening.

Now, the Braves head home with an even series, and nominal ace Tim Hudson ready to pitch for Game 3.

After 15 innings of sorrow, things are suddenly looking up.

Playoffs?!?!?!

Welcome to Tomahawktober. (Getty Images)

It took 162 games (and only 162, luckily) to find out for sure, but the Braves are in. In what was a fitting send off for Bobby, the Braves jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead, then held on for an 8-7 victory (Crazy symmetry alert: The 8-7 final is identical to the score of Bobby’s first game as Braves manager.). Three hours later, the team (and 1,000 or so fans who stuck around the Ted) watched the Giants eliminate the Padres for good over on the west coast.

(Update) Braves Take Opener With Huge Inning

Jason Heyward's 18th home run was the difference maker Friday night. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Bad news New Yorkers, the Met-Killer torch has officially been passed. At the rate Jason Heyward his drilling Mets pitching this year, he’ll have to name his first born son Citi.

Jonathon Niese pitched well for the Mets, save for a nightmarish fourth inning which saw the Braves push across six runs, five of which followed a two-out walk to Tommy Hanson. The big inning was capped by Heyward’s bomb which turned a tie game into a Braves lead, and left a huge dent in the Subway sign on the upper-deck facade. The runs would prove sufficient for Tommy Hanson (who was solid, if not dominant) and the Braves held on for a 6-4 win.

Lowe to make Opening Day start for Braves

Braves beat writer Mark Bowman reports that Bobby Cox and Roger McDowell have set their rotation for the first week of the season. Derek Lowe is set to take the mound on April 5, when the Braves open their season vs. the Cubs at Turner Field. Jair Jurrjens will make the second start, followed by Tim Hanson. Tim Hudson will make his debut on April 9, when the team travels to San Francisco.

Lowe will take his next start on April 10 before fifth starter Kenshin Kawakami fills out the rotation in the April 11 finale with the Giants.

Update: Schultz draws line in the sand on Heyward hype

Jeff Schultz delivered on his promise for a fresh Jason Heyward column. Seemingly contrite for his own contribution to the hyperbole machine, he cautions readers to temper their expectations for J-Hey.

“The expectations in the past few weeks have grown like some mutant life form. First we wondered if he could make the team in spring training. Then we wondered how many cars he would destroy in batting practice. Now there’s a thought he has first ballot Hall of Famer stamped on his forehead. And if not, what’s wrong with those crazy voters?

….All of this begs the question: Is there a danger in expecting too much too soon?”

Astoundingly, Schultz doesn’t just contradict himself, he even hyperlinks us to the very column, to serve as an example of expectations gone wild.  Are we expecting too much too soon? I don’t know. But after three separate AJC articles about the sound his bat makes during during batting practice in 72 hours, I’m leaning toward yes. If Schultz wants to find out who’s building Heyward up to an unreachable level, he needn’t look far.  The answer is just one hyperlink away.

There’s little worry that Heyward won’t be able to handle the spotlight. His demeanor and patience at the plate are far beyond most of his peers, he’s an Albert Pujols/Manny Ramirez level genius at the plate.  Don’t believe me? Compare Pujols’ minor league stats to Heyward’s, they’re remarkably similar. Heyward’s combined OPS for A, AA and AAA last season was .963, Albert’s OPS was .920 over three levels at age 20. The strikeout-to-walk ratios are nearly identical (47 SOs,46 walks for Pujols, 51 of each for Heyward) and the power and averages are similar as well. I’m not worried about Heyward failing to live up to the lofty image we’ve constructed for him, it’s very clear we’re dealing with a special talent. While it’s obvious why so many are enamored with the kid, his career will be more enjoyable if the Atlanta media stops being so annoyingly repetitive in singing his praises.

Other Braves notes-

• Buster Olney notes the Braves players and coaches have not shied away from singing Heyward’s praises. Compared to the way most veteran players deflect attention from high profile rookies, it’s a valid point.
• DOB says Jair Jurrjens may be close to returning. Jurrjens has been throwing pain-free for a few days and will look to throw his first bullpen session Monday.
• Tim Hudson was inducted into the inaugural Wall of Fame at Auburn. Frank Thomas and Bo Jackson were also honored in the class.
• Meant to discuss this earlier, but with all the Heyward hype it’s easy to forget about the other aspects of the team. With Jesse Chavez possibly emerging and Scott Proctor on track to be ready by April, the Braves patchwork bullpen just might come together. Still not sure how reliable a back end consisting of a 40 (Takashi Saito) and 38 year old (Billy Wagner) will be, but there is at least some promising depth behind them. With Moylan, Medlan, O’Flaherty, Chavez and hopefully Proctor, Cox will at least have more options than he did last season.
• Chipper Jones spoke honestly about retirement. My take is that like Bobby Cox, I can’t picture Braves baseball without him. Until he’s not wearing a tomahawk on his chest for opening day 2011, there’s no way I believe Chip’s remotely close to hanging it up.
• The Grapefruit league is less than a week away. I wouldn’t know it by looking outside, but it’s good to know that it’s almost spring somewhere, and Braves baseball will be here soon enough.

BBTN offers more Heyward hyperbole from Braves camp

Everyday the hyperbole machine cranks out a few more glowing quotes about the J-Hey Kid. This afternoon on Baseball Tonight, the studio show set up outside the Braves training facility at Disney’s Wide World of Sports and discussed at length the immense potential of baseball’s best prospect.

First ESPN correspondent Chris Singleton, a former major league outfielder, sat down with manager Bobby Cox, who explained that the “ring” produced when Heyward makes contact reminds him of Hank Aaron. Before leading into an interview with the J-Hey, Singleton mentioned that his hand was “swallowed” by his when the two shook hands.

Then they cut it back to the studio, where a desk full of ESPN’s finest tripped over themselves to tell you just how fantastic the kid will soon be.

“He’s Darryl Strawberry to me, when you look at him physically” said John Kruk. Luckily the Strawberry comparison is purely physical, as by all accounts Heyward is a mentally advanced and stable individual. As Singleton managed to point out earlier on the program, both of Heyward’s parents are Dartmouth graduates who instilled in him the value of education.

No more than 5 seconds after Kruk was finished salivating over Heyward did Tim Kurkjian tell us, on behalf of Tim Hudson, that the sound of him hitting a baseball is comparable to that of a gunshot.

Spring training is barely a week old, and we already have enough tall tales to fill a shitty kids’ movie. “I heard, his hands were the size of Andre the Giant’s!”….”Oh yeah? Well I heard, he once broke a windshield 500-feet away in batting practice!”….”Well I heard, that his swing generates enough G-Force to kill a man!”

As much as I’m enjoying all this positive press about the face of the Braves future, I can’t help but wonder if the all the hyperbole will eventually get misconstrued by rival fans as “hype”, until they resent Heyward for the simple fact that everybody loves him. (Also known as Tim Tebow syndrome)

The same backlash led to downfalls for past “Chosen Ones” in Atlanta. Mike Vick was constantly dissected and nitpicked by fans and writers alike after it was decided he wasn’t as good as advertised. Jeff Francoeur admitted recently that the weight of being the franchise player of his hometown team was too great for him to bear:

“It’s not like I didn’t like it there. But sometimes you need a change. The first three years, it was great; you couldn’t ask for anything better. But then all of a sudden, the last year-and-a-half was just a nightmare for me…When I came over [to the Mets], I finally relaxed, and if I went 0-for-4, I would tell myself ‘I’m getting three hits tomorrow night.’ And I would. And there’s a big difference when you do that.”

The expectations for Heyward are limitless. In a city with limited patience, that is a precarious situation.