Talking Chop

Like what I did with that headline? Yeah, I do too. It's been one heckuva week -- with some long anticipated good news and some unexpected bad news.

Frustrated fans voice displeasure
No, that link is not about Braves fans and Tom Glavine, it's about Pirates fans and their displeasure with their organization for trading Nate McLouth.

[...] fans used words such as "bonehead," "awful" and "typical" to describe the trade of McLouth to the Atlanta Braves for three minor league prospects. The sentiment was clear: Most people were more than willing to express their displeasure.

"Wow," second baseman Freddy Sanchez said Thursday of the trade, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I think the biggest thing was the shock factor. It's obviously a tough pill to swallow. Our No. 3 hitter just got taken away, the guy who leads our team in home runs and RBIs, and we were 6½ games out. We could still have been right there. I think we still can. But we're all just kind of wondering right now ... wondering what it is."

On Thursday, at the clubhouse table where McLouth used to play cards with relievers Sean Burnett and Jesse Chavez, a candle bearing McLouth's uniform No. 13 was lit, along with a photo of him in uniform, the Post-Gazette reported. "We'll miss him," Burnett said.

Other players were angrier.

"There ain't a guy in here who ain't [ticked] off about it," said first baseman Adam LaRoche, according to the report. "It's kind of like being with your platoon in a battle, and guys keep dropping around you. You keep hanging on, hanging on, and you've got to figure: How much longer till you sink?"

Those guys are Drama. I've never heard of lighting a candle for a traded player... that's a little weird. I also just Love it when athletes use war analogies to explain their situation. No, Adam, what you're going through is Nothing like guys getting killed in battle, not even close.

Meet Tommy Hanson, Your New Atlanta Braves Starter
Here's a great link about our new young gun. I especially like their comparison of his release points for all of his pitches -- you can really see one of the reasons why he is so tough to hit.

Tom Glavine speaks and does himself a disservice
Mark Bradley at the AJC has a good article about Glavine and his spat on 790 this morning. He echoes a lot of what I said earlier (or maybe I echoed him, either way).

Baseball Prospectus Minor League Update
Kevin Goldstein gives us an update on Jordan Schafer, who after going 0-for-5 in his return to the minors on Wednesday, went 3-for-4 with a homerun, 4 runs, and stolen base last night. Recently traded pitcher Charlie Morton also had a good night in his Pirates minor league debut, throwning 7 scoreless innings, and striking out 7.

Fresh on the market, Glavine says a couple teams have called
I promise to keep these updates to a minimum. Do we really care where he goes?

Glavine feels cheated of chance to pitch
His comments here are a bit more sane, but still just seem like a broken record.