It's here ... IT'S FINALLY HERE! Atlanta Braves pitchers and catchers report to spring training today. Use this thread for joyous chatting about the beginning of the season of baseball.
Hard to get over the way they ended last season, and the lack of any significant offseason move really damps down on my joy. I wish they’d made at least an attempt to get another good bench bat or something. I’m still clinging to the belief that we could have brought back J.D. Drew for a wink and a promise.
You mean like fixing Hanson’s pitching mechanics to put less stress on his shoulder and come quicker to plate fixing another key issue with him? Hopefully fixing JJ’s knee with the toe insert? Breaking down heyward’s mechanics to hopefully smooth out his issues? Countless offseason workouts and regimes that might of changed?
Yeah nothing changed, and lets not forget the biggest block of keeping us out of the playoffs was mental.
DOING the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The keyword there is doing. I really think things are gonna be different this season for several key players.
We lost the Proctologist and the constant Loweser. That should help.
I’m very optimistic about this season. We have the MLB’s best bullpen, and when healthy, our lineup is stout. Not to mention that we have 7 starters that could start for almost any other MLB team.
This exact team won 89 games last year and all we’ve basically done is get rid of our worst pitcher and hitter and replace them with quality prospects. Teheran and/or Delgado will undoubtably be better than Lowe, and as long as Pastornicky is decent in the field then he won’t be any worse than Gonzalez.
The bullpen will be much better.
And I’m betting both Heyward and Prado have better seasons than last. Also don’t really expect Uggla to OPS like .600 for the first three months, either.
It's that second statement I have the biggest problem with
We had a pretty damned heroic bullpen last year. Just historically, the odds that we have three pitchers who are able to be that dominant over that many innings are very small. I’m expecting one of those three guys to get hurt, and perhaps be less effective as well. Expecting them to be better seems over the top-I’m not even convinced they can repeat their success.
Last year we had a damn good back three, but getting to them was the problem. The 5th and 6th innings were always some mix of Varvaro, Linebrink, Proctor, Sherril and the likes. This year we replace them with guys like Medlen and Vizzy. Lot of pressure will be taken off of O’Ventbrel.
So that if he DOES have a problem, he doesn’t end up on the big league DL?
Besides, he’s like the fourth arm in the bullpen. Maybe the fifth, depending on how well Kimbrel does. I’d rather not start his arbitration clock until I’m sure he’s not going to be a starter. I’d rather have an extra year of him later, potentially as a starter, than a year now when he’s the fourth arm in the bullpen. And he could potentially be an ace starter-a lot of people still think he might end up being better as a starter than Delgado, if he develops properly.
Perhaps, but that has never been the Braves way of handling these situations. They will have the 25 best available players in New York on Opening Day. And we saw how important the 4th and 5th arms in the bullpen are, especially when our starters tend to max out after 5 innings.
Why should we have anything other than our best pitchers on the 25 man roster? Why risk the health of one of our best prospects by letting him sit in AAA at a position at which we have a surplus of talent?
We have several guys that you can say that about. And since they can’t all be in the starting rotation at once, I would rather take the one guy that could have potential arm issues and have him in the bullpen, where we have a need for good arms. I could see them using him and O interchangeably in the 7th for match-up purposes even.
yes, we have several potentially good starters. But none have the raw ability of Vizcaino. Not even Teheran. It’s a Joba Chamberlain like waste to stick him in the pen right now. If Kimbrel had struggled, and Venters gone down, then I could see it. If, like say Neftali Feliz, we needed a shut down closer today, which he could be, then I could see it. But we don’t need that. We have O’Flaherty, and Venters, and Kimbrel, and even Medlen, among others, able to give us a great bullpen. It’s more valuable, maybe not in the short term, but absolutely in the long term, to let him go back to AAA, spend more time developing his change and his overall game, and see if we can get the much, MUCH more valuable upside of #1 starter, than back end reliever.
I’d rather give him a chance to hone his stuff as a starter in AAA than use his clock in 6th and 7th inning duties. There are a lot of guys that can adequately fill the 5th reliever role on the team.
Vizzy and Teheran are the only prospects that realistically offer us ToR talent, It’s an absolute waste to make a ToR guy a middle reliever, Vizzy honestly isn’t that much better than a guy like Varvaro right now also.
Vizzy wasn’t super dominant in the relief role last year. He showed his great stuff but still lacks control. Unless he comes out and dominate in Spring Training (and unless there is a sudden need for a solid reliever) I do see him starting the year in the Minors.
Now, report is that Fredi would consider Teheran and/or Delgado for relief role as well. One of those guy could win a bullpen job if they don’t win the 5th starter position.
I like that the team is telling all of them that they have a shot to break camp with the Big League club. It’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out.
But Vizcanio didn’t start a single game above AA last year. Why would they send him down to get back into starters shape when they have Teheran Delgado and Minor ready to start. It would take Vizcaino time to get his stamina back up. I would rather they keep the guys that have been starting at starter, because what if we need a starter while Huddy is still out, and Teheran and Delgado are in the bullpen with Vizzy in AAA not quite ready to start up here yet?
It won't take him that long, if any time at all, to rebuild stamina
he’s always been a starter, we only shifted him to relief last year to keep him from piling on 150+ innings on an arm that hasn’t really gone over 100 (too lazy to check his numbers). And why? Because there is a great deal more value from a #1 starter than a closer. And also, he isn’t necessary in the bullpen. We have Kimbrel closing, Venters setting up, O’Flaherty and Medlen and Martinez and Varvaro and Hoover and Gearrin and Moylan and Cordier and on and on and on, among potential bullpen arms, potentially very effective bullpen arms, without sacrificing the immense value that could be Vizcaino realizing his full potential as an elite starter.
Linebrink, Proctor and Sherrill (who actually wasn’t that bad) will all be gone and we’ll have full seasons of Medlen, Asencio, Varvaro, Gearrin and Vizcaino. I’m not so sure Venters or EOF can duplicate their success, but the others should be more than capable of picking up the slack.
I believe they both will bounce back. More confident about Prado than I am Heyward, who needs to find a way to play the game and stay healthy at the same time. And it will be weird having average Uggla back after we basically got two different guys out of him last year. I would prefer the consistency.
As long as Heyward can refrain from diving head-first at every opportunity, he should be fine. Isn’t that what caused both of his major injuries so far in his short career?
I think so. But that’s part of it. Prado seems to do things more ‘baseball-smart’. I’m not saying that Heyward is doomed, I actually think he will return to normal as well. But Prado doesn’t hurt himself playing dumb, he hurts himself playing hard.
The traffic there will be the worst you will ever see, good luck. When i was there in december it took me an hour and a half to drive from sea world to my hotel, 4 miles. Not because of an accident but because the city was overcrowded. Most schools in the north east are of this week and i cant express how many people are in orlando. Again god luck
Injoying My Braves in a country that ends in "Stan"
Last season I couldn’t even make it to a game…and I was working stateside!….This year whenever they grant me a vacation…I will go where ever they are playing to see them!!!!…I am “Pumped”!…. I expect to see another push to a 90+ win season…
Go Braves!!!!1
Randy Wolf has allowed the 3rd -highest SB% in all of baseball these past two years(90.7%). Hanson was 4th, but with much more attempts than the guys a head of him(Lilly, Wolf, Beckett). So I decided to look at Wolf’s career numbers, since it’s odd seeing a lefty allow so many……
Wolf: 342 career starts, 2,110 IP, 78 SB
Hanson: 77 career starts, 460 IP, 81 SB
Unreal. Anyway, I can’t wait to see his new delivery. I always figured that hitch was a significant tool in deceiving hitters, so hopefully it doesn’t effect his stuff a whole lot….
Welcome back, everyone!
thenightstallion - February 19, 2012
YEAAAHH
Braves24 - February 19, 2012
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!
tombowski02 - February 19, 2012 via mobile
baseball in the air! yeah buddy!
jrodisjust2cool - February 19, 2012
Baseball in the air!!! Baseball Heaven coming back
Braves (MLB), NY Giants (NFL), NJ Devils (NHL), NY Knicks (NBA), NY Red Bulls (MLS).
JustaBrave - February 20, 2012
Hmm we may need to teach you how to make a signature!
abraves257 - February 20, 2012
↑
…and who to root for, other than the Braves.
CMassey - February 20, 2012
Oh there’s nothing to be done about that. IMO, as long as you are a Braves fan you’re safe here!
abraves257 - February 20, 2012
Sniff and smell the optimism and excitement
2012 Braves – WS or bust
Beachy Keen - February 19, 2012
Dances Happy Dance….
NCChopper - February 19, 2012
And on this day
We doth rejoice.
I can almost smell the freshly cut grass from here at work.
ATLandUNC - February 19, 2012
Finally.....
jimdog08 - February 19, 2012
Thanks for the expanded Twitter Link section on the home page.
bighop - February 19, 2012
The long journey to the Happy Hunting Grounds starts NOW ladies and gentleman
CaptainRockSxD - February 19, 2012
My enthusiasm is still very muted
Hard to get over the way they ended last season, and the lack of any significant offseason move really damps down on my joy. I wish they’d made at least an attempt to get another good bench bat or something. I’m still clinging to the belief that we could have brought back J.D. Drew for a wink and a promise.
Bronn - February 19, 2012
New Year Bronn
Lets be optimistic!
Jay212033 - February 19, 2012
Same manager, same players
What’s the definition of insanity, again?
Bronn - February 19, 2012
You mean like fixing Hanson’s pitching mechanics to put less stress on his shoulder and come quicker to plate fixing another key issue with him? Hopefully fixing JJ’s knee with the toe insert? Breaking down heyward’s mechanics to hopefully smooth out his issues? Countless offseason workouts and regimes that might of changed?
Yeah nothing changed, and lets not forget the biggest block of keeping us out of the playoffs was mental.
ToBeTooGreat - February 19, 2012
DOING the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The keyword there is doing. I really think things are gonna be different this season for several key players.
Jay212033 - February 19, 2012
We lost the Proctologist and the constant Loweser. That should help.
I’m very optimistic about this season. We have the MLB’s best bullpen, and when healthy, our lineup is stout. Not to mention that we have 7 starters that could start for almost any other MLB team.
rxadam - February 19, 2012
This!
Day 1 of ST and I too am very optimistic about this season. I have repeatedly predicted 94 wins and believe that’s conservative.
fandave - February 19, 2012
I'm pretty optimistic.
This exact team won 89 games last year and all we’ve basically done is get rid of our worst pitcher and hitter and replace them with quality prospects. Teheran and/or Delgado will undoubtably be better than Lowe, and as long as Pastornicky is decent in the field then he won’t be any worse than Gonzalez.
The bullpen will be much better.
And I’m betting both Heyward and Prado have better seasons than last. Also don’t really expect Uggla to OPS like .600 for the first three months, either.
Scott Coleman - February 19, 2012
It's that second statement I have the biggest problem with
We had a pretty damned heroic bullpen last year. Just historically, the odds that we have three pitchers who are able to be that dominant over that many innings are very small. I’m expecting one of those three guys to get hurt, and perhaps be less effective as well. Expecting them to be better seems over the top-I’m not even convinced they can repeat their success.
Bronn - February 19, 2012
Last year we had a damn good back three, but getting to them was the problem. The 5th and 6th innings were always some mix of Varvaro, Linebrink, Proctor, Sherril and the likes. This year we replace them with guys like Medlen and Vizzy. Lot of pressure will be taken off of O’Ventbrel.
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
I think Vizcaino starts the year in AAA
Braves24 - February 19, 2012
Really? With the arm issues he’s had, it seems safer to have him in the pen to me.
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
Doesn't it seem safer to keep him off the 25 man
So that if he DOES have a problem, he doesn’t end up on the big league DL?
Besides, he’s like the fourth arm in the bullpen. Maybe the fifth, depending on how well Kimbrel does. I’d rather not start his arbitration clock until I’m sure he’s not going to be a starter. I’d rather have an extra year of him later, potentially as a starter, than a year now when he’s the fourth arm in the bullpen. And he could potentially be an ace starter-a lot of people still think he might end up being better as a starter than Delgado, if he develops properly.
Bronn - February 19, 2012
Perhaps, but that has never been the Braves way of handling these situations. They will have the 25 best available players in New York on Opening Day. And we saw how important the 4th and 5th arms in the bullpen are, especially when our starters tend to max out after 5 innings.
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
Wow, I said Kimbrel
I meant Medlen. Just noticed that.
Bronn - February 19, 2012
Yeah, I was really confused that you found three guys in our bullpen to rate above Kimbrel for a while there…
Ivan the Great - February 19, 2012
Why would you put a prospect of Vizzy's caliber
as your 5th reliever, when he could be starting and working on his change, elbows can heal
JHey1212 - February 19, 2012
Why should we have anything other than our best pitchers on the 25 man roster? Why risk the health of one of our best prospects by letting him sit in AAA at a position at which we have a surplus of talent?
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
because he has the potential to be a very good starter?
Braves24 - February 20, 2012
We have several guys that you can say that about. And since they can’t all be in the starting rotation at once, I would rather take the one guy that could have potential arm issues and have him in the bullpen, where we have a need for good arms. I could see them using him and O interchangeably in the 7th for match-up purposes even.
abraves257 - February 20, 2012
But few have his combo of stuff and command
yes, we have several potentially good starters. But none have the raw ability of Vizcaino. Not even Teheran. It’s a Joba Chamberlain like waste to stick him in the pen right now. If Kimbrel had struggled, and Venters gone down, then I could see it. If, like say Neftali Feliz, we needed a shut down closer today, which he could be, then I could see it. But we don’t need that. We have O’Flaherty, and Venters, and Kimbrel, and even Medlen, among others, able to give us a great bullpen. It’s more valuable, maybe not in the short term, but absolutely in the long term, to let him go back to AAA, spend more time developing his change and his overall game, and see if we can get the much, MUCH more valuable upside of #1 starter, than back end reliever.
Mr. Sanchez - February 20, 2012
This
I’d rather give him a chance to hone his stuff as a starter in AAA than use his clock in 6th and 7th inning duties. There are a lot of guys that can adequately fill the 5th reliever role on the team.
BrockSamson - February 20, 2012
Actually
Vizzy and Teheran are the only prospects that realistically offer us ToR talent, It’s an absolute waste to make a ToR guy a middle reliever, Vizzy honestly isn’t that much better than a guy like Varvaro right now also.
JHey1212 - February 20, 2012
Vizzy wasn’t super dominant in the relief role last year. He showed his great stuff but still lacks control. Unless he comes out and dominate in Spring Training (and unless there is a sudden need for a solid reliever) I do see him starting the year in the Minors.
Now, report is that Fredi would consider Teheran and/or Delgado for relief role as well. One of those guy could win a bullpen job if they don’t win the 5th starter position.
I like that the team is telling all of them that they have a shot to break camp with the Big League club. It’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out.
LEastCoastBears - February 20, 2012
But Vizcanio didn’t start a single game above AA last year. Why would they send him down to get back into starters shape when they have Teheran Delgado and Minor ready to start. It would take Vizcaino time to get his stamina back up. I would rather they keep the guys that have been starting at starter, because what if we need a starter while Huddy is still out, and Teheran and Delgado are in the bullpen with Vizzy in AAA not quite ready to start up here yet?
abraves257 - February 20, 2012
It won't take him that long, if any time at all, to rebuild stamina
he’s always been a starter, we only shifted him to relief last year to keep him from piling on 150+ innings on an arm that hasn’t really gone over 100 (too lazy to check his numbers). And why? Because there is a great deal more value from a #1 starter than a closer. And also, he isn’t necessary in the bullpen. We have Kimbrel closing, Venters setting up, O’Flaherty and Medlen and Martinez and Varvaro and Hoover and Gearrin and Moylan and Cordier and on and on and on, among potential bullpen arms, potentially very effective bullpen arms, without sacrificing the immense value that could be Vizcaino realizing his full potential as an elite starter.
Mr. Sanchez - February 20, 2012
Linebrink, Proctor and Sherrill (who actually wasn’t that bad) will all be gone and we’ll have full seasons of Medlen, Asencio, Varvaro, Gearrin and Vizcaino. I’m not so sure Venters or EOF can duplicate their success, but the others should be more than capable of picking up the slack.
Scott Coleman - February 19, 2012
We’ve been agreeing a lot lately. This is fun.
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
Scott Coleman - February 20, 2012
I'd rather agree with Justin
than that Kawakami level loser.
Mr. Sanchez - February 20, 2012
I believe they both will bounce back. More confident about Prado than I am Heyward, who needs to find a way to play the game and stay healthy at the same time. And it will be weird having average Uggla back after we basically got two different guys out of him last year. I would prefer the consistency.
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
I'm more confident in Heyward than Prado
As long as Heyward can refrain from diving head-first at every opportunity, he should be fine. Isn’t that what caused both of his major injuries so far in his short career?
Undocorkscrew - February 20, 2012
I think so. But that’s part of it. Prado seems to do things more ‘baseball-smart’. I’m not saying that Heyward is doomed, I actually think he will return to normal as well. But Prado doesn’t hurt himself playing dumb, he hurts himself playing hard.
abraves257 - February 20, 2012
Baseball franchises have to be schizophrenic, with each year representing a new personality.
The 2012 Braves should be fun to get to know.
GumpBrave - February 19, 2012
Nearly everybody in camp a week early, can you say “somebodies got something to prove”.
Go Bravos!
bighop - February 19, 2012
Guess what
Baseball!!!
JHey1212 - February 19, 2012
Love this time of year!
Jay212033 - February 19, 2012
Can't wait until we have some games to talk about.
rxadam - February 19, 2012
Moonwalking across the floor!!!
Can’t wait to see what Medlen,Teheran and Delgado are bringin early this spring.
dawg1060 - February 19, 2012
I PROPOSE A TOAST...
TO SPRING TRAINING…NL PENNANTS…& WELL, LETS NOT GET TOO CARRIED AWAY!!!!!
Echo4Alpha - February 19, 2012
YEEEEAAHH BOYYYY
TonyAlmeyda - February 19, 2012
Hello Friends!
Welcome to another season of Braves baseball!
DolphinNation - February 19, 2012
Just got my 2012 Braves calendar! February is Jason Heyward month!!!!!!!!
chop goes da weazel - February 19, 2012
Especially nice as I sit here watching it snow outside.
Geez.
NCChopper - February 19, 2012
Friend of mine is stuck in Clemons as we speak!
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
We were driving through Winston-Salem
a little before 7 pm and it was bad . I just about lost control of our car at an S-curve on 52 . I had fun though . lol .
bravesdude - February 19, 2012
Sounds devastating!
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
Yeah just started here.
And now, I get to work weather tonight. Oh joy.
Broccoman - February 19, 2012
YES! I would like to see Heyward start bombarding some cars again this year…
abraves257 - February 19, 2012
I'll be there tomorrow! I'll post pictures tomorrow night!
jmorris811 - February 19, 2012
woohoo!
LEastCoastBears - February 19, 2012
about friggin' time
HeyMikey - February 19, 2012
Time to change my profile image
suicide bunting is a sin - February 19, 2012
Much better
suicide bunting is a sin - February 19, 2012
Hooray!
Huzzah! Mazel tov! Hurrah!
And such.
BrockSamson - February 19, 2012
This has been the most boring offseason everrrrrrr.............
BravesRaleigh - February 19, 2012
I’d prefer a boring one to one that results in horrible signings and bad trades.
Swo12bv - February 19, 2012
Case and point:
Offseason 2011/2012 > Offseason 2008/2009
Scott Coleman - February 20, 2012
Anyone in orlando to see the braves good luck
The traffic there will be the worst you will ever see, good luck. When i was there in december it took me an hour and a half to drive from sea world to my hotel, 4 miles. Not because of an accident but because the city was overcrowded. Most schools in the north east are of this week and i cant express how many people are in orlando. Again god luck
zacheyp - February 19, 2012
∞
CMassey - February 20, 2012
Injoying My Braves in a country that ends in "Stan"
Last season I couldn’t even make it to a game…and I was working stateside!….This year whenever they grant me a vacation…I will go where ever they are playing to see them!!!!…I am “Pumped”!…. I expect to see another push to a 90+ win season…
Go Braves!!!!1
bravestatoo - February 20, 2012
Just saw something crazy....
Randy Wolf has allowed the 3rd -highest SB% in all of baseball these past two years(90.7%). Hanson was 4th, but with much more attempts than the guys a head of him(Lilly, Wolf, Beckett). So I decided to look at Wolf’s career numbers, since it’s odd seeing a lefty allow so many……
Wolf: 342 career starts, 2,110 IP, 78 SB
Hanson: 77 career starts, 460 IP, 81 SB
Unreal. Anyway, I can’t wait to see his new delivery. I always figured that hitch was a significant tool in deceiving hitters, so hopefully it doesn’t effect his stuff a whole lot….
Undocorkscrew - February 20, 2012
Yesssssssssssssss
Could not be more excited.
SFBravesFan - February 20, 2012
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