Braves News World

Barring injury, we all knew from day one who the Braves’ starter would be come opening day April 5th against the Marlins… But Bobby Cox finally made it official today. It will be John Smoltz facing Josh Beckett. As if all he has done for the Braves organization over the past 16 years wasn’t enough to earn the distinction, he has held opponents scoreless in 14 innings of work this spring! In fact, the 5 Braves starting pitchers have compiled a sensational 2.31 ERA this spring. The flip side is the rest of the pitching staff has posted a cumulative 6.43 ERA! I’ve been speculating about Schuerholz dealing for a reliever to shore up the bullpen for months. Well, we can’t wait any longer. I expect some kind of move any day now as the bullpen is taking a turn for the worse (and Gabe White was released).

Left-handed pitcher Gabe White was given his walking papers today after walking 4 batters, giving up 9 hits and sporting a 4.32 ERA in 8 1/3 innings of work this spring. Thoroughly unimpressive stats no doubt, but not as much so when you consider the Braves’ remaining lefty reliever Tom Martin has surrendered 17 hits while compiling an 11.74 ERA in 7 2/3 innings! So why did the Braves let White go instead of Martin? Martin’s contract is guaranteed so the Braves are on the hook for about $900,000 of his contract if they let him go. White was signed to a $600,000 non-guaranteed contract during the offseason. By releasing him before the season started the Braves only owed $148,000 to White. Schuerholz is no doubt working the phones searching for a lefty reliever. Otherwise, the Braves will have to settle for one left-handed relief pitcher in the bullpen, and a very suspect one at that!

On Tuesday Roosevelt Brown was given his unconditional release by the Braves. He hit .147 in 17 at-bats this spring. Meanwhile, his fellow non-roster invitee Esix Snead is faring a bit better. Having hit .289 with 6 RBIs and 2 stolen bases up to this point, Snead may sneak onto the roster and serve in a pinch-hitting/pinch-running role.

The Braves traded for pitcher Seth Greisinger from the Nationals on Saturday. They will give up a player to be named later. Greisinger has compiled an unimpressive 5.56 ERA in 41 major league games after being drafted by the Tigers with the sixth pick in the 1996 draft. He will start the season at Triple-A Richmond.

Catcher Brayan Pena was re-assigned to the Braves’ minor league camp to get more at-bats. He has 1 hit in only 8 at-bats this spring.

It seems Braves fan echo the same refrain every year: “This should be the year Andruw Jones breaks out and establishes himself as one of the premier power hitters in the game.” If the Spring Training stats are any indication this indeed may be that year! Through Monday, Andruw had accumulated 10 home runs and 17 RBIs in exhibition play. He has a .400 (16-for-40) batting average and has only struck out three times. Shocking, I know!

His 10 homers lead both the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues. Sammy Sosa hit 12 homers in 1999. Andruw is within striking distance of that figure. It’s unclear if any player has ever hit more homers in an exhibition season. The Braves media relations department could find no record of a Braves player hitting double figures in spring home runs since 1990 (they didn’t check back further than that).

Jones attributes his torrid start to a new, wider batting stance suggested to him by none other than Willie Mays (I guess he didn’t have enough credibility) several years ago. If this is true, he apparently could have been producing like this years ago if he had listened. Better late than never I suppose… Hopefully he’ll still be drilling those curve balls in April and beyond.

Trustmark National Bank has purchased the naming rights to the Double-A Mississippi Braves’ stadium for the next 15 years. Financial terms were not disclosed. It will be dubbed Trustmark Park. Meanwhile, construction crews are racing to put the finishing touches on the stadium in order to be ready for their April 18th season opener against the Montgomery Biscuits, an affiliate of the Marlins.

The Braves claimed minor league 2nd baseman Jason Bourgeois off waivers from the Texas Rangers on Thursday. He was then optioned to the Triple-A Richmond Braves who are short on infielders. Bourgeois hit .255 with 30 stolen bases for the Rangers’ Double-A Frisco affiliate last season. He led the Texas League in games played with 138 during the RoughRiders’ 2005 championship season.

The fourth Braves player to participate in the team’s monthly online chat will be Brian Jordan. He will be fielding questions, so to speak, from Braves fans live at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 29th. At that time you will be able to log in at the official Braves site and submit your questions to him.

Addendum: The chat transcript is now available.

The injury bug has bitten several key Braves players this spring though none of the injuries appear serious (cross your fingers!). Tim Hudson was scratched from his scheduled Thursday start because of stiffness in the right side of his back (an injury unrelated to the one that sidelined him last year). He threw without pain during a bullpen session Sunday morning and is expected to make his next start Tuesday against the Mets. Meanwhile, Johnny Estrada was struck on his left elbow by a bad throw during Saturday’s game against the Phillies. He was running to first base at the time in an attempt to beat out a double play. If those weren’t enough, Raul Mondesi pulled his right hamstring during Sunday afternoon’s game. The injury occurred while he was running to second base to complete a double. He expects to miss about a week in order to avoid aggravating the injury. Hopefully all three will be as good as new come April 5th!

The Braves cut nine more players from their Spring Training roster on Friday, including top prospects Andy Marte and Kyle Davies. Marte, Davies, Jorge Vasquez, Billy McCarthy, Kelly Johnson, and Tony Pena, Jr. were optioned to the Class-AAA Richmond Braves. Anthony Lerew, Blaine Boyer, and Scott Thorman were optioned to Class-AA Mississippi.

Despite a great spring thus far, there was no room for Marte. He hit .375, slugged .708, knocked 2 home runs and drove in 6 runs. Davies, on the other hand, struggled mightily, allowing 11 earned runs in 8 innings. With McCarthy gone, Esix Snead seems to be the favorite for a reserve outfield spot, alongside Ryan Langerhans, IF the Braves carry 5 outfielders (and that’s a big if). Another option is Pete Orr, who can play the infield and outfield, however he is hitting a meager .222 this spring.

Left-handed pitched Macay McBride and infielder Luis Hernandez comprised the second round of Braves roster cuts on Tuesday. Both were sent to the minor league camp. McBride went 0-1 while allowing 5 earned runs in just 3 innings. Hernandez went 3-for-8 with an RBI in 4 games. Bobby Cox said he expects more cuts to be made late this week.

Tim Hudson ended a streak of over 21 shutout innings for Braves starters when he gave up a two-run home run to former teammate Carlos Pena in the 2nd inning of a split-squad game against the Tigers today. Through Friday, John Smoltz, John Thomson, and Mike Hampton had pitched 5 scoreless innings apiece, while Horacio Ramirez and Tim Hudson had pitched 3 and 2 innings without allowing a run, respectively. Braves relievers have faltered of late, including today when Chris Reitsma blew a one-run lead in the ninth, as the Braves have dropped four in a row since beginning the Spring 6-0.

The Braves today made their first seven cuts since spring training began. Surprisingly, phenom Jeff Francoeur, was among those sent to the Braves minor league camp. Francoeur, who was widely believed to have an outside shot at making the team as a reserve, will begin the season at either AAA Richmond or AA Mississippi. With ten other outfielders in camp, it became difficult to get them all adequate playing time.

Non-roster invitees Brian McCann, Onil Joseph, Daniel Curtis, Gonzalo Lopez, Miguel Bernard, and Carlos Mendez were also assigned to the minor league camp. Both McCann and Joseph will start at AA Mississippi. The Braves currently have 46 players in their major league camp and expect to make more cuts next Thursday.

Former Braves second baseman and outfielder Ron Gant signed today to serve as an analyst for 17 Atlanta Braves games on TBS this season. He will join play-by-play announcer Chip Caray and analysts Joe Simpson & Don Sutton (who will rotate) for special “Braves TBS Xtra” broadcasts. Like last season, the “Braves TBS Xtra” coverage will feature enhanced graphics, a sports ticker, a virtual leadoff meter, hit chart diagram and other cool neato whiz-bang technologies. The first “Braves TBS Xtra” telecast will start at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 9th (against the Mets).

Ron Gant made headlines last month when he was involved in a fatal car wreck. A pick-up truck, driven by a 74-year old resident of Douglasville, Georgia, turned into oncoming traffic where it was struck by the SUV Gant was driving. Gant sustained no serious injuries and no charges were filed.

The Braves are off to a scorching start to Spring Training, sporting an unblemished 6-0 record in Grapefruit League action (7-0 if you include the exhibition against Georgia Tech)! They are now the only team undefeated in 2005 Spring Training play. None of the Braves’ starting pitchers have given up a run yet! Though it won’t mean much come April, it is great to see so many key players off to a good start.

Chipper Jones is off to a fast start and Brian Jordan (platoon? what’s that?) is knocking the cover off the ball! At this early juncture, Jordan leads the team in hits, runs scored, triples (tied), home runs, RBIs (tied), total bases, slugging percentage, and batting average (of those that have more than one at-bat). Chipper has a homer (off of Randy Johnson on Tuesday), 3 RBIs, a 1.000 slugging percentage, and a cool .556 batting average in Grapefruit League play.

All eyes are on the battles for outfield spots this spring. The two sure things, Andruw and Mondesi, are holding their own thus far. Andruw is batting .300 with a homer and 3 RBIs. Mondesi is homerless, though he hit one in the Georgia Tech exhibition, with 2 doubles and a solid .333 batting average. Ryan Langerhans has 2 doubles, 2 RBIs and a .286 average. Billy McCarthy has 2 RBIs, a run scored and a .250 batting average. Infielder/outfielder Pete Orr has a homer and 4 RBIs and a .200 average.

Non-roster invitees Esix Snead and Roosevelt Brown haven’t done much yet. Snead has an RBI, a run scored and a .333 average. Brown is hitless so far, though he has scored a run. Super prospect Jeff Francoeur remains a longshot to make the team after posting a .286 average with 2 runs scored thus far. Andy Marte, on the other hand, is off to a productive start with 3 runs scored, 2 RBIs and a .400 average.

Of course it’s way too early to make any predictions about roster spots with Spring Training only a quarter of the way through.

Rick Mahler, the stalwart of the Braves pitching staff through much of the 1980s, died of a heart attack Wednesday at the age of 51. He was preparing for his second season as a minor league pitching coach for the Class-A St. Lucie Mets. He is survived by his wife, Sheryl, and five children.

He led the Braves in ERA in 1981, 1984, 1985, & 1988 and in wins in 1985, 1986, and 1988. During his 12-year career which started in 1979 he posted a 96-111 record with a 3.99 ERA. It’s a shame that he, like so many other deserving Braves players from the decade, never got to play in the World Series.

I can still remember my brother and I waiting for autographs by the Braves team bus outside the Astrodome. It was 1987 and the Braves had just lost another one to the Astros. We, along with 30 other fans, pleaded for signatures as the Braves players walked by. A few players came over to sign for us, including Rick who was on the way to his car. We still have the baseball Mahler signed in a plastic square holder in our living room.

It’s a sad day for the organization and Braves fans everywhere.

It wasn’t enough for the Braves to no-hit the Yellow Jackets today with 5 minor league pitchers… They pounded them for 16 runs to boot! Zach Miner, Macay McBride, Anthony Lerew, Daniel Curtis, and Kevin Berry combined for the no-no. Of the five, only McBride and Lerew are even on the Braves’ 40-man roster.

Among the Braves’ 19 hits were 3rd inning homers from Chipper Jones and Raul Mondesi. Other notable perfomances:

• Non-roster invitee Roosevelt Brown made a great first impression in his quest for a reserve outfield spot. He went 2-for-2, including a double, with 3 runs batted in.
• Tony Pena, Jr. went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored.
• Pete Orr was 2-for-2 with a run scored.
• Billy McCarthy had a hit and 2 runs scored in 3 at-bats.

Not too shabby a start to the exhibition season though we are, of course, talking about a college team (and the Braves are 19-0 against Georgia college teams in exhibition openers). The Braves start their Grapefuit League schedule tomorrow against the Dodgers in Vero Beach.

As expected, the Braves inked their new ace Tim Hudson to an extension in the nick of time. With Hudson’s self-imposed March 1st deadline for getting a deal done only hours away, the pitcher signed on the dotted line. What was originally rumored to be a three-year extension with two option years ended up being a four-year extension with one option year (a mutual option tied to the number of innings he logs during the 2009 season).

After making $6.75 million this year, Hudson will pull down an average of almost $12 million a year from 2006 through 2009, a total of $47 million over four years. He’ll take home a cool $10 million as a signing bonus immediately, followed by $4 million in 2006, $6 million in 2007, and $13 million each in 2008 and 2009. The option in 2010 would be worth $12 million if exercised and carries a $1 million buyout, making the total package potentially worth $58 million.

The tomahawk faithful can breathe a sigh of relief! With so many recent one-year wonders its nice to pin down a key acquisition into the next decade.