thats today? i amazingly was watching the first few innings of that game earlier today by accident. Unreal. Starting lineup to see a young jermaine dye, andruw, chipper what a future One of the dumbest trades of that era was trading away dye. Would have been so much fun seeing that young trio for the next decade and millwood come up the next year in '97
From Fangraphs: Braves 2B Travis Demeritte has looked tremendous at second base this fall. Not only has he made several acrobatic plays but he’s handled some bad hops and sucked up errant throws on steal attempts as well. While his hands remain somewhat rough, Demeritte’s range and athleticism have forced me to reckon with the idea of plus-plus defense at second base — as well as to remember if I’ve ever put a 7 on a second baseman’s glove before. I don’t think I have, and I suppose it’s worth asking if such a thing even exists, as one might wonder why a 70 or 80 glove at second base couldn’t play shortstop in some capacity. I think the right concoction of skills (chiefly, great range and actions but a poor arm) can churn out a plus-plus defender there. I’d cite Ian Kinsler, Brandon Phillips and Dustin Pedroia, and Chase Utley as examples from the last eight or 10 years. It’d be aggressive to put a future 7 on Demeritte’s glove right now because his hands and arm accuracy are too inconsistent, but those are things that could be polished up with time.
The Braves signed well-traveled left-handed reliever Sam Freeman to a minor-league deal that includes an invitation to spring training. Freeman, 29, adds potential depth to a bullpen that figures to be a Braves strength in 2017. He had a 2.74 ERA in 88 2/3 innings during 111 major league appearances over a three-season stretch through 2015 with the Cardinals and Rangers before spending most of 2016 in Triple-A and posting a 12.91 ERA in his only seven big-league appearances for the Brewers. The lefty has a 3.87 ERA in 142 career appearances in parts of five major league seasons, and Freeman is notable for his extreme “reverse splits.” He has a .202 opponents’ batting average and .580 OPS in 293 plate appearances by right-handed batters, compared to .283/.820 in 184 plate appearances by lefty batters. Right-handers hit just .167 with a .488 OPS in 89 plate appearances in 2015 when he had a career-high 54 appearances for the Rangers; lefties hit .281 with a .911 OPS against him that season. While spending most of the 2014-2015 seasons with St. Louis and Texas, Freeman totaled 75 strikeouts with 44 walks in 76 1/3 innings over 98 major league appearances. A former 32nd-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2008 out of the University of Kansas, Freeman made his major league debut in June 2012. The Brewers got him from the Rangers this year in an April 5 trade for cash.
I'll take Brandon Phillips. . 275 career hitter with pop and 4 gold gloves. Also, a black guy which is a requirement for comparison purposes.
Dye & Justice traded in the same week. Justice, Grissom, & Dye for Lofton, Tucker, & Lockhart. barf. haven't won a World Series game since.
MLB Trade Rumors We’ve long heard chatter about a possible reunion between Yankees catcher Brian McCann and the Braves, and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman provides some hints about where things stand. New York has asked for righty Mike Foltynewicz or center fielderEnder Inciarte to part with the veteran receiver, which certainly sounds like a non-starter from here. An arrangement could yet make sense, Bowman writes, but Atlanta won’t include either of those two players.
I'd just move on. I wouldn't mind McCann, but we're not anywhere close and it's just not worth it. Let the Yankees rape these other teams in trade talks. I don't think we should be afraid to roll with Flow and Recker next year. Just don't overpay for someone who's about to break down/already has broken down.
Talking Chop had an article yesterday about what a realistic offer for Mac might look like. They suggested Gant (I think) and Ellis for Mac and some cash.
He's gotta be 50 at this point right? I swear to god I'm going to teach my son to be the greatest left handed submarine knuckleballer of all time.
After blood-clot scare, Braves’ Folty relieved for return to normal David O'Brien November 2, 2016 ajc-sports.ajc A year ago at this time, Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz was nearing the midpoint of a nearly three-month period of mandated inactivity, recovering from emergency surgery to remove part of a rib after thoracic outlet syndrome caused potential catastrophic blood clots to form in his right arm. His pitching arm. Mike Foltynewicz had an encouraging season after bouncing back from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in September 2015. (AP photo) “It wasn’t pretty,” he said of the anxious months that followed his late-September 2015 surgery. “I was worried I might not even play the game again. All that was running through my head. And then once you find out you’re alright, you say, OK, now we’ve got to get to rehabbing. “I was with Braves physical therapist Lloyd van Pamelen three times a week, and for a month and a half they wouldn’t let me do anything. And with blood thinners, I couldn’t do anything (strenuous) with that for a while, too. So it was just a weird offseason for me.” Spoiler Move forward 12 months to the present, and Foltynewicz is nearing the end of a one-month rest period of a different kind. The normal kind, following a bounce-back season that saw the hard-throwing redhead rejoin the Braves at the beginning of May and go 9-5 with a 4.31 ERA in 22 starts, totaling 111 strikeouts with 35 walks in 123 1/3 innings. He also made five Triple-A starts, four in April while he finished working himself into game shape after being held back early in spring training. “The growth that we saw this year with him – he’s come a long way since the beginning,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He learned a lot. It was a good, solid year for him.” Good enough to make Foltynewicz, who turned 25 in October, one of only two apparent certainties – along with staff ace Julio Teheran – for the Braves rotation in 2017. The team hopes to add at least two proven starters through free agency or trades, possibly leaving young pitchers Matt Wisler, Tyrell Jenkins and Aaron Blair to compete for the last spot or two along with the likes of veteran Josh Collmenter if the Braves offer him arbitration. Unlike last year, Foltynewicz felt good resting this October. He could relax instead of worrying during the down time. “Just take the normal month off, like you should, then start getting back into things around November, just have a normal offseason,” said Foltynewicz, who will spend November working out and adding muscle to his wiry frame, then begin his throwing program in December. A year ago he couldn’t throw a baseball whatsoever until Christmas, and then only lobbed it as he began the tedious process of rebuilding his arm strength. This year? The arm is strong, his velocity was back to the upper-90 mph range during the 2016 season — and Foltynewicz did that despite being much lighter than he prefers after losing about 20 pounds, plenty of it muscle, during last winter’s recuperation. “Start working out, start throwing on a normal schedule instead of waiting around and being on blood thinners,” he said of his current offseason plans. “I’m excited for it. Just excited to have a normal offseason like everyone else…. I couldn’t do anything (last year) from late September till the middle of December. So yes, (to say) it’s a relief isn’t a strong enough word.” His other minor league start in 2016 came in June, when Foltynewicz missed a month for small bone spurs in his pitching elbow, a condition that didn’t require surgery. Any concerns about him being able to pitch with the bone spurs were alleviated when he pitched 90 innings in 16 starts after returning to the rotation on June 30. In his final nine starts, Foltynewicz was 5-0 with a 3.88 ERA, posting 49 strikeouts with 14 walks and five home runs allowed in 51 innings. The reduction in walks and homers in that season-ending stretch was also encouraging from Foltynewicz, after he’d given up 21 walks and 13 home runs in 72 1/3 innings over his first 13 starts. As the season wore on, Foltynewicz showed more and more why the Braves decided to keep developing him as a starter, rather than move him to the bullpen when he struggled at times in 2015 and early in 2016. Former Braves pitching great Tom Glavine, a Hall of Famer and part-time broadcaster for the team, said in mid-July that he was impressed by how Foltynewicz had begun to realize he didn’t need to be so fine and nibble at the corners of the plate. “I think he’s kind of figured out (he can be) more aggressive with the fastball in the zone,” Glavine said. “Look, you throw 97 miles an hour and you can throw it for strikes, that immediately gets hitters’ attention. And you mix that other stuff (secondary pitches) in at a fairly decent rate in terms of throwing it for strikes? Whew…. “Obviously you look at him and think, he could be a great closer, that he has that potential. But that’s the kind of arm you exhaust every opportunity to be a starter, and then if that doesn’t work then you go to Plan B (make him a closer). But I think he’s starting to figure out that, with the stuff he has, he can be a little bit more aggressive in the zone, not trying to hit that black and that corner. It’s quite a progression, it’s good to see it from him.” There were days and nights when he looked, frankly, like one of the most talented young arms in the National League: Foltynewicz had eight strikeouts with no walks in seven innings against Arizona on May 8, then pitched eight scoreless innings with no walks at Kansas City six days later. In a July 10 road game against the White Sox, he had 10 strikeouts with no walks and five hits allowed in seven scoreless innings. In a Sept. 7 start at Washington, he had eight strikeouts in six innings while allowing five hits, three walks and only one run. Then Foltynewicz got rocked for 11 hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Marlins on Sept. 12 and left the game after taking a line drive off his left calf. After being sidelined more than two weeks for the painful calf contusion, Foltynewicz returned to pitch five scoreless innings in his final start Sept. 28 against the Phillies, allowing just two hits and one run with three walks and five strikeouts. “That was a great way for him to finish his year,” Snitker said. “Strong, feeling good about things. Because I sure feel good about him right now…. He came a long way this year. “Now he can have a normal offseason, where last year he had the surgery and was coming back from that. He can just do a normal (offseason), take some time off, get his workouts.”
Dom Chiti and Dave Wallace returning to the Braves org. Great hires, and bodes well for the young pitching throughout the org.
rizzo and bryant both said immediately after the last out that heyward's speech during the rain delay was big so cut it out with the j hey hate imo
Just spitballing here but I'm guessing you could get someone like Denzel on retainer for WS pump up speeches for far less than $18 million.
And now that the barves are on the list of teams that haven't won the world series since the last time the cubs won the world series, how long until they get off the list?
Watching the Cubs makes me insanely jealous. I spent a lot of last night looking their players up in Wikipedia and it was usually something like. "The Cubs acquired X Player with the 4th pick in the 2011 Draft" "The Cubs acquired Y Player with the 7th pick in the 2012 Draft" "The Cubs acquired Z Player with the 3rd pick in the 2013 Draft" So... Who are we drafting.
Are you asking who we will draft this year? If so, it's a long way away and people don't have any clue.
And it's not like we'd know anything about those guys. I could make a fake list of people were looking at and the majority of us in this thread wouldn't have a clue.
I think we will start seeing preseason lists come out in the next couple of months. SC might have a better idea.
ATLANTA -- After spending the past three seasons as members of Buck Showalter's coaching staff in Baltimore, Dom Chiti and Dave Wallace will return to the Braves' organization to once again assist with the development of pitchers. According to a source, Chiti will serve as the director of pitching, while Wallace will be a special assistant who will work with pitchers at both the Major and Minor League levels. Both received a two-year deal. Former Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell has interviewed to take over the same role with Baltimore. This position opened when Wallace announced he was retiring after the Orioles were eliminated by the Blue Jays in this year's American League Wild Card Game. McDowell appears to be a good fit given the fact he was one of Wallace's prized pupils. Wallace, 69, served as Atlanta's Minor League pitching coordinator from 2010-13. Sources have said he was comfortable working at the Minor League level, but he opted to become Baltimore's pitching coach because of conflicts he had with Bruce Manno, Atlanta's former assistant general manager. Chiti previously served as a special assistant for the Braves before following Wallace to Baltimore to become Showalter's bullpen coach after the 2013 season. The 57-year-old veteran instructor will now have an opportunity to oversee the development of Sean Newcomb, Max Fried, Kolby Allard and the other highly regarded pitching prospects in Atlanta's system. He has been credited with the work he did with Julio Teheran when the right-hander struggled at the Triple-A level in '12.
Yeah, too soon to start narrowing in on guys, especially where Atlanta is picking. Top of the draft is a jumble still at this point. If you're interested in names that'll be in the conversation: Pretty good position by position scouting breakdown of 2017 draft guys by Fangraphs http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/category/2017-mlb-draft/ Candidates for #1 overall, and therefore candidates potentially for Atlanta by Today's Knuckleball http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/ar...ates-for-the-no-1-pick-in-the-2017-mlb-draft/ 10 2017 MLB Draft names to know from MLB.com http://m.mlb.com/news/article/183854586/a-look-ahead-to-2017-mlb-draft-class/
With all the media shit re: the Indians' 'chief wahoo,' do you think they come after The Braves' mascot next? I've never really seen it brought up.
what questionable logo stuff do we have? just the script A and i wasnt even aware we had an actual indian themed mascot i guess the tomahawk under braves? idk i am pretty liberal but even i dont see the harm/offensiveness in that
Wasn't even thinking about the logo, moreso just the name "Braves" I don't see anything wrong with it, but I've also never claimed to be PC
I don't see any derogatory connotation to "Braves" (quite the opposite actually) to warrant the PC Police coming after the team
How can you compare us to the Cubs? They built around impact bats. We're building around impact arms. To me, it's two pretty different philosophies to team-building. Only similarity is to build from within, but who doesn't believe in that nowadays. Even big market teams like the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers have fantastic systems.