30 Teams in 30 Days: Atlanta Braves

Once again I have to file two reports in one day to make up for a missed one yesterday. I had class in the morning and then a friend of mine made a three hour trek to Milwaukee to take in the Horizon League Championship game. I didn’t get back until about 6 pm today, so needless to say I haven’t had the time yet. But anyway.

The Atlanta Braves underwent Extreme MLB Team Makeover this past off season, bringing in two new corner outfielders, a new ace, and a new closer. They also moved two current team members to a more familiar spot.
For the second year in a row, the offense has been tweaked with, but this year not as much as the overhaul they went through last year. J.D. Drew left to sign with the Dodgers, and 90 year old Vinny Castilla signed with the Nationals.

To fill the void left at third base, the Braves have elected to move Chipper Jones back their to his natural position, rather than calling up young corner infielder Andy Marte. Surrounding Andrew Jones in the outfield now are Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan. Jordan played in just 61 games last year and batted only .222 with 5 home runs and 23 RBI. Although his best days are far behind him, he wouldn’t be a bad 4th outfielder, but Atlanta is expecting him to start.

Mondesi appeared in just 34 games with the Pirates and Angels last year, due to personal issues. Mondesi is still a great talent, but personal issues and a lack of motivation have derailed his would be promising career. I think ESPN’s Tim Kurkjin said it best, “If you can’t play for Bobby Cox, you can’t play for anyone.” So in that case, maybe Mondesi has a chance at resurrecting his career. If an injury should occur, the Braves are in trouble. Dewayne Wise was picked up off waivers, and Charles Thomas was moved in the deal for Tim Hudson leaving them with only Ryan Langerhans and young phenom Jeff Fancoeur. Langerhans can rake it and has some good potential as a hitter in this league, but he’s one of those guys who you hear that about year after year but they always disappoint. Whether it’s giving one of these two playing time, or moving Chipper back to the outfield, the Braves will need to do something to address the depth issue in the grass, because Jordan and Mondesi won’t play in over 150 games combined this year.

The infield looks much the same. LaRoche, Giles, Furcal and Estrada return as starters with Chipper Jones back at third. The infield is solid without any real holes. Despite his continual progression, I wouldn’t expect to see Andy Marte called up until the end of the season. I think he’s ready to play now, but it wouldn’t do him any good sitting on the bench every four days behind Chipper Jones.

Pitching is where the Braves had made their mark during much of their 13 year run as division champs, and this year they made moves to get back to that. After losing Glavine and Maddox, they relied on offense for two years but now they appear to be building the pitching back up. The Braves made a move for a young ace this winter and brought in Tim Hudson to anchor their staff. They also sent young fireballing prospect Jose Capellan to the Brewers for closer Danny Kolb. The move for Kolb allows John Smoltz to move back into the starting rotation. Kolb had a good two year and a half closing in Milwaukee, but he closed a lot of meaningless games with minimal pressure on him.

The new rotation looks very good, much like a Braves rotation from the mid 90’s. Hudson, Smoltz, Mike Hampton (13-9, 4.28), John Thomson (14-8, 3.72) and Horacio Ramirez (2-4, 2.39) is the projected rotation. Ramirez looked very good early last year, but broke down with injuries mid way through the season. Hudson and Ramirez could be the best one two punch of the future in this division.

The bullpen is where the concerns lie on the pitching staff. Dan Kolb was solid in his time spent in Milwaukee, but again he wasn’t pitching in a lot of pressure games. Kevin Grybowski and Tom Martin and Gabe White are veteran quality middle relievers, and Chris Reitsma is a guy who with the help of Leo Mazzone could be a good power guy in the set up role. Once again the Braves are a really good team, but not quite good enough to challenge for a World Series. If they can add another bat off the bench and a proven set up man, then they could possibly win the NL, but this team just isn’t deep enough.

5 Burning Questions

5. Kolby Cheese
Can Dan Kolb prove the last year and a half wasn’t just a good run, but rather a sign of things to come? The Braves cannot afford to have Dan Kolb struggle in the closers role. Their bullpen isn’t that deep as it is, and moving Smoltz back to the closers role is not anything they want to think about doing.

4. Breakdown
Can John Smoltz handle moving from starter to closer to starter? If his stamina is still there, and the elbow can hold up pitching in more innings he still has the stuff to be a good starter and borderline ace.

3. Crazy in Love
Are the Braves nuts? What is it about Raul Mondesi that makes you think “oh yeah, I can get that guy to play for me?” They are putting all their eggs in the Mondesi/Jordan basket, which could prove to be disastrous.

2. Ace of the Place
Is Tim Hudson a major league ace? The Braves hope so, they can get by without him being an ace but they won’t go anywhere in the playoffs if that’s the case.

1. Is it the End?
Is this the year? Is this the end of the Braves run as NL East champions? The question comes up year after year, and year after year the Braves prove all of us wrong by winning the division.

Fearless Predictions

John Smoltz will win 18 games.
Horacio Ramirez will be the best left hander on the staff, and end up being the third starter.
Jeff Fancoeur and Ryan Langerhans will see a lot more playing time this year than the braves would like.
Adam LaRoche will bat over .300.
Dan Kolb will save 40+ games this year.
The Braves run as division champs will remain intact.