AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2009 > February > 02
Monday, February 2, 2009
Renewed optimism among Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves fans, you were not alone.
Plenty of Braves players were at least as concerned as most of you Braves/MIB blog denizens and other fans this winter as the team misfired on free agents (A.J. Burnett, Mike Hampton, Rafael Furcal) and potential trade acquisitions, notably Jake Peavy. Chipper Jones spoke for many when he wondered aloud whether the Braves were doing all that was required to put together a contender.
But after the recent signings of starters Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami, on top of the earlier trade for Javier Vazquez, I heard a genuinely optimistic tone from everyone I talked to when pitching camp opened Friday.
“You don’t know know how excited I was when I started hearing about some of the arms we picked up,” closer Mike Gonzalez said. “We can go out and compete, man. We’ve got the guys. We’ve got innings eaters, and the guys who can bridge the gap” between the starters and closer.
Gonzalez said he feels like he’s 20 years old again, like he has a “new arm” now that he’s 20 months removed from Tommy John surgery and coming off an offseason in which he was able to rest and do normal conditioning work, rather than spending all winter rehabbing his elbow.
Reliever Blaine Boyer spent the offseason working out with John Smoltz in a demanding regimen that helped burn more than 15 pounds off Boyer’s physique, and redistribute plenty of the remaining pounds from midsection to legs and upper body.
After fading down the stretch last year (he ranked among the major league leaders in appearances past the All-Star break), Boyer said his workouts this winter with Smoltz were designed specifically for endurance to get through the long season with a better chance of avoiding a late-summer fade.
“Lots and lots and lots of reps,” said Boyer, who worked out with Smoltz at an L.A. Fitness in Alpharetta, and said that yes, that created some interesting situations.
“I’d see people going, ‘I think that’s Blaine Boyer,’” he said, “and then’d they see Smoltz and go, ‘I know that’s John Smoltz.’”
Boyer said Smoltz, who signed with the Red Sox last month, is so intense, so focused during his workouts, he wouldn’t even notice the people stopping and staring at them during their workouts.
While he’s going to miss his mentor Smoltz a great deal, Boyer sounds more excited than ever about the approaching season.
“We’ve got three guys with 200-inning potential in our rotation,” he said. “I don’t think people realize how huge that is. That’s like a great gift from the clouds. Not only it is going to help the bullpen, but also the guys in the field.”
As for Gonzalez, Ohman said the same thing manager Bobby Cox said about the closer: “You can only imagine what he’s going to be like after a full offseason of rest. He’s going to be dominant this year.”
Cox said the pitching staff as a whole “is so much better than what we ended up with [in 2008],” and that adding innings-eating starters, “means a lot.”
Ohman to Philly? If the Philadelphia Phillies this week make Will Ohman an offer that’s closer to the two-year, $8 million deal that Jeremy Affeldt got from San Francisco than what the Braves have offered Ohman, then Ohman may be facing Atlanta’s many left-handed hitters a whole bunch of times next season.
No, Ohman’s never said what the Braves offered him in November, a deal that’s been on the table since then. But I’m told it wasn’t nearly as lucrative as the deal Affeldt got, and it hasn’t been raised since it was first made. And the Phillies expressed interest and expect to meet again with his agent this week.
Affeldt was fortunate that the Giants made him that big offer right away, and smart to have taken it. Subsequently, the market collapsed for most free agents, but particularly for lefty relievers and corner outfielders, none of whom are getting anywhere near the level of deals that were handed out in recent offseasons, before the general economic meltdown finally impacted baseball.
If Ohman were to get an offer from Philly that’s worth a $1 million or more than what the Braves offered him, then you can’t blame him for taking it. Because this might be his one chance to get a contract that could set him up for life (no, not every player needs tens of millions to be set up for life).
With a pitcher, particularly a reliever in his 30s, you just don’t know how long you’re going to last, when that elbow or shoulder might blow, or when that fastball velocity starts to be diminished or that pitch movement begins to dull.
So as much as the Braves/MIB blog and its denizens would like to see him back in Atlanta, hey, if the Braves don’t make him an offer that’s in line with what he might get from the Phillies or another team … well, then I guess we’ll just have to hope that either Boone Logan or Eric O’Flaherty, the two new lefties, is a big fan of The Big Lebowski and does a decent impersonation of Harry Caray reading the lineup card.
Oh, and the Braves will hope one or both can fill Ohman’s shoes in a significant role. The bullpen should be strong, but if Ohman’s not back, then that (situational lefty) is another question mark, alongside the twin setup men coming back from surgeries, Peter Moylan and Rafael Soriano.
By the way, I just called Ohman and got his voicemail. When you call his number, you hear music instead of a ring. On Will’s phone, you hear one of two songs: The Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” or Ben Harper’s “The Will to Live.”
They don’t have options: It’s always important entering spring training to keep in mind what players have exhausted their minor-league options. Because if all things are equal, or even close, in a position battle, the guy who’s out of minor-league options is usually going to be kept on the roster over a guy who’s not out of options.
Players out of options have to clear waivers before they can be sent to the minors. That means, of course, that if that player has value, if he’s very good but there’s not a spot for him on the major league roster, a team will be more inclined to work out a trade rather than lose him on waivers to another team.
With that in mind, here’s the Braves’ list of out-of-options players on the current 40-man roster: OF Josh Anderson; right-handers Blaine Boyer, Derek Lowe, Anthony Lerew, Rafael Soriano and Phil Stockman; lefty Mike Gonzalez; catcher David Ross, and utilityman Greg Norton.
Kawakami update: While Kenshin Kawakami has been home waiting for his visa, the Braves’ new Japanese pitcher kept busy preparing for his first major league spring training.
My mole in Japan tells me Kawakami threw 157 pitches Saturday in a bullpen session at Nagoya Dome, the home park of his old Chunichi Dragons team.
By the way, for those who’ve asked, I asked again about Kawakami and WBC and was assured by Braves officials Friday that he will not be participating in the tourney….
Speaking of Japan and the WBC, if Kawakami’s homeland does well in the tourney, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Japan doesn’t have the depth of some Latin teams or the U.S., but its players have been working out together more than a month before the U.S. team’s first workouts.
What to make of BA rankings: Baseball American ranks the Texas Rangers No. 1 in its organizational rankings of top prospects, a spot held by the Tampa Bay Rays the past two years.
The No. 1 prospect in the top-rated organization is none other than right-hander Neftali Feliz, the best of a handful of prospects the Braves traded to Texas for Mark Teixeira and lefty reliever Ron Mahay on July 31, 2007.
One other of those traded Braves prospects made the Texas top 10 list this year, shortstop Elvis Andrus at No. 4. Andrus is the frontrunner for the Rangers’ starting-shortstop job entering spring training.
For what it’s worth, the last time BA ranked Atlanta the No. 1 farm system was 1999. The Braves’ top-rated prospect that year? Lefty Bruce Chen.
I’m guessing Perez will have a better career than Chen, who is 35-37 with a 4.63 ERA in 242 games (112 starts) in parts of 10 seasons, and didn’t pitch in the majors in 2008.
Sign o’ the Times: Won’t be able to look for that Prince CD or any other at Ella Guru after this month, folks. Yes, sad to say, my friend Don’s great excellent CD store is closing, another victim of the terrible economy on top of the already sharp decline in music sales in recent years.
Here’s the e-mail my man sent out just this morning:
Hello, lovelies:
There’ll be another e-mail on the same subject shortly but this one’s being sent to a list of EG’s best friends, customers, promoters, vendors and so forth. We’re closing the shop at the end of February and I want to give special thanks to those on this list. I can’t tell y’all how much it’s meant to me to have met, laughed with, talked about and listened to music with you, seen shows and partied with you, etc. etc. &tc.
Those there and supporting in all ways from Day One at the old LaVista shop: Mo (most of all), Ella and her girly-girls and boys, Mommer and my family, Darren A., Jim Ogle (NOT possible without you, Jimbo), G-man and Robbie and Kev and their spouses and lovers and kiddies, Dean and Amy and their beefy son Porterhouse, JoshyJoshyJOSHY!, James M. the speaker of Truth to Power, Mark B. and his Stanky family:, Aron and the Sage fam and Sandy too, the incredible Karin, MR. Acid Mothers Temple a/k/a John “Boris” Brite, Pete Patterson esq., Rogers/Samuelson gang, Jeff McCord and family, Mike Cooper, Coach Marty H. and family, Phil Tan, Rut, Hobbsie, Krista, John P., Keriann, Chris P., Marlene, Richbourg, Dougie and REDsters, Sylvia, Russell C., Alex at OK, James Kelly, Dan and Sean and all at WnF, Gene for having a real record store in Greenville, Matt Myers for having me and who knows what this feels like, Alex Ayers, Hunter and Brookie, Callie P. and Tess, J. Regan, Glen S. and family, Jeff Clark, Lee Fidler, Robert Drake, Craig V., the ravishing Stephanie F., John Beers, Reedy and the Barkers, Steve Witte, Jay Wardlaw, Ed Bishop, Chris Merrifield, Colm, Bill Buzbee & Lisa Chang, Matt Gewolb (my favorite Mets fan), Dave Lynch, Sean K., Mal M., the Marks: Apple & Snyder, S. Hedeen, Steve Scott, Steve Dancz, Joshy A. and the lovely Jessica, Gus M., D. Blackburn, D. O’Brien (who has the second best gig in the world), the mighty Hughs: Freeman and Suhr, David Williams and Kat, Drew D., drumho Don, J. Askins, Jarid, the members of the Justin/Turner Overdrive: Jeff, Kev, Stuey, Jerry, and Oliver (you got a month to come have a look at the shop, Ollie!), Calder, Jeremy O. and mom, the VTA guys, Kerry and Ryan, Lynn and Rebecca, Tasman, Brad McD. and so many more. There are tons I’ve missed. Y’all are the best. I only hope you can somehow all remain as cool as you presently are without EG to help you out :)
Um, Sean and Logan and David, y’all might want to advance the schedule on finishing your cool mural :)
Mercenary sale info to follow in the message to the wider e-mail list. There well may be a party. Watch this space.
D.
Folks, this is a real negative for some of us. If you’ve got any money left and/or plans to purchase music in the next month and you live in the area, do an old indie-record store owner a solid and stop by Ella Guru to wish Don well in whatever his next venture might be. For a Univ. of Florida alum, he’s a good dude, and he fought a good fight.
“PILGRIM” by Kris Kristofferson
See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans,
Wearin’ yesterday’s misfortunes like a smile
Once he had a future full of money, love, and dreams,
Which he spent like they was goin’ outa style
And he keeps right on a’changin’ for the better or the worse,
Searchin’ for a shrine he’s never found
Never knowin’ if believin’ is a blessin’ or a curse,
Or if the goin’ up was worth the comin’ down
He’s a poet, he’s a picker
He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher
He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned
He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Takin’ ev’ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
He has tasted good and evil in your bedrooms and your bars,
And he’s traded in tomorrow for today
Runnin’ from his devils, Lord, and reachin’ for the stars,
And losin’ all he’s loved along the way
But if this world keeps right on turnin’ for the better or the worse,
And all he ever gets is older and around
From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of the hearse,
The goin’ up was worth the comin’ down
He’s a poet, he’s a picker
He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher
He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned
He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Takin’ ev’ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
There’s a lotta wrong directions on that lonely way back home.
