Former Braves all-star Dale Murphy is a well-known Twitter fanatic, sharing his insights into the Braves, art and his favorite band, the alt-country outfit Wilco. But Murphy lately has used the social media tool to share his thoughts on the Republican presidential primary.

Away from all the noise, all the tweets, all the reminders of his rough 2011 season, Jason Heyward stepped into the batting cage at Turner Field earlier this month for a quiet moment between hitters. Chipper Jones looked him in the eye and initiated a little back-and-forth before Heyward picked up his bat to take his first swings, with Jones, new Braves hitting coach Greg Walker and his associate Scott Fletcher looking on.

The Braves built so much minor-league depth at shortstop that by last fall they moved a couple of prospects to new positions. Edward Salcedo, 20, a prized international signee two years ago, moved from shortstop to third base at Class-A Rome, and 2010 first-round draft pick Matt Lipka switched from shortstop to center field last fall at the instructional league in Florida.

The Braves have set a player payroll budget of $94 million for this year, leaving them with several million dollars still to spend, the team’s chairman and CEO said. Terry McGuirk, in a wide-ranging interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in his Turner Field office, also said team owner Liberty Media has expressed no intention of selling the club in the near future.

The Georgia State Patrol trooper involved in the New Year's Eve crash that killed the wife of Braves trainer Jeff Porter had been put on notice by an internal review board following a wreck last February, his fourth accident since November 2008. Trooper 1st Class Donald Crozier, who was fired Friday, received a "letter of concern" following the February incident.

Braves icon Dale Murphy knows that time has nearly run out on him to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by writers. After this election there will be one more year on the ballot for “Murph,” who admits being surprised by the low percentage of votes he’s received in the past 13 years.

Four former Braves are among 13 first-time candidates on this year’s National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, and it’s safe to assume that Javy Lopez, Brian Jordan, Vinny Castilla and Terry Mulholland won’t be elected. Not now, probably not ever. But what about two other ex-Braves, holdover HOF candidates Dale Murphy, in his 14th — and next-to-last — year of ballot eligibility, and Fred McGriff in his third year? Neither has previously received even one-third of the writers’ votes required for election.

New Year's Eve wreck killed wife of Braves trainer; State Patrol says investigation continuing.

The Braves 400 Fan Club will host its annual winter banquet and fundraiser on Saturday, Jan. 21, in the Grand Ballroom of the Atlanta Marriott Century Center Hotel. A gala reception, silent auction and raffle of Braves memorabilia begins at 5 p.m., with the awards dinner and program following at 6:30 p.

The Atlanta Braves and their spring landlord are at odds, not over the team's accommodations in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., but over the title of an upcoming Walt Disney movie. Though it won't be released until June 2012, Team Walt has already begun promoting "Brave," a Pixar production about a Scottish princess who has to rely on her archery skills (and ability to sing syrupy ballads, no doubt) to save her kingdom from a beastly curse.

Braves players, coaches and other personalities will greet fans and sign autographs on the team’s two-week caravan through the Southeast beginning Jan. 27. The third annual event will include meet-and-greets at schools, children's hospitals, military bases and businesses, and autograph sessions at Academy Sports + Outdoors locations.

Reliever Peter Moylan and infielder Brooks Conrad are free agents after not being offered contracts by the Braves. The move doesn’t preclude a return to the team, particularly for Moylan. General manager Frank Wren said last week the Braves could non-tender the Aussie pitcher before Monday's deadline and try to re-sign him this winter if Moylan kept progressing in recovery from late-September shoulder surgery.

The Braves weren’t expected to tender a contract to pitcher Peter Moylan before the league-imposed deadline, but that wouldn’t necessarily preclude the Aussie reliever from returning to the team. General manager Frank Wren said during last week’s Winter Meetings the Braves could non-tender Moylan and try to re-sign him as a free agent later in the offseason if he continued to progress from late-September shoulder surgery.

DALLAS -- With memories of the Braves’ September collapse still lingering, and the Marlins scooping up expensive free agents, and other NL East teams making moves, Frank Wren knows Atlanta fans want to see him wheel and deal. But the Braves general manager leaned back in a chair in his suite at the Hilton Anatole on Monday, the first day of baseball’s annual Winter Meetings, and said he would only make a trade if and when the Braves think it’s to their benefit.

Some general managers predict an eventful four days of wheeling and dealing at the winter meetings that start Monday in Dallas, and the Braves will be involved in plenty of rumors — whether they like it or not, and regardless of whether the reports have validity.

Braves pitcher Tim Hudson underwent back surgery for a herniated disc on Monday, but doctors said the 36-year-old right-hander should be ready for spring training. His back bothered him to varying degrees for the past two seasons, though surgery wasn't necessitated until the pain increased during Hudson’s offseason workouts.

PHOENIX — Eight months after Sean Gilmartin pitched his first game of 2011 for Florida State, the Braves’ first-round draft pick was still pitching, for the Surprise Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League. It was late October and there were maybe 150 people in the stands at Surprise Stadium, including 27 major league scouts.

His was not a typical childhood, and not because of a surname that might have been problematic for someone less secure or unable to defend himself. No, what separated Joey Terdoslavich from other pre-teens in Sarasota, Fla., was how he spent afternoons and evenings.

Mitochondrial disease picked the wrong guy. The genetic disorder that uses stealth to prey on its victims, terrorize concerned parents and baffle even the most highly trained doctors, has lodged itself into the cellular make-up of one Colby Wren. Bad move.

As Christian Bethancourt tells it, he was only 5 when his concerned mother asked his youth baseball coach in Panama if there was something that could be done to keep the aggressive lad from running around to field balls hit to other positions.

It’s the World Series matchup no one predicted two weeks ago, let alone two months ago. St. Louis vs. Texas, two teams from the same time zone that have nonetheless faced each other just once before, in the 2004 regular-season series. A pair of mid-payrolled teams from the part of the country that singer-songwriter James McMurtry calls “out here in the middle .

As lonely as Craig Kimbrel felt coming off the mound in the ninth inning after blowing a save against the Phillies on the last day of the Braves’ season, there was somebody who could relate. He’d been yelling at his TV back on his farm in Crozet, Va. Billy Wagner had been in the same spot the year before, called on to close out the Braves’ final game of the season, with a trip to the playoffs on the line, and a one-run lead against the Phillies to protect.

Former Atlanta Brave center fielder Jordan Schafer was smoking marijuana in traffic when arrested early Tuesday on felony marijuana possession charges, Tampa police said. Schafer was with two other people in his 2008 Land Rover when he pulled alongside an unmarked police car at a red light on Columbus Drive and Glen Avenue in Tampa, according to the police report.

Braves general manager Frank Wren sat down with selected members of the media following the end of the Braves season and discussed topics ranging from the September collapse to roster projections. In Part II of that interview, Wren talks about Brian McCann’s late-season troubles, the prospects of signing Michael Bourn for the long term and Freddie Freeman’s breakout season, among other things.

There was a gaping hole in the boat, and it seemed the captain was baling water with a teacup. The 161st game of season loomed as vital Tuesday night. With two of his front-line pitchers injured, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez sat in the dugout beforehand explaining/defending his decision to start Derek Lowe.