Division Opponents in 2015: Atlanta Braves

[Edgy MD]

If you think the picture below does not represent an ideal and healthy way to deliver a thrown baseball, you may be correct, because the Atlanta Braves are looking at shoulder soreness from Mike Minor. He's waiting on a visit from Dr. James Andrews, who first has to look at Cliff Lee, but the expectation is that he is opening the season on the disabled list.



Also looking to miss the opener is the newly renamed Melvin Upton, Jr.

Projected lineup:

1. Nick Markakis, rf
   
2. Andrelton Simmons, ss
   
3. Freddie Freeman, 1b
   
4. Chris Johnson, 3b
   
5. Jonny Gomes, lf
   
6. Alberto Callaspo, 2b
   
7. Zoilo Almonte, cf
   
8. Christian Bethancourt, c

That is largely speculative, and Eric Young could sneak in there, possibly at leadoff, dropping Markakis back in the lineup, giving the team two Juniors in their outfield at once.

Apart from the rotation opening (at least) without Minor, reliever Shae Simmons is looking to spend the year rehabbing from Tommy John. The initial rotation should be something like:

1. J. Teheran
   
2. A. Wood
   
3. S. Miller
   
4. E. Stults
   
5. W. Rodriguez

Your closer is the oddly posed Craig Kimbrel, with a whole lot of other solid guys in the pen.

[Frayed Knot]

Braves, apparently concerned about their rotation (or maybe their pen), "buy low" (their words) on DBacks hurler Trevor Cahill. Give up a minor league OF Josh Elander.
A 2nd round draft pick out of HS in 2007, the now 27 y/o Cahill was an AS for Oakland in 2010 but was dealt to Arizona after 2011 and fell to 2-10 / 5.61 / 1.61 last season while starting about half the time.

[Frayed Knot]

With the addition of Trevor Cahill, LHP Wandy Rodriguez has been released.
He looked good for a while back with Houston, but injuries and age (he's 36) have caught up with him.

Cahill & Stults will man the back end of the Braves rotation.

[Edgy MD]

Strange. Maybe he was using mirrors, but he was getting the job done this spring. Twenty-three innings and a 3/13 ERA. Twenty-three strikeouts and eight walks.

Where I come from, you don't release a starting pitcher striking out a guy per inning. But his last two appearance were his worst. You never want that to happen at decision time.

[G-Fafif]

Blockbuster alert:

The Atlanta Braves have traded Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. to the San Diego Padres for Matt Wisler, Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin and Jordan Paroubeck, reports Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. As a part of the deal, the Braves will also receive the Padres' 41st pick in the 2015 draft. Kimbrel recorded 47 saves out of 51 opportunities while allowing just 11 earned runs in 2014. The 26-year-old also finished with a microscopic 1.61 ERA.

[Frayed Knot]

HOLY SHITE!!!

Padres have been loading up this winter just as fast as the Braves have been bailing.

[Edgy MD]

I guess I knew this and forgot, but... baseball teams can trade draft picks now?

Or is it just compensation picks?

[Frayed Knot]

It's those tack-on "competitive balance" picks (which I don't totally understand) which can be traded.
So Sandy Eggo, which apparently qualified for one by meeting the qualifications as a smaller-revenue team, can deal their 2015 one to Los Bravos.


So I reckon the Braves can now deny that 'Melvin' Upton never really played for them even though an exact twin of his named B.J. once did.

[smg58]

Trades like this make me really glad the Ottoneu league doesn't count saves (I have Joaquin Benoit). Wisler might be worth enough in the long run to justify this deal from the Braves perspective, but it's a no-brainer for a Padres team that is basically all-in for this year. It will be interesting to see how all these moves look in October.

[Edgy MD]

So, Maybin replaces Eric Young/Zoilo Almonte. But who does Quentin displace? Gomes? Markakis? Neither?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Upton, no?

[Edgy MD]

Upton's gone, yes, but I'm still uncertain whether he's necessarily better than the two corner outfielders remaining, particularly considering his dodgy health. And now I'm reading this:

Braves likely to designate Carlos Quentin for assignment Outfielder Carlos Quentin was one of several players the Braves acquired in Friday evening�s surprise trade with the Padres involving Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton, Jr. Quentin, however, isn�t likely to hang around for long. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports says the Braves are likely to designate the oft-injured veteran for assignment. Quentin, 32, will earn $8 million for the 2015 season before becoming eligible for free agency. Heyman notes that Quentin was only included in the trade to balance out the money involved. Quentin has only played in 132 games over the last two seasons due to recurring problems with both knees. He had surgery in September 2013 to remove loose bodies in his right knee, but it was his left knee which ended his season in late July last year. When he�s healthy, he hits well � he has a career .831 OPS � but he�s played in 100-plus games only three times in his nine-year career.

So I just realized both Uptons have gone to San Diego. You're stuck with me, Bro'.

[Gwreck]

I'm really not sad to hear that Kimbrel's no longer in our division.

[ashie62]

Braves on a path to 100 losses.

But Upton's salary is gone.

[Edgy MD]

I'm glad the Mets didn't give up on Sandy as quickly and aggressively as the Braves have given up on Wren. They're dealing off his contracts like they're contagious.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm glad the Mets didn't give up on Sandy as quickly and aggressively as the Braves have given up on Wren. They're dealing off his contracts like they're contagious.

When two of your bigger contracts bomb as badly as did the Uggla for five years and the BJ/MJ Upton for four did then I guess the only thing to do is treat them as if they ARE contagious.
Now Kimbrel is the first of Wren's non-FA deals that they're spinning off and there you figure the idea is that, while spending on a lock-down closer made sense for the team they thought they had a year or so ago, it no longer does now. However this all works out, the one thing you can't accuse the Atlanta/Cobb County front office of is INaction. What a wild ride it's been for that team, personnel wise, over the last 2-3 years.

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: Now Kimbrel is the first of Wren's non-FA deals that they're spinning off...

Jayson Heyward and Evan Gattis jettisoned too. Though I don't think Gattis was ever under a multi-year deal.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Andrew McKirahan, the Braves' Rule 5 lefty releiver, suspended for Peds.

[Edgy MD]

Threw 1 2/3 scoreless against the Mets in his debut. I'm gonna pretend it didn't happen.

[Frayed Knot]

KTE Update:

Tuesday - 7:10 � Trevor Cahill vs Niese
Wednesday - 7:10 � Eric Stults vs Gee
Thursday - 1:10 � Julio Teheran vs Colon

Previous Series Review
We didn�t hit a lot in the first series either off the starters (Stults, Teheran, Alex Wood) or off their revamped, mostly no-name bullpen � losing 5-3 & 5-3 before winning the finale 4-3 on an 8th inning Murphy Sac Fly
Braves managed to miss both Harvey & deGrom the first time around and are going to do the same in this series.
We saw both Teheran (1 ER over 6+) and Stults (Wright & Mayberry b-t-b HRs but not a lot else) last week but will be seeing Cahill for the first time since he relieved in a game for the DBacks last season and for the first time as a starter since he lost a game to RA Dickey in May of 2012. He was sent packing early in his one Atlanta start so far this year (they used off-days as an excuse to skip him) lasting just 2-1/3 vs Miami (4 runs on 5 hits + 3 BBs)

Minor roster shuffling since the earlier series:
- Lost LHP Andrew McKirahan to a PED suspension (see above). Haven't seen a replacement named yet.
- Released Carlos Quentin, the former All-Star who they received as part of the massive Kimbrel/Upton deal from SD just before opening day. But he hadn�t appeared in a game this year and it appears that they never had any intention of keeping him, he was merely the price for SD taking Melvin Upton�s contract.
- Designated RHP Juan Jamie (who we saw briefly last week) in favor of the even-better named Sugar Ray Marimon. �Sugar Ray� � and that�s apparently his given name, not a nickname � is a 26 y/o Colombian who spent eight seasons in the KC minor league system before making his ML debut Apr 14.

[Frayed Knot]

So, Braves. Being up by a score of 9-1 after two innings over a reeling division rival with your ace (Teheran) on the mound is probably not the best time to blow a game.
Final: Nats 13 - Braves 12
Deciding blow was a Dan Uggla 3R 1-out/9th inning HR off closer Jason (been near-perfect up to this point) Grilli

[TransMonk]

Yes, I was very surprised to wake up to the Mets still owning a 4.5 game lead this morning. I didn't see the Braves final last night and figured they would go on to win with the lead they had.

I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be a springboard for the Nats. That team has too much talent to stay down for too long, but I was hoping they would continue to struggle through this weekend.

[Frayed Knot]

Sew What Snoo with the Braves since we last saw them in late April?

29-31 overall, 15-13 in May, 4-6 in June

- traded for Juan Uribe, sending away P Eric Stults and IF Alberto Callaspo to the Dodgers.
Uribe is playing most of the 3B these days as Chris Johnson gets increasingly buried on the bench

- sent EY Jr to AAA, also RF Joey Terdoslovich

- brought up switch-hitting OF Todd Cunningham.
The 26 y/o rookie (got a few ABs in 2013) has been splitting LF time with that hairy handed (and heavily tatted) gent Jonny Gomes

- Christian Betancourt is taking more and more playing time away from AJ Pierzynski

- Called up starter Mike Foltynwicz, a 23 y/o RHP who pitched part-time in relief for Houston last year, and also rookie Williams Perez a 24 y/o Venezuelan

- and pretty much are remaking their entire bullpen on the fly.
In are several ex-Mets like Dana Eveland & David Aardsma. Other than that, Grilli's still closing, Luis Avilan is their main LHP, while rookie Brandon Cuniff and former Orioles closer Jim Johnson get the bulk of the RH relief innings.



Looks like we'll see lefty Alex Wood [4-3, 3.36, 1.43] tonight vs Colon;
Shelby Miller who's clearly their best pitcher [5-2, [u:5rdgjf51]1.84[/u:5rdgjf51], 0.98] on Saturday against deGrom (4:10 game)
and Foltynwicz [3-2, 4.72, 1.49] on Sunday vs Syndergaard.

[TransMonk]

That Saturday pitching match-up looks pretty awesome...if you like that sort of thing.

[Frayed Knot]

As the Braves continue to re-make themselves on the fly, we'll be seeing two new pitchers this weekend.
Note the ever changing start times.

Friday; 7:35 -- deGrom vs Matt Wisler.
Wisler (but not his mother) was part of the booty the Braves received in their pre-opening day deal for Craig Kimbrel and he'll be making his ML debut tonight.
A 7th round pick out of HS by SD in 2011, he got some recognition and onto some top prospects lists as he pitched well through the lower minors. His recent numbers in AAA haven't been all that good (5.01 ERA for El Paso in 2014, 4.29 this year for the AAA Braves) but the scouts still seem to like him as a solid future starter. He's replacing Mike Foltynewicz whose butt we kicked back to the minors last week.
Stuff about Wisler

Saturday, 7:10 -- Syndergaard vs Williams Perez.
A 24 y/o RH rookie out of Venezuela who's made 6 starts and 9 total appearances this year. We actually saw him in relief last weekend when he wound up with the save in the one Atlanta win although only by dancing around trouble after giving up consecutive leadoff hits when Mayberry lined into a DP w/Ceciliani getting trapped off 2nd. He's pitched well though in 5 of his 6 starts and is 3-0.

Sunday; 5:05 -- Harvey vs the suddenly shaky Julio Teheran.
Teheran hasn't had a good start since mid-May and has been flat-out bombed several times recently which has raised his season's ERA to 5.07. He's 1-1 in 2 starts vs Mets this season and 4-3 in 9 starts over his career.



Other than that, the same cast of characters we saw last time with a few minor bench changes. Chosen catcher Christian Betancourt has been demoted in favor of former BoSox backup Ryan Lavarnway but we'll probably see a steady diet of AJ Pierzynski anyway. And speedy/slappy Eury Perez (briefly played with both Nats & Yanx) was called up to essentially fill the EY Jr role of being the speedy/slappy CF.

[Frayed Knot]

Jason Grilli - Braves closer - ruptured achilles tendon - done for year.

[Edgy MD]

Man, they've amazingly gone from the most airtight bullpen in the league to the most porous.

[Edgy MD]

Just because you sold off three of your players to the Mets at a cut rate, Braves, doesn't mean I'm cool about you rolling over for the Yankees. 20�6? Really?

[Edgy MD]

Not for nothing, but what the Hell has happened to the Braves? Because that wasn't even close to the Mets' best out there.

[Frayed Knot]

Changing horses in the middle of the stream by trying to bail out of as many of the L-T deals they signed in just the last few years with an eye towards the opening of their new park in two years.
More than anything that bullpen is just a mess. I mean not only is Peter Moylan back -- a guy who's taken up alternate careers twice already before coming back to baseball -- but they had him closing today!!



And just to put it all in perspective: on the 4th of July they were 1/2 game behind the Mets. Now they're 26.5