TroyMcClure

I don't feel the need to "forgive" Smoltz. Unlike Glavine who was offered a big contract by the Braves and left for a small amount more, the Braves were not real confident in bringing back Smoltz for this season and didn't offer much. I think the Braves were fine to see him go. I view that as primarily a departure led by the Braves as opposed to Glavine who went to our biggest rival against the wishes of team management.

After finding out about his decade long crybaby act with one of the best and most professional writers in sports, Mark Bradley, I feel a little differently about him. Not to mention he got paid 14 million to NOT pitch last year alone. Then he acts like a baby again and hurts us as fans. That's a few of the things that I need to forgive him for. I always respected the man... but I didn't really know him. Now, that level of respect has be significantly lowered. Glavine came back and did everything he could do, for virtually no money in today's game, just to make it up to us, himself, and the game. I can forgive a man who shows remorse and wants to make things right.

We'll see if LaRusa has any magic to get itout of him.

I don't know if I'll ever truly forgive Smoltz the way that I have Glavine, but I think he will be pretty good for the Cardinals. Dude has a massive ego and his stuff is still there. He just hasn't pitched in a year and his location and pitch selection are terrible right now. Those are things that can be affected by age, no doubt. I think he can still put it together for a few months at least, though.

Wally Szerbiak

He's an older player who needs movement or a post game to free up open shots. Why would he want to come here and play for Woodson without big money? Also, are we forgetting that the ASG is, like, 4th rate? Players know that. I'd love to have him, though.

pending a physical

This guy is such a tird burglar

I'm glad he's playing. He's one of the most exciting players to ever step on a field. When they drafted a guy to replace him, I think he thought long and hard about quitting. Then, after making the decision, he wanted to come back and they told him he wasn't welcome. They told a guy who made hundreds of millions of dollars for them, and had just gone 13-3, that Ted Thompson had been playing Madden for a long time and this qb he had drafted was going to be awesome. He played last year, and was pretty good, all things considered. Now, with a defense and A.P., Favre can rewrite this ending. Never underestimate a man's love for a game or his hatred for another man. That's what this is all about. All this media ***** stuff is just not really true. Also, I question whether anyone questioning him, has ever played football for an extended time. I've missed football almost more than anything in my life. Once it's over, it's over. That's a tough reality to face. Even tougher for someone that talented. Really though, where do we get off telling him he's done and we don't want to watch him anymore? And why? Everyone likes to say they are tired of Brett, but I believe his first game against the Packers might be the highest rated football game in history.

Heard the guys on MLB talking about this the other night. Their collective opinion is that you want to watch out for arm trouble, but if the Yanks are still in a race and Joba feels good, there would be like a 99% chance they would continue to pitch him. We'll see. I just don't believe in saving something for later when you need it now. You just can't pull the plug on someone because of what you "think" might happen. If a guy can't physically throw 200 innings every year, he's not a starter amyway, imo.

This makes signing White even more important now. However, according to Bradley at the AJC, White is looking for a Larry Fitzgerald type contract. That's too much for Roddy.

On the radio this morning there were some suggestions of giving Marvin Harrison a look. I think that is worth a flyer. If Marvin has anything left in the tank then he would be a good addition as a #3 or 4 receiver. Especially since Douglas was our slot guy.

White led the NFL in percentage of passes thrown to. 32.7% of all Falcon passes went to him. Steve Smith was second at 28%. Not sure how much he's worth, but it's hard to argue that he isn't in the ballpark of a Fitzgerald. With another year like the last, he's in the discussion of perennial top wr's. Pay that man his money.

I'm thankful that there are good managers out there who take care of young pitchers like the Yankees are doing with Joba in saying that once he hits 160 innings this year they are going to shut him down. It sucks in the middle of a pennant race but if it saves his career then I'll all for it. It's tragic when you see potentially brilliant careers like Pryor, Wood, and I guess now Volquez be ruined by being overworked.

Who cares about individual careers over a team's success? The point of playing is to try to win. You can't, forgive the cheese, leave anything in the tank. I'd bet quite a bit that fans of say, Tampa Bay or anyone but Boston and NY would feel a lot differently than you do. Most teams don't challenge for decades at a time with a virtually unlimited budget. Makes me glad Tommy didn't tell anyone about the broken rib back in the day. I understand real injuries, but a preventative shut down with no absolute data is a gamble most companies could not take.

This guy seriously needs a pitching coach like Leo Mazzone to handle his pitching staff though.

KB, this contradicts your logic about Dusty. Leo worked his pitchers more than anyone in baseball. They threw more on the side than any other organization. As a result, guys like Burkett and Wright and Mulholland and a ton of others, would gain as much as 5 miles an hour on their fastball in middle age. But that style rubs a lot of people the wrong way and that's why no one was really sad to see him go. I was.

I don't really believe in pitch counts for adults. I'm with Nolan Ryan. He's outlawed pitch counts in the Rangers organization. He only pitched till he was like 45.

Troy if you don't think that a wrist injury doesn't affect your swing, you don't know a thing about hitting. Your wrists do a tremendous amount of work generating bat speed and providing bat control. Schaefer's hole in his swing is right where it would be if he has a slow bat due to not being able to use his wrists. He simply could not turn on the inside fastball because he had to drag his bat through the zone.

Does he need work on pitch recognition? Sure, but what rookie hitter doesn't? Remember that even Chipper hit under .280 (think it was .266) his rookie year. He made adjustments and came back as a professional hitter his second season.

I also find it amazing that posters like you can be so focused on the negatives that you can't even see the positives in Braves system. Look at the current lineup:

Escobar, McCann, Prado, and Chipper are all products of the Braves farm system. McCann is the best offensive catcher in the NL, and possibly in baseball (Mauer being right there with Brian). Escobar is a terrific shortstop and will be fine once he gets his head straight. Prado is a very nice 2nd baseman and can put the ball in play. In terms of ptiching there is Hanson and Medlin at the top and then others on the way.

Not everyone produces All-Stars every year. The best farm systems produce a ML player only once every few years. Along the way there are misses, like Francouer and KJ. But if you look at the other teams in baseball they all have similar problems. Hell, KC has been picking at the top of the draft for over 20 years and look what they have to show for it. On the other side you have farms systems like Boston and Florida that have turned out some good players (but they also have a lot of misses in there as well).

The fact of the matter is that the Braves are in a transition state from trying to win the division every year while Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux were here. That era is over and the Braves are retooling to get themselves back into long-term contention. That doesn't happen over night nor even over the course of a couple of seasons. You have to rebuild the minors to be a pipeline instead of a trading system. This year is probably not going to result in the playoffs, but realistically that was never a good goal. 2010, however, should see the Braves in the running for the Division. 2011 for the World Series.

Frosgrim, I think you are putting too much value on a wrist injury. Imo, he's not MLB material. Secondly, there apparantly are no posters like me. I've been railing on the Braves organization for some time now. I've just had enough. Sure, we've got players, but our we don't have a philosophy anymore and I'm not going to go over this again, but Leo, Pat and Jimmy and Bobby and Ned were a huge reason why we had sustained excellence. Seems now though, the Braves don't know the difference between them or our current staff. Our scouts and management have missed the mark for years now. It's no longer a nuisance, it's a cancer. We're stupid now. We went in the dreaded "different direction".

Lastly, focusing on the negatives allows you to remove them. If not, your head is in the sand.

Yes, the key to Jordan's value is getting on base and scoring runs. I think we saw that the kid has some pop in his bat. In the Philly searies before the wrist injury he stayed on the ball and could turn on that inside pitch. After the injury his bat speed was awful. He just drug the bat through the zone. IMO, Jordan will be a better player than Pierre.

This offseason is going to be very interesting. The Braves have an excess of starters and deep holes in power hitters. They should be able to turn one or two of Vazquez/Medlin/Hudson/Kawakami into a nice bat either in the outfield or at first base (or 3rd if Chipper gets moved to first).

I don't think it was his wrist so much as his mind. Dude has a huge hole and no bat speed. Baseball is totally about adjustments. The kid will never make any. He's done. Juan Pierre on the other hand, will have played over a decade when he's done. I think you guys are putting a little too much stock into the Braves and their "scouting". It ain't who or what it used to be.

I wonder where you get that idea. Jordan Schafer's ceiling is a grea deal higher than Juan Pierre. In fact, outside of you, I have never seen anyone compare him to Juan Pierre. Jordan Schafer's ceiling is Grady Sizemore and his floor is probably a Mark Kotsay type player.

Kris Medlin will be fine as well. He's got great stuff, and right now, he's struggling a little with his location. He's getting strike outs at a good rate with a little over one strike out per inning. Teams are hitting .267 against him. He will be fine when he gets his walk rate down.

Jordan Schafer's ceiling is Grady Sizemore and his floor is probably a Mark Kotsay type player.

I seriously doubt if Schaefer ever plays a full season in the Bigs. That would be a considerable difference from Mark Kotsay. Dude is a scrub and so is Wren. Could have had Andruw back for nothing, but the scouts and Wren thought Jordan was all grown up. Wren is a joke.

Joe probably has the best post game on the team.

I am glad Steve is working with Josh. I hope that some of his game will rub off on him. I hope Smitty works with some of the other guys too.

Me, too. Working with winners like Steve helps you a lot more than with losers like Woody. I totally disagree about Joe. He posts up, like once a month. Smoove however, goes there at least 4 times a game, usually making a few. He has some creativity as well. Certainly more than Joe, imo. He's getting better and seems to really be working on it. Joe on the other hand...

Barnes would be a huge addition for us. He would make any team better. Why would he choose us over the Cavs, though? Doesn't make sense. He's the type of guy that could get lost in our turd of an offense.

Andruw is still batting .250 with 40 k's as well. He isn't as fast as he once was and is hitting in a hitters park.

Atlanta has always been a city where the fans only come out if you win. How many fans will legitimately buy a ticket on a glavine farewell tour just to watch the Braves get blown out?

Considering the game has yet to be played when you buy a ticket... quite a few. What if he won, ever think of that? It's not like he hasn't done it 300 times.

The only way I see someone taking Jeff is if he's included in a deal for one of the starting pitchers, most likely Vasquez. This isn't bad, its just that I can't see where a team would give up something to experiment with Jeff.

In terms of Pendleton, I have to wonder if we are focusing too much on the negative and not the positive? Yes, Jeff, Andruw, and KJ all have failed under Pendleton; but, then again, AJ is showing himself to be not much more than he was in Atlanta- an undisciplined power hitter. This is even with the "greatest hitting coach in the world" in Texas.

In terms of success, you can certainly point to Escobar, Diaz, and McCann as succeses under TP. Yes, you can argue Brian goes to his dad, but why doesn't Jeff go to Brian's dad. For that matter, why hasn't Jeff improved under Chipper who everyone raves about?

Point is, TP may or may not be a good hitting coach, but he hasn't had a lot to work with in terms of hitting talent. As a counter point, when the Braves did have talent, they were in the top of the NL in offense, and the hitting coach was TP.

Yes, Jeff, Andruw, and KJ all have failed under Pendleton; but, then again, AJ is showing himself to be not much more than he was in Atlanta- an undisciplined power hitter. This is even with the "greatest hitting coach in the world" in Texas.

I would gladly take Andruw's undisciplined, 14 homers(3 last night, 1 night before) over anything the Braves trotted out this year. TP is just riding it out till he is named the Braves manager next year.

They discussed an extension with Jeff, but they never agreed upon one, so he has gone to arby the last two years.

Oh, and Jose Guillen is definitely not an upgrade of Matt Diaz. I don't know what else Matt has to do to get respect. This guy can roll out of the bed and hit the ball. Matt may be a below average defender, but he has earned the right to play everyday.

I agree about Diaz. He has earned that right. He can flat out hit. BTW, I don't think we would trade for a guy that spiked Chipper in the nuts a few years back. I wouldn't mind, but I don't see it happening. He was a bit of a hot head. You have to be Sheffield talented to make that even remotely close to worth it.

The rumors with Glavine is that he had zero speed on his pitches despite OK numbers in the minors and simply didn't recover enough to be able to pitch in the majors. If that is the case, then the only problem with the process was that there wasn't enough communication with Glavine. Based on the fact that no one else in the entire league was interested in him and Glavine didn't say he was retiring, that may be the case. If so, he shouldn't have been promoted regardless of whether Hanson was ready or not.

I'm glad you phrased it that way, AHF. Rumor is the word. Velocity was never his game. I'm sorry, but I'll take the word of a 300 game winner and the best lefty of my lifetime over the Atlanta braves current scouts. Also, he would have been the smartest man on the bench. But that would undermine our gem of a pitching "coach".

Oh, by the way, Andruw dropped 3 bombs last night. 3! He hit one the night before last. That's like 14 in limited time. How many bombs does Schaeffer have? We could have had him back for virtually nothing. Just another example of how the Braves "scouts" aren't who or what they used to be. And in my opinion, that invalidates virtually every argument the Braves have in this case. That's excluding the pr disaster, which is actually worse for them long term than these short term bad player moves.

Did money play a role in this? I have no doubts that it did, but don't kid yourself into thinking that money was the only reason this was done. Personally, I think the Braves made a snap decision when they resigned him. After John Smoltz signed with Boston, the Braves felt pressure to keep Glavine in the fold even though I do not believe they wanted to sign him. I believe in both cases the Braves were hoping that Smoltz and Glavine would just retire and make the decision easy for them.

How can you believe that and not care about the Braves incompetence in their handling of these situations?

Again, it's about the process. They are not pr smart, and their scouts aren't that effing good anymore. They continually miss the mark on both counts. Do you really want to argue that. This last case with Glavine is disrespectful on a level you just don't get. That loses fans like me. This isn't a one time event. It's a pattern of incompetence. Since MLB has restraints on Liberty Media and there is no hands on ownership, JS and Wren, and even Bobby to a large degree, have just lost any sense of pressure. That makes losers of most, and we have fit that bill for 3 years running now. Expect a 4th. I've got a life. What exactly am I supposed to be rooting for now?

it isn't hard to tell how bad Bibby is at defense since the Hawks are putting JJ on high scoring pgs because Bibby can't stay in front of them.

Feel free to share the starting pgs that you think are worse defensively than Bibby.

It's funny you say that. Seems only a few years ago that I was told Joe couldn't handle most pgs defensively. Especially the quick, scoring ones. I would really like to know how you marry these opposing ideas.

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If you really want to be a Brave your whole career it's possible. Talk to Chipper. He walks the walk.

Chipper doesn't walk the walk. He's a walking groin pull. I'm more than a little tired of his " I won't play unless I feel good" attitude. I guarantee he's never too hurt to hunt. Check out his gay website. Buckcommander.com. How many Dominicans you see rushing to the airport on off days to go hunting?

You really think they would not trade Chipper. I personally think he will want to leave in a few years if things continue like this. By the way, if you know Chipper, which you obviously don't, you'd know he has publicly stated opinions that are very similar to my own regarding the Smoltz and Glavine issue. Even going so far as to question whether he was next.

Also, don't compare Boras wanting 18 million for Maddux to play for us, but taking half of that from anyone else in the league, to paying tom Glavine under 2 million in a farewell, ticket selling year. Apples and oranges.

Tommy Hanson's performance shows that Frank Wren made the right decision in releasing Tom Glavine to give Hanson his chance. You could make a case that Hanson is already the Braves best pitcher.

You are way smarter than that KB. Bringing Glavine back should have nothing to do with Hanson. And it's not about the decision. It's about the process. We are a hack organization now. You don't make a man who pitched a 1 hitter with a broken rib for our only title, pitch his last game in a Rome Braves Uniform. Just classless. 11 straight scoreless innings. He deserved a game. If you don't think that, you weren't a Braves fan the last 20 years. I don't like being lied to. It was about the money. They lost a lot more than that in gate revenue by making the move the way they did, on top of everything else. It's also obvious that no one respects coaching in this thread.

S**** disgraceful

It is what it is. Our organization sucks. Nothing to be proud of anymore. They are becoming almost Hawk-like in their stupidity. What's disgraceful is still paying McDowell and Leo has wanted a job for a few years now. Not to mention the fact that Jimmy Williams apparantly isn't good enough to sit on Bobby's bench anymore. Neither is Pat Corrales. Those thre guys had a helluva lot to do with why we were what we were. They've not been given their due respect... by the fans or the organization. I've had it with the Braves. The Glavine thing was just disgusting, and it gives credence to what Smoltz was saying. They were always cold and calculated. But I used to respect the calculation. Now, they are just stupid, time and again. Hard to like what you can't respect.

Sorry that wasn't exactly what you were getting at, but believe me, what I just said has a lot to do with us not having All-Stars anymore.

Vick kills some dogs. He gets almost 2 years in prison and a 2 year NFL suspension when it's all said and done.

Stallworth kills a man while breaking the law (driving intoxicated) and he just got 30 days in jail.

We have devalued the human life in our society IMO.

What a joke.......

You need to get the facts straight, teke. Stallworth was technically drunk, as we almost all are legally after a few beers. You still drive home though, don't you? He had enough of his faculties to be driving no more than 10 miles over the limit, which is a common speed. In fact, most traffic enforcers won't even give you a ticket unless you are going 10 mph over the limit. This man ran in front of him, not in a legally protected crosswalk mind you, but just out in the middle of a road coming from who knows where, trying to catch a bus. Stallworth saw him at the last second and flashed his lights. Should he have swerved and possibly killed himself or another person because of this reckless act by the man running? Not in my opinion. Also, he immediately called 911 and took the roadside test. He acted like a man should in a time like that. He took responsibility. He, in no way acted drunk. That's the whole crux of the argument here. If he had not had any drinks, it would have been the man's own fault, correct?

He's also going to be in home confinement for years and will likely never be able to drive a car again. I don't think that's getting off easy. All I know, is if I have two beers and some @sshole runs in front of me from some blind spot, I don't think I should bear the responsibility.

Howard blocked Bron without a foul and the announcer was speechless. That's a switch.

You know, the bad thing is that the refs, for the most part it seems, are just incompetent to a large degree when the game is on the line.

This game is being called horribly.

My disgust with the NBA is reaching epic proportions. The last two plays were totally inexcusable. Anyone think the Magic have a chance in ot? Hard to beat the other team and the refs.

If you think it makes sense paying the third best player on the team SUPERSTAR MAX MONEY while the other two do all the heavy lifting then that shows the extent of your cognitive abilities.

It makes since to aquire dynamic player. As many as you can. You keep talking cap. Who cares? Oh, wait, the chumps in charge of the ASG. They don't have any money. Orlando has spent way more than us and are reaping the benefits. Turk and Rashard weren't drafted by the Magic, you know. You have to pony up in the NBA. We just have a pony... in a horse race. But they appear to be doing a good job of pretending with Joe Johnson as a Superstar to appease apologists. If he were a superstar, kids would want to emulate him and jerseys would be sold and money would be made and people would want to come here and... you get the idea. It ain't happenin'. Not now, not ever.