Atlanta Braves Thread

The old runnng thread went somewhere into cyberspace so let's get it going again. The Braves announced today that Monday-Thursday night games have been moved from the traditional 7:35 start to 7:10. I like it.

 

Wonder what the chances of the Braves getting anything out of Mike Hampton this year? If he could get healhy enough to give them 10-12 wins, it could be a big boost IMO.

 

Hampton will probably strain his nutsack in the exhibition season and be on IR the rest of the year. I've given up on him at this point.

 

If Hampton has anything it will be huge. Gotta have some kind of production out of the back half of the rotation.

 

You hope that Smoltz and Hudson are locks to give you 15 wins each. I agree, after that a lot of questions with maybe some pretty good answers though IMO.

 

ATLANTA (AP) — Relief pitcher Rafael Soriano and the Atlanta Braves agreed Thursday to a $9 million, two-year contract that avoided arbitration.

The Braves plan to make Soriano their closer this season. He went 3-3 with a 3.00 ERA and nine saves in a career-high 71 appearances last year, holding opponents to a .181 batting average.

The right-hander would have been eligible for free agency after the 2008 season.

"We are very excited to be able to keep Rafael for two more seasons," Atlanta general manager Frank Wren said. "Rafael was an important part of our bullpen last year, and based on his performance over the last two seasons, he will now have an even more important role for us in 2008 as our closer."

Soriano was acquired in a December 2006 trade with Seattle for left-hander Horacio Ramirez.

When arbitration figures were exchanged last week, Soriano asked for $3.4 million and the Braves offered $2.4 million. He made $1.3 million last season.

The Braves have agreed to contracts with all six of their players who filed for arbitration.

Soriano gets salaries of $2.4 million this year and $6.1 million in 2009, plus a $500,000 signing bonus.

 

Not a bad first offseason for Wrenn.

 

One of the biggest things is whether Mike Gonzalez comes back from surgery fairly close to what he used to be. And whether Kotsay can stay healthy enough to be a decent CF'er for 2008. I think the Braves have a good shot at the East title this year myself.

 

I don't know, they will need a lot of things to go right imo for them to have a shot at the east title.

Several players coming back from injuries, you just never know what you get from these and to expect all of them to work out just seems like a longshot. The two you mention for sure need to hopefully be what they once were, but Hampton is/has been just a huge burden on this team.

Another concern imo would be the age of Glavine and Smoltz, while both have been studs in their careers, one day soon its going to be the end for those two.

 

I think the Braves have a shot mainly because the Mets and Phillies aren't all that great to start with. The Braves aren't what they used to be but then they play in a weak division, well the whole NL is weak for that matter. Things do have to come together for them to do it but I think they've got more than a decent chance of winning the division.