Friday, September 30, 2011

Braves Off season

     The season is over now after the Braves have blown a 10.5 game lead since the end of August.  Anyway, I have decided that I'm going to go ahead and try to figure out what is going to happen in the off season and what I think about the Braves future.   I'll start with center field.  Thankfully, I'm pretty sure the Braves are going to buyout Nate Mclouth's contract for $1.25 million instead of picking up his option and paying him $10.65 million  this next season.  I'm not sure if the Braves can afford Michael Bourn, but I would love to see him with the Braves for a whole season.  If we can't keep Bourn there are several options.  One, Coco Crisp is going to be a free agent and there have been rumors of Crisp becoming a Brave for six years, so it might actually happen.  Another option is trading some pitching.  Next season the Braves will have ten major league ready starting pitchers, two rotations worth with Hudson, Jurrjens, Hanson, Beachy, Lowe, Medlen, Minor, Delgado, Tehran, and Vizcaino.  I would love to see Lowe get traded.  The only teams I think might be interested are the Tigers and the Yankees.  A more likely trade involving a pitcher would be Hanson or Jurrjens.  Both Hanson and Jurrjens are represented by agent Scott Boras, so with the Braves limited budget, we can't keep both of them and we might not be able to keep either.  Because of this, I think one of these two pitchers will be traded for either an outfielder, some infield help, or bullpen help.  I think the Royals might have interest in either Hanson or Jurrjens.
    Unless the Braves resign Alex Gonzalez, he is set to become an unrestricted free agent.  Gonzalez is a solid glove, but assuming we don't bring back Bourn, then we will need a leadoff hitter.  I think Tyler Pastornicky is the answer for both shortstop and leadoff.  He won't bat leadoff at the beginning of the season, but I think he will develop into a solid leadoff hitter and shortstop for the Braves.  My only question is if he is ready for the Major Leagues.
     The Braves don't need to self-destruct but we do need to shore up some positions.  Also we need a hitting coach since Larry Parish was let go today.  I think the Braves are very close to a World Series title.  I would love to see one next year, but my bet would be on 2013 being our year.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Terrelle Pryor

     From what I can tell, the NFL has made a mistake.  Terrelle Pryor should not be in the NFL supplemental draft.  For any one who does not know, the supplemental draft is for players that did not enter into the NFL draft and whose NCAA status has changed since the deadline to declare for the draft.  For example, Caleb King from Georgia is also in the supplemental draft.  Since the regular draft, Caleb King was declared academically ineligible.  Because of this he was allowed to enter in the supplemental draft.  To my knowledge, Pryor's status has not changed since the draft.  Because of this he should not be in the supplemental draft.

     The supplemental draft is not like the regular draft in April.  It goes in the same order, but instead of making picks the teams say what pick in the draft they would give up for the player.  If the player is not selected, he becomes an undrafted free agent.  For more info on the supplemental draft, about.com has a pretty good article on it.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

August 13, 2011

The Braves
     Wow, so much has happened since my last post.  First off, I am very excited that the braves were able to get Michael Bourn in a trade.  Even though I didn't think it would happen, I thought the astros would put a big price tag on him, I am very glad to see him in center field for the Braves.  Glad to see how Uggla is playing.  You could start to see a change in his swing when he started going opposite way with the ball, but I definitely did not see this coming out of him.  He and Freeman picked a perfect time to heat up with Chipper and McCann hurt.  It's good to see Chipper in the lineup, but I can't wait for Chipper, McCann, and Moylan to be fully healthy.  Surprise of the year- Jose Constanza.  A guy that spent 7 years in the minors batting .290 comes into the Braves lineup and is currently batting .408.
The Falcons
      So good to see some Falcons football.  Julio Jones looked great in the preseason game.  I think he will be well worth all those draft picks.  I can't wait to see what Ray Edwards will do on our defensive line, his stats look good and highlights I've seen look good.  Other than that I don't know much about him, except he was a boxer in the lockout.  I don't put much stock in preseason games, but the first string looked good.  I think it's going to be a good year, the Falcons got some of the "explosion" Dimitroff was talking about, and I trust TD, Smith, and Blank to put the best team they can get out on the field.

Monday, July 25, 2011

NFL

So glad the lockout is over!!!   Gonna look up some stuff tomorrow and hopefully have a new post. Go Falcons!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A little bit on the braves at the trade deadline

I don't really think the braves are going to make any big moves before the trade deadline. I think the major moves will be made when the season is over.
Derek Lowe is the piece the braves would love to move because his contract is pretty large and the depth at pitcher for the braves is incredible. I believe the tigers and Yankees are probably the two most interested teams.
I don't think Carlos Beltran would be a smart move for the braves. we would hav to give up a major prospect and would lose him after this season and would have to face the pitcher for years to come and only have Beltran a couple months.
I do think that Frank Wren is interested in each oakland outfielder. Years ago the braves were looking into a trade for coco crisp but it didn't work out. He would provide a true leadoff hitter but I'm not sure what the A's would want. The Braves were also interested in Dejesus last season and would probably like to pick him up this year. I'm sure Wren has interest in willingham but I think another team will get him first.
Like I said I don't believe the Braves will make a major move until the offseason,but Wren isn't the most predictable guy. With so many contenders the trade deadline will be interesting.
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions for something to write about.

First Post

     This is the first post of my new blog.  I hope whoever is reading this will enjoy the blog.  I plan to cover a lot of different things in the blog.  I'm looking forward to blogging a lot about sports, which i can talk about forever, I also will talk about my favorite tv shows and movies and other things that are going on.   I'll also talk about all the other things that are going on. Enjoy Reading.