Atlanta Braves : News : Atlanta Braves News
I’m already sick of the Mets.
Hudson went two, allowing two hits. Kolb pitched the third and was perfect with — take a deep breath — a strikeout! The boxscore says that Andy Marte pitched the fourth, allowing two hits, but that was actually Tom Martin. Anthony Lerew pitched the next three innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. Buddy Hernandez pitched the last two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two; gosh, it’s like he’s a major league caliber pitcher or something. No walks all game by the Braves, but then the Mets only allowed one and everyone’s pretty much throwing fastballs at this early stage.
The Braves scored two runs off of Tom Glavine, then three off of Aaron Heilman. Pete Orr homered and drove in four of the five runs. Jordan didn’t play. Langerhans started in center and went 0-2. McCarthy was 1-2.
Apparently, we are unbeatable this year. Look out ’01 Mariners.
Mac, Thanks for the updates. I know you said you wouldn’t, but it is very much appreciated. War Buddy Hernandez!
5-0 in spring training? I don’t know if I should be excited or worried.
I think doing well in spring training just means that we have jobs available on the Atlanta roster. People are hungry to perform well, rather than just getting warmed up and taking it easy.
Aren’t there only two jobs, though? Green, Orr, and Betemit for two spots (so Orr vs. Betemit for one) and 12th pitcher.
IOW, barring trades
C- Estrada, Perez
1B- LaRoche, Franco
2B- Giles, Green*
SS- Furcal, “spot” (needs to be able to back up at SS – Betemit by default?)
3B – Jones
LF – Jordan*, Langerhans*
CF – Jones
RF – Mondesi*
13 hitters
SP – Smoltz, Hudson, Hampton, Thomson, Ramirez
RP – Kolb, Reitsma, Colon*, Gryboski, White*, Martin, “spot 2” (Bernero, Childers, Buddy Hernandez, etc. Might need to be able to go 2+ innings – Bernero)
Asterisks denote guys who could possibly play themselves off the roster if they went 0 for the rest of spring or recorded 0 outs for the rest of spring.
I’m just reading the box scores, really.
Betemit’s out of options, so he should have a spot. My guess is that if they go with 12 pitchers, there aren’t ANY roster spots open for a hitter barring someone playing their way off the roster. The last two or three pitchers are up in the air.
Drewdat, During the broadcast Sunday Joe Simpson mentioned that Green’s natural position is shortstop. Played it in college, etc. Does this mean that we have potentially three resources for ‘spot’.
Maybe the issue is not as much of making the roster or not as it is in playing for pecking order positioning, which as I understand is still up for grabs in the outfield and in the bullpen. No?
Is there any speculation or possibility of Marte being a backup/utility infielder? I have a hard time believing Betemit is not on the trading block. I was going to ask if he has seen any playing time this spring, but I see he hit a homer in today’s game vs. NYY (currently in progress).
Though the spot in LF is filled one way or the other, they are still competing there for starting time.
I think Nick Green is going to be logged as the b/u SS, with Pete Orr or Kelly Johnson taking the other utility role. I think Marte and Jeff are definitely in the minors this year. I agree that Betimit is trade fodder. Wonder if you could get some one to take him and Tom Martin for some middle relief,
Good article. It is on the Braves site, but seems like Kolb is learning new tricks. Great Fastball, Great Slider, now a good CHANGEUP!!.Hmm, sounds like another great braves closer..
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050307&content_id=960982&vkey=spt2005news&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
Betemit and Martin… hmmm… how about we package Betemit and Reitsma? A sack of baseballs in return would suit me just fine.
I am new to posting here, but some of you guys seem to have a great deal of insight. Can anyone explain the love affair between Cox and Reitsma?
Nate, I think he sees him as a sort of Remlinger Jr.
He’s the “workhorse”; a guy who is basically league average, and can be put through the ringer to the tune of 75-80 innings (also see King, Ray)
He’s a big strong guy, so he looks like he can take that sorta thing, although i think the conventional wisdom here is that most of us would like to see him tried out as a starter. Not that we need any more of those…
I don’t think Green has played SS in a long while. Seems like he made a bunch of errors there in the low minors? I slotted him in at 2B because he’ll make the team if he isn’t traded, but I think we really need to pull a backup SS from somewhere. Betemit is probably the closest we’ve got now, and even he had been playing 3B last year. Orr and Green could play SS in emergencies, I’m sure, but I don’t think either have played it recently.
Can anyone explain the love affair between Cox and Reitsma?
Lockhart’s gone, so he’s lonely. Honestly though, he’s a decent enough relief guy. He’s always had a good K to BB ratio, somewhat similar to a Remlinger in that regard. He gives up too many hits though. That had a lot to do with him not having a good out pitch near the end of last year, supposedly from just being exhausted. But then again, he wasn’t much different last year from 2003, so I dunno. He only has 4 years major league experience though, so Cox may feel he still has room to mature and improve.