I should add that in the farm section (last 5-6 picks) I was choosing purely for comedic effect.
C Joe Mauer (Min – C)
1B Ryan Howard (Phi – 1B)
2B Aaron Hill (Tor – 2B)
3B Chipper Jones (Atl – 3B)
SS Wilson Betemit (NYY – 1B,3B,SS)
IF Daric Barton (Oak – 1B)
LF Gary Sheffield (Det – LF,RF)
CF Coco Crisp (Bos – CF)
RF J.D. Drew (Bos – RF)
OF Brian Giles (SD – RF)
Util David DeJesús (KC – CF)
SP Félix Hernández (Sea – SP)
SP Chien-Ming Wang (NYY – SP)
RP Mariano Rivera (NYY – RP)
RP Joe Borowski (Cle – RP)
P Adam Wainwright (StL – SP)
P Derek Lowe (LAD – SP)
P Orlando Hernández (NYM – SP)
BN Brendan Harris (Min – 2B,SS)
BN Scott Hatteberg (Cin – 1B)
BN Andy Marte (Cle – 3B)
BN Johnny Estrada (Was – C)
BN Mike Mussina (NYY – SP)
BN Horacio RamÃÂrez (Sea – SP) NA
Yeah, I had to miss the first part of the draft, picking up at round 14. Fortunately, my preranks picked up the first 12 picks, leaving only one pick to Yahoo!, and that one pick wasn’t bad.
I guess drafting for position is the autodraft’s weak point. I came in without starting 2B, SS, or C, the three toughest positions to fill in the game. When preranking, you pretty much have to do it by value or you might skip over good players to get a mediocre infielder that you could have picked up two rounds later. Unfortunately, that means the draft is power position heavy.
At least you arent carrying SIX Pittsburgh Pirates. Four of whom, by the way, are starting for me.
Yes, but I am starting five Reds, and only one is any good.
I wish I’d remembered that steals don’t matter. Oh, well.
Here’s my crappy team. Notice that almost everyone is under 25, and if this were a legacy league — which counted steals, dammit — I would be in the money.
C Geovany Soto
1B Lance Berkman
2B Rickie Weeks
3B Alex Gordon
SS José Reyes
IF Mark Reynolds
LF Lastings Milledge
CF Félix Pié
RF Nick Markakis
OF Cameron Maybin
Util Brad Wilkerson
BN Jay Bruce
SP Erik Bedard
SP Dan Haren
RP Manny Corpas
RP Todd Jones
P Jair Jurrjens
P Mark Buehrle
P Chris Ray
BN Al Reyes
BN Paul Maholm
BN Jason Marquis
BN Anthony Reyes
BN Jorge Sosa
watching the Bama game. Its appears that a storm, possible tornado, has ripped a hole in the GA dome. Play has been stopped for about 45 min now. Appears no one inside has been injured
Yea, I’m still on campus right now. Crazy stuff going on. Took out a billboard too.
they’re now reporting that large window panes at the Dome were completely blew out and there is debris everywhere around the Dome. When was the last time a bball game got delayed due to bad whether without there being a power failure? very odd
As if this Alabama season wasn’t disaster enough.
Check out Borchard’s career spring training stats. .544 slugging, huh?
true enough…Mac, do you think that Riley’s last two games saved Gottfried’s job or was it never in jeopardy? I think the former
I don’t think he was in serious danger. If they’d blown a 28 point lead last night, he might have been in trouble. If they get killed by UAB in the NIT, that might be trouble too.
rumor is they might not even get in the NIT. Sunny Smith was on Jox the other morning and he said they weren’t even on the radar. Does that sound wrong?
CM Newton is on the NIT selection board. I have to think Alabama’s getting in, especially considering that they’re playing well right now. They definitely would have gotten if if that shot had fallen.
I missed the first half of the draft, but I think I did a pretty good job in the second half. There are at least a couple guys that I think might end up being useful.
Only major problem for me was not realizing steals weren’t a thing in this league and therefore ending up with Carl Crawford as my first rounder. Doh!
But we’ll see. I’ve got a strong pitching staff (provided they all actually pitch), and if I get lucky, I could end up with 2 or 3 closers. If I can add some power (got plenty of runs, etc.) I’ll be in good shape.
I probably should have given a little more thought to the Kyle Davies pick. He’s my only backup pitcher…
Chris Ray? I thought he was out for the 2008 season.
That actually doesn’t look like too bad a team to me.
I need to put out one more beg for players – we have one spot left in my auction league (head to head, 6×6 scoring), drafting Sunday at 2:45 pm eastern time.
If interested, email me at mrfyde – at – yahoo.com.
Go Braves 🙂
Oh, is Chris Ray out for the season?
Crap.
The one UGA hoops game I’m actually looking forward to this year…yikes.
Guess it was pretty bad down there.
Mac,
If you’re looking for a guy who’s going to pile up the wins this year, you can do a whole lot worse than Chien-Ming Wang.
I see him pitch all the time & when he’s on, it’s downright comical.
Typical inning: Ground ball out 4-3, single sneaks thru the infield (often just past Jeter’s left), 4-6-3 double play.
And I think you’ll be fine with your closer.
We all have faith in certain areas. I’ll place mine here, at least for one more year:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/03/14/braves_0315.html
continuing something from the last thread..
“I’m not sure there is any evidence other than anecdotal that head first slides get you there faster. Why would it?”
You have to slow down a bit in a feet first slide to let your legs go forward and your butt drop. In a head first slide you keep your momentum up a little more.
“And why is it more difficult for a fielder to tag your head or hand than to tag your feet?”
Because you are a flatter target going in head first. Your head and torso are all right along the ground there. Feet first you have your legs down but your torso and head are “sitting up” kind of so you are closer to the tag and a larger target.
“With a feet first slide, you can hook into the base or otherwise make yourself more difficult to tag. Sliding head first, you have no option but to go straight in.”
Nonsense. You are just as able to slide around the bag and get a hand on it going head first. Personally I actually find it somewhat easier to slide around the bag and get a hand on it when i go head first.
You have just as much an option to slide to the far side of the bag headfirst as you to slide right at it.
“Plus, most importantly, it seems to me there is a lot more risk of injury. I’m not questioning your experience but perception is often not the same as reality. I think the fact that no one really learns the nuances of sliding anymore makes people think that head-first sliding is better.”
I think part of the risk of getting hurt sliding head first comes in part from, as you say, not knowing how to do it properly. You can’t have your arms and fingers straight out and rigid like boards or you will definately get hurt. You have let them have a little give when you get to the base. Also, you need to know how to go down smoothly. Its not a “dive” in the swimming and diving sense and its not a belly flop, those are two of the most common errors I see (ok, so its not like any one is jumping straight up and then diving down but it kinda looks like it). If you know how to do it right you can be running full speed and let your momentum carry you forward and you body gracefully slides onto the ground.
Though I do agree it is probably a little more injury causing than feet first I don’t think it is a huge risk if you know what you are doing. I think standing in the batters box is much more injury causing than sliding headfirst.
But, its a sport. So yeah you’re going to maybe get hurt …. it happens. I can’t imagine playing so as to avoid injury, that sounds like a recipe for timid, passive, ineffective performance. Now I’m not saying do whatever it takes at all costs. I don’t think my slot receiver needs to run into Ray Lewis at full speed when the sideline is right there and he doesn’t really have a chance to juke Lewis or break his tackle or gain more than another yard by not going out of bounds. Any risks should obviously be reasonable and have some kind of worthwhile payoff (like being safe on a steal vs ouit). But I think moreso that a timid, injury-avoiding mindset will produce more negative effects in many aspects of ones game (in any sport) beyond just the negative result of a CS vs SB. I think a small (WITHIN REASON) risk of injury is necessary to play your very best
BTW, I no longer live near the A-town so I didn’t get to see all hell break lose tonight.
Is everyone and their loved ones and property ok?
Also, on a more selfish and lighter note…Crap are my Dawgs going to have to play two games on Sat?
I mean I know our odds of winning the whole thing weren’t great period.. but I had hopes n dreams but I can’t see ANYONE beating 3 quality SEC teams in TWO days.
I was hoping Sundiata could end his GREAT career on top. What an all around player, really underrated.
And I will miss Dave Bliss too. Tough, competitive player. Had more skills than people realize. A joy to watch
I’m glad those two took a chance on Georgia in some of the programs darkest days and have helped pull the program back up
After this season & the ridiculous ending(s) to that Ole Miss game, we should be grateful that we may even have the opportunity to play 2 Saturday games.
Hope all of you in the Atlanta area are doing fine.
As for my fantasy team — I think I’ve got ok OBP and SLG through the lineup, but my pitching is really bad. I’m counting on a number of guys with health risks. Every team has question marks in a league this big though.
It was a big change to draft for different categories and in a league so big (and for specific OF spots). Hopefully it’ll be a fun season.
Now I need to get back into the normal 5×5 mindset for my main league.
I’m in two fantasy leagues this year, and I’ve never done fantasy baseball before. Anyone have any words of wisdom?
make sure you understand how the league is set up. Look for what stats are counted, if you have utility players, how many SP and RP, if steals are counted or not. Mostly just study the scoring aspect of the league. I like gettting players who are eligible at several positions, it makes it easier to adjust for injuries later
Yeah. Keep your eye on the waiver wire, make sure you sub in players when your starters are being rested, and, uh, don’t draft Wilson Betemit 🙂
also find out when rosters can be changed, daily or weekly
Rob,
Trade me all the players you get that I want.
or do what Stu tells you to do, it sounds like that will be in the best interest for you
Also, you guys can listen to me and Matt Cerrone from Metsblog on this podcast, recorded last night: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/bc/treehousefort
We come in about 32 minutes in.
Rob — as mentioned, one of the best things you can do is know the rules of your league. But you might not really understand the impact of some of them until you play a bit.
There are all kinds of draft strategies out there. I’m sure a google search would give you too much to look at. Some are more applicable than others depending on the size of the league and which stats are being counted.
Espn.com can even get you some decent advice for regular sized NL-AL mix leagues. The Insufferable Mr. Roto (Mattew Berry) — he’s annoying — even has a run through on how to prepare for a draft if it’s your first time (he calls it the draft day manifesto). I think that’s available for free… it may be insiders only. It’s pretty standard advice if you’re in a standard league.
And as long as you’re using standard scoring, you can do practice drafts at Mock Draft Central (website is the same name).
I guess this all depends on how into it you are…
I play to win in my league (pride at stake, not money). But I’m playing in the Braves Journal league for fun and to try something new — I’ve never played in a league so big and with the particular categories that are being counted. Should be fun.
The league Rob and I are in together is far from standard. Auction keeper league (modest amount of money involved) with 25-man rosters and the following stat categories: R, RBI, OBP, SLG, SBN, QS, ERA, WHIP, K, SVHLD.
Gonna be awfully fun, though.
Nice job Alex. I enjoyed that.
36 — far from standard indeed. as for advice for rob on playing fantasy baseball league for the first time in a league like that: good luck.
Johnson and Escobar are officially hitting first and second according to Bobby. Kotsay will be hitting 8th.
that’s not too bad, though I cringed at the sight of Andy Marte
I saw Johnson and Escobar 1 & 2 yesterday, and I got really exciting. Then I saw Francouer third, and got a little scared, but then realized that Teixera and Chipper didn’t make the trip to Clearwater. Lillibridge, BJones, and Schafer all look really good, by the way. Lillibridge is tiny, though.
You know, you don’t see many 360-turnaround three pointers with two seconds left in overtime.
I can’t expect any more from the Dawgs, but this has certainly gotten more than a little interesting.
Borchard et Dane Cook delenda sunt.
Froom today’s box score vs. the Tampa Bay Rays:
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Yates 0.1 3 5 5 1 0 0 12.60
Even when they’re meaningless, some things will never change.
He might not even make the team if he keeps pitching like that.
Right now I think the bullpen is:
Soriano
Moylan
Ohman (LOOGY 1)
Acosta
Ridgway (LOOGY 2)
Resop
Boyer (long relief)
I think Royce Ring has fallen out of favor with the Braves and the Braves really seem to like Resop’s velocity.
Smoltz pitched well and into the 5th today, but then ran out of gas. Jurrjens got nailed and was knocked out in the 3rd in his game.
Ridgway is terrible.
Braves lose 11-10. They came back for seven runs in the 8th inning, keyed by a grand slam from Corky Miller, only to have Blaine Boyer give up the game-losing run in the 9th.
Interesting that Prado was at shortstop… how was he? He clearly hit with some authority. Was he able to pick it?
Braves always seem to lose both games when they do the split-squad thing.
“Right now I think the bullpen is”
I really hope not. Ridgway and Resop should not make the team to start the season.
Why did the Braves trade Startup for Royce Ring again?
Right now, Oakland is winning the Cactus League and Tampa Bay (followed by the second-place Marlins) leads the Grapefruit League.
I have real doubts Oakland or Tampa Bay will even finish at .500 this season.
I wouldn’t utterly count out the
DevilRays this year. They have a lot of talent. The Garza pickup was a great move, and if everything breaks well gives them a potent 1-2-3 group at the top of the rotation to go with an already strong offense. I think they’ll finish third, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they beat the Yankees, and probably kill Steinbrenner in the process.I agree, I’m not particular fond of either Ridgway or Resop, but the Braves are.
particularly*
Anyone else care to post their bullpen predictions?
I’ll probably do a post with my full 25-man prediction in a few days.
Chris Resop’s greatest asset seems to be that he is not Buddy Hernandez, who as far as the Braves are concerned apparently delenda est.
Falcons to trade Hall for Raiders’ second-round pick in ’08 draft
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3295344
Here’s my prediction for the bullpen:
Soriano
Moylan
Acosta
Boyer
Bennett
Ohman
Resop (possibly Yates)
Seymour
IMO, the only place Tampa finishes ahead of the Yankees is spring training or an APBA tournament.
BTW, I keep hearing really bad reports about Delgado from those covering the Mets, as in his swing is awful right now.
You taken a good look at the Yankees’ lineup lately? Their good players, other than Cano, are all old:
Posada 36
Jeter 34
ARod 32
Matsui 34
Abreu 34
Damon 34
Throw in Giambi, who isn’t good anymore but is 37…
Their pitching staff is a virtual rookie (Hughes), a collection of more old guys, and Wang, a fine pitcher who needs good defense, about which see the ages above.
The Rays have a lot of talent, more young talent than anyone in baseball. Now, they don’t have any veterans but Cliff Young and Troy Percival (who is extremely veteran) and they might be a year away, but it’s not impossible that they’ll make a sudden leap forward.
Giambi is 37?? jesus
The Rays are picked to win more games than the O’s this year in Vegas so that’s saying something about their talent.
I think this is what the Braves’ bullpen will look like:
Soriano
Moylan
Yates
Acosta
Ohman
Boyer
Ring/Carlyle
I don’t think Resop or Bennett (who does have options) get in.
A-Rod isn’t old — at least not offensively — but otherwise, you’re absolutely right. They’re an awfully wizened bunch.
Another great (lucky) last-minute shot to win a game today. Wow.
yates to a 12.60 era for the spring. do we really need a career +5 era arm in our pen? i know he’s guaranteed a contract, but why would the braves want a guaranteed piece of shit? i have heard all the arguments of him being “overused” and “unlucky”, but how long does it take to realize that he’s just not that good?
Yates has thrown all of five innings. Of course, he’s walked six men in those five innings. Several Braves have walked a ton of people this spring.
This Dawgs run has been insane, playing on Tech’s floor and all, but Gaines just fouled out…
Mac,
If Jason Giambi got hit by a meteor, it wouldn’t make any difference to their fortunes. He’s an expensive PH or DH, that’s all. Shelley Duncan’s going to get lots of time at 1B this year.
I hope Tampa does well. It’ll make things interesting. The other interesting things, from my view, will be Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes & Ian Kennedy.
Assuming Chamberlain & Rivera hold up their end, the Yanks actually need a good season from Hughes. FWIW, he’s was great in his 5-inning ’07 post-season & he’s been great in spring, but we’ll see what that means for a full season. I can see him winning 15 games—200 IP will be the question.
I see Pettitte & Mussina as question marks, but I don’t think they’ll both be awful. Mussina, maybe…
The Rays may be a nice story, but they are not the club that worries the Yanks. You’re talking about a team that scored nearly 1,000 runs in ’07, almost 200 more than Tampa.
Their lineup may fall off some, but I wouldn’t trade theirs for Tampa’s. It’s a professional group that takes pitches, gets tons of XBHs & regularly grinds up regular-season pitchers like hamburger meat.
It’s still a scary bunch and if they lose this year, it won’t be because they don’t score enough runs.
The Sox will win by ten games.
I’m more concerned with Yates talking about something being wrong with his pitching motion, and not knowing what it is.
Hang in there Dawgs!!!!
Boo dawgs.
Mac,
Without Beckett? I’ll take that bet.
And how ’bout them Dawgs?
The Red Sox don’t have Beckett. The Rays are getting more and more worried about Scott Kazmir’s health.
Does anyone think the Rays go anywhere without Kazmir? I could see the Red Sox doing very well with or without Beckett.
I think the Yankees win the AL East.
Beckett has back spasms. It’s not the end of the world. He’ll miss a start or two at the beginning of the year, big whoop. The Sox would have won by ten games last year if they’d pushed for it, but they didn’t need to.
Go Dawgs.
I hope a non-AL East representative makes the WS.
I’m betting the NL will send a team to the WS.
Oh, you’re talking about another division in the Junior Circuit?
I bet TWO NL teams make the World Series.
Mac,
The Yanks were on fire at the end of the ’07 regular season. They beat the Sox the last 5 of 6 & ended 2 games out. I’m sure the Sox were trying to win those 2 series.
FWIW, NYY won the season series over Boston, as well. One team is not dramatically better than the other.
The Sox were already in postseason, and decided not to push it. Check the box scores — Manny Ramirez was put on the shelf, and didn’t play in the last five of those games. They weren’t pushing it for negligible advantage.
Mainly, the Red Sox have changed over their lineup and gotten younger the last few years. The Yankees haven’t. Young players generally get better, and old players generally get worse.
I somehow missed NMS long post about head-first sliding, and not to re-hash it up, but I definitely agree with him about the things he said.
To his post, you are not restricted to sliding right into the bag going head-first, and I, too, find it easier to go to the outside part of the bag (or slide past it entirely and grab it on the backside) sliding head-first.
And like he said, if you’re dumb or irresponsible, you can get hurt easily (I say this as I type differently because of a jammed finger). You can also get hurt being stupid diving feet-first. There are a lot of hyper-extended knees, sprained or broken ankles, nasty strawberries and other stuff from sliding feet-first. Plus, infielders don’t exactly like getting cleated when being slid at feet-first.
For me, sliding head-first will always be something I try to do. As NMS said, you’re flatter to the ground, you (in my opinion) have more control over your body, and it’s pretty low-risk if you’re hands are loose and you stay away from infielders’ cleats.
Sorry for the late rant, but I love me some head-first sliding…
Mac,
For one season (this one), I think the “ancient” A-Rods & Jeters will do just fine. Those guys are still way too good for Yankee peeps to be worried about how their numbers stack up against the Jacoby Ellsburys of the world.
Their lineup will be more than fine. In fact, it’ll kick ass with methodical & almost boring certainty. The guts it stomps out will be affixed with Rays, Jays & Orioles logos. It will continue to slaughter middle relievers like Ted Nugent takes out the Michigan deer population.
But that’s not what this season is about. This year’s Yankee fortunes are wrapped up in the trade they didn’t make.
For me, going to Yankee Stadium requires an annual storyline I can follow. (Eg.—The unloved A-Rod, Torre’s dramas, this year’s youthful staff, etc.) This way I’m entertained. I can hang with my buds and not stress about who wins. It’s the American League—I don’t care!
HOW ABOUT THEM DAWGS!?
WHOOO!!!!
btw, that DeAngelo Hall trade looks like crap
argg
crap for who? if your a falcons fan i’d be laughing all the way to the bank. Hall is a mediocre cover corner who takes too many chances and occasionally makes big plays because he runs really fast. a player like Shaun Rogers has way more value and you could argue a high 2nd rounder is better than a 3rd and the immortal Leigh Bodden…fans generally way overvalue the trade value of players in the NFL…its rare for a team to give up a really high draft pick AND pay huge money on an extension for someone like Hall
basically, IMO the falcons burned al davis who is acting like he has one year left to live
Good Morning – HOW BOUT THEM DAWGS!?!?!?!
All we have normally read about on Bravesjournal during Basketball season (and understandably so) are Vandy & Tennessee. Both are in the NCAA’s – deservedly so.
Mind blowing to think we could win our 3rd game in 24 hours today and join them after entering the SEC tournament as a 6th seed.
I actually pulled out my Black Georgia Cutter & Buck polo shirt from the closet for the first time since the Sugar Bowl today. It feels good to wear again.
Francoeur got beaned in the face by a pitch and had to leave the game. Hopefully he’s okay.
Glavine pitched pretty well today, going 5 innings and allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.
The other day many here agreed that Seattle doesn’t have enough bats to keep up in the AL West. But adding Lackey to the shelf with Escobar makes it more interesting…
Scott Thorman apparently threw two scoreless innings for the Braves today, at least currently according to the Braves’ box score.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2008_03_16_atlmlb_slnmlb_1&refresh=30
It was an error. It should’ve been Jeff Bennett.
it sure does make it more interesting, in that we now potentially get to see Adenhart carve up that Seattle lineup for a couple months…
Whooooooo!!!! Let’s dance, Dawgs!
How…’bout…them…Dawgs?
I am speechless.
Never been so proud of my team. How ’bout ’em!!!
Yunel Escobar finally fell under .500 today, because he only went 1-3. Of course, that one hit was a two-run homer and the winning runs in the game.
braves14,
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080316&content_id=2430673&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
Frenhy’s X-rays were negative and he had no damage to his jaw or teeth. He should be back in action soon.
That’s good to see.
UGA vs. Xavier on Thursday in D.C. Tip off time announced tomorrow.
Hey, whatever. It’s all gravy at this point.
Felton saves his job & ruins a bubble team’s chances in the process.
Pretty unbelieveable run. Three wins in 28 hours?
Historic as it is bizarre.
Really, there have been 4 great moments in Georgia basketball history. As great as it is, I’d rank this one #3.
1) The 1983 Final Four where they beat St. John’s (with Chris Mullin) & UNC (with Jordan & Perkins) in consecutive games.
2) The 1990 SEC regular-season championship. In huge comebacks, they twice beat LSU, which had Shaq, Stanley Roberts & Chris Jackson.
3) This insane thing. And winning it at Tech still tickles me.
4) The 1983 SEC tournament title. That was the most talented SEC I can remember. Every team, except Florida, I think, had at least 1 NBA guy & some had 2 or 3. Charles Barkley, Jeff Malone, Dale Ellis, Vern Fleming, etc.—the league was loaded that year.
DOB on AJC just said Barry Bonds was seen walking into the Braves team hotel.
Please don’t open Pandora’s box Big Bird.
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/entries/2008/03/16/not_so_fast_on.html
I agree with the list and would add our upset of #1 seed Purdue in the ’96 tournament.
I’d take the risk.
It looks to me from that link that DOB was joking.
sansho1,
OK, call the ’96 game accomplishment #5.
It’s not like we’ve had a lot of ’em.
I didn’t follow this at all, but man, I’m happy for you guys. I liked this ending for the ESPN story:
As much as I dislike Dennis Felton, I’m incredibly impressed by and happy for his players. It’s an unbelievable accomplishment, and I’ll be pulling for them next weekend. Gaines especially deserves this, IMO, because he’s probably been the conference’s most underrated player in each of his 4 years in Athens. I am not sorry that Vanderbilt won’t have to face him anymore…unless we meet in the upcoming National Championship game. 🙂
(The only thing I don’t like about the UGA story is that they didn’t bump UK from the Tourney. I was hoping they’d just take the Wildcats’ spot. Oh, well.)
I’m not a huge Felton fan either but he coached his tail off the last three games.
I have a question for anyone who might know. For games that are on Peachtree TV this year, will we be able to see those games on MLB tv?
I mean for people like me that are in the blackout area.
But not in the Atlanta DMA area.
Wow, my Vols got shafted! Oh well, maybe this will motivate us to play some D.
For Braves Journal readers in the DC area:
I am part of a season ticket package for National games and we divided the tickets up yesterday. I have two Braves games–April 12, to which I am planning to take my daughter, and April 26. For the April 26 game, if anyone is interested in taking the other ticket, e-mail me at mschneider@ftc.gov. The tickets are in the 300 section between home and third.
Bonds at the team hotel, per DOB. Its on MLB rumors also…Im sure there is nothing to it
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/entries/2008/03/16/not_so_fast_on.html#comment-34545003
This is not a Braves-type move and I’m sure there is nothing to it. Bonds would help the Braves but I suspect the veterans would not be happy with the distractions involved and Bonds would almost certainly rub them the wrong way–this isn’t the Giants where the team was essentially Bonds. Sheffield was one thing, Bonds is a whole other level of problem at this point. My understanding is that it’s Bonds that is going from team-to-team trying to stir up interest. I wish Bonds would just go away.
Bama didnt make the NIT, I guess it was all or nothing for them in the SEC tourney this year
Bonds was in the Braves hote in JUPITER. My thought is he is in Jupiter to talk to the Cardinals. The Mariott is probably the nicest thing that is that close to the Cardinals complex. The Cardinals quite possibly need a left fielder (and could need a first baseman at a moment’s notice).
Not that anyone was clamoring for an ex-Brave, Willie Harris update, but here you go (After last year, I’m a Willie Harris fan, and as a D.C. resident, I’ll be happy to see him supersub here for the Nats):
Manager Manny Acta is viewing Harris as a potential super-sub for the Nationals, the team’s web site reports.
So far this spring Harris has filled in at third base and in center field when called upon, and could play all seven infield and outfield positions if necessary. Acta also likes his ability to work the count, and Harris leads the Nationals with seven walks so far in Grapefruit League play. “He has done very good,” Acta said. “He gives me a lot of options. He looked real good in center field [on Friday]. He brings a lot of energy, which is something that I like. He is a perfect National League player.” Harris might not be higher than third on the depth chart at most positions given the Nationals’
overall bench depth, but he should still see semi-regular action as a pinch-hitter, pinch-runner and late-inning defensive replacement.
Re: #105
Mac,
Were you talking about signing Bonds when you said you’d take the risk?
I don’t want to talk about Willie Harris, Cary.
The memory of Alex R. promising to name his son “Willie Harris R.” after the game-saving catch at Shea last year is just too painful, given that Alex didn’t follow through.
I see the Gators also got a 2 seed, IN THE NIT!
Alabama turned down an offer to play in the first ever College Basketball Invitational (CBI) I think that 15-15 Virgina will pull that one out.
#117
I think that the veterans would welcome Bonds, even WITH the distractions he presents, if it means that he hits:
.310/24/86
for 140 games in left field without causing TOO much in the way of defensive liability.
and let’s be honest here, he would probably hit better than that…
’cause if Bonds does that, we can afford to trade some younger arms (James or Reyes) with an outfielder (Diaz) for another arm (i’m thinking Blanton).
i HIGHLY doubt this happens, but if it helps the Braves win (and that would be a very good possbility…cause that would make our lineup the most potent in the NL (if it’s not already)) and Bonds proves he’s clean (which is a BIG if), then the veterans could deal.
yet. it aint happening.
The Cardinals badly need Bonds, frankly. They have no offense.
I actually like the idea of Harris as a supersub. That’s probably the best way to use him.