Smoltz likely to start season on DL | ajc.com
I should point out that this means one start, and that he probably would pitch if it were really necessary. As DOB points out, this also would allow the Braves some extra days to decide on a cut or trade of one of their out-of-options pitchers.
That headline pretty much sums up my initial thoughts. After coming to and reading the article, doesn’t seem like a big deal though, right? right?? oh, somebody hold me.
Smoltz as the fifth starter?
Mac,
What’s up with the Ann Coulter ad?
I haven’t the foggiest, but I guess it’s gone now. Google comes up with weird context ads sometimes.
hahahahahahaha
The context is “doomed,” I guess.
Yeah but Hampton went six today so we got that going for us.
Which is nice.
We could be a Cinderella story!
If that’s the way to protect Smoltzie’s health for the later part of the season, I am all for it.
The way the rotation is set up, the Braves should be sending Huddy, Glavine, and Smotlzie to pitch in the Mets series on Apr 4-6.
Love the Caddyshack reference there, clark.
I’m a loud, obnoxious, sarcastic, conservative republican, evangelical Christian who, to be honest, likes blondes, so supposedly I would one of the people that should like Ann Coulter. I can’t stand Ann Coulter.
Oh, right. Baseball blog. No politics. I wonder if this is a selfless act by Smoltzie. I’m sure he wants to pitch, but like DOB said, this gives the organization more time, and it’ll most likely keep him fresh for later in the season. He must be banking on having to log more innings than last year (perhaps in October?).
What did I say about Smoltz in the last thread, people? 😉
But in all seroiusness, I’m not worried. 🙂
ahem….
UNC $#%#%-slapped Ark. This is an Ark. Team that beat Tenn in the SEC tourney and we beat them by 31 without breaking a sweat.
Wash. St. will be more difficult, but we win going away. By 12.
UNC’s looking Scarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry.
As for Smotlzy…he’ll be fine.
I wish I had stayed up to watch Davidson…I went to bed with Georgetown up…
Smoltzie will be fine and I am encouraged by Hampton. I have been on the road and I do not normally follow Spring Training as much as I might, but whats up with Chuck James? It would be nice to begin the season with James as our number 5 (allowing Jurrjens to fine tune his game at Richmond), but it looks like he is headed for extended Spring Training…
The Braves always do stuff like this at the end of spring. “Well, (fill in the blank) is a little under the weather and should make his next start.”
Next this we know, next start turn to July, then out for the year.
per mlb rumors…
The Braves look to be the market for a bat off the bench and according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution it’s not likely to be a minor name. O’Brien asked Wren if the Braves “had money to add a player of significant salary to their payroll,” throwing out an accompanying figure of $3-4MM, to which Wren said yes “without hesitation.” Let’s use this to set the stage for what should be an interesting late spring Reed Johnson sweepstakes.
Reed Johnson? I’m guessing thats getting thrown out because of the Mets interest
Maybe Dmitri Young? The Nats are shopping him.
I’m a Memphis alum and hope they go far but I have a bad feeling about the Michigan State game.
As an inveterate pessimist, I am worried about Smoltz. I hope it is nothing and he just misses the one start but, let’s face it, he is 41 and has a history of arm trouble. It might make sense for him to skip early starts in the north, such as in DC, where it could be very chilly in early April.
giles was cut from colorado. i dont really know what they were looking for. he had a great spring and looked to find his old self. i hope the little guy finds a job somewhere.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/03/rockies-notes-g.html
Dmitri Young wouldn’t be a bad pick up.
I don’t like soreness in shoulder and smoltz in same sentence. With his history, that is never good news.
By the way, who is out there that is worth picking up for 3or4 mil?
Sammy Sosa? He hit .328 against lefties last year and would come at pratically no cost, however I just wish they would let the young guys hold down the bench for us. Lillibridge, Prado, Pena, Thorman, Blanco, or Anderson still seems like a better bench than we’ve had in the past
Thorman on the bench would be a disaster. He’s hitting .140 this spring with 2 HR. Having him come off the bench late in a close game would be terrible.
This just in from the future: I intercepted brain waves from Jim Bowden, saying: “Marcus Giles got cut? That means I can get another second baseman!”
I agree with Smitty. Young can hit and he is likely to be available with Nick Johnson apparently healthy (at least for the time being). I think he would be great coming off the bench and, while he is pretty amusing to watch playing first base, he would be an adequate replacement when Teixera needs a rest. I don’t see anyone on the list of likely bench players that is going to be a real offensive threat. Even in their glory years, the Braves always nickel-and-dimed the bench and it has often cost them.
I wonder if Bonds could be had for 3-4mil.
In other news, why am I just now finding out that Kaz Matsui is on the DL for surgery to repair an “anal fissure”? That has to be the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.
really? Kaz has an anal fissure?
imagine what that will go for at ebay.jp…
Anal fissure? You only used to hear about guys like that being at Backstreets.
(Bad pun/old Atlanta reference)
Breaking News….Tiger lost today
Possibly Kazuo goig to the American Southwest in Houston caused him to become too well acquainted with Jose Cuervo. From there, who knows what might befall him.
going
per wikipedia…
An anal fissure is an unnatural crack or tear in the anus skin. As a fissure, these tiny tears may show as bright red rectal bleeding and cause severe periodic pain after defecation.[1] The tear usually extends from the anal opening and located posteriorly in the midline. This location is probably because of the relatively unsupported nature of the anal wall in that location.
Well, that explains that.
Gah, I did not need to read that explanation of an anal fissure this early in the morning before breakfast
What do you thing Cabrera getting 8/152 speaks to our chances of getting Texeira signed to a long term deal? I think if we can offer something in that range we have a shot.
Apparently annal fissures is a different term for hemorrhoids, which translates not so nicely in Japanese. So the the Stros had to change their reason for puttin Matsui on the DL from Hemorrhoids to Annal Fissures.
Well, if Smitty says Smoltz is out for the season due to past instances of Hampton and Cormier, then it must be true. The Braves had better start shopping for another starter. 😉
I love the idea of sh*t getting into open sores as a performance enhancer. I bet the sting from that helps him run faster. Pencil him in for 75 stolen bases and really funny looking lead off stances. Its the steroid of choice for speedsters.
Espn had a link that looked like Patterson signed a minor league deal with Texas. Don’t see it now though. A minor league deal sounds like a reasonable risk for them.
Kevin from The Office has/had anal fissures. Tragic, I tell ya…
ah … found it. it’s on the spring blog.
so would his batting stance look like craig counsel?
I imagine it being more like Jeff Bagwells
I picture Ichiro’s, with the premature running and all that.
Hahaha you guys are nuts…
Reed Johnson was released by the Blue Jays. I suppose thst means he can be acquired for far less than $3-4 MM. Question is: Where does he fit in this team? He’s an interesting player but the Braves have similar outfielders. Can he play 1st, or learn?
Kaz could’ve been the next Schilling, playing on heroically as the blood soaks through his uniform…
Yes please lets hurry up and get the mighty Reed Johnson signed so we can platoon him with Diaz. Reasonably Johnson is not any better than Blanco and Blanco is younger and healthier. So no we don’t need Johnson.
kotsay in center just botched a fly ball that scored a run…once again i think we’ll realize sooner than later how much of a defensive stud andruw was in atlanta just by the average center fielder patrolling his position. how many times will this phrase come up, “andruw would’ve had that”.
I just gave the site a new tagline.
I will say this: if the new bat is a platoon partner with Diaz, I will go nuts. That would be the last straw on the Free Matt Diaz platform, after they’ve told him and everybody he’s won a fulltime gig.
Does anyone know why we play the Indians and Tigers every day?
I still say Young would be a great pick up. He can play 3rd and the corner outfield spots, not well, nor for a real long period of time, but extra innings or a freak accident or something. Plus he can really hit.
Maybe we can get Tony Clark
Latest DOB article:
http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/entries/2008/03/24/braves_trades_a.html?cxntfid=blogs_braves
Seems like Yates could be the odd man out. We should be able to get some good value for him, since other teams don’t have a bullpen as solid as ours. Maybe we can throw in Thorman as a requirement and we can keep Pena and Miller at the same time.
Brad, because they are close to Disney. All teams are saving on gas.
@49,
Yeah, but the problem is even Andruw didn’t get everything. The question is not whether the Braves would be better off with Andruw in CF rather than, say, Mark Kotsay–obviously, they would be. The question is whether the overall difference in value is enough to justify paying Andruw $18 mm. I don’t think that it would be given a payroll of $90 million and the Braves weren’t going to pay Andruw $18 mm anymore than they were going to pay Furcal $13 mm. So it’s pointless (although natural) to moan about whether Andruw would have gotten a particular ball. The issue is not whether the performance the Braves get from Kotsay or whomever plays CF is up to Andruw Jones standards but whether it is adequate to allow the team to win. I’m really not that worried about the defense in CF-obviously, it won’t be as good but I doubt that it will be a significant impediment to the team’s success.
Smitty, the idea of Dmitri Young playing third is causing me hysterics. He can’t even play left field anymore (as in before he reported 40 lbs overweight). He’d absolutely be a nice bat off the bench, but the man is basically a DH at this point.
Yeah, Marc, but Andruw’s defensive stats show a serious decline (albeit from best in the game to average). It’s different to say the old AJ would have got to that and that the current AJ (supposedly showed up very fat to camp) could have…….
Love the new tagline, Mac.
I’m off to Miami for a week for work/club insanity. We’ll see how much Marlins talk I get. Chances are, it’ll be more Mets, esp. since they’ll be opening down there on Monday.
Hopefully, I’ll find a nice Irish pub to watch the Braves/Nats opener Sunday night.
Go Huddy & Go Braves.
Oh your right bledsoe. I don’t want him in there for more than a few innings at a time unless it is to spell Tex at first for a game. If Chipper pulls his oblique in the 7th inning, I would rather have Young at third than Diaz or Hudson. He could play a few innings here or there in a pinch.
“Andruw would have gotten that”
Who had April 6th? It has begun.
bill bruton woulda had that ball.
…I would rather have Young at third than Diaz or Hudson. He could play a few innings here or there in a pinch.
And I’d rather have skin cancer than pancreatic cancer.
But why are those the only choices? Prado, Infante and Lillibridge are all on our 40-man roster.
I like the tagline too.
Let’s get David Wright. He’d be a good back-up.
I’d rather have cancer than AIDs. I’m not just sure about that, I’m HIV positive.
I bet we say “Andruw would have swung at that” with happiness more often than we dejectedly say “Andruw would have gotten that”
#40 – huge office fan here, and yes he did have anal fissures. Kevin’s line “Someone here has them.”
I would love to get Young for our bench, but I’m sure the Nats might want to keep him also.
The new tagline is good, Mac, but perhaps it should be: “Our second baseman is anal-fissure free.”
Bobby keeping Kelly out again with a sore knee. Prado is leading the team with AB’s right now.
Lot of good info from the link in #54..
“OK, now trade talk: When I asked GM Frank Wren 20 minutes ago whether he anticipated a trade, he gave me a refreshing, honest answer: “I do. I think we’ll make a deal or two,” he said. “I’m not sure of the magnitude yet.”
Didn’t Dmitri Young sign a three-year extension? Nice bench bat, for sure, but not good enough that we’ll want to hang on to him for three years.
@70,
I think it was two years. With Nick Johnson healthy, the thinking here is that the Nats will move Dmitri. Of course, you are right, he might be too expensive for a pinch hitter.
Dix,
Good Cartman line!
2 years, 10 mill if i recall…too expensive to pinch hit, at least for the braves…unless the nats are picking up salary, although its kinda sad to ask the nats to pick up salary for us. i’d take nick johnson as he would be a decent stop gap should we lose tex after this season, and an excellent left handed bat off the bench for this year
If I’m the Braves, rather than getting some bench player, I’d hold onto the $4 million and use it later either as signing bonuses for draftees (the Braves don’t have a first rounder, so would have to draft someone and sign them away from a scholarship to get a first-round quality player) or to pick up a really big contract for the last two months.
Apparently Jake Westbrook is awesome…
or to give Teix an extra mil per year for 4 years
My Barber heard A-Rod and Hammels in a three team deal.
ATL-Gets ARod and Cole Hammels plus cash
NYY-Get Thorman and four crates of HGH left by Marcus Giles and Cammy.
PHI- Get Pena and the photos Uncle Charlie that we sent Keith Lochart after.
#67
Count Chocolitis and Hot Dog Fingers are much scarier diseases than anal fissures.
17 more days til The Office returns, by the way…
David Wright has the inverted pen15
I’m too worried about Smoltzie sitting for a start or two. They’re thinking this would be a retroactive 15 day DL so it looks like a way just to get him some extra rest.
I’m confounded by Hampton because part of me wants to see him do poorly so in the likelihood that he’s hurt (which has been high lately) we won’t worry too much.
But the better he does the more my hopes get up while this nagging voice says “He’s gonna get hurt any day now”.
But he looked great on Sunday.
http://bravesblog.net
JB in ATL
#78 – April 10th
spontaneous dental hydroplosion, leprosy, Hot-dog fingers, Government-created killer nanorobot infection
piazza anyone? he would be cheap, an emergency catcher and 1b backup. then we trade our excess for some prospects (yates, thorman and company).
mlb trade rumors…
Braves Expect Trades
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien talked to Braves GM Frank Wren, and he learned that Wren expects to “make a deal or two.”
DOB says the Braves are looking to add a proven bench bat. They can spare an out of options reliever from the group of Blaine Boyer, Chris Resop, Tyler Yates, and Royce Ring. O’Brien sees Yates as the one to go. Catcher Brayan Pena and first baseman Scott Thorman are other possible trade chips.
As for who’s coming to Atlanta, O’Brien pretty much ruled out Reed Johnson and Robert Fick. He considers Wes Helms a possibility. The Orioles and Giants are two teams with veterans to spare, though most are of the overpriced variety.
Why on earth would you want a 32 yo Wes Helms when we couldn’t find a place for the 26 yo version. And as a side note – Wes has made over 8.5M playing baseball in the bigs. I may have to rethink my position on whether players are overpaid.
Noooooo! to Wes Helms..
Yessssss! to Coco Crisp!!
Get CF upgraded offensively AND especially defensively. It’s a no-brainer if we have the $$ to spend.
What do we owe freakin’ Mark Kotsay? Let him be the 5th OF or go play in the Independent Leagues.
Otherwise, I’d go with Mac’s suggestion to save the money for a potential impact midseason trade or to sow into 1) international signings, 2) draft picks, or 3) player contracts.
The unoffical King of Triple Posts says..
I’d also be on board with acquiring OF Juan Rivera from the Angels. He has played a bit of CF and probably plays it as well as Kotsay and would be a huge offensive upgrade. Rest him with Kotsay or Blanco early in the season until you get a sense of what he can handle. Reap the rewards.
I read the AJC article. I love this quote:
“As DL stints go, Smoltz’s temporary absence would be far easier to absorb now than at midseason. “It’s perfect,” manager Bobby Cox said of the timing.”
Our best pitcher is going to start the season on the DL and Cox’ reaction is “It’s perfect”. If that doesn’t sum up Bobby’s entire career worth of dealings with the sports media in a nutshell, I don’t know what does.
Peanut: “But there’s a chance the Braves could assume Teixeira will play almost every game and plan to use either Pena or Joe Borchard, who would provide the bench with power potential, as his occasional backup”
Borchard delenda est!!!
I’ve been checking the boxscores, and after a good start, it looks like Borchard is 0 for his last 10 or 15. Again, just say no to Borchard. Hopefully his last several games are making the decision easier.
There is no way I think that the Braves will get another outfielder. If they make an acquisition, I think it will be for a Wes Helms type of player. One who can play first and a little third if absolutely necessary. One who also has a little power. Hopefully it won’t be Helms! I think I would prefer Julio Franco to Helms!
I think Mac’s right that the Braves should wait to spend the cash, but I have a different reason. There are several pitchers–Smoltz, Soriano, and James–who have uncertain health. The current outlook for them is pretty optimistic but if a month or two into the season a couple of these guys or other pitchers were found to have significant injuries it is likely that spending the cash on pitching rather than a bench bat would be the better call. Then, of course, there’s Hampton …
Re the recent discussion of bench, here’s my 5:
Blanco, Pena, Miller, Prado, Thorman. It would be a pretty lame group but I’d hold the cash to see how the pitching holds up. Bench help could also come from a healthy Infante or from Jones or Lillibridge after they get some more seasoning.
I agree Frank, and Mac.
Hold ’em, Birdman. That money will be better in a few months. Trade some of the extra bits for other extra bits and let’s see where we are before we start throwing around our “mad money”.
would you start Yunel or Kelly during the 1st week of fantasy?
Well, that lame bunch has nothing on last year’s bench which may have historically lame.
Wasn’t it Woodward, Miller, Orr, Thorman, Harris at one time?
Ye Gods, putting that sentence out there Parish, for unsuspecting Braves Journal readers to stumbleover should be a capital crime!
Good call Parish. Blanco, Pena, and Prado would be an upgrade on Woodward, Orr, and Harris. Blanco and Harris are probably a wash so the bench improvement–modest as it may be–amounts to addition by subtraction. Take out Woodward and Orr and get instant bench improvement.
#81
Government-created killer nanorobot infection? It’s an epidemic.
I’m not sure why I found this so amusing, but while watching the Warriors-Lakers game tonight, the announcer was reading a promos for the upcoming Giants ST game and he said “on FSN, watch Aaron Rowand and ……….. the Giants take on the A’s.” Made me glad that I don’t root for a team where Aaron Rowand is the best offensive player.
It’s 5 and a half hours till opening day, boys and girls!
Also, this just in: the Giants really suck.
With Opening Day on the horizon I am sorry that I must make one more complaint about TBS: I just watched CNN’s International coverage of Red Sox Nation in Japan. It is pretty impressive that a healthy number of RSN could make the trip to see Opening Day. RSN were rather arrogantly talking (and appropriately shouting Yankees Suck!) about becoming a global brand.
Was it really all that long ago that the Braves were America’s Team and TBS was broadcasting virtually every game? The contrast between what the Braves were and the Red Sox are least trying to become is rather disturbing….
Stephen, you have to admit though…when the game of baseball is being marketed internationally, the teams in big cities like NYC, Boston, and LA will have a big advantage over Atlanta. I just think it’s a trend which is inevitable.
I absolutely hate the Red Sox, I don’t recall ever seeing a Boston hat in AL or GA prior 2004. Now, every time I walk across the quad I see some loser wearing one of those grungy things, especially the green ones, I’m sure you’re just sporting your Irish heritage there bud. Seeing a Boston hat has truly become like seeing an Auburn hat for me…and I’ve hated Auburn since the I was old enough to comprehend the feeling of hatred.
I love waking up to baseball. It’s kind of weird having opening day at six in the morning, but it kind of works.
MiLB.com’s preview of our min0r league system.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080221&content_id=350164&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp
I would be fully in support of adding Wes Helms at the expense of Thorman. Helms is exactly the kind of bench player we need — a corner infielder with some pop. He’s not great — if he was, he’d be starting somewhere. But he’s shown a willingness to be a bench player, and he has at least some history of succeeding in the role.
KC–Up to a point I agree, but Atlanta did host the Olympics and does have CNN. In addition, Manchester is hardly on par with London, Boston or NYC, but Manchester United (and Liverpool for that matter) is a huge international presence.
My lament is that while some organizations seem to grasp the importance of a global market, TBS does not seem to be interested in at least allowing the Braves to maintain the national market that they developed in the 1980s and 1990s….
I would definitely pull the trigger on Thorman for Helms at this point. My worry is that we will get as much for Thorman as we did for Langerhans… What did we get for Langerhans?
#54
I grew to respect Tyler Yates a lot last year and was a good workhorse for the Braves. I am not sure I want to see him dealt. I am kind of over Blaine Boyer at this point.
#65
I am grateful someone said this was a “South Park” reference – as I don’t watch “Sout Park”, I was rather horrified when I first read that.
I’d also have to agree that Marcus Giles with the Nats is only a matter of time. Jim Bowden may not know what the hell he’s doing, but he knows how to collect ex Braves and ex Reds, better than anyone, except maybe the Dodgers.
As for Thorman, I would trade him for a cold bag of peanuts. He sucks. The end. Get rid of that lefty, Canadian, Brad Komminsk wannabe.
Finally, regarding Andruw…I for one won’t sit here and squak “Andruw would have had that” because I will then in turn think about his 6 week long strikeout slumps and not miss that, whatsoever.
Besides, my money’s on Jordan Schaefer as Braves centerfielder by June.
Wow…another wrestler found dead on a drug O.D.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2008/03/24/tatum_0325.html
This isn’t even shocking anymore. The only shocking thing is that this guy isn’t that famous.
Paying $5 million to Wes Helms is exactly what the Braves cannot afford to do. Spending money on mediocrities is a ticket to fourth place.
66 — thanks dix, lightened my mood this morning. “Andruw would have swung at that” is great. Similar to “The 2007 Andruw would have grounded into a rally killing DP.” I think we’ll all miss the Andruw of yesteryear… just probably not last year.
@106, I wouldn’t exactly use Atlanta’s hosting the Olympics as a point in its favor. The perception of Atlanta was not improved by those games.
As for TBS not maintaining the Braves market share, TBS (Time Warner) no longer owns the Braves and couldn’t care less what happens to them. As the TV ratings went down, the Braves became increasingly less important to TW/TBS.
The Braves were hot for a time because they were one of the few teams available nationwide but that’s changed.
I too was surprised to see Red Sox hats in Chattanooga when I was there a few weeks ago. Winning does that–don’t you think that a lot of the Braves fans outside of the south were really just jumping on the bandwagon for a winning team?
Sorry to go off topic, but whoever manages the team Tina Tina’s Codpiece in the first Braves Journal Fantasy League, you can stop sending me ridiculous trade proposals now. I have no desire to trade valuable players like Kemp, Upton and Butler for players who are going to begin the season in AAA. I just want pitching.
Marc,
Chattanooga is full of posers.
Chris Lofton is hurt. He is wearing a walking boot all week. He should play, but I won’t sleep until I see him on the floor Thursday.
Barry Bonds is a proven bench bat.
Maybe we can get Coco Crisp and use Kotsay off the bench.
I think we should give Kotsay some time before we start actively trying to replace him.
Rob,
Where have you been, Rob?! Kotsay’s back will blow out on him! It’s gauranteed! He’s only a singles hitter now! He needs to be replaced immediately!11!!1!!!1!!
…
I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from.
Sam,
I do, Sam.
I here ya on that Stu…I’ve been offered 3 trades in the past day on my Yahoo league:
(i get) Isringhausen for Soriano
(i get) Willingham for J. Upton
(i get) Huff, Kent, Gorzelanny for Teahan, KJ, Meche
I rejected the first two in about 5 seconds, and I’m kind of just waiting on the third one to give this guy some false hope
Alex @54 –
I don’t understand that sentiment. Boyer is younger and, although both he and Yates are injury risks, at least his is not from overuse last season. He’s pretty fresh. I know I’m biased here, but I don’t get how one can be “over” Boyer. He’s done nothing but pitch well in his time as a Brave.
I traded Clemens, Josh Hamilton and Ryan Freel for Ryan Howard last year. Don’t blame the guy for trying.
Marcus Giles is headed to Colorado’s AAA affiliate. His irrelevant spring stats are pretty good. I don’t really want the Braves to get him, but I hope he’s able to latch on somewhere.
Stu,
Hee hee hee, I know where it came from too. 😛