Post by ATL Braves GM on Jun 3, 2007 14:08:55 GMT -5
Atlanta Gazette #1
ATLANTA: Georgia
“Are the Braves on their Way?”
The Braves started out the season with positions that needed to be filled. They would not be able to make a run for the championship with that many holes. They had no lead off man at all. For the first couple weeks they had to use Edgar Renteria at the leadoff spot. Crazy isn’t it? Yes we agree. After losing Marcus Giles from a couple years ago they had no second-baseman. They had Cesar Crespo at the spot for a couple games and that turned out to be a disaster. Now don’t even get me started with the pitching rotation. That was terrible. The only legit pitchers the Braves had been Smoltz and Hudson. An Unexpected Hudson came out of the gate strong for the Braves going 7-1 with a 2.35 era. They had really no one after them though which is a position that needed to be filled as well.
Leadoff spot:
This position was filled when the Braves got a deal done with the Las Angeles Dodgers bringing in speedster Juan Pierre to leadoff and start in Centerfield. Pierre had a disaster year with the Cubs in Chicago only to leave for Las Angeles signing a deal until 2011 for 8.8 million a year.
"Pierre the new speedster"
Second-base:
The braves experimented with Cesar Crespo and found that it was a disaster and they could not go to the World Series with that guy there. They went fishing into the Free Agent Market and found Utility-man Chris Woodward. The braves had signed him to $850,000 for 1 year. Woodward is solid because since he’s been there he has hit .323, with 3 bombs, and 17 runs batted in. “I was glad to see a guy come in and right away tear it up at that position.” said GM of the Braves. Woodward is a great guy to have because he has the Chone Figgins character. He can play almost ever position. He can play every position except Catcher.
"Glad to have Woodward"
First-base:
The braves had Matt Diaz starting at First-base at the beginning of the year, and was not meeting the standards they wanted him to meet. He hit .250 with 0 Homeruns and forced the braves to look elsewhere. The Braves signed Craig Wilson to a 2,000,000 dollar deal for the year. Since he started he has hit .294, with 6 homeruns and 17 runs batted in. The braves are happy to have made a good decision with Wilson and they hope he does not cool off.
"Wilson does that in a braves uniform now"
Pitching Rotation:
This was an upsetting sight to see what the braves started out with in their rotation. They had John Smoltz and Tim Hudson with really no one else. Smoltz is currently having an upsetting year going 1-2 with a 7.03 era, but Hudson has dominated hitters this year going 7-1 with a 2.35 era. “He is keeping us in games, he really is!” said J.P Williams (long time fan of the Braves). The other 4 pitchers they had used in the rotation were Chuck James (2-2, 4.50 era), Kyle Davies (1-4, 7.59 era), Manuel Acosta (1-1, 5.40 era), and Donald Meas (2-4, 5.04 era). Disaster-full huh? We agree. The Braves tried to make additions to the rotation and are in progress of making it better. They have added Starting Pitcher, Brad Penny from the Las Angeles Dodgers. He came over in the Pierre deal and has settled in nicely with the team. He has had an okay year so far. With the Dodgers he went (2-3, 4.33 era), but hopefully will do better in a braves uniform. They said goodbye to Chuck James as he was sent to Colorado for Denny Bautista who is having a horrible year in Colorado where they have no bullpen and not really anyone that could have given him run-support.
"The Studs of the Braves Rotation"
Trades that have been made:
Braves get:
OF- Matt Holliday- MLB
3B- Ian Stewart- MLB
SP- Denny Bautista- MLB
P- Ramon Ramirez- MLB
Rockies get:
OF- Andruw Jones- MLB
SP- Chuck James- MLB
P- James Parr- A
$6 million in cash
"Bye Bye Andruw. Hello! Holliday!"
_________________________________________________________
Braves get:
CF- Juan Pierre- AAA
SP- Brad Penny- MLB
$8million in cash
Dodgers get:
CL- Joey Devine- MLB
MR- Rafael Soriano- MLB
P- Beau Jones- A
These deals are thought to bring a lot of good things to Atlanta.
The Braves:
C- McCann
1B- C. Wilson
2B- Woodward
SS- Edgar Renteria
3B- Chipper Jones
LF- Matt Holliday
CF- Juan Pierre
RF- Jeff Francoeur
BN- Pete Orr
BN- Kelly Johnson
BN- Cesar Crespo
BN- Rene Rivero
SP1- Tim Hudson
SP2- John Smoltz
SP3- Chuck James
SP4- Kyle Davies
SP5- Donald Meas
MO1- Manuel Acosta
MO2- Blaine Boyer
MR1- Mike Gonzalez
MR2- Steve Colyer
MR3- Oscar Villarreal
MR4- Chris Reitsma
SU1- Rafael Soriano
SU2- Chris Reitsma
CL- Joey Devine
The braves are currently in 2nd Place in the N.L East with a record of 22-17. They are 2.5 games back from the New York Mets who look to terrorize the division. Hopefully the Braves can overcome and take the division.
Next 10 Games:
@ St Louis
@ St Louis
v.s Redsox
v.s Redsox
v.s Redsox
v.s Phillies
v.s Phillies
v.s Phillies
@ Marlins
@ Marlins
