So, as Braves fans, how many of you are watching the playoffs? I haven’t watched any of the NL playoff series (partly because I don’t want to watch St. Louis and think about what could have been) but have been following the AL playoffs. Not going to lie, though, extremely happy the Phillies are out.
Anyways, wanted to go through some of the top trending items or stories I have come across in the past few days.
Jason Heyward‘s shoulder and spine check out fine; ego doesn’t
Heyward went for a second opinion on his shoulder and spine for what seems like an attempt to prove the front office wrong. Frank Wren has said plenty of times that Heyward is fine and his shoulder isn’t bothering him. After his second attempt, Jason received what most would consider great news. Not sure it’s exactly what he wants to hear, though. It seems to me that it’s more mental now. Maybe the doctors should just go in and “clean” something to make him feel like he’s all better? Works for Chipper …
Mark Bradley of the AJC says no to Chipper Jones being the hitting coach, yes to Derek Lowe!
I’m all aboard with Bradley on this one. Just genius. We can pay Derek Lowe to just throw batting practice to the batters to build confidence. There is absolutely some use there!
Top-20 Braves prospects for 2012
Interesting list of Braves prospects. I find it odd that Andrelton Simmons is #4 and Anthony Varvaro is the last honorable mention. He did extremely well this year; he good strikeout rate and could even develop into closer material in the future.
FanGraphs have Edward Salcedo as the best hitting prospect
Mike Newman with FanGraphs has pegged Salcedo as our best hitting prospect. Interesting analysis. Guess it doesn’t hurt to have Chipper Jones’ replacement be the best hitting prospect, that’s convenient.
There you have it. Some links to look through during a boring offseason so far for the Braves. (We only fired our hitting coach, while RedSox are overhauling.) I do like the fact that the Braves are taking their time with the hitting-coach search. No need to rush, as we still have Pendleton and Chipper in house.
One last thing for management: Trade Derek Lowe.
