Rotation: The Atlanta rotation will not be great, but will be good. Braves have many potential candidates to plug into the rotation, and consistency will be seen throughout the 5 man rotation/no dropoff after #3 starter. Jair Jurrjens was 3rd in ROY voting, and had an overall good season, but he will need to do a little more to establish himself as the ace of this rotation. The offseason moves to get Lowe and Vaszquez were good moves. Lowe is a solid veteran who, throughout his career has consistenly kept his ERA below 4 and has won 15+ games. Although 35, I don't see him to lose much of his stuff this season; he has had a great last few seasons with LA and Boston, and a move to a pitcher-friendly ballpark will help. Vaszquez is a strikeout machine; he had over 200 K's last season. Expect him to have as many this season, moving to a more pitcher friendly National League. If he can keep his ERA down, he will be a solid top 2 starter on this rotation. Kawakami and Campillo/Glavine will likely fill out the rotation. Not much is known about Kawakami, but he supposedly was dominant in the Japanese Leagues. We all know that the MLB is a whole new game, and he won't necessarily have as good numbers as he did in Asia. However, I do expect him to provide decent stats and win 10+ games, as well as below a 4.2-3 ERA for this team. Campillo was great for Atlanta in the first half of the season, but as he become more known, and hitters picked up on his stuff, his stats diminished in the last couple months of the year. However, I don't think every hitter will escape the nasty changeup he has. He will pitch solid innings for the Braves, whether it be as a starter or reliever. Glavine's a HOFer, but he's obviously lost most of his dominance during his prime years. He's not going to be the same pitcher as he was during his 2 Cy Young and 10 All-Star years, he will be a decent pitcher and contribute to this team, as long as he stays healthy. Look for Tim Hudson to play a small role down the stretch as he will return in August from Tommy John surgery

 

Bullpen: Atlanta's bullpen was bad last year, being among the league leaders in blown saves and runs earned. This is in a large part due to injuries. The Braves rotation this year, however will be much better. Mike Gonzalez has probably established himself as the closer of this team. He was out for alot of 07 and 08, but he is finally back to full health since recovering from Tommy John surgery. He will be a very good closer this season; he has some of the nastiest stuff, and his K/9 ratio is among the league leaders. Peter Moylan, before elbow surgery last season, was arguably the best multi-inning middle reliever in baseball, in my opinion. If healthy, he will return to his role this season and play a very large role for this team down the stretch. Manny Acosta, Will Ohman, and Raphael Soriano are solid late-inning relievers and will make big contributions to the team. If some of the more minor relievers, like Blaine Boyer and Royce Ring, can step up and have solid seasons, look for this team to have one of the better bullpens in the league.

 

Batting: McCann is the best offensive catcher in baseball, hands down. Expect him to hit .315+ with around 25-30 homers and 90-100 rbi. Chipper is getting old, and injury prone, but thats not hardly going to stop him from hitting at least .320 and be a solid 3 hitter in the lineup. Escobar is a rising star at SS who has pop and will likely hit 20+ HRs and hit around .300. The same can be said about Kelly Johnson and Casey Kotchman, who will hit .280-90 with 20+ home runs. Garrett Anderson is a veteran who has consistenly hit with good average and power. He will provide value for this team and produce when needed. He will likely platoon with Matt Diaz, who has consistently hit with high average in his career. I see him, however, in a more minor role, unless he moves to center. The real question that will determine the destiny of this team is the production of Jeff Francoeur. We saw this kid in his first couple seasons as a sparkplug and potential all-star, but has since dropped off and has not shown discipline at the plate. I cannot defend the kind of season he had last year: he basically imitated Andruw Jones stats (in his last couple seasons in Atlanta) last year, hitting a putrid .230. This year, I believe he dramatically improves (I mean, you can't do much worse than last season). I expect him to bring his average up at least 20-30 points, and be much more disciplined, not swinging at wild, high and outside fastballs, or curveballs in the dirt. He knows what issues he faces, and how he can adjust to become more mature at the plate. He won't have a breakout year, but this season will be a new beginning for him, as I see it.

 

Overall the Braves aren't expected to win the division, and probably won't, but expect them to post a solid record and compete down the stretch. If the Atlanta can avoid the kind of injuries they faced last year, they may have an outside shot at a Wild Card berth, or even possibly a division title, if everything goes right. Right now, however, I see Atlanta competing, but missing the playoffs in the last couple weeks of the season

 

Projected record: 85-77