The main thing that held the Braves back last season was the No. 3-5 guys in the rotation. Getting Glavine back solidifies the No. 3 hole and the acquisition of Jair Jurrjens could fill the No. 4 hole.
The big question mark and this is no secret, is Mike Hampton's return and if he can stay healthy and return to his 2004 form. If so, the Braves will have one of the best pitching rotations in the Bigs.
As for Glavine he will have a much better defense behind him than he has in the last three or so years with Chipper and Texiera at the corners. Kelly Johnson gives him a legit second baseman although his defense is shaky at times.
You can't get much better that Jose Reyes but Yunel Escobar is a solid and developing shortstop that has an extremely strong arm and is comparable to Rafael Furcal.
Jeff Francouer has the strongest arm in baseball and has finally learned how to harness it; not to mention very underrated range in the outfield. Shawn Green can't even hold his jockstrap. Mark Kotsay is solid in center and the Matt Diaz has really improved and can run a little bit more than Moises Alou.
I see Tommy returning to his old form being back at Turner Field, and I think he will end up averaging 6.2 innings per outing.
I didn't even mention the bullpen which is obviously the best in the East. No matter what, though, with all the talent in the division I expect all five teams to finish the season at least 10 games within each other. For the Marlins, that may be a stretch but they will not be far off because of how even the talent is throughout the division.
To the Mets fans: Johan might give you one great outing every fifth day, but how many times did he carry the twins to the World Series? The talent is very similar to what he had in Minnesota with the exception of the pitching staff that is a little deeper than he had with the Twins.
But Johan can't play the outfield so what are you going to do the other four days he doesn't play? Suppose he is pitching decent and it's a 3-3 game in the fifth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. Can he hit?????
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