2008 Atlanta Braves Preview

What does 2008 hold in store for my beloved team? We shall see in time.

I do  know one thing, however. Thus far, I like what I've seen from Liberty Media's
ownership and Frank Wren's term as General Manager.

This is one of the few seasons in recent memory that I've been excited about from the start, because I feel like the management has genuinely addressed the needs of the team and tried to improve it over the winter.

The last such season was 2005, but that's another article.

At the disappointing end of the 2007 season, we stood with a dearth of starting
pitching, an excess of infield talent, an outfield with full employment, but with
one of its members on the brink of asking for a free agent contract that would
far exceed his value to the team, and another whose renaissance at the
beginning of the season had quickly faded.

Our needs were clear—add depth to starting pitching and the outfield. Frank and company have done just that.

In other recent seasons under the leadership of Time Warner, we would probably
be at this point in late March expecting Josh Anderson to be the starting centerfielder, and hoping that Mike Hampton would be our third starting pitcher. Liberty has at least allowed Wren to take the initiative to acquire (or re-acquire) veteran players to shore up those positions.

With that, let's go around the diamond by position.

Our starting pitching was the most glaring area of need after a long summer of
Smoltz, Hudson, and whoever else they could put in uniform.

The back end of the rotation has been completely transformed, at least as long as Hampton stays healthy. Glavine stands to contribute around 200 innings of respectable
work (I'm not buying the story that he's finished after a couple of bad outings at
the end of the year, when the whole Mets team was imploding—not just
Tommy).

We should get another strong year from Smoltz, but I think Hudson should be preparing to take over the reins as staff ace. Jair Jurrjens looks like he will turn out to be an impressive acquisition for the new GM, and will be ready to be the fourth man if and when Hampton gets hurt again.

Hampton is penciled in for now, and it will be a big plus if he can contribute 20-25 starts. Look for Chuck James to make at least 10 or so for the big club. Jo-Jo Reyes has probably pitched himself into the minors for the year.

Still, 3/5 of the rotation should be markedly better in 2008, taking a huge load off of the weary bullpen.

The bullpen, to me, is almost always a crapshoot. I can count on one, or maybe two, hands the bullpen pitchers currently in the majors who have established
themselves as consistently dominant over a career spanning more than just a
couple of years.

Off the top of my head, there's Hoffman, Rivera, and then...?

Everyone in the Braves' bullpen could have excellent years, as in 2002, or they could all implode, as in 2006. The team would be best served by keeping its ear to the ground in this particular area.

First base is taken care of, at least for this year. Teixeira is poised to continue his dominance of National League pitching. Kelly Johnson only needs to cut down on strikeouts, and I think he will be a solid leadoff man. As long as Yunel Escobar avoids a sophomore slump, he should be a solid contributor as well.

And, of course, if Chipper Jones can but manage to stay in the lineup, I can only hope he puts up numbers like he did last year.

In leftfield, Matt Diaz should be given more of a chance to prove he can hit right-handed pitching. It seems almost like his 2006 season was treated as a fluke, so he did not see an increase in playing time last year. But he kept up his impressively high level of offensive output, enough for me to say he warrants a full-time job.

Jeff Francoeur in rightfield matured a lot last year, and put on some muscle over the winter. If he can combine the power numbers of his '06 campaign with last year's patience, he will be incredibly close to realizing his enormous potential.

The biggest question mark is in centerfield.

Mark Kotsay was acquired to help the team transition from Andruw Jones to whomever will be their next young center fielder. Over the course of his career, Kotsay has been a good centerfielder who can hit for a fairly high average and doesn't strike out too much.

I am glad the team settled on him rather than Corey Patterson or Mike Cameron, both of whom have had seasons in which they struck out entirely too often. If Kotsay can keep his back healthy (perhaps helped out by regular off-days during which Josh Anderson can shake things up with his speed on the bases) and return to pre-2007 form, he will be a worthwhile addition.

The 2008 edition of the home team looks to be a promising one. An already potent lineup looks to have lost some power with the departure of Andruw Jones, but will probably top last year's team batting average and hit totals.

The starting rotation should show a marked improvement, taking a big load off of the shoulders of the bullpen.

Look for this club to be a strong contender in the National League.