by Gil N Mechanicsville The season statrts anew for the Braves as they open with arch nemisis Phillidelphia. High expectations exist in Brave’s Country with the best assemblage of talent ever seen for an Atlanta baseball team. It will be tought to best the record breaking offense of 2023 but it is possible with the addition of Kelenek and DuVal to hold down the left field position. Of course we have been perhaps a little dissapointed Kelneck did not put up eye popping numbers this spring with all the hype which preceeded hom but it is spring training after all. It is the time to experiment a b ..read more

By Kenny Sirmans Last night’s trade season kickoff has been aptly called a “Bummer of a deal” as the Braves traded 5 players for to the ChiSox LHRP Aaron Bummer. How does that work for our Braves? First, let’s look at what we’re sending. God bless, Michael Soroka. I pray that he can get and stay healthy and show some of that great potential we all saw when we thought he was going to be the ace of our staff for years down the road. It solidifies the notion that you just never know with pitchers. Jared Shuster had likely reached his ceiling with the Braves and needs some new eyes on him to make ..read more

By Gil ‘N Mechanicsville 2/20/23 Each season 30 MLB teams reset and aim for the ultimate prize of winning the World Series. Of the 30, perhaps 1/3 have it as a realistic goal, after all, 162 games plus is a long season and as always, it is not who you play but when you play them. Something which will help in evaluating the pretenders verses the contenders is every team will play the same opponents over the course of the season. The caveat is again, not who you play but when you play them. That said, it is still, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. All position players need t ..read more

by Gil Elliott AKA Gil ‘N Mechanicsville As 2022 comes to a close, it might be appropriate to reflect on what has happened with the Braves since they exited from the playoffs in October. To be sure, there have been both highs and lows on the personnel front. Early on, the first move was to trade minor league RHP Dylan Spain to Colorado for right fielder Sam Hilliard. Hilliard is a light hitting outfielder with power who bats and throws right. Not sure what he brings to the team other than depth to compete for the 5th outfielder spot. Next was Jake Odorizzi and cash (he was owed $10 million for ..read more

By: Vox O’Reasoñ Northeast GA (God’s Country) – In case you missed it, and I doubt anyone reading this did, the Braves went quietly last Saturday in the National League Division Series, falling to the Phillies in four games and capping what was a very weird season from it’s very beginning. First, said beginning was late thanks to the seemingly perpetual inability of Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association to ever agree on anything. Such was the severity of the labor dispute that all of the preseason roster work was disrupted until a mere couple of days before a dela ..read more

by Gil in Mechanicsville The Braves have completed 75% of the regular season at this posting and currently stand 3 1/2 games behind the first place Mets. While is appears the Atlanta nine are comfortable ahead in the Wild Card, more is at stake besides bragging rights and a spot in the play-offs. A first round bye is a huge advantage in the pursuit of a year’s spot in the World Series. Being able to get a little extra rest for your starting rotation plus being able to align the starters to an advantages position along with the elimination of “travel days” means a team will be less able to rely ..read more

By Gil ‘N Mechanicsville 6/3/22 The Braves are hovering just below .500 after a little over 1/4 of the season has been played. To say it has been a classic case of under achievement is obvious. The trio of players who meant so much to the World Champion Braves are no longer a factor. Eddie Rosario in on the injure list following eye surgery, (we knew something was wrong by the way he swung at phantom strikes and played in the outfield). Jorge Soler signed a 3 year deal with the Marlins and Joc “Pearls” Peterson has gone home to San Francisco. The other huge hole has been the absence of Freddie ..read more

by Kenny Sirmans AKA Voice of Raisins Georgia As of the time of this writing, the lockout has just ended and the Free Agency Frenzy is just beginning. Teams have 3 days to get their players into camp, assuming they even know as of yet who those players are going to be. For the Braves, there is still a lot of work to be done. A lot. Priority #1: Get Freddie Freeman inked. Period. No putzing around. Get it done and make him happy. Priority #2: Find at least 1 more OF. As this roster currently sits, the only OF’s are Adam Duvall, Marcell Ozuna, and Guillermo Heredia. Duvall doesn’t hit lefties we ..read more

By Kenny Sirmans: aka VOR Speaking of reality… IMO, the Freddie Freeman situation is not the most pressing issue this team faces going into 2022. In all honesty, there are ways to address 1B other than Freddie even if we don’t want to admit it. There are answers even if some are not as popular as others. We know that Alex did reach out to Oakland regarding Matt Olson prior to the lockout. That could certainly just be due diligence, but in a lockout world, its big news. But that’s NOT the team’s most pressing issue. Marcell Ozuna is. Ozuna is still owed the balance of the 4 yr / $65M deal he si ..read more

by Kenny Sirmans Cristian Pache , do they run with him in CF I believe that is exactly what you’ll see. He does have offensive potential, but his greatest asset is his Gold Glove caliber defense. We all know how valuable great defense up the middle is. And you touched on it perfectly… the presence of the DH lets you go with him in the 9 hole. I, too, would like to see Jorge Soler brought back. I’d also like to see Eddie Rosario come back. I fear Eddie will be priced out of our market. But he has great AB’s every time up. A big question, of course, is when will Ronnie return? I don’t expect to ..read more