Since Yondaime is on vacation and no one else posted the minor league recap from yesterday I thought I would put one up.

Gwinnett 10, Pawtucket 1

• T. Redmond 6IP, 2H, 1R, 3BB, 6K
• B. Conrad 1-4 2B, 2RBI, 1BB
• D. Hernandez 2-4 RBI, SB, K

The G-Braves are now 2 games out front in the division and playing great baseball.  It's nice to see Todd Redmond put up probably his best performance of the year.  His extreme fly ball tendencies are troubling but his numbers aren't that far off from his league MVP performance of last year.  The Braves put up 10 runs on only 9 hits (only one XBH) and beat Tim Wakefield in this one. 

Montgomery 7, Mississippi 3

• J. Ortegano 2.1IP, 7H, 6R, 3BB, K, 2HR allowed
• J. Heyward 0-4 BB
• F. Freeman 2-4 K
• B. Hicks 2-5 2B, 2RBI 

After owning the league in his first 3 starts at Mississippi Ortegano got his rear end handed to him in this one.  Heyward has cooled off quite a bit and has only 4 hits and 1 XBH in his last 6 games.  Not much else to say about this one although K. Gunderson did put up two more scoreless innings and has had a pretty solid year in AA. 

Myrtle Beach 4, Lynchburg 2

• C. Rohrbaugh 6IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 0BB, 3K, HR allowed
• C. Gearin 1.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, K, Save
• D. Linares 2-3 HR, 2RBI, BB
• C. Shehan 2-4 2 2B, RBI 

Cole Rohrbaugh had a very encouraging game simply because he didn't give up any walks.  This is his second start in a row giving up only 1 ER.  Maybe he will get it together and string together 3 or 4 more quality outings to finish up the season strong.  Cory Gearin continues to eat the league alive and has put together a 0.78 ERA and a ridiculous 3.0 GO/AO in 23 IP this year at the Beach.  I can't imagine he has anything left to prove there.  I would imagine he might move quickly next year and even get some time in Atlanta before the season is over. 

Rome 3, Lake County 0

• J.J. Hoover 7IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 8K
• A. Milligan 1-3 HR, RBI, BB, K
• S. Shults 2-4 2B, RBI

Hoover pitched probably his best game of the year and a case could be made that he has been the best starter in the organization this season.  His 6:1 K/BB ratio is top notch.  He gives up his share of hits but his ability to throw strikes and K hitters bodes well for his future with the Braves.  Adam Milligan continues to pound the baseball and has 30 XBH in 182 AB.  You gotta love this guy.

Danville 7, Burlington 1

• M. Crim 6IP, 4H, R, 0BB, 4K
• O. Marval 2-4 HR, RBI
• R. Heffinger 2-4
  
• C. Harrilchak 1-3 RBI, SB

Matt Crim, the Braves' 21st-round pick in this year's Draft, remained unbeaten and set a Danville franchise record with his ninth win of the season.  One day after celebrating his 22nd birthday, the southpaw continued his terrific season and has put together a 2.89 ERA with a 2.54 GO/AO ratio while maintaining a 6:1 K/BB ratio.  Pretty heady stuff for a 21st round pick from The Citadel of all places.  Harrilchak is now 15 for 16 in SB attempts and has a .915 OPS.

Jeff Francouer has been traded to the Muts for Ryan Church.  Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.  No more FYF.  Praise the Lord.  Does this move make us much better?  Probably not, but at least we don't have to put up with Frenchy's sorry ass any more.  Church might actually make us a better team and he for sure will lower our frustration level.  I'm sooooo happy!!  What do you guys think about Ryan Church.  Is he an upgrade?

Baseball America's mid-season top 50 prospects in baseball came out today and surprise, surprise our own Jason Heyward was named the number 1 prospect in all of baseball.  Freddie Freeman came in as the #11 prospect overall, which is a HUGE jump from where he was ranked in the off-season.  I'm glad to see that Baseball America isn't down on Freeman for hitting doubles instead of homers.  I don't know about the rest of you but this was a good mood enhancer for me on a 95 degree day in Kansas City. 

Edgar Osuna got promoted from Myrtle Beach to Mississippi and in his debut last night pitched a scoreless seven innings while giving up only one hit.  I have been kind of overlooking Osuna this year and I'm glad he did something special to make me give him another look.  The 6-foot-1, 165-pound southpaw went 3-4 with a 3.19 ERA in 10 starts for the Pelicans prior to his promotion.  Osuna said after the game that he thought it was probably the first time he had ever thrown over 100 pitches in a professional game. (101 pitches).  Here's a stat that really surprised me - Osuna has given up one earned run or fewer in 7 of his 11 starts this year.  The kid won't be 22 until sometime in November and I have high hopes that maybe he'll be our next quality lefty starter sometime in the next couple of years. 

On mlb.com Mark Bowman put up a lengthy piece on Hampton.  It basically talks about how misunderstood he is by the Atlanta fans and has Chipper and Huddy singing his praises.  I don't care to hear anything ever again in my lifetime about this guy.  He sucked the lifeforce out of the Braves for three years draining payroll and being a constant source of disappointment.  After he took all that money he basically screwed us over by going to Houston when we offered him a better deal.  I'm not sorry at all that he's gone but after sitting on his ass here for three years you would think that he might feel like he owed Atlanta something.  I say good riddance to him and I hope no one reporting on the Braves ever writes anything again about his sorry ass. 

I thought everyone might like to know that MLB Extra Innings is having a free preview April 6th thru the 12th.  For those of us who don't live in the south any longer this will be a chance to check out some games the first week of the season for free.  

Can someone please fill me in on the MLB.TV online package please? I’m in Kansas City and the Braves are almost never on tv here so I am thinking about purchasing the online MLB.TV package. Are the games shown full screen or do i have to look at a tiny broadcast? Is the premium package that much better than the regular package?

I have a 720P HD monitor but are there enough HD games available to justify the extra expense? Is the the picture quality for the regular package pretty good? I would appreciate any answers you guys can give me. My wife will hate on me for spending the extra $ but I can’t stand another season without seeing my Braves on a nightly basis and we are moving soon so I can't buy the whole season of MLB Extra Innings.

According to an article about the outrageous average ticket price for games at the new Yankee Stadium ($72.97), the Atlanta Braves have the third lowest average ticket price in baseball ($17.05).    The league average is $26.64 per ticket.  I don't know about you guys but I really appreciate the fact that the Braves are putting a good product out on the field with a fairly high payroll and still keeping the ticket prices at one of the lowest levels in all of baseball.  Turner Field may not be one of the newer parks but it's still a really nice place to watch a game.  I remember watching games for many years at Fulton County Stadium and the Ted is a big upgrade.  I'll post the link to the yahoo article below:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ak1Z0I.KSmrjkY.ns0bIJvH.gYl4?slug=ap-yankees-priceytickets&prov=ap&type=lgns

Ken Rosenthal reported that the Glavine deal is done.   One year, $1 million with incentives that could push the total value to $4.5 million.  From what I understand, most of the incentive cash would be deferred to later years.  Rosenthal said before that nearly all of the incentives are based on Glavine being on the roster at certain points of the season.  That seems like an awful lot of money for a guy that doesn't have to do anything but be on the roster?  You would think most of the incentives could be tied to innings pitched, starts, and that kind of thing.  Not just being a warm body on the roster when we all know that Cox wouldn't cut Glavine loose even if the third grade girl's softball team at the local elementary school lit him up.

I know Scott has been brought up before but his split numbers are pretty good and hey...why not?  Against righties he has a lifetime .273 Average, .357 OBP, .517 SLG, and .874 OPS.  Those numbers are nothing crazy special but last year against righties in about 350 ab's he had 18 HR's and 54 RBI.  If Diaz puts up 12 -15 HR's and 45-50 RBI, then we I think we would be pretty ecstatic over our production in left field.  Scott is also pretty solid in the field.  There is talk that Baltimore might make him available and I"m sure he wouldn't cost us much in a trade.  What say you?

Rosenthal reported last night that the Braves are close to signing Glavine for $1M guarantee with easily reached roster based incentives that will total $4.5M.  Signing Glavine for a contract with easy to reach incentives totaling $4+ million is insane.  Why don't we just throw that money at something we actually need.....a proven bullpen lefty.  Will Ohman anyone?  It looks like he isn't even getting a sniff of more than $1-2M for a one year deal. 

He would be ten times more valuable to the 09 version of the Braves than some old glory nostalgia trip.  Don't get me wrong, I love Glavine and he is one of the top 4 or 5 pitchers of his era.......but his era is long gone.  Is Wren that afraid of what Braves fans will say if we let Glavine retire? 

That is no way to run a business.  Get the team what it needs and just trust that fans won't be heartsick about Glavine like they were about Smoltz.  Glavine bolted on us when we still needed him and I don't think there is nearly as much love for him as there was for Smoltz. 

According to Mark Bowman Frenchy isn't going to budge on his nearly $4M arbitration asking price.  He is gonna lose and lose bad.  What a douche!  If you are still a young guy and put up the worst numbers for an outfield regular in all of the majors one season maybe, just maybe, you should shut your mouth, take what's offerred and hopefully have a bounceback year.  I am beginning to hate the guy and I have been a huge supporter in the past.

Per mlbtraderumors.com, the Boston globe is reporting that serious discussions are ongoing between the Braves and the Royals on a Frenchie for Greinke trade.  I'm sure that additional pitching from the Braves would be a requirement but this is a really exciting rumor.  Word is that the Braves are holding up the deal until they get an answer from Burnett.  Dierkes at the website indicates that he has heard nothing from anyone who covers the Braves about this possible trade which raises some red flags.

Yahoo sports has a big article on the front of it's MLB page with a pic of Tyler Flowers about the up and coming catchers in the Arizona Fall League.  They talk about T-Flow quite a bit and quote a scout or two that expect huge things from him.  I'm not sure if we're allowed to post links to other sites but I'll post it here and someone can delete it if it's not allowed.

Link

Where is all of the hate for Kala Ka'aihue coming from?  If you look at his numbers this year he was pretty good.  I mean the guy is 23 and here are his numbers:

.273 AVG, 23 2B, 2 3B, 14 HR, 61 RBI, 87 BB, 118 K, .415 OBP, .457 SLG, .872 OPS in only 374 AB.

His numbers Post All Star Break:

.315 AVG, 30 BB, 32 K, .465 OBP, .495 SLG, .961 OPS

I mean I know we all wish he was hitting 30+ homers and driving in 100+ runs but to call him a bust is totally premature in my opinion.  I think he starts next season at Richmond and probably continues to hit for a decent average, very high OBP, and an OPS around .900.  What is not to like about a 23 year old kid with that kind of OPS?  Kala will be a starting 1st baseman in the majors for some team within two years in my opinion.  What say you all?

Todd Redmond was named Southern League Pitcher of the Year today.  Here is the link:

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080828&content_id=451746&vkey=news_l111&fext=.jsp&sid=l111

He has had a great year and I think he probably gets a spring training invitation.  He really knows how to pitch.  Not overpowering by any measure but his K/BB ratio is outstanding.  I think he has a good future and we did pretty ok with that Pirates trade at the beginning of the season.  I've been around lurking for almost a year and decided I would finally join in the fun.