Chop-n-Change, the Atlanta Braves blog on the MVN network, is looking for an additional writer to join me, Kristi Dosh, and our occasional guest posters. If you love baseball and you've always wanted a platform to write consistently and reach a lot of other fans, this may be the gig for you. (Being a diehard Braves fan isn't absolutely required. But it helps. We are.)

You'll be joining a team, so you don't have to know everything or do everything. Find the thing you can do best, and write about it for us. If we like it, you're in. It's that easy. Send a sample blog post about the new-look Braves of McLouth and Hanson, and their chances of contending in the NL East to chopnchangecontest@gmail.com, by Friday, June 26.

Just so you know, yeah, I'm probably a Braves homer. But I was looking over Kevin Goldstein's top 100, and I was struck by seeing Mike Stanton at #14, while the Braves' Freddie Freeman was at #80. The two are similar: they're both 19 year old Sally league first basemen (update: no, they're not -- Freeman's a 1B and Stanton's an OF), they're listed at 6'5", they were born two months apart in Fall 1989, and they both put up monster years last year. Stanton's numbers were pretty eye-boggling: 39 homers in just 125 games. It's not hard to see why he's one of the premier power prospects in baseball. But is Freddie that much worse?

Stanton's full line last year was .293/.381/.611, while Freeman's was .316/.378/.521. Stanton had the slightly better walk rate and obviously the significantly better power. But Stanton also had nearly twice as many strikeouts. Stanton had 153 K in 468 AB; Freeman had 84 in 491. And Freeman had the slightly better LD%, 18.9% to 15.9%.

To me, while I respect the awesomeness of an 18 year old who can hit 39 homers in 125 games, Stanton’s contact problems are really, really frightening. He struck out in a full third of his at-bats. (By comparison, Adam Dunn, as a 20-year old in A-ball, walked 100 times and struck out 101 times in 420 AB.) He hits some (okay, a lotta) light-tower home runs, but Freeman’s no slouch; Freeman outslugged Jason Heyward (Goldstein's #10), after all, and if you put up .500 slugging at 18, you can poke it a little.

I'm not saying that Freeman's a better prospect than Stanton, just that the difference isn't that great, and that I'm not sorry we have Freeman instead of Stanton. When you’re talking about 19 year olds who haven’t even faced high-A pitching, wouldn’t the much, much, much better contact rate at least mostly offset the difference in slugging?

So, the Braves have these three guys in the low minors that look pretty good. But, of course, they haven't played above single-A, and TINSTAAPP and all that. Still, here are their 2007 lines:

Jeff Locke, age 19, Rookie ball: 61 IP, 8 BB, 74 K, 2 HR, 2.66 ERA.

Tommy Hanson, age 20, combined in A and high-A: 133 IP, 58 BB, 154 K, 16 HR, 3.32 ERA.

Cole Rohrbough, age 20, combined in rookie and A: 61 1/3 IP, 20 BB, 96 K, 2 HR, 1.17 ERA.

So, with all the necessary caveats in mind, do any of these guys have a chance of contributing to a major league rotation? It's been a really long time since the Braves have developed anyone remotely resembling an ace -- Wainwright, maybe, but he's not on our team anymore, or occasional flashes from Millwood. Is the next one just around the corner?

The Braves and Cubs just completed a deal, the Braves trading AA reliever Jose Ascanio for LOOGY Will Ohman and utility infielder Omar Infante. (http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7525322?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49)
Obviously, this is the opposite of a blockbuster; it's the sort of spare part swap that NL GMs just love. But was it worthwhile?

Ascanio looks like he could be a really nice reliever, and I don't think the Cubs gave up a ton. On the other hand, if used properly, Ohman could be useful as a situational lefty, and Infante is much better than Chris Woodward (and still only 25 years old) -- but what can he do that Brent Lillibridge can't? As a Braves fan, I'm concerned about two things: improving our bullpen, and figuring out who's playing center field. This deal doesn't do either one, though I've read speculation that Ohman might be flipped to the Pirates for Nate McLouth. In all events, this doesn't appear to be the last thing either team will do.

So what do you take away from this trade?

I'm not very knowledgeable about the guys on the draft board, and so I wanted to ask what you guys thought about the Braves' draft choices. Obviously, I'm thrilled about Jason Heyward, whom John Sickels adores. What about the rest? Four hitters and two college relievers (including one Boras client with an arm injury). How do you like the guys they ended up with?

Hitters: Jason Heyward, Jonathan Gilmore, Frederick Freeman, Brandon Hicks, Dennis Dixon
Pitchers: Joshua Fields, Cory Gearrin

From a lifelong Braves fan, this is about as bad as it's ever been. (It's not worse than the 80's, but it's not better either.) Though the bullpen has been the major story--15 blown saves and counting--basically every part of the team has been below league-average, let alone disappointing for a defending division  champion. Terrible defense, middling offense, thin starting rotation, and a ten-game losing streak that shows no signs of ending soon. How many wins can the Braves salvage from this lost season?

Chris Reitsma is the Atlanta Braves' likeliest closer candidate, but given his midseason meltdowns the last two years, how long do you expect him to last? Will he make it all year without losing his job, or will he barely survive the first two months?

(Dan Kolb was replaced as Braves' closer mid-May last year, so that's the record for Reitsma to try to beat.)

An additional option is that he goes down with injury, but somehow doesn't lose the position--Joey Devine or someone else fills in while he's out, like Yhency Brazoban did for the Dodgers last year, but as soon as he comes off the DL the job is presumed to be still his.

What do you think?

Will Victor Diaz be any good in 2006? Trade rumors abound, and he's a bit of a head case, gifted hitter but also a New York Met, a team that just seems to breed underperformance.

Will he hit? If he hits, will he outhit Jeff Francouer, who's squeaky clean, but still has pretty vast holes in his swing at this point?