SB Nation User Blog: secondbass

T-Flow in Birmingham

secondbass — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:14:32 -0000

For those who are interested, my family and I had the opportunity to go to Birmingham to see the Barons play the Mobile Bay Bears. The point of the trip was to see one of our favorite former Braves farmhands, Tyler Flowers. We weren't disappointed: Tyler hit a double and threw a guy out trying to steal. He also got a guy out in a run down, which is always fun to see. Flowers was one of the nice guys on the 2007 Rome team - good player, good with the fans. I personally hated to see him go for JV, but I'm a realist - McCann had Flowers blocked, and we got a heck of a pitcher in return. Great trade for both parties, in my opinion.

Because Birmingham isn't a Braves affiliate, I won't post everything from the trip. I will say that the Birmingham stadium looks like a flying saucer on the outside and nothing spectacular on the inside. I've been to several minor league parks, and this one is my least favorite. Well, Savannah is worse, but this one wasn't great. Just kind of dull.

Anyway, three shots of T-Flow for old time's sake. He's going to the futures game in St. Louis, by the way. He made the Southern League all star team, but he'll go to St. Louis instead.

Warming up the pitcher

On Deck

Throwing to 2nd

Spring Training Pictures March 21, 2009

secondbass — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:43:57 -0000

Spring Training Pictures March 21, 2009

So I went to Disney and didn't bother with the Major League game - not because it wasn't interesting, but because the minor league fields were much more interesting to me. We got to see Jo Jo Reyes and James Parr pitch back to back on one field, while prospects like Eric Campbell and Kala Ka'aihue were playing on the next field over. Meanwhile several Braves pitching prospects were just wandering around taking things in - Scott Diamond, Ryne Reynoso, and Zeke Spruill come to mind as a few we saw. The minor league Braves were playing the Nationals minor leaguers, so we also had a Pete Orr and Ryan Langerhans sighting. Incidentally, Langerhans is one tall dude.

Overall a good day. Here are a few shots. Nothing too interesting. Just sharing. Enjoy!

This is sort of the scene at the minor league fields. Ryne Reynoso is at the table, and Zeke Spruill is the guy standing in the blue and yellow striped shirt. Others of you may be able to identify the other guys.

Kurt Kemp watching the troops.

Jo Jo throws a pitch

....and so does James Parr.

JC Holt hitting

Gorkys Hernandez gets ready to steal. Which he did, by the way.

Jeff Lyman pitching

And gondee's #1 prospect, Kevin Gunderson

That's it for this spring. More when Rome and Gwinnett get going....

Brian McCann to Appear at Hot Stove Gathering

secondbass — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:25:31 -0000

One of my favorite events of the off season is the Hot Stoce gathering the Rome Braves host in January. This year looks to be a good one with McCann on the guest list. They usually throw in a minor leaguer or two as well, so this may not be the end of the list. Last year they had Bobby Cox, Kurt Kemp, Frank Wren, Tyler Flowers, Phillip Britton, and Jon Mark Owings. They announced Cox first, then the list kept getting bigger and bigger.

Anyway, here's a snippet from the official announcement. A link to the whole thing is here. I always go with my daughter, and I'll be there again this year. It's usually at the stadium, but this year will be at the Forum - Rome's downtown convention center....I guess they're expecting a big crowd with McCann. Can't wait!

"The Seventh Annual Hot Stove Gathering will be held at The Forum on Monday January 26th from 5:30 until 7:30pm. Fans can look forward to a night of fun as Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann will be the featured guest along with special guests from the Atlanta Braves organization. The 2009 Rome field staff will also be in attendance."

No Tazawa

secondbass — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 17:34:49 -0000

Just in case anyone didn't know. Or if anyone cares....

Tazawa rejects all offers but Boston's

Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves Go Braves

Trading Escobar: Good or bad?

secondbass — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:46:49 -0000

So JFP's post made me think: we've been kicking this Escobar / Peavey trade around for a while now, debating from every angle. But I'm wondering about how the majority here feel. I know some have switched sides after all the discussions as well. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at where we stand now. Thus the poll.

The original assertion was that a majority here feel that a Peavey deal including Escobar is a steal, but not in the Braves favor. I re-wrote that as a question (apologies to JFP - I hope I'm not misrepresenting the intented point of your post....). I know the poll choices are very narrow with no wiggle room - but that's really the issue I'm taking up - Escobar, yes or no?

Poll

Would any deal that sends Yunel Escobar to the Padres, regardless of other players / prospects involved, be a bad move for the Braves?

Yes

46 votes

No

71 votes

117 votes | Poll has closed

Flowers article at the AJC

secondbass — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:06:31 -0000

Good write-up. Flowers is in my top 5. Just saying.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/11/11/braves_tyler_flowers.html

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Flowers Tied For HR Lead

secondbass — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:49:24 -0000

It's the Arizona Fall League, and T-Flow is tied for the lead in HRs with 6. He's hitting .419 with an OPS of 1.533. On the bad, he does have 8 walks to 14 strikeouts, but I'd take his overall production. Here's hoping he doesn't get traded. I know Freeman is the stud of the future, but I say again let's see something above Low A first. Flowers could be the man.

By the way, where has everybody been lately?????

Go Phillies!

secondbass — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:33:17 -0000

I never, ever thought I'd say that. Even in this World Series I've been pulling for the Rays, where I usually pull for the National League team just because. But I can't stand the Phillies. But once this thing is over, the Braves (and everybody else) can get down to business, right? So I'm ready - all the speculation and trade talk can come to an end. The free-agent stuff can finally get started. And sooner if the Phillies win. So here's hoping for a Phillies win tonight, and baseball business on Tuesday!

Freeman leaves instructional league with Cracked rib

secondbass — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:21:02 -0000

The headline really says it all, but if you want the full article, go here. It's at milb.com. At the end of the season last year, Freeman missed the last several games leading to a lot of daily speculation that he had been sent to MB along with Heyward, which of course wasn't true. When he left after the last game of the season, people were asking him about his playing time, and he just said, "I'm hurt." So there you go.

Hawaii Baseball Starts Tonight (Sept. 27th)

secondbass — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:03:14 -0000

On the Honolulu Sharks, the Braves have Michael Broadway, Jonathan Venters (both pitchers), and Kala Ka'aihue. That's all I see on the roster....did I miss anyone? Campbell went last year. Oh well....

Your FanPost must be at least 75 words long. Right now it's only 29 words long. If you weren't such a moron, you'd know this by now and come up with something more interesting to say.

Hey! That's not nice!