According to: http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/03/ramirez_released.html

Ramirez was released today.  Not really a surprise, since he's stunk mightily since he was traded.  It is kind of strange that they released him now instead of just non-tendering him last year.  They wasted a half-million bucks, pretty much.

Any chance we'll see him in Braves camp in a week or two?

No?

Good.

From MLB Trade Rumors:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/12/braves-offer-ja.html

They say that we've offered James for DeJesus, seemingly straight up. Update [2007-12-4 17:57:54 by Praetorian42]: Debunked by DOB: http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/entries/2007/12/03/andruw_to_dodge.html#comment-2017402

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Since it is pretty obvious we have a talented young pitcher with a screwed-up head, I think it might be wise to trade Davies to another team.  A sort of "change of scenery" trade, similar to the Oilver Perez trade.  I think a Xavier Nady type bench player might be worth it, at this point.  A lower-pressure city with a decent pitching coach would do him a world of good.  Any suggestions?

I don't think this would actually happen, but I think it is something that JS should probably explore.  Makes a lot of sense, to me.

As always- another Braves loss, a little bit of good news:
- The Braves bullpen has been oustanding the last week and a half.  Over the last 8 games, their collective ERA is 1.78.  Hard to complain about that.  Even more, if you take Jorge Sosa out of the equation, it falls to 1.08.
- Every position player got at least 1 hit, with 5 of them getting 2 hits.
- Scott Thorman had his first major league multi-hit game.  Maybe he can push his average above the mendoza line today with another good performance.
- Chipper's power may have returned.  Over his last 5 games he's had 2 HR and 3 2B, raising his SLG% 40 points to .468.  Let's hope he keeps this up.

Yes, this one was harder than most.  But it still pays to look at the good news:

-Francouer really went 3/6- he had a scorcher in the 11th  inning off of A-Rod's glove that was erroneously ruled an error.  He hit the ball very well all game and didn't strike out.  He's catching on fire- watch out for him this next serious with the troubled Orioles pitching staff.
-Chipper went 3/6 and appears to have recovered from his slump, going 7/14 on the series.  His average is back up to .288.
-McCann continues his good work, going 2/5 with an RBI.  It's really starting to look like he will keep up the .350 average all season.  Batting title, anyone?  If he can get enough at bats, at least.
-Smoltz was lights out, going 7 IP with 1 ER, 5K and only 2BB.
-Villarreal continues his good work out of the 'pen, pitching 2 hitless innings.  He appears to be settling in to the long/middle relief role, which suits him much better than as a situational reliever.

Well, we lost to the Yankees, 2-5, but there was some good news, believe it or not:

For each game that we lose for the remainder of the season, I'm going to try to post some "Good News" about the game, because I think it's safe to say that we know what is going wrong.

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