Since I’m making a post and not much is going on lately, I thought I would share a few links that have popped up the past few days.

• Chipper gave a short interview to SportingNews.com. Sometimes I wonder why I’ve liked Chipper all these years, other than him being a good player, but I like the fact that he speaks on behalf of the entire team. He nears crossing the line a bit, but doesn’t go overboard. He says what everyone else should say, but chooses not to. I think Chipper will be a great manager or coach one day with his vast knowledge of the game.
• One of two “looking ahead” articles for the new year. Bascially, just a Yahoo! article about where the Braves are and where they’re headed in the next six weeks.
• The second of the “looking ahead” articles, but this one comes from braves.com. This states our needs and where we’re at currently.

Also, the new site is coming along, but I’ve hit a few snags along the way, of course. I had to reconstruct the layout again because of some difficulities that occured with the first one. I’m still trying to get the kinks in it worked out, and I made a few changes to it as well. I’ll make a better update on this later.

Date & Time: Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Place: Turner Field Golden Moon Casino Level.

Everything you need to know about this event is located on the page linked above. There are supposedly going to be more players, coaches, alumni added to this page as their attendance is confirmed. The only area that will be open to the public at Turner Field is the Golden Moon Casino Level since it is indoors. And no one is allowed to take pictures with any of the players, coaches, alumni at any time. They are also going to release a schedule of who will be signing when, which they say will be posted on January 21st. If you want all the details, go to the main page because it covers everything you might want to know about this event.

In the meantime, can you name all the 30 MLB teams in under three minutes? I tried this and it took me three or four times to remember them all, honestly. It’s a great way to procrastinate or keep yourself occupied for a few minutes at least.

Also, the new domain is coming along well, which is why I made up the survey for visitors to fill out. Once I get the layout finished, I’ll post a preview of it on here, maybe later this week.  I still have a few things to do before it’s launched, which I’m not sure when exactly that will be. I’m hoping before Febraury 14, and since school starts back up next Monday, January 5th, I’ll be trying to get most of what I can done this week. I only have one class this quarter at 8 am, so hopefully it won’t make me too busy and keep me from finishing the site, if I’m not done with the site by then, which I’m sure I won’t be. But I will say that once I start back, school is going to drain me because I am not a morning person whatsoever. But it is my final class, so I won’t argue too much.

The survey will be closed on January 10, 2009 at 9:00 am. Any questions, feel free to ask in the comments or send me an e-mail.

View Survey

Below is the autographed card I received for renewing my ChopTalk during this time of year. It is signed by Peter Moylan, in case you can’t read the pictures I took of the card.

(click each to enlarge)

McCann and Jones will leave Braves camp to join Team USA in Clearwater, Fla., on March 2. After playing three exhibition games in Florida, including one against the Yankees on March 3, the U.S. team will head to Toronto to prepare for its March 7 Classic opener against Canada.
…
As for McCann, he’s looking forward to the opportunity to share the catching duties with Joe Mauer. Over the past three years, the two young catchers have combined to win four Silver Slugger Awards and earn five All-Star selections.

Here’s what Mac has to say about his invite and acceptance:

“I’m pretty pumped up,” McCann said. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do. Ever since the WBC started, I’ve always wanted a chance to play and here it is.”
…
“I’m just excited to have the chance to share a locker room with guys like Derek Jeter,” McCann said. “It’s something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
…
“To me, this is the Olympics of baseball,” McCann said. “This will be the best players from all of the countries. It’s exciting to be a part of it. You always look forward to the chance to represent your country.”

I guess now that he is participating in this event, I will bring myself to watch it. I’m glad that he’s getting to do something he’s wanted to do for a while. Good luck, guys!

• Wren decides to get in on the negotiations for Jake Peavy. A month or two later, Wren tells the Padres that the Braves are no longer intrested. Why? Because Padres GM Kevin Towers kept wanting the Braves to add to the deal that Wren was putting together and Wren didn’t want to have any part of it. I see this as a good thing that the Braves moved on when they did, and the Cubs soon found out what the Padres’ demands were. Apparently, even more than what the Braves had reportedly offered.
• The Braves lost out on Mike Hampton, who Wren had hoped to re-sign to put into the back end of a non-exsistant rotation. Hampton had other plans, though, as he was going through a rough divorce and wanted to be closer to his kids in Arizona. He ended up taking a deal a lot less than what the Braves had offered him. Not Wren’s doing.
• Wren moved on from the Peavy situation to persuing FA A.J. Burnett. We had a pretty good run with the prospect of signing him, too, until the Yankees decided they needed him and C.C. in their rotation. Of course, once the Yankees got involved, it was probably more than likely that the Braves would not be on upper end when it was all said and done. Of course, we were not. Burnett chose to take the deal with a few more million dollars, as many people expected him to do. Frank Wren could not have prevented this without risking everything for the guy.
• Suddenly along comes the supposed agreement that Rafeal Furcal had with the Braves. It soon turned into a ploy to get the Dodgers to raise their offer by Furcal’s agent, or so it seems with what has come out about all of this. Of course, Furcal signs with the Dodgers and tells the Braves “no thanks”. Is Frank Wren to blame in this? No, he did everything he thought was right in this. He fell victim once again to someone taking advantage of the Braves, for whatever reason, this off season.

All in all, none of these things can be blamed on Frank Wren, as he was just simply the victim in these horrible-ending situations. All these supposed “fans” wanting to fire Frank Wren should take a step back and realize the true victim here. Let’s not go making ourselves look like idiots because of all the mishaps that have occurred so far. Real fans should stand by their team no matter what happens and no matter how bad things seem to get. And as a truly dedicated Braves fan, that’s exactly what I intend to do.

What went down during the night:

• It appears that the Red Sox are out of the running for Burnett and he now has to choose between the Yankees and Braves. The ball is in Burnett’s court on where he would like to play more. Here is Mark Bowman’s take on the situation and how the Braves are trying to lure him to Atlanta. I would be shocked if he accepted the Braves’ offer over the Yankees’ offer.
• DOB commented on this tidbit yesterday:
  

  Just so you know, one of Boras’ guys also claims the Braves have expressed at least some interest in Lowe.

  This makes me wonder if this is just a plan B for the Braves in case Burnett decides to sign with the Yankees. It couldn’t hurt.

• Reports are flooding the net with teams interested in the services of Smoltz. Hopefully it’s all being blown out of proportion.

Reads for the morning:

Javier Vazquez had a chat with fans yesterday.

TalkingChop.com is still cranking out more in depth articles than my updates, so head over there for more discussion.

Here’s what occurred during the night:

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the Pirates are not ruling anything out on any of the mentioned players in rumors — Nate McLouth and Paul Maholm. A “source” reported that it would probably take at least Jordan Schafer, but it would probably take more to get both players.
• The Yankees offer tops the Braves’ offer by a few million dollars and the Yankees apparently hope to sign C.C. Sabathia, Derek Lowe, and A.J. Burnett, if possible. Of course, this doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Reads for this morning:

Clubs join Braves in pursuit of Burnett - an in depth take on this whole Burnett situation right now by Mark Bowman.

After being denied by the Royals, the Braves followed suit on denying the Francoeur-for-Grienke trade that was rumored yesterday.

For more thorough updates and discussion on the goings-on, please head on over to TalkingChop.com.

Some new info that came out throughout the night to get you started this morning:

• Brewers GM Doug Melvin confirmed the Braves inquiry on Corey Hart, he has no plans on trading him, however. He also denied that the Braves are connected to J.J. Hardy.
• Reds have some interest in Francoeur, though the Braves are not looking to move him.
• Braves talked to the Cards about Ankiel, but do not want to give up Mike Gonzalez for him. Also, a Blaine Boyer for Joe Mather swap was talked about but that didn’t work out either.

Other links for this morning:

• Bobby’s concerned about Braves’ 2009 rotation.
• Wren busy talking deals on Day 1.

UPDATE @ 2:50 pm:

There’s been a few new things pop up this morning and early afternoon and some not-so-new.

• A rumor broke this morning about a Francoeur-for-Zach Grienke swap. DOB also mentions this, but is it for real or not? ESPN’s Steve Phillips seems to think it’s not.
• Red Sox and Yankees are supposedly starting to foam at the mouth over Burnett and are “prepared to do better” than the Braves’ offer. Mark Bowman is reporting that the Braves are not really encouraged by these reports of the Red Sox and Yankees getting involved.

UPDATE @ 7:22 pm:

A few more rumblings on the Braves front today.

• Francoeur for Grienke rumor was denied by Royals GM Dayton Moore.
• Braves have interest in Pirates Nate McLouth and Paul Maholm. Apparently, it would take a lot to get either one, but especially both. DOB hears this same thing. The question is, are we willing to give up top prospects to get either one of these guys and are they worth it?
• Contrary to some reports, Burnett will probably wait to sign anywhere, and it’s unlikey to happen in Las Vegas.

• Rosenthal is reporting that Smoltz is “willing to leave the Braves” and that medical information is being handed out to other teams. I find this to be just a precaution just in case the Braves don’t re-sign him. I still think they intend to do so if he is heathy enough, though.

UPDATE @ 10:04 pm:

Nothing much to report so far except more Burnett speculation and this tidbit mentioned on AZCentral.com:

We’ve heard the Diamondbacks and Braves have discussed a Conor Jackson for Kelly Johnson swap. Doesn’t sound like it has any momentum, but it has been discussed. Presumably the Braves would put Jackson in the outfield. Johnson would solve the Diamondbacks’ second base woes.

We tried to acquire Jackson before the deadline last season before we acquired Casey Kotchman, but the D’backs wanted too much for the OF/1B at the time. Not sure if this is just general inquiry or interest on the Braves end. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Also, I’ve read that the KJ for Ryan Ludwick rumors are pretty much dead in that the Cardinals want Escobar for Ludwick instead of KJ, and the Braves want the Cards to add a prospect because the Braves don’t want to trade away KJ for only a risky outfielder that could have just been a fluke in ‘08. I don’t think the Braves are going to trade them Escobar, especially now that the Cards won’t need him because of their acquisition of Khalil Greene, unless they were to move Escobar to 2B where his potential is not as high. The Cards also are probably going to keep Adam Kennedy now and look at finding starting pitching.

A glut of outfielders and right-handed relievers offers Mozeliak a degree of leverage. No longer negotiating for Padres ace Jake Peavy, the Braves are dangling second baseman Kelly Johnson for outfielder Ryan Ludwick. Intrigued by the possibility of dealing Ludwick for gifted shortstop Yunel Escobar, the Cardinals are less likely to move a Silver Slugger outfielder for a serviceable second baseman.

- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

EDIT @ 2:52 pm:

Nothing too much on the Braves front to report, but Ken Rosenthal wonders how many teams are going to show interest in Smoltz since he is a free agent and the Braves have not offered him a contract yet. It is still likely that Smoltz remains a Brave, and most every Braves fan hopes he does, but the question is if/when he is capable of staying healthy and pitching at all at the major league level. My thinking is if Smoltz can pitch anything remotely like Smoltz, he’ll remain a Brave.

EDIT @ 5:30 pm:

Mark Bowman makes a post about the Braves’ interest in three outfielders: Rick Ankiel, Corey Hart, and Jeremy Hermida, with more interest in the first two. Out of all of those, I think Corey Hart would be the better option, but hopefully these are not our only options. Also, Bowman states that the Braves seem to no longer have much interest in Ryan Ludwick, as I previously stated earlier in the post.

Also, Peter Gammons says that Burnett’s people seem to think that talks with the Braves are “progressing”.

EDIT @ 9:21 pm:

DOB updates us on some chatter that he’s heard recently in his new blog.

• He reiterates that the Braves seem more interested in Ankiel than Ludwick.
• He says Burnett might make his decision as early as this week. He also thinks that to entice Burnett fully, the deal will need the guaranteed fifth year added to it.
• Raul Ibanez is still interesting to the Braves, but he might price himself too high for what the Braves are looking for in an outfielder.
• DOB is hearing J.J. Hardy’s name pop up in several talks and wonders if Yunel Escobar could still be traded this off season.
• Nothing new on the Jake Peavy front from the Braves end, as expected.

“You don’t play the game for awards,” McCann said, “but it still makes it nice to know you ended the season on a positive note and everybody noticed the numbers that you put up.

…

“If you had told me that [three years ago], I wouldn’t have believed you,” he said. “I put a lot of hard work into getting my swing where I wanted it. Now I’m working on my defense, trying to make myself a better all-around baseball player.”

Don’t you just want to hug him?

To view the rest of the Silver Slugger Award winners, go view the official press release. It’s very surprising that Chipper didn’t snag one, after winning the Batting Title, but David Wright did have a solid year at 3B.

Secondly, there are a lot of rumors starting to surface involving the Braves, which is a good thing. Lately, all we’ve heard about is this blasted Jake Peavy mess that just won’t end was all but put to rest today by Frank Wren. It’s about time we start hearing other rumors about other possibilities to try to offset the frustration most Braves fans now have toward the Padres, which hopefully will subdue now that we’re clearly moving on. I’m not going to post all of the rumors on here, but I do try to keep up with them all, mostly on MLB Trade Rumors and the MLB Hot Stove Blog. Those are two good sources for rumors and such things to keep you busy during this long off season.

Also, the top prospect that we’re absolutely not trading for any reason, Tommy Hanson, has been lighting up the AFL or should I say mowing down? Either way, he’s doing extremely well, as is his teammate Tyler Flowers. Normally, I don’t mention a lot about minor leaguers on here, but I’ll make an exception this time. To check out Tommy Hanson’s stats and possible prediction of his Major League debut, please head on over to CrookedPitch.com. This is a very good read on a future projected pitching star.

Finally, I mentioned before that I had something in the works and that I wasn’t going to talk about it. But, since it’s going slowly right now, so I figured I might as well at least mention it. What I’m currently working on is a new home for Catcher’s Blog, only the name is different. I won’t reveal too much yet, but when I get the layout ready, I’ll put a preview up. The reason for this transistion to a new domain is that I’m 21 now and I’m wanting to bring a more personal side and be more “girly” to the blogosphere, if you will. Please take the word girly really lightly, because I really am not a girly girl by any means. I like being a girl and being somewhat feminine, but being “high fashion” and what not just isn’t me. Plus, I’d like to establish a name for myself as a Braves blogger, well more so than I already have anyway. So keep looking out for new updates on the new domain. I hope to have it up and running by December or around there, but I’m not sure when I’ll actually launch it. I’ll have to think about it some more and then there’s finishing up college as well.

Autograph & Collectible
Mega Show

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I will go on to say that the off season has officially begun. About this time last year (earlier actually), we traded Edgar Renteria for Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez. Now it’s looking as if it was a genius move by Frank Wren since Renteria had a less than stellar season in ‘08 and the Tigers are declining his ‘09 option for $11 million. Hopefully we have more brilliant trades like this one from Frank Wren in the near future.

There are a lot of trade rumors starting to surface and MLBTR has posted their 2009 Top 50 Free Agents list. This list mentions three free-agent possibilities for the Braves. Below are the names and MLBTR reasons for matching the player with the Braves, followed by my comments in bold.

• Ben Sheets - Braves. Under this scenario, the Braves are unable to land Jake Peavy via trade.  Sheets is one of many possible free agent pitchers the Braves may consider.  The Red Sox or Dodgers could be other suitors.
  - I could see this happening, I’ve read in different places that Sheets could land in Atlanta. The only problem I see with this is that Sheets is somewhat injury-prone, which might not be a good combination.
• Raul Ibanez - Braves. Even after bringing in two starters, they’ll have money left over for left field.
  - I’m not sure what to think about this since I’m not too familiar with Ibanez. Here’s his baseball-reference.com stats.
• John Smoltz - Braves. I see no reason Smoltz would leave after all these years.
  - This is agreed 100% if Smoltz is able to make a return.

Not too much to mention other than free agents filing and a lot of speculation so far. The GM Meetings kicked off today and will go through Thursday. A new Mailbag was posted on the official site with a few good points.

Also, speaking of free agents, you could win tickets to an Opening Day 2009 game by playing Free Agent Frenzy, which is basically fans guessing where free agents will end up next season. The contest runs until November 12th. I made my guesses, you should, too, while nothing else is going on in the world of Hot Stove.