Catcher’s Blog

There’s not really any news, but the official site did go on a mini-post frenzy today. Of course, there’s the Braves Mailbag, which was about Gorkys Hernandez, what our chances of signing Johan Santana were if we didn’t have Hampton on the payroll, the chances of Buddy Carlyle making the starting rotation, leadoff possibilities, and also the options of where to catch Braves games now that TBS will no longer carry games.

Mark Bowman makes his predictions of what the team will look like after Spring Training. I’ve only skimmed over the article a bit, but it looks like a good read and a knowledgeable piece for those who are wondering about some pre-spring thoughts. Also, another piece that is more of an article, that covers all the pieces that was needed for this season and all of Wren’s accomplishments in doing so throughout the off season.

AJC has posted the broadcast numbers of games this season and mentions SportsSouth and FSN South being the primary networks to carry games, with Peachtree TV covering most of the remainder and ESPN2 and FOX picking up the rest.

FSN South and SportsSouth will be the primary broadcaster of Braves games this season, with the two networks airing a combined 106 regular-season games.

An additional 45 games will be broadcast on Peachtree TV.

ESPN2 will air the season opener March 30 against Washington.

SportsSouth will air 81 games and FSN South will air 25 games. The networks will also televise seven Braves spring training games. The broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi and analyst Joe Simpson return for a second season.

The Braves’ two exhibition games against Cleveland at Turner Field will be broadcast on Peachtree TV.

- Source

There’s not really any news, but the official site did go on a mini-post frenzy today. Of course, there’s the Braves Mailbag, which was about Gorkys Hernandez, what our chances of signing Johan Santana were if we didn’t have Hampton on the payroll, the chances of Buddy Carlyle making the starting rotation, leadoff possibilities, and also the options of where to catch Braves games now that TBS will no longer carry games.

Mark Bowman makes his predictions of what the team will look like after Spring Training. I’ve only skimmed over the article a bit, but it looks like a good read and a knowledgeable piece for those who are wondering about some pre-spring thoughts. Also, another piece that is more of an article, that covers all the pieces that was needed for this season and all of Wren’s accomplishments in doing so throughout the off season.

AJC has posted the broadcast numbers of games this season and mentions SportsSouth and FSN South being the primary networks to carry games, with Peachtree TV covering most of the remainder and ESPN2 and FOX picking up the rest.

FSN South and SportsSouth will be the primary broadcaster of Braves games this season, with the two networks airing a combined 106 regular-season games.

An additional 45 games will be broadcast on Peachtree TV.

ESPN2 will air the season opener March 30 against Washington.

SportsSouth will air 81 games and FSN South will air 25 games. The networks will also televise seven Braves spring training games. The broadcast team of play-by-play announcer Jon Sciambi and analyst Joe Simpson return for a second season.

The Braves’ two exhibition games against Cleveland at Turner Field will be broadcast on Peachtree TV.

- Source

This will be the last mailbag for the month of January and I’m glad this month is coming to a close for more reasons than one. But most of all, I’m ready to see what February brings us, and for Spring training that is only seventeen days away. Who isn’t tired of hearing about football and basketball by now? Bring out the bats and balls, dust off the bases, beat the dirt off the cleats, and wash the uniforms because baseball season is almost here.

The mailbag post for today includes questions about how Chipper can remain healthy in his elder years and if he’ll be as good in ‘08 as he was last season, why Chuckie isn’t considered a lock for the fifth spot in the rotation, Joey Devine being traded for Mark Kotsay when we will only get one year of Kotsay, about Hampton’s health once again, and also about Tommy Hanson, Cole Rohrbough, and Jeff Locke, who are top pitching prospects in the minors.

I’m sorry for the lack of updates lately, but school is showing why it’s not liked as much as other fun things in that it’s making me have less free time. I know as soon as I went on my  not-so-mini-hiatus, there would be news everywhere. Well, considering it’s the end of January, any news is good for this time of year. So I’m not going to try catch everyone up because I’m sure most of you know by now everyone is signed for this year except Soriano. Hopefully, the team and Sori can agree on a deal though since the difference was only by a million, but all we can do for now is sit and wait to see what happens.

The Braves mailbag post today was quite interesting in the fact that it mentions the chances of Teixshy signing a long-term deal, the odd man out in the outfield since we currently have five OFs on the roster, whether Peter Moylan would be a good candidate for the closer’s role, the candidates for the remaining two bullpen spots, which conveniently leaves out Jeff Bennett, and also a rant about this year’s FanFest, to which I’m sure the Braves got plenty of already.

At least it’s something new to read about and it does mention that FanFest is being rethought again, while most likely doing away with the “treasure hunt” autograph signing. I plan on posting my FanFest review post soon, but I don’t have all my pictures. I might just post it and post the pictures I do have, but I’ll think about it some more. I’m off to work on the site project that I mentioned in this post. Maybe it won’t be a week or more until I post next time. Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend.  

ETA: New poll added!

The Braves site has a new Mailbag post in its news section from yesterday. I didn’t see this until later last night or I would have made a post about it. The Mailbag includes questions pertaining to the leadoff hitter candidates, Willy Aybar, manager’s salaries, Julio Franco, and Kelly Johnson. Fairly good read if you’re interested.

I have finished the layout update and from changing colors on this layout to even trying out a different one that I came to find I didn’t like, I finally found something that I’m satisfied with. I changed the colors around a bit and even made a new layout header. In case you can’t tell, that’s Brian McCann in the pictures and they were taken on Sept. 3, 2007 by yours truly. They’re not the best quality because my camera is crappy (I’m getting a new one next week), but I tried to use them in the header anyway. I had tried to put them in a header before for the site, but it didn’t come out very well. I like how it came out myself. Comments are appreciated.

I am still working on Part 2 of the Where We Stand series. I am almost finished with it, I just have to write a closing paragraph for it and post it. That should be posted tomorrow and I’ll get started on the next one as soon as possible since I start classes on Monday and won’t have as much time to work on the series as I do now.

Also, I’ve been meaning to post about this, but it keep slipping my mind for some reason. Blabberin’ Braves has opened their new forum and I’m now a mod to help out with it. Catcher’s Blog may one day get a forum and I hope it’s as good as this one. Please go visit and join to help support their forum and also to talk about our favorite baseball team, the Braves.