Catcher’s Blog

Brian McCann lists some of his favorite holiday memories in this interview and it also mentions that he is in fact married. He talks a little bit about his first Christmas with his new wife.

Braves All-Star catcher Brian McCann has already enjoyed a memorable month with his new bride, the former Ashley Jarusinski. After exchanging their wedding vows in Atlanta on Dec. 1, the couple enjoyed a relaxing honeymoon in Maui. They’re now anxiously anticipating their first Christmas together as a married couple.

Read the rest of this entry »

First off, I saw this tidbit on MLBTR and thought it was worth mentioning.

The Braves and Rockies were among the teams that showed late interest in Haren, but neither club stood a chance of matching the Diamondbacks’ offer.

It makes me wonder why we were interested in Haren late in the game when we were supposedly not looking for anymore starting pitching with all the “surplus” we currently have going into Spring Training. Naturally, we’d have broke the farm bank with this trade, but acquiring Haren would have been a luxury since we don’t really ‘need’ anymore pitching for the rotation.

MLBTR seems to think that it might have been to get the Mets to up their offer and trade Reyes, which I doubt will happen. MLBTR seems to also think we might try to go after Bedard now that Haren is off the market. I don’t really see us doing that for many reasons, but you never know. Having either of those ace pitchers would solidify our rotation x10 or more, but at the cost of getting them would be way too much to give up or at least in my opinion. Having either would be a great luxury, but a luxury we currently don’t need.

If the four or more guys vying for the last few spots don’t prove to be worth anything after a certain amount of time, then we might consider pursuing another starting pitcher. I think we should at least give these guys the benefit of the doubt for a little while until they prove they’re not good enough first. Again, that’s just my opinion.

Mark Teixeira underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in November, but is expected to be ready to start working out in January in preparation for Spring Training, which pitchers and catchers are to report to February 14, while position players are to report February 19.

Also, since there’s not much else going on, here is an interview that was in the December issue of ChopTalk, and I found it to be an interesting read. The interview was typed up for the official site, so I thought I’d post it here. When Chuck was struggling last year, they didn’t really delve into what was wrong with him too much. He talks about that injury and his usual off season.

Read the rest of this entry »