Catcher’s Blog

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that we had some “special” interest in Mark Sweeney as our hopeful off-the-bench, lefty hitter. Since the Dodgers already signed Sweeney, it is believed that the Braves will go for the internal option in Scott Thorman, instead of signing another free agent. I could see this internal option working only if Scott rebounds from last season’s .216/.258/.394; you can’t just give up on the guy since it was his rookie season and he did hit 11 home runs with 36 RBIs in 287 at-bats. Scott apparently seems to also take a while to settle into things before “getting it” and getting into the swing of things, no pun intended.

The Braves, on the verge of losing Mark Sweeney to the Dodgers, likely will stick with Scott Thorman rather than sign another free agent to be their left-handed hitter off the bench.

Thorman, 26, batted only .216 as a rookie last season, but hit 11 home runs in 287 at-bats. The Braves viewed Sweeney — who is second to Lenny Harris on the all-time pinch-hit list — as a special case.

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Here is a video on YouTube of an interview that Frenchy did while in Greenville, SC for an annual prayer breakfast.

Here is a Spring Training preview of what to look forward to this season.

Bobby isn’t considering this year as his final year and “his future is undecided” at this point. This article also tells us who the early birds are that showed up today in Lake Buena Vista a day early: Brian McCann, Matt Diaz, Buddy Carlyle, Jeff Bennett, Peter Moylan, Tyler Yates, Mike Gonzalez, Phil Stockman, Blaine Boyer, Ryan Drese, and Jeff Ridgway. The rest of the pitchers and catchers are supposed to report tomorrow and I haven’t heard anything as to why anyone won’t make it tomorrow as of yet. 

I’m working on part 4 and 5 of the Where We Stand series and I’m giving myself more time to finish the series instead of having it done by tomorrow because I won’t have it finished by then. The first Spring Training game isn’t until February 27th, so I figure if I do extend the time frame until then, I should get it finished.

Also, I’m trying to think of different posting ideas to do on the site instead of doing news, etc all the time. I’m going to do my own thought posts during the season, and even some during Spring Training, and also continue doing Braves Mailbag and Rumor Mill posts, but all there was to post during the off season was news and predictions, unfortunately. I’ve come up with a few things, but if you think of something you’d like to see me do on here, please feel free to e-mail your suggestion(s) to me at catchersblog@gmail.com. I’m not saying I’ll do them all, but all suggestions are indeed welcome!

I have added a new WordPress plugin that will enable me to keep a post at the top of the other posts, like an announcement post. Right now I don’t have much use for it, but I can apply it to news that goes down or stories, etc. to keep them from getting lost in the other posts. I’m trying to figure how I can code the colors differently, or something to that effect, than the rest of the posts to signify it as being an annoucement post, but for now I’ll use a thumb tack on the top post to signify its meaning. I’ll try to come up with another way because the plugin doesn’t work with the theme’s coding, but that works for now.

I’ve added a Gravatar plugin as well, so when you visitors comment on posts, you can select your own or will have an 80×80 avatar beside your name in the comment. I have set a default one for the site, but if you would like to desginate your own, please do so by signing up, and link your e-mail to your avatar. That avatar will show up wherever you comment using the e-mail you signed up with on gravatar.com on whatever site is using gravatars. If you would like to get your own and are having problems, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to help sort out the problem.   

I’m also in the middle of creating a Resources page that consists of all the resources that I might use for the site (and even some I do not). I hope it will bring some helpful tools, information, etc. to visitors and other bloggers as well. It’s not finished, as I’m still adding to it, so I will announce when the page is finished and up for your viewing. I’m also thinking of doing a FAQ page as well, but at this time I will not.

I’m also thinking of changing the layout around some, I’m just not sure how I’m going to do so yet because I still like how it is currently. But I will see what I can do to it to make it better and less plain. Any feedback or suggestions on the site is much appreciated and thanks for all those that continue to visit this site!  

The biggest question mark on the Braves team was, who will be our centerfielder to replace the long time and brilliant defense of Andruw Jones? Now we have Mark Kotsay who will fill the centerfielder role. The left field position is somewhat of a question mark, as most people think Matt Diaz and either Brandon Jones, or newly-acquired Josh Anderson, will platoon in. Matt Diaz has and may still prove he can do the starting job on his own, but I’ll cover this also. Jeff Francoeur is our right fielder, who will possibly be signed to a long term deal soon and keep improving each year in the majors. These three positions are more important than is first thought, so let’s cover each position and what its projections are.

Read the rest of this entry »

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