Catcher’s Blog

Here is the transcript of the live blog covering the deadline. Any other news will be posted below with the time and source.

Tomorrow is the Trade Deadline and I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of different rumors. I won’t even think about posting them all. Now that Mark Teixeira has been dealt to the Angels, everyone keeps asking “who will be next?” to themselves and everyone else. We shall see within the next 24 hours or so.

When reading this blog by Braves writer Mark Bowman, it is safe to say that Frank Wren isn’t done by any means and will be pretty active tomorrow before 4:00 pm. Tomorrow I will make a post with the trades that do occur with the Braves and any other significant ones that I think should be posted that peak interest. It will be like a chat/live blog sort of thing. Readers will be able to leave their comments if they wish to do so. The post will probably be put up tonight but the chat won’t be started until sometime tomorrow, probably around 12 pm since I usually sleep in. I will try to post any trade rumors that seem credible as well, but I’m not sure yet. Be on the look out for it, though.

Today I was sent an article in one of my alert e-mails from SI.com writer John Donovan and he brings up a good point about the NL East when he says it’s the toughest division in baseball. But this particular part caught my eye and I agree:

Right now, the Phillies are staggering. The Mets are playing their best ball of the year. The Marlins are sticking around. The Braves, the one-time king of the division, are … I don’t know. What the heck are the Braves doing?

Every Braves fan seems to be asking that very question to themselves and other Braves’ fans. What the heck are the Braves doing? This past series seemed to be looking good in the first game and that we were picking up where we left off before the break, with almost everyone contributing, getting hits, and stealing bases, but the last two games in the series were played by a completely different team altogether. I really don’t know an explanation for any of it. How do we play well the first game and then the last two we act like we have no clue as to what we’re even doing out on the field? How on earth do we let a last place and current worst in baseball team beat us like it was merely batting practice? And former cast-off Braves at that. And why in the world do we sit arguably our best hitter right now in Brian McCann, especially right after the All-Star break? I just do not get this team sometimes.

The AJC made a good point that Mac is playing with urgency and getting fired up when it seems no one else on the team will. I have noticed him playing with a lot more fire underneath him than the rest of the team seem to want to play with. I just don’t get why they don’t get it. Something needs to happen or we won’t even get a sniff of the post season. We’ll be sitting right at home like the past two years, watching other teams play in the post season. It’s just stupid. The team and players say they want to win and they say it’s frustrating to lose, but if we really wanted to win, we would find ways to do it. No matter what it took. I just don’t see us doing that at all. We seem like we’re playing because we have to and that’s not how it should be at all.

The next two series against the Marlins and Phillies will set the tone for the second half and if the Braves want a shot at the post season, they better start playing better baseball. No one is going to hand it to them or roll over and die. They need to play and they need to start to doing it now.

Braves come up with a series win in a very big way. They scored four runs last night and twelve today, with the Pads only scoring a total of five runs in the last two games (eight for the entire series). If we stay hot like that offensively and can get everyone healthy for the second half, we would be in good shape. Too bad I’m not counting on us playing that well the rest of the season. I hope we do, but I won’t hold my breath. Everyone is going to go through some slumps now and then and have bad games, that’s just how it is. Chipper and Mac will probably be out and about in New York tomorrow with the All-Star festivities starting. While I won’t be here to provide coverage for it, I’m sure Lauren of Braves Love will be on top of it like she currently is on most of the goings-on in the Braves world. I hope to hear (and see) good things about the two Braves’ sluggers when I return on Saturday, or hopefully before then if I’m able to get Internet access any this week. I wish Brian and Chipper both good luck in Tuesday’s All-Star game.

With the All-Star break upon us, the trade rumors will now start to fly around a bit more than they currently are as the trade deadline looms near. We will most likely hear a few here and there about random teams wanting some extra help for the long haul of the second half, but writers are saying Teixshy might be the most sought-after player right now with his Gold-Glove caliber defense and his bettering offense. A poll on AJC asks readers their opinion on this matter, if we will or will not trade Teixshy, with 58.93% saying the Braves will indeed trade Teixshy, while 41.07% say they won’t. Personally, I don’t think the Braves will trade their first baseman, especially since we’re not out of the race by any means yet and he’s too good of an all-around player to trade away. Who would play first if we did trade him? Scott Thorman? Yeah, I really don’t want to witness that again.

Also having rumors flying around about being traded is Will Ohman. Ohman has provided the Braves with a sturdy lefty relief pitcher and has been very effective in most situations all season. We could possibly trade him for something as he has trade value, but I’m not sure that we’ll trade anyone with too much effectiveness unless we get someone good in return. But while Ohman is effective in his rolls, we now have Gonzo back to fill in the lefty reliever roll, but Gonzo is our closer with Soriano still out. Although, if I had to make a choice, I would keep Ohman over Ring. Someone is going to go somewhere if Matty, Glavine, and Hampton (it would be a miracle) comes back after the break. But we shall see what happens later this week after the break.

I’m gone now until probably next Sunday. Have a good break and enjoy your time off from the world of baseball. I know I will, even though I’m sure I’ll be ready for it again before I come back.

Today is a much-need needed off day for the Bravos and I thought I would make a little update. I’m sorry for the lack of posting lately, but I’ve been lazy and haven’t felt well at all. My sinuses are still bothering me, which is year-round just about, and I’ve started an online class for school this week. Hopefully things will get better because I won’t need to be as lazy now that I have a class to take and pay attention to most days of the week. These late night games have kind of put me off a little as well. Plus, my Internet is still a bit wonky and keeps going in and out for some reason and losing signal. I’m not sure why. We might switch soon, but I’m not completely sure if we will or not yet.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I will be going to Hunting Island, SC camping for the entire week next week. I’ll be leaving on Monday and will return on Saturday at some point. I’ll only miss one game more than likely, with the exception of the All-Star game (which I really would like to see, or at least watch because of Chipper and Mac), but I am taking my laptop with me because of the online class I’m taking and other reasons. I’m not completely sure that I’ll have much Internet access or any at all, so if I don’t post any next week, you’ll know why. If I do in fact have the Internet, I still might not post since there probably won’t be much to post about during the break, except All-Star coverage. I might check in on the site from time to time, though.

Tomorrow begins a three game series against the Padres. It will be interesting to see how we play against them as bad as the Padres have been this season so far. Taking the series would be the best thing since I’m not expecting a sweep, but a series win will definitely do. Losing to Jake Peavy wouldn’t really surprise me, but it would be icing on the cake if we didn’t lose to him. Let’s play good baseball this series and end the first half on a good note before the time off during the break.