New Job, Title, Team

Welcome back sports fans, yes it is I, your beautiful, boistrous, barely boorish, Braves Bender benefactor, beneveulently bringing back, braggingly, bounties 'bout the Braves. Whew, well aliteration not aside, that was awesome.

So with that, it's time to dive right in.

Firstly, I'd like to say congratulations to moi, for landing a job in politics, it's awesome and fulfilling, kind of if I owned the Braves, weak comparison, but the point is still valid. Legislative Aide is what I am, a gopher pretty much for a state representative, but hey, my foot is firmly in the door.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

It seems that the off season reconstructuring of the Braves roster is something, something, something, complete. (go watch "Family Guy" if you don't get understand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhnPaiSFVSE)

So to make us better, we added a potential 30 HR guy in Troy Glaus, added a closer in Billy Wagner and a set-up man in Takashi Saito, a 4th outfielder in Melky Cabrera and a bench bat/corner ourfield and infielder in Eric Hinske.

Matty Diaz (Charlie Hustle, Jr.) and Peter Moylan were both signed to 1-year deals since they are both in their arbitration years..

There have been talks about the Braves getting Johnny Damon, free-agent with Scott Boras as an agent, coming from writers not on the MLB payroll, but unless Damon will take a HUGE cut, I wouldn't get my hopes too high. I'd love to have the guy, a true lead-off hitter, not that Nate McLouth isn't, but I'd prefer to have him deeper in the lineup so he can hit some doubles with people on, like Damon, in front of him. McLouth has pop for a lead-off guy, but his career average is floating around the .260 mark, but does have a .450 slugging clip. So a versatile hitter like Damon could do wonders for us as he hits 20 points higher than McLouth.

However, even if we don't get him, which would be totally fine considering it would be the most crowded outfield in baseball, unless we could trade away Melky(please let that happen regardless), we still have a pretty solid outfield that is much better defensively without him. Not a lot of pop out there, but with Diaz's hitting and hustle, McLouth's speed, Melky's versatility and perhaps THE wild card for this season, much like Tommy Hanson last year, Jason Heyward who people are saying is the best thing since, well ever.

There have been talks about bringing Heyward up to start in Right Field, to platoon with Matt Diaz, to stay in the minors much a-kin to the Tommy Hanson was brought up, so that he would not start his arbitration eligible clock till the following year. Regardless, he will make his debut, barring injury, this year before the All-Star Break. I'd say around June 1st(My Birthday, for those of you keeping score at home, that's the same as Andy Griffith and Marilyn Monroe) , why? Well May 31st thru June 2nd is the end of a home stand against the Phillies and the next game is on the road, so a little home introduction against a division rival could be pretty dramatic. Yet, we'll just have to wait and see.

The "Hot Stove" season is always fun because we can all dream of landing a Matt Holiday and a Jason Bay, but you know what, I love the fact that we have a potential home run machine in Troy Glaus and if he totally flops, then we only wasted approx. $2MM, that's it. The benefits FAR outweigh the potential of failure here, and we only have him a year to help our 1st baseman in the minors, Freddie Freeman, get some more seasoning.

Anyway sports fans, remember pray for pitching, be proud of the Tomahawk Chop, and if you need a smile, just remember when Sid Slid.