**Atlanta Braves offseason thread

[jtown1010]

I like this deal a lot, 1st Rd draft picks are basically crapshots anyway. If Glavine can stay healthy and continue to pitch well this could really solidify the rotation.

-Smoltz
-Hudson
-Glavine
-James
-Hampton/Carlyle

This could be among the best Rotations in the League if the older guys can continue to pitch well and stay healthy. Hudson needs to get his career back on track and perform like he did in Oakland in the late 90's early 00's. Chuck James looks like he will be an average-above average middle of the rotation starter, and with Hampton who knows.

I'm still worried about the bullpen, since Soriano doesn't have a great track record closing and isn't very experianced. Gonzalez will be out till mid-season and may not be 100% effective when he gets back. The team will probably be relying on some younger players like Devine, Reyes, and Moylan to pitch a lot of innings. Only Moylan has any experiance pitching that many MLB innings. If Gonzalez comes back healthy and pitches well, and Soriano succesfully makes the transition to closer, they will have a very strong back end of the bullpen.

The offense last year was fantastic, but they took a lot of hits. How much will the loss of Renteria and A.Jones affect the line-up? I'm thinking a full year of Teixiera and a strong year from Escobar could offset those losses. Jones' shoes aren't going to be difficult to fill from last year. Renteria was a star last year but Escobar looked pretty good too. If he can play like he did the line-up shouldn't be that much worse.

1-Johnson
2-Diaz/Escobar
3-C.Jones
4-Teixiera
5-Francoeur
6-Escobar/Diaz
7-McCann
8-CF

Not the best line-up in baseball but not the worst, probably closer to the top than the bottom of the league IMO. I like the prospect of Diaz hitting 2nd a lot more than the inexperainced Escobar, but I also think having someone with his ability hitting 5th or 6th is important as well. Chipper and Teixiera will be posting around .400 OBP's so having a guy that hits for AVG. and power is crucial in the 5th and 6th spots. In a perfect world Andruw comes back to improve his FA status and plays like he did in 05-06. That would make this team extremely dangerous in a short series.