2008 Atlanta Braves
February 23, 2008
The Braves have now missed the playoffs two straight years after they completely dominated the NL East in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. While the window of opportunity seems to close as each year passes by the team needs to win and win now. They finished 2007 with a winning record of 84-78, but finished 3rd still finished third in the division. Manager Bobby Cox will try to lead the team to the playoffs once again in his 19th season as the Braves coach. The team will still have mid-season pick up Mark Teixeira, but they lost all-star outfielder Andruw Jones to free agency. That wasn’t the only big loss as they traded SS Edgar Renteria to Detroit. The team brought back long time Brave Tome Glavine after he spent a few years as a starter for the Mets.
Pitching:
Three veterans at the top in John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, and Tom Glavine will lead this team. Both Glavine and Smoltz are 40 and older, and the tank has to be getting close to empty. Though Smoltz was 14-8 with a 3.11 ERA and Glavine was 13-8 with a much higher ERA of 4.45. Hudson might end up being the best of the three this year as he was a 16 game winner last year for 5th in the NL. The team picked a very high prospect in Jair Jurrrjens in the Renteria deal, and is expecting him to open the season in the rotation. Chuck James and Mike Hampton will battle out for the last spot. If Hampton can pitch without signs of pain he will likely get another shot to start this year. The bullpen will be led by power closer Rafael Soriano. The also has solid setup men in Peter Moylan, Tyler Yates, and newly acquired Will Ohman. Moylan posted pretty solid rookie numbers out of the pen going 5-3 with a 1.80 ERA.
Offense:
While they lost two big time bats in Jones and Renteria, they still have a solid middle of the order led by 3 and 4 hitters Teixeira and Chipper Jones. Teixeira hit 30HRs and drove in 56 runs in just 54 games after coming over in the middle of the season. Chipper looked as good as ever hitting .337 for 2nd in the league and belted 29 HRs. The team also has some solid bats in RF Jeff Francoeur and all-star C Brian McCann. The team believes that young SS Yunel Escobar is capable of filling in for Renteria. Mark Kotsay will step in for Jones in center to start the season, don’t be surprised if young prospect Josh Anderson doesn’t take over by the end of the season.
Defense:
The defense was pretty solid in 2007 led by Gold Glove winners Francoeur and Andruw Jones. With Jones gone the outfield will take a big hit, as he seemed to cover more ground than any other center fielder. McCann is pretty solid behind the plate not only throwing out runners, but also calling an excellent game.
Prediction:
This is actually a really good team if their veterans can stay healthy and perform at the level they are use to. With the likes of the Mets and Phillies ahead of them we don’t see this team finishing better than 3rd. They could challenge the Phillies if everything goes right but we aren’t counting on it.
2008 Atlanta Braves Odds to Win World Series 25 – 1
For every team’s odds head over to BetUS and check them out. You can also go to BetUS to look at the odds for teams to win their division or league pennant. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment section.
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