Ballpark Travel

The Atlanta Braves have had a busy week around the Holiday's. On December 22 nd , the Braves traded RHP Javier Vazquez and LHP Boone Logan to the New York Yankees for OF Melky Cabrera, LHP Mike Dunn and RHP Aroyds Vizcaino . Then a day later, reports surfaces of former World Series MVP 3B Troy Glaus signing a one year contract worth two million dollars pending a physical. The strategy here is by trading Vazquez to the Yankees, the Braves will have saved roughly $9.5M in the trade to put back into the free agent area. So far the Braves have signed Troy Glaus , with another corners player on their radar. Both Xavier Nady and Mark DeRosa's names have surfaced in the past week as well. This trade could very well end up looking like Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan for Melky Cabrera, Troy Glaus , Xavier Nady/Mark DeRosa , Mike Dunn and Aroyds Vizcaino . When put that way, I like the deal. Replacing one of three staff aces from 2009 with three Major League players and two sol...

Last week, I decided that it would be a good time to treat myself to a Holiday gift. It had been a rough week, and I was about to return to Connecticut for about ten days, so I decided that I should get something to represent my region, the Hartford Whalers. Even now, twelve seasons after their move to Charlotte, North Carolina the Connecticut fans still take a great deal of pride in the team. Recently, companies like New Era, Reebok, CCM and Mithcell & Ness have started producing Whalers retro products for fans to buy. So I went to Lids.com and purchased a new Whalers hat. Much to my surprise at dinner last night with some friends, Whalers products are the trendy thing to buy this holiday season. At dinner, I saw a Whalers t-shirt, sweatshirt and new hat. All worn by people that were at most 10-11 years old when the Whalers played their final game in Hartford in 1997. This, a couple of days after I found out that Whalers apparel at the NHL store in Times Square is currently the...

The years between 2000 and 2009 were the first ever in baseball where there were eight playoff teams each year and what resulted was perhaps the most competitive decade for baseball. Sure Pirate fans may disagree, but take a look at the following data to display a positive for competitive balance: New York Yankees: 9 playoff appearances, 2 World Series Titles (4 appearances) Boston Red Sox : 6 playoff appearances, 2 World Series Titles (2 appearances) St. Louis Cardinals: 6 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (2 appearances) Los Angeles Angels: 6 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Philadelphia Phillies : 3 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (2 appearances) Chicago White Sox : 3 p layoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Arizona Diamondbacks: 3 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Florida Marlins: 1 playoff appearance, 1 World Series Title (1 appearance) Colorado Rockies, 2 playoff appearances, 1 World Series Appeara...

This past week, the Atlanta Braves added two proven closers with career ERA's under 2.40 to their bullpen at a price of 10.2 million dollars guaranteed in 2010. Typically, those words would incite great response from the baseball community, however add in the fact that their combined age on opening day will be 78, the media has been far more critical of the moves. Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito were signed this week to be late inning relievers for the Atlanta Braves as they make a push back towards the playoffs. Saito is expected to set-up Wagner in the eighth and ninth innings. Here is my take on each reliever: Billy Wagner, LH (One-Year Contract worth 7M, 2011 Option for 6.5M) Coming off of Tommy John Surgery in 2009, Wagner showed that he certainly still has the same power arm as he did in 2007 when he closed games with the Mets . Looking at his career statistics, Wagner is one of the best closers in the history of the game. The red flag that I keep returning to on Wagner i...

On January 26 th , I walked into the offices at Turner Field for the first time as marketing trainee and was met by smiling faces and great people eager to see what I could do. 302 days later on November 24 th , my tenure as trainee will officially end and I can now say that this has been the most significant learning experience of my life. Just the other day, I was talking with my mom on the phone about the year and the wise woman that she is, she pointed out to me that years like these deserve to be remembered because times will not always be this wonderful so I choose to write. The 2009 Major League Baseball season saw the Atlanta Braves make a big statement on the field from taking the one of the worst NL pitching staffs from 2008 (4.46) and turning it into the third best in 2009 (3.57 ERA). The trade for Nate McLouth showed early on that the Braves were not content with .500 and moving into 2010, this team looks like it could be a strong contender again behind great pitching. Th...

Free Agents: None Arbitration Eligible: Matt Capps , RP; Zach Duke, SP; Tyler Yates, RP; Ronny Cedeno , INF; Denny Bautista , RP; Lastings Milledge , OF. Needs: 1B, SS, SP, RP, Depth Likely Outcome: First, due to popular demand the Pirates make an early appearance on my offseason thoughts. Looking at this team, there is very little to hope for except for a miracle in player development. They have a good core of young talent, but for the Pirates to experience a winning season for the first time since 1992, they are going to need a miracle. Their offense is loaded with young potential in Ryan Doumit (C), Steve Pearce (1B), Delwyn Young (2B), Andy LaRoche (3B), Lastings Milledge ( LF ), Andrew McCutchen (CF) and Garrett Jones (RF). All of whom will be 29 or younger on Opening Day next season. What I would do this offseason is add as many veteran players that will sign to add depth to the Pirates bench and to help develop this group of young talent. They have done this in the pas...

Free Agents: Adam LaRoche , 1B; Greg Norton, 1B; Garrett Anderson, OF; x-Tim Hudson, SP; Mike Gonzalez, RP; Rafael Soriano , RP Arbitration Eligible: Kelly Johnson, 2B; Ryan Church, OF; Matt Diaz , OF; Peter Moylan , RP Needs: 1B, Corner Outfield, RP Likely Outcome : There is going to be a bit of turnover in the bullpen as it does not seem likely that both the 8 th and 9 th inning options for 2009 will return. However expect most of the starting rotation to stay the same. The Braves are in an fortunate situation with six legitimate starting pitchers including Tim Hudson, who is in an option year of his contract worth 12M. It is going to be a tough decision, but the Braves would be able to maneuver in the free agent market a lot easier with an Hudson's contract off the books. It would be coming at a cost as that decision would effectively take one of the top starters out of the rotation. Offensively, I expect to see the Braves get very creative in the trade market to add some pow...