Spring Training Gamethread/Discussion

[Heyward]

Mike Minor (shoulder) will throw his first spring training bullpen session on Wednesday.
Minor is behind the other Braves' pitchers due to some shoulder soreness, but he's coming along and has plenty of time to catch up. It's not clear when the left-hander will be ready for some Grapefruit League action, but he's not in danger of missing the start of the season as long as he can avoid setbacks.

Gavin Floyd (elbow) will throw live batting practice on Wednesday.
It will be the first time he's thrown to hitters since last May's Tommy John and flexor muscle surgery. Floyd has already thrown plenty from the mound and incorporated all his pitches, and this is the next step in the rehab process. The Braves are hoping he'll be ready to join their rotation in mid-to-late May.

[Heyward]

How dare you!?!??

Beachy will be fine. His season ending surgery last season was "just a clean up."

We have nothing to worry about.

-Heyward

Beachy has made one start.

But yeah, he's done, should retire.

[Dalyn]

Like who?

Hale?

Wood who needs to be in the bullpen to watch his innings.

How can you argue that we have great depth AND argue that we don't have a better 5th option than Garcia?

[Hawk]

Have they put the magic number up at the park yet?

Gilesfan is burning the midnight oil to have it ready by the first televised game of ST.

[AUTiger7222]

[Heyward]

How can you argue that we have great depth AND argue that we don't have a better 5th option than Garcia?

Wood is probably a better option now but i dont want him burned out by September.

Hale could be a better option, i like him but not the end of the world if he starts in Gwinnett.

Garcia as the 5th starter is not that big of a deal.

[thewupk]

Mike Minor (shoulder) will throw his first spring training bullpen session on Wednesday.
Minor is behind the other Braves' pitchers due to some shoulder soreness, but he's coming along and has plenty of time to catch up. It's not clear when the left-hander will be ready for some Grapefruit League action, but he's not in danger of missing the start of the season as long as he can avoid setbacks.

Gavin Floyd (elbow) will throw live batting practice on Wednesday.
It will be the first time he's thrown to hitters since last May's Tommy John and flexor muscle surgery. Floyd has already thrown plenty from the mound and incorporated all his pitches, and this is the next step in the rehab process. The Braves are hoping he'll be ready to join their rotation in mid-to-late May.

So assuming everyone is healthy then who's spot does he take? Garcia and keep Wood in the pen? Beachy?

[rico43]

So assuming everyone is healthy then who's spot does he take? Garcia and keep Wood in the pen? Beachy?

These things have a remarkable way of taking care of themselves. I credit Wren for the foresight of having a guy who can be an innings-eater the second half of the season.

[AUTiger7222]

These things have a remarkable way of taking care of themselves. I credit Wren for the foresight of having a guy who can be an innings-eater the second half of the season.

Exactly. Just when you think you don't have enough pitching it's when it tends to rear it's ugly head and bite you. Floyd is a proven innings eater and if he doesn't come back until sometime in June then it's fine. Garcia starting for 2 months is not the end of the world. Paul Maholm was terrible last year and the Braves still won 96 games. At least give Garcia a chance based on what he did for the Braves last year. Who in the hell cares what he did for Baltimore? That means absolutely nothing.

[Dalyn]

Exactly. Just when you think you don't have enough pitching it's when it tends to rear it's ugly head and bite you. Floyd is a proven innings eater and if he doesn't come back until sometime in June then it's fine. Garcia starting for 2 months is not the end of the world. Paul Maholm was terrible last year and the Braves still won 96 games. At least give Garcia a chance based on what he did for the Braves last year. Who in the hell cares what he did for Baltimore? That means absolutely nothing.

If what he did for Baltimore means nothing, then what he did for the Braves means even less than nothing.

[mossy]

I dearly love spring. Spring training is wonderful, and real baseball isn't far away.

I simply want to enjoy whatever happens this year. If we aren't perfect, I simply don't care.

That said, I still have a hard time accepting Chipper is gone. We may never see another position player like him again in our generation.

[jason27nc]

Are we going to ever win another ST game? I know they really don't matter and our starters are doing a good job but I hate losing at anything. Screw losing! Win the whole damn thing!

[nsacpi]

Here is a reasonable plan for our starting pitching (which might or might not coincide with what the front office intends):

1) Begin the season with a rotation of Medlen, Minor, Beachy, Teheran Wood

2) When Floyd is ready move Wood to the pen for a month or two.

3) When injury/regression strikes someone in the rotation move Wood back to the rotation.

Of course no plan survives first contact with the enemy so you need fallback options when something unexpected happens. Hale is a good fallback option. Garcia is also nice to have. We already have an unexpected event with Minor possibly not being ready for the first week or two of the season. If he isn't I'm ok with going with Hale or Garcia as a fifth starter for a game or two. My view is that Garcia was signed with the idea that he would compete for a bullpen spot. But with Minor not taking his turn in the rotation so far in spring training he is being used as a starter. I think Garcia's ultimate role is as long man in the pen. His competition there is Varvaro and so far Garcia is winning that battle.

I do have a small worry that Fredi will give a bigger role to Garcia than he should. But I would put the odds of Garcia being in the rotation and Wood not at the start of the season as fairly low. We'll see.

[Tapate50]

I dearly love spring. Spring training is wonderful, and real baseball isn't far away.

I simply want to enjoy whatever happens this year. If we aren't perfect, I simply don't care.

That said, I still have a hard time accepting Chipper is gone. We may never see another position player like him again in our generation.

This was a shameless plug to accumulate Thanks.

\Well played sir

[AUTiger7222]

If what he did for Baltimore means nothing, then what he did for the Braves means even less than nothing.

It means nothing because it's not the Braves. Why is that hard to understand? Yes he blew chunks for Baltimore. Nobody is denying that. But he was great for the Braves. You're not taking into considering all the factors for why that may have been the case. Camden Yards is an extremely hitter friendly park as are all of the parks in the AL East. Turner Field on the other hand is a pitchers park, as is most of the parks in the NL East. Also Roger McDowell is a great pitching coach and clearly he and Garcia clicked last year. I wasn't thrilled with the signing of Garcia last year but he proved me wrong and I'm willing to give him a chance this year, especially when at worse it's 2 or 3 months. If the Braves can win 96 games with Paul Maholm throwing up a terrible ERA for 20 or however many starts it was the Braves will be fine with giving Garcia 10-15 starts.

[Diesel]

It means nothing because it's not the Braves. Why is that hard to understand? Yes he blew chunks for Baltimore. Nobody is denying that. But he was great for the Braves. You're not taking into considering all the factors for why that may have been the case. Camden Yards is an extremely hitter friendly park as are all of the parks in the AL East. Turner Field on the other hand is a pitchers park, as is most of the parks in the NL East. Also Roger McDowell is a great pitching coach and clearly he and Garcia clicked last year. I wasn't thrilled with the signing of Garcia last year but he proved me wrong and I'm willing to give him a chance this year, especially when at worse it's 2 or 3 months. If the Braves can win 96 games with Paul Maholm throwing up a terrible ERA for 20 or however many starts it was the Braves will be fine with giving Garcia 10-15 starts.

When I think of 'park factors', I think of cheap homeruns. I don't think that was Garcia's issue. It was his inability to miss bats because his stuff has deteriorated. And just how much effect do you think a pitching coach can have on a 37 yr old vet? Let's be real. Garcia pitched well over a very short span for the Braves. Could he do that again? Maybe. Could he get hammered around the ballpark and be painful to watch. Maybe. But it won't have anything to do with park factors or a pitching coach.

[nsacpi]

It means nothing because it's not the Braves. Why is that hard to understand? Yes he blew chunks for Baltimore. Nobody is denying that. But he was great for the Braves. You're not taking into considering all the factors for why that may have been the case. Camden Yards is an extremely hitter friendly park as are all of the parks in the AL East. Turner Field on the other hand is a pitchers park, as is most of the parks in the NL East. Also Roger McDowell is a great pitching coach and clearly he and Garcia clicked last year. I wasn't thrilled with the signing of Garcia last year but he proved me wrong and I'm willing to give him a chance this year, especially when at worse it's 2 or 3 months. If the Braves can win 96 games with Paul Maholm throwing up a terrible ERA for 20 or however many starts it was the Braves will be fine with giving Garcia 10-15 starts.

Against that must be weighed the fact that the sample size with the Braves is quite small and that the data from other ballparks is not completely irrelevant and can be adjusted to take park effects into account.

Also worth considering is history of pitchers who pitch at the velocity he is currently throwing at. Not too many right-handed pitchers with a fastball topping out at 87-88 mph enjoy much in the way of sustained success in the majors. I would rather take my chances on the other guys we currently have available for the starting rotation.

[skillet]

BJ out to a rousing 1 for 11 start with 4 strikeouts. Some things never change.

[Julio3000]

I can't stand to look. How bad are we getting tooled by Natty Lite?

[thethe]

Thats impressive that we have mustered a hit against the great Stephen Strasburg.