Spring Training 2015

[Julio3000]

Wandy should've had a strikeout on Carter (second time a missed call cost him a K today it seems) but Grossman tries to catch the Braves napping while upset about the call only to be gunned down at third easy by Bethancourt for the third out. Braves still lead 2-0 in the third inning and fat boy won't be happy...

Sounded like a heads-up play by Bethancourt.

Good offensive inning for the Braves...1B, error, walk, and another double by Bethancourt. 5-0 Braves, still nobody out.

[Braves1976]

Sounded like a heads-up play by Bethancourt.

Good offensive inning for the Braves...1B, error, walk, and another double by Bethancourt. 5-0 Braves, still nobody out.

I lost my feed, did they pinch run for Peterson just to give Gosselin some playing time or did I miss something? Just making sure he didn't get hurt.

Whatever the case, Jace Peterson continues to hit and get on base so that's good.

[Julio3000]

I lost my feed, did they pinch run for Peterson just to give Gosselin some playing time or did I miss something? Just making sure he didn't get hurt.

Whatever the case, Jace Peterson continues to hit and get on base so that's good.

I don't think there was an injury.

[Braves1976]

I don't think there was an injury.

OK good thanks.

[Braves1976]

Hey, we found a Johnson that can play defense at third. But it wasn't CJ it was Kelly Johnson doing it. Sounds like he showed some skills CJ can only dream about on defense.

[Julio3000]

1-2-3 4th inning for Wandy, aided by a great stop by KJ at 3b.

4.0 2 0 0 3 2

[thethe]

Some encouraging signs so far in ST for Bethancourt. That could really change things moving forward if he is able to tap into that potential that scouts see in his bat.

[thethe]

1-2-3 4th inning for Wandy, aided by a great stop by KJ at 3b.

4.0 2 0 0 3 2

I think we have found one of the back end of the rotation pitchers to start the year.

[Braves1976]

I think we have found one of the back end of the rotation pitchers to start the year.

Shhh, fat boy might hear you and get mad...

Note: I am joking about Mark Bowman who has went out of his way to downplay Wandy's chances ever since we signed him. Plus recently wrote an article calling Stults pretty much a lock while his main comment about Wandy was that he's "injury-prone".

Now Bowman tweets this on Wandy:

@mlbbowman · 3m 3 minutes ago
Now that Wandy has pitched well enough to draw interest from other clubs, should the #Braves trade him before he potentially breaks again?

[Julio3000]

Shhh, fat boy might hear you and get mad...

Note: I am joking about Mark Bowman who has went out of his way to downplay Wandy's chances ever since we signed him. Plus recently wrote an article calling Stults pretty much a lock while his main comment about Wandy was that he's "injury-prone".

Now Bowman tweets this on Wandy:

@mlbbowman · 3m 3 minutes ago
Now that Wandy has pitched well enough to draw interest from other clubs, should the #Braves trade him before he potentially breaks again?

I noticed the same thing in Bowman's article.

To be fair, he hasn't managed more than 75 innings or so in the last 3 years.

[Braves1976]

I noticed the same thing in Bowman's article.

To be fair, he hasn't managed more than 75 innings or so in the last 3 years.

Yea, but Wandy also tried to play through injury and that cost him last year. Still, that doesn't explain how far Bowman has taken things with him IMO.

[Braves1976]

Wang didn't fair near as well as Wandy did tonight. His night ends now and the bases are loaded, lefty Brady Feigl on to try and clean up his mess. 5-3 Braves now.

Feigl continues to shine, gets a DP ball to clean-up the mess and preserve the Braves 5-3 lead.

[Julio3000]

Wang didn't fair near as well as Wandy did tonight. His night ends now and the bases are loaded, lefty Brady Feigl on to try and clean up his mess. 5-3 Braves now.

Feigl continues to shine, gets a DP ball to clean-up the mess and preserve the Braves 5-3 lead.

You jinxed Feigl ;-)

[Braves1976]

You jinxed Feigl ;-)

How was I supposed to know he'd be pitching two innings? It's Jenkin's all over again. :)

[dak]

To be fair, he hasn't managed more than 75 innings or so in the last 3 years.

This is exactly what limits Wandy's value (to us and in a trade). Highly unlikely he can give more than 100-150 IP this year even if he's healthy since his arm isn't conditioned to pitch a full season. I'm still happy with the Wandy pickup and prefer him to Stults, but he will eventually turn into a pumpkin. Maybe Folty will be ready by then.

Are we even "allowed" to trade Wandy until May / June since he was acquired as a free agent? Not sure if that rule applies for minor league deals.

[Braves1976]

This is exactly what limits Wandy's value (to us and in a trade). Highly unlikely he can give more than 100-150 IP this year even if he's healthy since his arm isn't conditioned to pitch a full season. I'm still happy with the Wandy pickup and prefer him to Stults, but he will eventually turn into a pumpkin. Maybe Folty will be ready by then.

Are we even "allowed" to trade Wandy until May / June since he was acquired as a free agent? Not sure if that rule applies for minor league deals.

I don't think we'll decide on Wandy till late in ST and he likely has an opt-out for early April same as Stults.

[clvclv]

Shhh, fat boy might hear you and get mad...

Note: I am joking about Mark Bowman who has went out of his way to downplay Wandy's chances ever since we signed him. Plus recently wrote an article calling Stults pretty much a lock while his main comment about Wandy was that he's "injury-prone".

Now Bowman tweets this on Wandy:

@mlbbowman · 3m 3 minutes ago
Now that Wandy has pitched well enough to draw interest from other clubs, should the #Braves trade him before he potentially breaks again?

Somebody needs to explain to Sasquach that it doesn't matter - Wandy, Stults, and Wang were brought in to buy time for Folty and Banuelos. It really is that simple.

[zbhargrove]

Somebody needs to explain to Sasquach that it doesn't matter - Wandy, Stults, and Wang were brought in to buy time for Folty and Banuelos. It really is that simple.

Well hopefully he can pitch some decent innings for us as both Folty and Banuelos look light years away still

[dak]

Now that EY and Jace have emerged as favorites to start at their respective positions, I'm curious to see what Fredi does with the lineup once Markakis is back. I assume he'll go with EY and then Nick at the top, but I'm holding out irrational hope that it will be Jace and Nick at the top and EY will bat 8th. He could also stick with EY and Jace at the top and have Nick bat 5th.

Now that Fredi has a better relationship with the front office, I'm hoping Coppy will have a breakthrough with him on how OBP correlates to runs scored.

[zbhargrove]

I'm not sure why everyone is so high on EY Jr... looking at his stats, he hasn't really done much besides steal bases this spring... he's going to be an awful hitter. I know there hasn't been anyone better, I just have a hard time getting excited about a ~.250 singles hitter