Spring Training 2015

I take your point about Graham, clv, but it is still a reasonable idea to want to protect yourself on the upside instead of having guys like Jaime and Constanza on the 40-man. The chance of losing Graham may not be worth losing sleep over, but those guys are the definition of fungible commodities.

Add me to the list of folks not concerned about the bullpen yet. I hope the FO isn't afraid to cut bait on the veterans, but that's about the extent of my worries.
 
Julio3000 said:
I take your point about Graham, clv, but it is still a reasonable idea to want to protect yourself on the upside instead of having guys like Jaime and Constanza on the 40-man. The chance of losing Graham may not be worth losing sleep over, but those guys are the definition of fungible commodities.

Add me to the list of folks not concerned about the bullpen yet. I hope the FO isn't afraid to cut bait on the veterans, but that's about the extent of my worries.
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That's my take too, I still like Graham's potential and again I had given up on Jaime well before we even needed to protect Graham. Further, while I didn't like losing Simmons to TJS I am also not concerned about our bullpen.
 
BTW, it seems those of us with MLB.tv accounts will get to watch the Braves live tomorrow at 1:10 PM eastern vs the Mets. Folty and Man-Ban are said to be pitching in the game so will be our first look at them this Spring Training.
 
Julio3000 said:
I take your point about Graham, clv, but it is still a reasonable idea to want to protect yourself on the upside instead of having guys like Jaime and Constanza on the 40-man. The chance of losing Graham may not be worth losing sleep over, but those guys are the definition of fungible commodities.

Add me to the list of folks not concerned about the bullpen yet. I hope the FO isn't afraid to cut bait on the veterans, but that's about the extent of my worries.
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My initial point still remains - at the time they HAD to make the call on Graham, they needed the roster spot worse. Things have obviously changed since then with Hart even admitting they didn't see the number of options that happened to become available actually BEING available when the Winter Meetings were happening. Had they known guys like EY Jr., KJ, Perez, Outman, Wandy/Wang/Stults, etc. were going to be available as late as they were I'd agree they'd have preferred to keep Graham over other players they protected. The problem is they couldn't possibly have been expected to know that with any certainty, and they definitely couldn't rely on that gamble.

I'm not debating whether there's any question they'd have loved to keep Graham, but Coppy's quote has to be taken in context - would they love to get a healthy Graham back? Of course. But when they had to look at the available options at the time it was much more important to hang onto guys like Hale, Hursh, Cody Martin, and Wes Parsons to provide potential rotation options if needed.
 
Hart and Coppy made a TON of roster decisions this winter, and some of them will surely look like mistakes in hindsight once the season plays out. It will be easier to judge the decision not to protect Graham once we see who the weakest link on the 40-man is after all the minor-league contract guys are added. I expect Jaime will be gone, so weakest link may be Thomas, Gil, Cunniff, or Reyes. We just have to hope that most of the moves end up working out and they will have done a good job overall.

As for Graham's future, here's how I would handicap:

- 50% chance he is returned to the Braves before the year is out due to shoulder injury or poor performance.
- 30% chance he sticks and tops out as a low-leverage RH reliever (dime a dozen on FA market).
- 15% chance he sticks and tops out as a high-leverage RH reliever.
- 5% chance he sticks and tops out as a backend SP.
 
Things seem to be progressing well for Markakis so far.

@mlbbowman
Markakis felt good after hitting off a tee and throwing yesterday for the first time since undergoing neck surgery in December.

@mlbbowman
Markakis: "I’ve still got some time left, so there is no rush. I’ll be fine with a week’s worth of at-bats." #Braves
 
Braves1976 said:
A bag of balls sounds good for CJ, so does Cash/PTBNL (little cash or low A scrub is fine). Just so long as they take on his contract then they can have him basically free. :)
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I don’t know. Anything resembling a bounce back and a key injury somewhere, and Johnson could bring back a return. Not a great one, but a return. Then Peterson slides over if his bat holds up. It doesn’t feel it’s a great a long shot as some of the dice rolls we’re counting on.
 
Today's split-squad lineups.

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Miller had a 5.93 ERA in Spring Training last year and his career ST ERA is around 5.00 so nothing new for him to start slow.
 
Foltynewicz (jeez, those 4 consecutive consonants) had some kinks to work out.

2.0 4 1 1 2 2
 
Good job by Kurcz getting out of the bases loaded jam after Folty was pulled. He was the reliever we got in the Varvaro trade.
 
Braves tie the Mets 1-1 after Perez gets a leadoff single, O'Dowd follows with a single with Perez running (either a hit and run or Perez was stealing). Perez to third and he scores on a force out at second on a ball hit by EY Jr. EY Jr. actually should've hit into a DP, ball beat him to first by a few steps but the first baseman missed it.
 
First impressions of Folty . . . He looks the part of a power pitcher with his size. FB does not have a lot of movement, so he needs to rely on his breaking stuff. Obvious command concerns. You can see why some think he'll end up as a high-leverage RP. Interested to see what he does the rest of the Spring.
 
Man-Ban pitching now against the Mets.

Callaspo just blew a DP ball to second, error and no outs on the play. It should've been an inning ending DP.
 
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