New Braves Ad

[dsnation]

11 days until spring training.

This Is Why We Chop

[strawberrythief]

Yaaaaaaay!!! I'm SO stoked. 

[54 Pontiac]

+1 We need a chopping emoticon.

[BIER]

HO HUM.....same Braves as last year.

[bestPBRever]

yeah, tough to get excited about a team that made no moves to a team that choked the previous season. i hope heyward, prado and uggla rebound and have good seasons.

bring on the fantasy baseball!

[everettsteele]

I'll admit it, that ad gave me a baseball boner. Is it just me, or is Heyward conspicuously absent from that promo? Should we read anything into that?

Is there an EAV fantasy league or anything? Some Phillies fans ruined my league last year, looking for a new home.

[Gmoney]

yeah, tough to get excited about a team that made no moves to a team that choked the previous season. i hope heyward, prado and uggla rebound and have good seasons.

I'm a Cubs fan, how do you think I feel?

We lost our 2 biggest hitters (Ramirez and Pena) to free agency, traded away the best arm in our bullpen in Sean Marshall, signed several #4/#5 starters, and picked up a bunch of low-risk/low-reward position players.  This to a team that went 71-91 last year.  2012 is not gonna be a fun year for baseball for Cubs fans.

That said...

Theo Epstien and company are making smart moves, investing in the future.  By 2014 or so...watch out.

[bestPBRever]

I'll admit it, that ad gave me a baseball boner. Is it just me, or is Heyward conspicuously absent from that promo? Should we read anything into that?

Is there an EAV fantasy league or anything? Some Phillies fans ruined my league last year, looking for a new home.

why yes there is. it's free and we just play for bragging rights. usually vigodas pants or east atlanta equinoxen run it and we are always looking for more managers. i'm sure they'll post something when they are ready to start things up.

yeah, tough to get excited about a team that made no moves to a team that choked the previous season. i hope heyward, prado and uggla rebound and have good seasons.

I'm a Cubs fan, how do you think I feel?

We lost our 2 biggest hitters (Ramirez and Pena) to free agency, traded away the best arm in our bullpen in Sean Marshall, signed several #4/#5 starters, and picked up a bunch of low-risk/low-reward position players.  This to a team that went 71-91 last year.  2012 is not gonna be a fun year for baseball for Cubs fans.

That said...

Theo Epstien and company are making smart moves, investing in the future.  By 2014 or so...watch out.

i thought for sure you guys would be players for prince fielder. it's ok, i'm trying to move to seattle in a couple months. not looking forward to hitting up mariners games, ugh!!!

[dsnation]

I'll admit it, that ad gave me a baseball boner. Is it just me, or is Heyward conspicuously absent from that promo? Should we read anything into that?

Is there an EAV fantasy league or anything? Some Phillies fans ruined my league last year, looking for a new home.

I think they're trying to take the focus off of Heyward on the theory that last year's slump was partly because of too much pressure (a la Francoeur).   

[Gmoney]

I'll admit it, that ad gave me a baseball boner. Is it just me, or is Heyward conspicuously absent from that promo? Should we read anything into that?

Is there an EAV fantasy league or anything? Some Phillies fans ruined my league last year, looking for a new home.

why yes there is. it's free and we just play for bragging rights. usually vigodas pants or east atlanta equinoxen run it and we are always looking for more managers. i'm sure they'll post something when they are ready to start things up.

yeah, tough to get excited about a team that made no moves to a team that choked the previous season. i hope heyward, prado and uggla rebound and have good seasons.

I'm a Cubs fan, how do you think I feel?

We lost our 2 biggest hitters (Ramirez and Pena) to free agency, traded away the best arm in our bullpen in Sean Marshall, signed several #4/#5 starters, and picked up a bunch of low-risk/low-reward position players.  This to a team that went 71-91 last year.  2012 is not gonna be a fun year for baseball for Cubs fans.

That said...

Theo Epstien and company are making smart moves, investing in the future.  By 2014 or so...watch out.

i thought for sure you guys would be players for prince fielder.

I figured we would be too, but once we took Rizzo from the Padres, it became a lot less likely.  And frankly, 9 years, $220 mil was well beyond what I would have liked to spend on a guy that we couldn't park in the DH role in 3-4 years when his less-than-athletic physique makes him a liability in the field.

it's ok, i'm trying to move to seattle in a couple months. not looking forward to hitting up mariners games, ugh!!!

Mariners have one of the best farm systems in baseball right now.  It's gonna be ugly for a bit, but be patient, and you could have a really good, young core of players to build a team around.  That said, it's still an AL team, but beggars can't be choosers...

[BIER]

I'll admit it, that ad gave me a baseball boner. Is it just me, or is Heyward conspicuously absent from that promo? Should we read anything into that?

Is there an EAV fantasy league or anything? Some Phillies fans ruined my league last year, looking for a new home.

I think they're trying to take the focus off of Heyward on the theory that last year's slump was partly because of too much pressure (a la Francoeur).   

In both cases teams figured out how to pitch to Jeff and Jason.  Jeff will swing at anything so don't pitch him down the middle and Jason can't hit anything inside.

[everettsteele]

Taking the pressure of JHey makes good sense to me. When he goes out in meaningless games, he swings freely, hits good pitches, and plays like a comfortable veteran. On the other hand, when the pressure is on, the games are on the line, that dude bats like he isn't sure which end to hold.

Francoeur marginalized himself by not spending enough time on the practice field. Dudes that bat .200 don't get to swing for the fences on every pitch they see.

[The Lord of the Jungle]

I'll admit it, that ad gave me a baseball boner. Is it just me, or is Heyward conspicuously absent from that promo? Should we read anything into that?

Is there an EAV fantasy league or anything? Some Phillies fans ruined my league last year, looking for a new home.

Indeediddleedoo, neighbor.  I'm sure I'll be getting a notice from Yahoo soon, at which point I'll post info for sign-up.


I think VP used to run it, but he got tired of getting his *ss handed to him, so he abdicated in order to spend more time with his fantasy dog show league.

[strawberrythief]

Heyward Shmeyward. I'm so over him. His terrible batting isn't even what gets to me - its his seeming inability to hustle in the field. I thought Nate McClouth to be a 10x more impressive outfielder than Heyward and he received far less attention for his performance because he wasn't a hot young prospect. Quite a shame.

I actually think it's a really good thing that we have almost the same team as last season. A lot of our rookies/new players (Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla for example) really came into their own toward the end of the season. I think the team will be more cohesive this year since everyone is accustomed to playing together. The only thing I am concerned about is shortstop... but we'll just have to see what happens there!

[The Lord of the Jungle]

Heyward Shmeyward. I'm so over him. His terrible batting isn't even what gets to me - its his seeming inability to hustle in the field. I thought Nate McClouth to be a 10x more impressive outfielder than Heyward and he received far less attention for his performance because he wasn't a hot young prospect. Quite a shame.

I actually think it's a really good thing that we have almost the same team as last season. A lot of our rookies/new players (Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla for example) really came into their own toward the end of the season. I think the team will be more cohesive this year since everyone is accustomed to playing together. The only thing I am concerned about is shortstop... but we'll just have to see what happens there!

Addition by subtraction.  Got rid of dead weight in Lowe, now we can give the young arms a longer audition.  I think the early months will be a rough, but I like the youth and talent of the team.  Staff is callow (after Huddy, your vet is Jurrjens) but deep, the 'pen is fantastic (if overworked; hope we can go a little easier on this this season, so they last into September), and I think there's reason to be optimistic about the lineup.  Bourn will have a full season here, and he's still developing as a great lead-off (the first we've had since... god knows when), I'm happy we kept Prado, Chipper can DH (whoops...), Uggla is almost certain to rebound, McCann is McCann, and Freeman has huge potential.  As for JH, I think he'll rebound.  Word is he's slimmed down, and he's fully rehabbed from the shoulder issue that plagued him most of last season.  Remember, he's still a kid.  Lots of time to develop.