2008 NL East Preview: Atlanta Braves

Watch out for the Mets

I'm not sure the Mets can compete throughout the entire season with the current state of their rotation. I also don't think they'll land Santana - they don't want to give up what the Twins want. That's my opinion, but I think we'll see them struggle long-term.

Are you serious. Are Brave fan's too blind to see that they have easily as many pitching problems as the Mets supposedly do? At my count, they Braves have 3 reliable pitchers from top to bottom.
1. John Smoltz- Smoltz has been consistently excellent his whole career. But, he is 40 years old. He has pitched through many injuries the past three years. If he spends more than 15 days on the DL this year, the Braves are in big trouble.
2. Tim Hudson- Hudson was terrific last year, but he pitches to contact and does not strike a lot of hitters out. Unless the defense is solid, Hudson can very easily revert to 2006, when he had a 4.86 ERA.
3. Tom Glavine- This is not the Braves acquiring the 2002 Tom Glavine, they are acquiring the 2008 Tom Glavine, who is completely done. Believe me, Mets hitters will be thrilled to face Glavine 3 or 4 times this year. If you are cool with your third starter having a 4.45 ERA and a 1.44 Whip, then Galvine is your guy. When the Mets needed him most, on the last day of the season, Glavine gave up 9 runs in an inning. That should have been proof that it was time to hang up his spikes, but the Braves are paying him 8 million this year to prove it. Good luck with that.
4. Chuck James- James is an average 4 or 5 starter, finishing the year with a 4.24 ERA and 1.4 Whip. His 4.67 second half ERA would worry me a little bit though.
5. The Mike Hampton/Jair Jurrjens Puu Puu Platter- The last time Hampton started 25 games in a season was 2004 and he was bad then, 4.28 ERA, 1.53 Whip. Unless you plan on him starting in left field, I would keep him out of the lineup. The 21 year old Jurrjens spent the second half of 2007 proving he wasn't a major league pitcher yet, posting a 4.70 ERA. But if the Braves want to make him their fifth starter, I'm sure Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, David Wright and Carlos Beltran wont mind.

The biggest weakness for the Braves will be their bullpen. The one surefire sign that John Schuerholtz is not longer the Braves GM is the weakness of their pen.
Closer- Rafeal Soriano- Soriano has all the talent in the world, but the Braves and Mariners have spent the last 5 seasons convincing themselves he wasn't a closer. Oh, and he has spent significant time on the DL 4 out of the last 6 seasons. If he works out, great, the trouble will be getting to him.

Set Up- Mike Gonzalez- The Braves sent an everyday player (coming off a 32 home run season) in Adam LaRoche to the Pirates for constantly injured reliever Mike Gonzalez. The first thing Gonzalez did for the Braves? Injured himself. Gonzalez had Tommy John surgery last June and will miss at least the first half of the 2008 season. At least the got the excellent Ron Mahay to replace him. Until Mahay signed with the Royals in the offseason. Looks like lefties will be a problem for the Braves this year.

Set Up- Peter Moylan- Moylan is excellent. I have nothing bad to say about him, except that I'd like to see him pitch that well for more than one season. If Soriano is to get injured this year, Moylan becomes the closer, leaving the Braves with no reliable options in the pen.

Manny Acosta- Acosta was very good in 23 innings last year, pitching to a 2.28 ERA. I'm guessing the 14 walks lead to a lot more runs this year, though.

Will Ohman- The big offseason signing. He sucks, pitching to a 4.95 ERA and a 1.60 Whip. He'll take over the lefty specialist role. Good luck with that Will!

Tyler Yates- Recycled garbage from the Mets. Yates and his 5.18 ERA will serve as the Braves long man.

As much as Braves fans want to delude themselves into thinking that this is a good pitching staff, it is one with gigantic holes. Being that offensively, they cant match the Mets or Phillies, the Braves will take up their new spot in the standings; third place.

Phillies baby... you know what it is.

Honestly, I would say the Phils are the team in the NL East right now, but that's because I'm a Phils fan. However, they have probably bettered themselves this offseason with the acquistion of Lidge, Taguchi, Jenkins, Bruntlett, and Durbin.

The Braves are always scary, but they need to stay healthy in order to compete and their outfield is kinda weak right now.

Mets are contenders, but they're a year older now and a lot falls on the shoulders of elderstatemen Alou and Delgado.

The Gnats and Fish are after thoughts.

I agree that the Phillies are the team to beat - they have to hold that title after last year. I believe that the Braves represent their main competition this year - the Mets are going to have trouble keeping up with both the Phils and the Braves with their current roster. The Phillies are going to be a very, very good team and it will be interesting to watch the NL East battle filter out this year.

Amen.

until the mets can prove that they can hold a lead, the phillies are the team to beat. they got brad lidge which allows them to put brett myers back in the rotation which makes there rotation in the top five in the NL and their offense is second to none.