McCarroll21
09-05-2008, 07:51 AM
Who's Starting in 2009?
By: Josh McCarroll (http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/member.php?u=1) | Braves-Nation.com
http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/photoplog/images/1/medium/5_morton.jpgAs we begin to move from the dreadful 2008 season, people have to start thinking about what Braves fans can expect to see in the starting rotation for 2009.
On Opening Day to the 2008 season, the Braves had a starting rotation with a lot of veteran presence. Tim Hudson, Tom Glavine and Mike Hampton were on the staff on Opening Day, with John Smoltz soon to come off the disabled list to join the trio of veterans. Together, those four were supposed to provide the veteran leadership, while Jair Jurrjens slotted into the fifth spot in the rotation as a rookie.
Fast forward to 2009 and it begins to look like Jair Jurrjens may be the most experienced starter on the Braves staff.
In a theme that you'll see in anything I write throughout the off-season, my thought is that the Braves need to use 2009 as a stepping stone to the 2010 season and beyond. With that said, I feel the Braves should commit to the young starters they have on the roster and in their farm system, giving them an opportunity to learn how to pitch at this level. Like the Braves did in the late 80s with Glavine and Smoltz, the team will have to commit to giving them the leash these young starters need to take their lumps as they learn how to be successful in the major leagues.
I've often heard Smoltz talk about how spoiled he, Glavine and Avery were as they entered the major leagues because they didn't have any pressure to win when they pitched. He has talked at length about how that has hurt the development of a lot of the young Braves starters during the run as the team couldn't afford to lose games to allow them to grow as pitchers.
The Braves need to take that approach again with this 2009 staff as they build for 2010 and beyond.
When looking at the pitchers the Braves can use to start in 2009, you start with the three with nothing left to prove in the minor leagues: Jair Jurrjens, Charlie Morton and Jo-Jo Reyes. These three pitchers have the minor league track record to prove they know how to pitch, but each of them have had moments in the 2008 season that suggest they are still adapting to learning how to do it on the major league level. However, with nothing left to prove in Triple-A, no member of this trio should ever look at a trip to Gwinnett.
Where it gets tricky is how to surround the trio on the Braves staff. Do you enter the season with a 23 year old acting as the ace of your staff and fill the other two slots with young pitchers, as well? Do you shoot for the top and bring in the best free agent possible to help take a load off the rising stars? Do you look to bring in a veteran or two in hopes to bridge to the middle of the season when some prospects at Gwinnett separate themselves and earn a shot in the major league rotation as they did with Charlie Morton this season? Either way, something to factor into your decision making is the potential August return of Tim Hudson. However you do it, the Braves have to find a way to go into Spring Training with seven candidates for their starting rotation, along with having a couple others that should be ready by mid-season set to start the season at Gwinnett.
If I'm making the call, I'm not going to shoot for the moon and put all of my eggs in the basket of a C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets. I can't fathom spending more than $20 million on a single player, no matter how good he is. Instead, I'm going to take the quality in numbers approach and bring in two established veterans that aren't likely to cost a lot of money. I'm looking at the guys like Paul Byrd and Randy Wolf, perhaps taking a chance on an incentive deal with Mike Hampton. I would look to keep a pitcher like Jorge Campillo on the staff as a long reliever/spot starter kind of guy. These guys are invaluable to a staff, however, they shouldn't be counted on to start more than a handful of games.
Bringing in two starters like Byrd and Wolf would give you a good complement to the trio of young starters, while also allowing the team to keep some of their younger pitchers at Gwinnett for at least a half season as they continue to develop.
With the major league staff complete, let's look at what's in line behind them in the Braves farm system.
One of the pitchers the Braves are likely to view as an option at some point in 2009 started on Thursday against the Nationals, James Parr. Parr put together a strong minor league season in 2008, splitting it between Mississippi and Richmond. He made his major league debut on Thursday and made a very good first impression, giving the Braves six shutout innings, allowing just two hits. His performance through the month of September will no doubt go a long way in where the Braves see him in 2009.
After Parr, I think it is easy see the pitching talent the Braves currently have at their Double-A affiliate and it is logical to assume that the natural progression of a prospect is to move to the next level as they continue to grow. That said, the Mississippi Braves have pitched their way to a league championship and into the playoffs behind the success of Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Todd Redmond, Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen and Deunte Heath and all of these pitchers should be pitching in Gwinnett for the upcoming season. Hanson, Medlen and Heath are all set to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, which could vault them to an even higher spot in the Braves food chain. The Arizona Fall League worked out quite well for Charlie Morton last year in a similar scenario.
Major League Staff
Paul Byrd*
Randy Wolf*
Jair Jurrjens
Charlie Morton
Jo-Jo Reyes
Waiting in Gwinnett
James Parr
Todd Redmond
Tommy Hanson
Kris Medlen
Deunte Heath
When looking at the makeup of a major league pitching staff, a baseball fan knows how inconceivable it is to believe that any team will go through the season with anything less than seven starting pitchers. If you are to enter a season with up to ten major league quality arms, as the Braves have, the team is less likely to be devastated by an injury to a member of the rotation.
In the plan I laid out above, I would have all five of these pitchers in major league camp fighting for a spot in the rotation. If one of these pitchers in the second group of five comes into camp and pitches as Jair Jurrjens did in Spring Training this year, a simple solution would be trading one of the veterans to the host of teams in need of starting pitching as the end of Spring Training closes in. Outside of the possibility of trading a starter to a contending team, an injury is bound to occur to a starter and open the door for one of the five I had stashed away at Gwinnett.
With as many quality pitchers as the Braves have, they shouldn't have a problem finding pitchers they can slot into the rotation for 2009. The only question left to answer is how young is too young? Do you go with five young pitchers, four young pitchers and a veteran, or take the route I suggested and go with two veterans and three young starters?
By: Josh McCarroll (http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/member.php?u=1) | Braves-Nation.com
http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/photoplog/images/1/medium/5_morton.jpgAs we begin to move from the dreadful 2008 season, people have to start thinking about what Braves fans can expect to see in the starting rotation for 2009.
On Opening Day to the 2008 season, the Braves had a starting rotation with a lot of veteran presence. Tim Hudson, Tom Glavine and Mike Hampton were on the staff on Opening Day, with John Smoltz soon to come off the disabled list to join the trio of veterans. Together, those four were supposed to provide the veteran leadership, while Jair Jurrjens slotted into the fifth spot in the rotation as a rookie.
Fast forward to 2009 and it begins to look like Jair Jurrjens may be the most experienced starter on the Braves staff.
In a theme that you'll see in anything I write throughout the off-season, my thought is that the Braves need to use 2009 as a stepping stone to the 2010 season and beyond. With that said, I feel the Braves should commit to the young starters they have on the roster and in their farm system, giving them an opportunity to learn how to pitch at this level. Like the Braves did in the late 80s with Glavine and Smoltz, the team will have to commit to giving them the leash these young starters need to take their lumps as they learn how to be successful in the major leagues.
I've often heard Smoltz talk about how spoiled he, Glavine and Avery were as they entered the major leagues because they didn't have any pressure to win when they pitched. He has talked at length about how that has hurt the development of a lot of the young Braves starters during the run as the team couldn't afford to lose games to allow them to grow as pitchers.
The Braves need to take that approach again with this 2009 staff as they build for 2010 and beyond.
When looking at the pitchers the Braves can use to start in 2009, you start with the three with nothing left to prove in the minor leagues: Jair Jurrjens, Charlie Morton and Jo-Jo Reyes. These three pitchers have the minor league track record to prove they know how to pitch, but each of them have had moments in the 2008 season that suggest they are still adapting to learning how to do it on the major league level. However, with nothing left to prove in Triple-A, no member of this trio should ever look at a trip to Gwinnett.
Where it gets tricky is how to surround the trio on the Braves staff. Do you enter the season with a 23 year old acting as the ace of your staff and fill the other two slots with young pitchers, as well? Do you shoot for the top and bring in the best free agent possible to help take a load off the rising stars? Do you look to bring in a veteran or two in hopes to bridge to the middle of the season when some prospects at Gwinnett separate themselves and earn a shot in the major league rotation as they did with Charlie Morton this season? Either way, something to factor into your decision making is the potential August return of Tim Hudson. However you do it, the Braves have to find a way to go into Spring Training with seven candidates for their starting rotation, along with having a couple others that should be ready by mid-season set to start the season at Gwinnett.
If I'm making the call, I'm not going to shoot for the moon and put all of my eggs in the basket of a C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets. I can't fathom spending more than $20 million on a single player, no matter how good he is. Instead, I'm going to take the quality in numbers approach and bring in two established veterans that aren't likely to cost a lot of money. I'm looking at the guys like Paul Byrd and Randy Wolf, perhaps taking a chance on an incentive deal with Mike Hampton. I would look to keep a pitcher like Jorge Campillo on the staff as a long reliever/spot starter kind of guy. These guys are invaluable to a staff, however, they shouldn't be counted on to start more than a handful of games.
Bringing in two starters like Byrd and Wolf would give you a good complement to the trio of young starters, while also allowing the team to keep some of their younger pitchers at Gwinnett for at least a half season as they continue to develop.
With the major league staff complete, let's look at what's in line behind them in the Braves farm system.
One of the pitchers the Braves are likely to view as an option at some point in 2009 started on Thursday against the Nationals, James Parr. Parr put together a strong minor league season in 2008, splitting it between Mississippi and Richmond. He made his major league debut on Thursday and made a very good first impression, giving the Braves six shutout innings, allowing just two hits. His performance through the month of September will no doubt go a long way in where the Braves see him in 2009.
After Parr, I think it is easy see the pitching talent the Braves currently have at their Double-A affiliate and it is logical to assume that the natural progression of a prospect is to move to the next level as they continue to grow. That said, the Mississippi Braves have pitched their way to a league championship and into the playoffs behind the success of Southern League Most Outstanding Pitcher Todd Redmond, Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen and Deunte Heath and all of these pitchers should be pitching in Gwinnett for the upcoming season. Hanson, Medlen and Heath are all set to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, which could vault them to an even higher spot in the Braves food chain. The Arizona Fall League worked out quite well for Charlie Morton last year in a similar scenario.
Major League Staff
Paul Byrd*
Randy Wolf*
Jair Jurrjens
Charlie Morton
Jo-Jo Reyes
Waiting in Gwinnett
James Parr
Todd Redmond
Tommy Hanson
Kris Medlen
Deunte Heath
When looking at the makeup of a major league pitching staff, a baseball fan knows how inconceivable it is to believe that any team will go through the season with anything less than seven starting pitchers. If you are to enter a season with up to ten major league quality arms, as the Braves have, the team is less likely to be devastated by an injury to a member of the rotation.
In the plan I laid out above, I would have all five of these pitchers in major league camp fighting for a spot in the rotation. If one of these pitchers in the second group of five comes into camp and pitches as Jair Jurrjens did in Spring Training this year, a simple solution would be trading one of the veterans to the host of teams in need of starting pitching as the end of Spring Training closes in. Outside of the possibility of trading a starter to a contending team, an injury is bound to occur to a starter and open the door for one of the five I had stashed away at Gwinnett.
With as many quality pitchers as the Braves have, they shouldn't have a problem finding pitchers they can slot into the rotation for 2009. The only question left to answer is how young is too young? Do you go with five young pitchers, four young pitchers and a veteran, or take the route I suggested and go with two veterans and three young starters?