Sportsmoneymanagers.com Staff Writer MLB Expert Tim Demuth Atlanta Braves Return To Glory? To say the least, it was a very tumultuous offseason for the Atlanta Braves. Coming close to a trade for 2007 NL Cy Young winner Jake Peavy, then seeing it fall through. As well as losing on out AJ Burnett to the Yankees, Rafael Furcal to the Dodgers after Atlanta thought they had agreed to a deal, and seeing Ken Griffey Jr. return to the Seattle Mariners. After seeing big names like that get away, you would think the Braves had a bad offseason, but that is not the case. The club went into the offseason trying to improve their starting rotation, which was decimated last season by injuries, losing guys like John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Tim Hudson. They did just that by trading for Javier Vazquez, a solid starter who has registered at least 198 innings every season since 2000 and has the stuff to compile a lot of strike outs. Also, the team signed free agent starter Derek Lowe to bring even more stability to their rotation. Lowe is another inning eater who has not pitched fewer than 182 innings since 2002, the year he was converted to a starter from a closer. Another addition to the rotation is Japanese import Kenshin Kawakami, who was Japanese league MVP in 2004 and received their equivilent to the Cy Young award that year. Rounding out the rotation is Jair Jurrjens who looks to build on his 13-10 rookie season, and good old Tom Glavine in the 5th spot. The club also hopes to have veteran Tim Hudson back in early August coming off Tommy John surgery, as well as young phenom Tommy Hanson, who the team refused to part with in order to aquire Jake Peavy, which should tell you something about what they think of his future. The bullpen is solid, but has a few holes in it. Closer Mike Gonzalez figures to be a good option to finish out games for the Braves. He missed practically all of the 2007 season, but returned midway of the 2008 season and notched 14 saves in 16 chances after going 24-24 in 2006 with the Pirates. Rafael Soriano looks to be in line for the setup man job after battling through a few nagging injuries in 2008, he had a good campaign in 2007 as a setup man with a 3.00 ERA and .186 batting average against. Australian Peter Moylan also returns after pitching only 5.2 innings in 2008, but says he feels healthy and feels better than he did in 2007, when he had a fantastic season pitching to a 1.80 ERA in 90 relief innings. Filling out the bullpen looks like its going to be guys like Manny Acosta, lefty Boone Logan, and Blaine Boyer to name a few. Now to the lineup, and you cannot help but think about Chipper Jones when you hear Atlanta Braves. Jones is coming off a fantastic season in which he led the majors with a .364 batting average, hitting 22 homers and knocking in 75 and will bat 3rd again for the Braves. The one thing about Chipper is, he isn't going to play 150 games anymore, but you can count on him for 125-130. Brian McCann is cementing himself as one of the best catchers in the game, if not the best and is a guy you can count on in the middle of the order to hit 20-25 homers and knock in 90-100 runs. Jeff Francouer is coming off a terrible season, but he has a track record of producing, with over 100 RBI in both 2006 and 2007, look for him to rebound this year and return to his old form of producing runs. Another free agent addition is Garrett Anderson, the veteran is going to play left field for the team, and is still capable of batting around .280 hitting 15 home runs and 75 RBI. The rest of the lineup is filled with guys who aren't household names like Casey Kotchman, Kelly Johnson, Yunel Escobar, and Josh Anderson and Jordan Schafer who are battling for the centerfield spot. Overall, the Braves will definitely be a better team than the 72-90 team they had on the field last season. With stability in the starting rotation, a solid bullpen, and a lineup filled with guys who can all hit for averages near the .280 and above range. Managed by future Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, this team can most certainly be in the thick of things in September.
 

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