Bob Wickman on the DL

Bad News -

"ATLANTA -- Based on the dominance that he'd previously shown, it was becoming apparent that something wasn't right with Bob Wickman. This was confirmed on Monday afternoon, when the Braves placed him on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in the upper right portion of his back. He has felt some discomfort for the last couple of weeks."

-"While Wickman is out, Braves manager Bobby Cox says that he'll use both Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez in the closer's role. "

-"Chad Paronto has been activated from the disabled list and will take Wickman's spot in the bullpen. Paronto had missed the past two weeks with a strained right adductor muscle. He hasn't had any discomfort in the upper leg region over the past week."

Just what we need...Wickman to have injury problems. It will be interesting to see how Soriano and Gonzalez do while filling in.

Ryan Langerhans traded

Well this is good news, Ryan Langerhans has been traded to the Oakland A's for cash or a player to be named later ( I'll get to that in another post). It looks like Langerhans will get more playing time in center field for the A's.

-Willie Harris has been called up from Triple-A to join the team tomorrow. The guy was impressive in spring training and in the minors hitting .362 with 16 runs. He also has good speed to add.

-Does this possibly get rid of a platoon in left field or 1st base? I can only hope so, I think it's time to give Scott Thorman a chance everyday. His 4-4, 4 RBI performance earlier today certainly helped his case. Craig Wilson is solid off the bench for either pinch hit or sub once in a while, and he can play OF and 1B. I also think Matt Diaz is better when he gets more playing time. I haven't looked at any stats, just speculating. Either way this is an improvement.

April 29th Game Rant

Ah yes, another blown game by the Atlanta bullpen. I said earlier that it was much better than last year's bullpen, but still needed work. Today you saw why. We need another quality relief pitcher like Soriano and Gonzalez. We have plenty of depth at the SS position and plenty of scrub relief pitchers in the minors we could part with.

-I also ripped Bobby Cox in an earlier post about not giving Thorman enough at bats. Look what happens, he goes 4-4 with 4 RBI.

-Oh, and another one of Cox's strange decisions; putting Bob Wickman in the game when a few days ago he was apparently "tired." He had 3 earned runs with 2 walks on the 27th. He also left him in too long this game. I thought Cox mentioned using Soriano or Gonzalez a few times to close games out. This would have been the exact situation to use either when Wickman is obviously not himself. I should mention that the Umpire had a pretty small inconsistant strike zone, and it didn't help Wickman at all.

- I am also starting to think that Kyle Davies just might not be the guy for the 5th spot. I'd give him a couple more starts and see if he can settle down. I am probably expecting too much from the 5th starter, but why not improve if you can?

- Lance Cormier needs to get healthy and ready soon.

-Nice plays by Jeff Francoeur with a few diving catches.

-There was an unassisted triple play in today's game. I might be wrong, but the last one was by Rafael Furcal a few years ago.

-Braves face the Phillies back at Turner field tomorrow. Jon Lieber vs Tim Hudson. This game should be winnable the way Hudson has been pitching lately.

Kelly Johnson - the right guy

This is the guy this team needed for a while. Who could do worse than Marcus Giles at leadoff? (Suprisingly, Marcus is doing fairly well over in San Diego) Anyone replacing Marus was likely to match his numbers or do better. Although I knew Kelly was a solid player all around, he has far exceeded my expectations. He is getting on base, scoring runs, and has some pop (5 hrs so far) to add to it. Not only that, he is playing pretty good defense for his first season at second base. Anyone still calling for Martin Prado?

Article

"DENVER -- On April 17, Kelly Johnson was hitting .150, and the Braves were wondering just what they had on their hands.

Wasn't the converted outfielder supposed to be hitting, but taking time to get comfortable with the transition to second base?

But over the next 10 days, Johnson led the Majors in batting average at .514 (18-for-35), was second in on-base percentage (.622) and seventh in slugging percentage (.829). And suddenly, the Braves have an all-around force where there used to be a question mark."

Now obviously he won't be hitting this great all season, but a .280 avg and .380 obp throughout the season is possible from this guy. I wouldn't be surprised if it was better. This guy has a great eye, so even if doesn't get hits, he is still walking. He has 20 walks this season so far, which is top 3 in the Majors. While he was doing poorly to start the season, I stumbled upon this interesting information from rotoauthority.com.

Once a week, RotoAuthority will cover players who boast a contact rate of 85% or better, but are hitting below .290. By virtue of how often these guys put the bat on the ball, they have a decent shot at raising their averages. Contact rate is calculated as (AB-K)/AB. Additionally, we'll look at those hitting over .300 with a contact rate at 80% or less.

This week, we'll look at players with at least 30 plate appearances on the season. The underachievers:

NAME	AVG	CR
Brian Schneider	0.125	90.63%
A.J. Pierzynski	0.138	89.66%
Jason Kendall	0.140	88.37%
Kelly Johnson	0.167	88.89%
Chris Young	0.172	89.66%
Albert Pujols	0.176	88.24%
Mike Sweeney	0.179	89.29%
Melky Cabrera	0.182	90.91%
Ronny Paulino	0.182	87.88%
Juan Pierre	0.186	90.70%
Brandon Phillips	0.189	89.19%
Omar Vizquel	0.189	86.49%
Shannon Stewart	0.195	87.80%

The list goes on for another 30 players or so, but here at # 4 on the list is Kelly Johnson. So in reality Johnson was hitting the ball but was hitting them directly to a player. Looks like his luck has arrived along with a little help from hitting instuctor Terry Pendleton.

"Actually, Johnson said he led off for a couple of weeks in Double-A, and was in that spot for a few other games over the years. He attributes his recent surge to some of hitting instructor Terry Pendleton's advice finally sinking in.

'It's in the way I've thought about attacking the ball,' Johnson said. 'I'm still looking for the right pitches to swing at, but I'm more aggressive going after them. My swing is on a flat plane a lot longer through the strike zone.'

'[Pendleton] came to me a couple times and said it, but the hard part is having it click in your head. People can tell you something one way, and it doesn't click, and tell you another way, and it makes sense.' "

Is it possible for Johnson to be at the same level as Phillies 2nd baseman Chase Utley? Is this guy for real, or is it a fluke? Only time will tell.

Saltalamacchia Rumor

I recently heard a rumor regarding the Braves top prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Here's a quick note I found on mlbtraderumors.com.

Let's Make A Deal: Jarrod Saltalamacchia

"Double A catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a rare player: a bona fide top prospect at the position. The Braves might be able to maximize his value not by switching Salty or Brian McCann to first base, but by trading the minor leaguer. Saltalamacchia is off to a hot start after a lost '06, and one team especially interested in acquiring a young catcher is the Tigers.

As a 22 year-old in Double A, Salty is at the perfect stage in his career as the Tigers would be able to exercise Pudge's 2008 option and have Saltalamacchia ready to take over in 2009. So what do the Braves need?

So far Atlanta is getting on base well and hitting for power, and whatever regression Kelly Johnson experiences will be matched by Andruw Jones hitting his stride. With a healthy Chipper Jones and an improved Jeff Francoeur, this team can hit.

John Schuerholz already went all-in to improve the bullpen, leaving starting pitching as the most glaring weakness. It's looking good on the front end - two possible aces plus a solid third in Chuck James. Still, giving 40% of the starts to Kyle Davies/Mark Redman/Lance Cormier is undesirable.

David O'Brien says there are no good pitchers on the trade market for Atlanta, but a month or two from now some opportunities will probably appear. One nice fit could be Carlos Zambrano; Michael Barrett is a free agent after this season. I'll discuss Rich Harden in another post, but the A's have Kurt Suzuki waiting in the wings.

Back to the Tigers - I doubt Justin Verlander or Jeremy Bonderman can be had. Could Nate Robertson plus a good prospect be enough to snag Salty? The 29 year-old southpaw doesn't reach free agency until after 2009, and he's been a healthy 32 start guy. Bring him over to the National League, and we could see the Ted Lilly/Bronson Arroyo/Kyle Lohse effect.

The White Sox have A.J. Pierzynski signed through 2008, which gels nicely with Saltalamacchia's ETA. If Mark Buehrle has another solid month or two, the Braves might covet the lefty and his playoff experience. Plus, an acquisition and possible extension could keep Buehrle away from the NL rival Cardinals. Moving Salty to the Marlins for Dontrelle Willis could work as well.

Really, with a commodity like Saltalamacchia, one could devise many different scenarios where he's swapped for a frontline starter. "

This really makes me angry. We don't need a rent a pitcher here, we need a solid young slugger for the Braves for years. Salty is a switch hitter, a potential .300 avg, 30 hr, 100 rbi hitter and would be great along side Brian McCann and Jeff Fracoeur for another decade. If the Braves trade this stud for someone like Carlos Zambrano for half a season, it might be one of the dumbest moves in a long time (assuming he does turn out great).