Well it looks like National Signing Day will conclude without Johnny Damon knowing where he's going to be playing this year.  But it still certainly appears that Atlanta isn't in his immediate future. 

Instead of taking the negligent route of saying there is absolutely no way the Braves eventually sign Damon, I will acknowledge that this landscape could be quickly altered if one of Atlanta's outfielders were to suffer an injury during the early days or weeks of camp.

Or maybe there will come a time when Damon would be willing to accept the $1-2 million the Braves might be willing to offer. But this seems doubtful given the likelihood that the Blue Jays or Tigers would seemingly be willing to provide something greater.

After a brief exchange with a team source again this morning, it was evident that the Braves still aren't actively pursuing Damon. 

Placed in the same situation two years ago, when the 36-year-old Damon still had the youthful legs that provided him great range in center and the ability to sweep bags with regularity, the Braves might have shown some interest. 

Of course the price tag wouldn't have been the same either. 

At the end of the day, the only reason the Braves would have interest in Damon is to allow him to serve as the leadoff hitter that they lack.  But while hitting .284 with a .349 on-base percentage and .446 slugging percentage on the road last year, did he really provide the confidence that he will be productive in this role. 

Another alarming stat comes from the fact that he attempted to steal just 12 bases last year. Over the course of the previous three seasons, he had averaged 34 attempts.  Was this a sign of age or just a product of the fact that he had been dropped down one spot, out of the leadoff role in a Yankees lineup that had plenty of middle-of-the-lineup power? 

While hitting in the leadoff spot last year, Nate McLouth hit .260 with a .354 OBP and .426 SLG.  In his 82 plate appearances as hit team's first batter, McLouth hit .173 with a .244 OBP and .320 SLG.  In 183 PAs leading off an inning, he hit .204/.273/.365.  

These numbers don't provide reason to believe McLouth is capable of serving as a consistently reliable table setter.  But the gritty outfielder serves as the club's best source of speed.  Without the hamstring problems he battled during the final two months of the season, he would have likely swiped more than 25 bags. 

Because of his speed, it makes sense to keep McLouth in the leadoff spot.  Likewise, because of his ability to hit in clutch situations, it makes sense to continue providing Yunel Escobar an opportunity to hit in the fifth or sixth spots of the order.

But I think you can also argue that it makes the most sense to put Escobar in the leadoff role. Remember this argument proved futile over the course of the past two years, when Kelly Johnson's name was being placed in the leadoff role. 

In 75 career starts as a leadoff hitter, Escobar has batted .309 with a .371 OBP and .428 SLG.  In the 75 PAs he's totaled as his club's first batter of the game, these stats are .411/.427/ .616.   In 360 PAs leading off an inning, these numbers are .312/.364/.423. 

Given that Escobar has hit .337 in his career with runners in scoring position, it would be tough to put him in a spot where he'd often come to the plate with the bases empty.  But at the same time, he provides reason to wonder if he would be the club's best catalyst at the top of the lineup.

My Projected Lineup w/ Escobar in the leadoff spot:

Escobar
McLouth
Chipper
Glaus
McCann
Prado
Diaz/Cabrera 
Heyward

Separated at birth?  A few years ago, I asked Frank Wren if anybody had ever told him he looked and sounded like ESPN's Chris Mortensen.   At that time, he told me they both sent their kids to suburban Atlanta's Landmark Christian Academy.

 

Since then, I've seen fewer physical resemblences.  But when I awoke this morning with the television on, I could have sworn I heard Frank talking to me about something that Peyton Manning or Drew Brees was going to do this weekend. 




Listen to Mort as this week progresses and tell me if I need to get my ears checked.  Here's a clip of  Frank's voice.

 

Before getting into a discussion about top prospects, let's just verify that the Braves aren't interested in Jim Edmonds.  In related news, they also aren't pursuing Garret Anderson or  B.J. Surhoff to fill a roster spot.

OK, now that he's spent the past couple weeks and months talking to scouts, scouting directors and other talent evaluators, Jonathan Mayo is ready to reveal MLB.com's 2010 Top 50 prospect list.

When this year's list is revealed tonight (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. ET on MLB.com and MLB Network, you'll see Mayo's shiny dome and gain a better sense about how stressful this selection process can be.

Seriously though, these lists stand as just another entertaining highlight to promote the future of the game.  Of course right now in Atlanta the future seems to be quite bright. 

When Mayo made his midseason selections on July 31 last year, he had Jason Heyward at the top of his list.  There's no doubt the big outfielder will once again be at the top of these rankings.

But we'll have to wait until tonight to see if MLB.com still considers Heyward to be the game's top prospect.  Last year, the 20-year-old outfielder ranked third on this list and some kid named Tommy Hanson ranked 24th.

Because he has expired his rookie-eligible status, Hanson wasn't eligible to be listed among this year's top prospects. 

It will also be interesting to see if this Top 50 list includes Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino, who will likely stand as the key return in the December trade that sent Javy Vazquez to the Yankees. 

Some scouts say that Teheran is the better prospect and others think Vizcaino has the greater upside. Regardless of where you might rank them, you can't argue that the Braves are in pretty good position to have a pair of 19-year-old hurlers with this kind of talent.

ESPN's Keith Law ranks the Braves farm system as the game's fifth-best in his just-released organizational rankings.  He mentions that the ranking would have been higher if not for the results of this past summer's Draft.

It's interesting to go back to some of these prospects list to see how the guys fared.  Here is a selection of previous MLB.com lists:  2009 ,   2008,  2007 and 2006.

You'll be able to find plenty of selections that make you, "what ever happened to that guy."  Just to give you one example that will make you laugh, look at the 2006 list and see that the terribly over-hyped Andy Marte ranked four spots ahead of Prince Fielder and 14 spots ahead of Hanley Ramirez.

This is just the nature of these kinds of selections.   I had to laugh earlier this week when I looked back at Baseball America's list of prospects at the end of the 2007 season.  They had Tommy Hanson ranked as the ninth-best prospect in the Braves system.

Here are the guys who ranked ahead of him:

1. Jordan Schafer -- potentially bright future
2. Heyward --  bright future
3. Jurrjens --  on his way toward stardom
4. Brandon Jones -- claimed by Pirates off waivers
5. Gorkys Hernandez  -- traded to Pirates
6. Brent Lillibridge -- traded to White Sox
7.Cole Rohrbough  -- no longer considered a top prospect
8. Jeff Locke  -- traded to Pirates

BA's list of the organization's top prospects heading into the 2007 season provides an even greater feeling of nostalgia.  It could also be confused as a list of young Rangers players.

1. Jarrod Saltalamacchia  -- traded to Rangers
2. Elvis Andrus --  traded to Rangers
3. Matt Harrison -- traded to Rangers
4. Brandon Jones -- Pirates
5. Van Pope --  no longer considered a prospect
6. Eric Campbell -- makes you wonder if Pete Babcock made this draft selection
7. Scott Thorman --  Brewers Minor Leaguer
8. Jo-Jo Reyes --  hanging on in the Braves system
9. Joey Devine --  the reason you still recognize Chris Burke's name.
10. Yunel Escobar --   Hey one out of 10 isn't bad.

Before sending this into cyberspace, I will tell you that I had lunch with Pete Van Wieren last week.  The Professor's book, which should be a very interesting read, will go on sale on April 1.     

Peter Moylan has agreed to his new one-year contract and Brandon Jones has been claimed off waivers by the Pirates.  These aren't exactly hard-hitting news items.  But I figured we'd throw something new up here on what has been an otherwise quiet Tuesday.

Moylan's new one-year deal is worth $1.15 million and includes some incentives.  Initially, I thought he might receive a little more.  But his cost was knocked down a little by the fact that his 80-appearance seasons were interuppted by Tommy John surgery.

Jones was removed from the Braves 40-man roster last week to make room for Eric Hinske.  The Pirates have routinely shown interest in the 26-year-old outfielder, who struggled this past summer while battling a knee ailment that has since been surgically repaired.

When Jones combined for 19 homers and 100 RBIs between Double-A and Triple-A in 2007, the Braves gave him a shot to be their everyday left fielder in 2008. But  he struggled in Spring Training both of the past two years and by the time this past season was halfway complete, it was becoming apparent that he didn't fit into the club's long-term plans. 

As we head toward the weekend, I still haven't gained any reason to think any different about the possibility of the Braves signing Johnny Damon. 

There's no doubt that Damon could benefit the Braves from an offensive perspective.  But unless he's willing to essentially play for free, there's seemingly little reason to believe he'll be prolonging his career in Atlanta this year.

From what I can gather, the Braves would become players in the Damon sweepstakes if his price drops to somewhere in the neighborhood of $1-2 million.  

In other words, it's not going to happen.  Or as one Major League source said, "it would take a miracle" for (the Braves) to sign Damon.

Glavine update:   As you could probably gather from the story that I filed yesterday, it sounds like Tom Glavine will be accepting some kind of role with the Braves later this year.   Actually, it might be more appropriate to say that it seems like he'd like to get a taste of a few different responsibilites before determining exactly what he wants to do in a long-term role.

Truthfully, I'm not sure which area would best suit Glav.  He still relates really well with the young players, which provides reason to believe that it would be good to have him spending some time with some of the club's Minor League hurlers.

But it's not just the pitchers that he can influence in a positive manner.  During his most recent stint with the Braves, Glaivne developed a stong bond with Brian McCann.  He spent a lot of time talking to the All-Star catcher about pitch selection and the approach to take against certain hitters. 

At the same time, I think he could be successful as a broadcaster or in some sort of front office role. 

More importantly, it's just good to see that Glavine has reached a point where he is going to be able to at least once again deal with those who wronged (the list extends beyond Frank Wren)  him last summer. This is a guy who could benefit the organization in a number of ways for many years to come.

Odds and ends:  McCann hit with Kelly Johnson earlier this week and described the former Braves second baseman's new plate approach by simply saying, "Wow."  Mac said Kelly is standing a little more upright and getting his hands through the zone in a much more fluid motion.Hopefully the new approach proves beneficial to Johnson, who will find familiarity on the rigth side of the Arizona infield now that Adam LaRoche has become the D-backs new first baseman...Mets hitting coach Howard Johnson traveled to Atlanta to watch former Brave Jeff Francoeur hit on Tuesday and Wednesday...NFL winners this weekend: Saints, Colts, Vikings, Chargers. Wow, if I had known my picks would be that boring (all home favorites), I wouldn't have listed thsm.      

 

 

While I will admit to previous consumption of alcohol, I'm not willing to concede that this substance assisted me while I spent time at wedding receptions perfecting dance moves that have hopefully never been imitated.  

I mean, those same convulsions have occurred after an early-morning shot of V-8.   

Seriously though, it was both comical and maddening to hear Mark McGwire's unwillingness to concede that steroids allowed him to morph into one of the most powerful creatures the game of baseball has ever seen.    

As McGwire continued to speak to Bob Costas during his hour-long acknowledgement address on Monday night, I could only think that it might be time for Saturday Night Live's producers to resurrect that "Really" skit they did about Michael Vick a few years back.

McGwire has the right to maintain his opinion that these steroids didn't serve as performance or statistical enhancers.  But as he minimizes their benefit by saying that he simply used them in a therapeutic manner to expedite the healing process, doesn't he also show disregard for the determination many others have shown while dealing with the daily grinds of this game.  
While watching Monday's interview, I couldn't help but think about Tom Glavine.  Here's a 300-game winner who arguably came close to maximizing the potential success he could gain through the game.  But how much better might his troublesome left shoulder felt had he consumed these chemicals that allow the body to bounce back quicker than normal?  

Over the past couple of years, Chipper Jones has said that he is disturbed about the fact that history will forever look suspiciously at the statistics that he and every other player from this era produce.  
 
Like this is sad but true, so too is the fact that we've reached a point where very little surprises me when it comes to this subject.
 
Of course if you were to tell me that Glavine was structurally enhanced by anything more than the occasional shot of cortisone, then I'd probably respond with something like, "yeah and Lane Kiffin will become as USC's version of Joe Paterno."  


Cy Young Trio:  Some of you were discussing the fractured state of Atlanta's Cy Young trio after Greg Maddux was hired as an assistant to Cubs general manager Jim Hendry.  

While I understand why some of you wonder whether this was a slap in the face to the Braves, I didn't see this as surprising.   When he was still with the Braves, Maddux told me that the game's business model had always led him to stay away from making anything other than Las Vegas his family's permanent residence.

Maddux loved the Braves and his family loves the city of Atlanta.  But his earliest ties are to the Cubs and his more recent dealings have been with Cubs GM Jim Hendry.   Truthfully, I really don't know how well he got to know Frank Wren, who joined the Braves in September of 1999 and was still the club's assistant GM when Maddux went to Chicago after the 2003 season.  

These special assistant roles are usually reserved for guys who have strong relationships and some kind of history with the GMs.   With this in mind, I just think the better fit at this time was for Maddux to lock horns with Hendry.   

My question is, does this arrangement provide any more reason to debate which hat Maddux should be wearing when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame?

Now to round up the update on the Cy Young trio, John Smoltz took time about two months ago to begin mending his relationship with the organization.  Everything seems to be heading in the right direction on that front.  

So while Smoltz might never again throw a pitch for the Braves, I don't think he'll feel the desire to stay completely away from Turner Field during his retirement years.

As for Glavine, I think he still has a right to feel just as infuriated as some of those Tennessee students and fans who have creatively found ways to destroy their Lane Kiffin t-shirts.   But this guy is a class act I get the sense that his relationship with the organization will also be repaired in the near future.

Speaking of former Braves left-handers, Chuck James is expected to begin throwing for teams within the next week.  The 28-year-old southpaw missed all of the 2009 season while recovering from shoulder surgery.   

While the Braves might have a need for somebody like James to improve their organizational depth in the starting pitching department, the southpaw may still be upset about how they handled his shoulder which bothered him for more than a year before he was completely shut down.
  
Chris Resop spent the past season and a half pitching in Japan and now he's ready to once again compete for a spot in the Braves bullpen. He has signed a Minor League contract and received an invitation to Spring Training.  

The 27-year-old right-hander, who made 16 appearances with the 2008 Braves, is excited about his arm strength and the sink that he's recently gained with his two-seam fastball. 
 
Catch you later this week.   Follow me on Twitter @mlbbowman

Thanks to the Braves newest media relations coordinator, Jim Misudek, I've gathered a couple of pictures of a snow-covered Turner Field. 

Keeping with the tradition of the stereotypical Atlanta pro sports fan, the snow chose not to fill the seats.

After yesterday's press conference that announced Troy Glaus as the Braves new first baseman, I asked John Schuerholz about the fact that it appeared the club had decreased its payroll.

Like many of you, I had been putting these salaries in a data base and essentially finding a payroll that added up to something in the neighborhood of $85-87 million.  During the 2009 season, the Braves spent closer to $95 million.

When Schuerholz responded, "(The payroll) won't be diminished at all", I basically knew I'd be spending a portion of the evening trying to dissect his words to determine how he was expressing a falsehood in a truthful manner.

But after a few more conversations this afternoon, I was led to believe it's time to put "PayrollGate 2010" to bed.  

While the Braves spent approximately $95 million last year, a portion of this total was utilized via insurance funds provided courtesy of the fact that Tim Hudson missed the first five months of the season. 

When you subtract these unspecified funds, it's easier to see why the Braves say their payroll will once again rest around $90 million.

Of course at the end of the day, does it really matter whether they're spending $86 or $94 million?  I mean if they don't make the playoffs again next year, I'm going to have to guess there won't be anybody saying, "yeah, but at least they tried by spending that extra $8 million."  
 

As we acquaint ourselves with 2010 and prepare for the expected confirmation of the Troy Glaus signing later today, let's make a few predictions about what this new year will bring. 

1) Chipper will bounce back:  If Glaus can remain healthy, Jones won't be hindered with the undue pressure that he placed upon himself during the 2009 season.  The veteran third baseman hit .335 with eight homers and a 1.017 OPS through June 9.  Other than a slight decline in power, his numbers were basically identical to those he'd produced over the previous 2 1/2 seasons.

While, I can't say there's one particular reason why he was so miserable at the plate over the course of the next four months, I think it's pretty safe to say his skills didn't just evaporate overnight.

2) Heyward will begin the year in the Majors:  Some writers are already asking whether they should tab Heyward as their preseason NL Rookie of the Year prediction.    For now, I'm just responding with the belief that this 20-year-old outfielder will indeed win a roster spot coming out of Spring Training.  

Heyward will play right field on a regular basis.   When going up against a tough left-handed pitcher, the Braves will likely choose to start the versatile Melky Cabrera in right.

3) McCann will gain a fifth consecutive All-Star selection:   Hey I needed an easy prediction just to increase the odds of getting something right.   Seriously, I basically threw this one out there to make the prediction that Mac's batting average will rise above .300 again this year.

Considering that McCann hit .225 against left-handers last year, it may have been a minor miracle that he actually ended up hitting .281 on the season.  One year earlier, he had hit .301 vs. RHP and .299 vs. LHP. 

Last year marked the first time that these splits were considerably different for McCann.  Now with his glasses put away and his eyes powered by a second Lasik surgery, we'll see him once again find the consistency that will push his average back up above .300.

4) Yunel Escobar will gain his first All-Star selection:  With Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzski, Jimmy Rollins and Miguel Tejada providing competition, it won't be easy for Escobar to gain a spot on this club.   But there were plenty of nights last summer when I would have said Escobar was just as good as any of those other shortstops.

Offensively, he can't match what Ramirez and Tulowitzki offer.  But when you factor defense, you can at least make the argument that Escobar is the NL's most complete shortstop. 

We saw Escobar show some enhanced maturity down the stretch this past season and if his peers around the league begin to see that he can be a likeable personality, then you'll see him start to get some of the attention he deserves when opposing players and coaches vote for such things as All-Star selections.

5) Tommy Hanson will be a 15-game winner: This prediction could also easily apply to Jair Jurrjens, Tim Hudson or Derek Lowe.   But seeing how Jurrjens is the "old" 23-year-old, it just seemed like this prediction about the "kid"  would stir more debate. 

Given that Hanson threw 56 more innings than he had during any previous professional season, there will be some who may predict that he won't be as impressive as he was during his rookie season.  But after watching him limit opponents to a .191 batting average in his final six starts and allow one earned run or less four times during this same six-start span, I'm taking the opinion that the "kid" wasn't battling any kind of alarming fatigue issues that will carry over to this upcoming season.


There were a number of other predictions I could have thrown out there. But I don't see any need to make postseason predictions and all of that until we actually see what transpires during Spring Training.




 

After making my 11-hour journey back home for the holidays yesterday, I learned that that yesterday's trade of Javier Vazquez had made many of you just as sick as my three female passengers, who had never previously been introduced to the twists and turns on West Virginia's mountainous turnpike. 

But after looking at this trade and getting a feel for what the Braves learned while navigating this year's trade market, I'd have to say the only reason that I currently dislike Braves GM Frank Wren stems from the fact that he made a point this morning to point out that the Mexican beaches he is enjoying lack the snow and cold temperatures that exist here in Wheeling, WV.   <p>

Before getting into this trade, let's touch on Troy Glaus, who will seemingly become the Braves new first baseman once he's able to get to Atlanta to undergo a physical.  Weather conditions in the northeast part of the country  imited hindered his immediate travel plans. 

So with some of the Braves doctors already beginning their vacations, it will likely be after the holiday break before Glaus could be introduced as the newest member of the Braves roster. 

Now back to the pitching front, where the Braves committed to trading either Vazquez or Derek Lowe once they gained the belief that Tim Hudson actually provided more certainty than either of these other two veteran right-handers. 

It's no secret that the Braves pushed hard in an attempt to find a suitor for Lowe.  But in the process, they found just a couple of potential suitors and each of these clubs wanted them to eat about half of the $45 million the veteran sinkerballer is owed over the next three years. 

Given that Vazquez finished fourth in this year's balloting for the National League Cy Young Award, there was reason to believe the Braves would have a much easier time moving him. 

But as time passed, it became apparent that among the clubs looking to acquire a starting pitcher via trade, the Yankees stood as the only potential suitor willing to spend as much as $10 million. 

With this in mind, the Braves were thrilled when the Yankees were interested enough in Vazquez to highlight this five-player trade with the inclusion of Arodys Vizcaino,  a 19-year-old right-hander who was rated by Baseball America  as the third-best prospect in the Yankees organization. 

The Braves view Vizcaino as being just as promising as Julio Teheran, a soon-to-be 19-year-old right-hander who was tabbed their third-best prospect by BA.

While making his frustrations known last week, Lowe playfully talked about reports that indicated the Braves were now just looking to get prospects for him.  This led the witty right-hander to ask, "What's next?  You think they'll be able to get an "L" screen for me?"

With Vizcaino, Mike Dunn and Melky Cabrera, the Braves got much more than they would have received in return for the salary dump they would have made by trading Lowe. 

Obviously to find value in this trade you have to look far beyond Cabrera, who will serve as a cheap versatile outfielder who can play each of the three outfield positions.  When the Braves are facing a tough right-handed pitcher, he could spell Matt Diaz in left field.  When they are facing a tough lefty, he could spell Jason Heyward in right field. 

Or maybe he just assumes an everyday role in right field until Heyward is deemed Major League ready.  Whatever the case, the Braves certainly didn't view him as the centerpiece of this deal. 

There's no doubt that it's tough to see Vazquez depart after just one year in an environment where he proved to be so comfortable.  He's a true professional who had a positive impact on Yunel Escobar, Jair Jurrjens and many of the other players in the clubhouse. 

But when it came time to make projections, the Braves certainly couldn't assume that Vazquez would definitely match the career-best season he enjoyed this past season.  In fact, there were some members of the organization, who felt it was much smarter to sell high on him and avoid having to sell low on Lowe. 

Even with Lowe coming off a career-worst season and Vazquez coming off a career-best season, recent history indicates you could place them in the same category. 

Durign the past three seasons, Lowe went 41-35 with a 3.91 ERA and 605 innings pitched. Vazquez went 42-34 with a 3.74 ERA and 644 1/3 innings pitched during this span. 

Given that Vazquez spent two of those seasons in the American League and is three years younger, you could certainly argue that he was the guy to keep.  But at the same time, the Braves also came to the realization that he was the only member of this duo who was going to provide any kind of return. 

Thus while exercising your right to voice your opinion about this trade, keep in mind that it was one that was necessitated once the Braves made the decision to provide Hudson with his three-year contract extension. 

If you weren't in favor of bringing Hudson back, then you certainly have reason to be upset about the fact that Vazquez's time in Atlanta was limited to just one season.  But while kicking and screaming about this, keep in mind there was no guarantee that the Vazquez that appeared last year was going to materialize yet again in 2010. 

Before saying happy holidays to all you loyal bloggers, I'd like to add that Wren left Lowe a lengthy message after the pitcher voiced his displeasures to me about the fact that it seemed like the club was giving up on him after just one year. 

A few hours later, Lowe sent Wren a text message that essentially said there were no hard feelings. 

OK, time for me to send Wren my own holiday wishes. I'm thinking it will consist of a reminder that stepping on seashells will prove much more painful than walking through this snow. 



  

Chip Caray received an early Christmas present on Monday morning, when Fox Sports Net hired him to serve as their play-by-play announcer for all the Braves games televised by Fox Sports South and SportSouth. 

This was the role previously held by Jon "Boog" Sciambi, who accepted a full-time role with ESPN at the conclusion of this past season.  

Later this morning, Fox Sports Net is supposed to officially announce this hiring of Caray, whose role as TBS' lead baseball announcer was terminated on Nov. 30.   That decision ended his association with Turner Sports, which handles all of the Braves games broadcast on Peachtree Television.  

This arrangement will allow Caray to once again call a majority of the televised Braves games.  During the past two seasons, he saw his workload with the Braves limited by the travel requirements that came with TBS' national baseball package.