It seemed telling when Braves general manager Frank Wren said Tommy Hanson looked much different Thursday than he had during the previous few days.  This seemed to be further indication that Hanson had indeed been pretty shaken up after suffering a Grade 1 concussion during a one-car accident early Monday morning.

When the Braves provided initial details of the wreck it was hard to envision exactly how he had injured himself.  We were informed that his tire blew and he went off the side of the road.  There were not any details about how the car came to rest or how he had jarred his head enough to create swelling around his brain.

Fortunately Hanson has provided a little clearer picture with the details that are available in this story (video included).  The condensed version of his story is that he is no longer feeling headaches, dizziness or other concussion symptoms.  He will continue taking concussion impact tests over the next few days and could be cleared for workouts as early as Monday.

It is quite evident that Hanson feels fortunate that he did not suffer a greater injury once his care went off the side of the road, down a small embankment and traveled approximately another 90 feet.

“I was in a field,” Hanson said.  “Most of the time, there are ponds right there.  Thank God it wasn’t a pond.  I would have had to swim out of there.”

The Braves are not currently pursuing free agent Roy Oswalt, who is now saying he could opt to sign with a team in June or July.   But if Hanson would continue to have problems over the next few weeks or Jair Jurrjens’ right knee does not prove as sound as it appears now, you have to wonder if the Braves would show more interest in the veteran hurler.

Oswalt would likely enjoy pitching for the Braves and remaining within relative proximity of his home in Weir, Mississippi.

But if the Braves’ starting pitchers stay healthy through the remainder of camp, it is not likely a play will be made for Oswalt.

Barring any setbacks, the Braves rotation to begin this year will include Hanson, Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor and either Julio Teheran or Randall Delgado.   There is no doubt Delgado was the more polished pitcher last year.  But Teheran obviously has the higher ceiling and might have made some strides during the winter.

Braves manage Fredi Gonzalez is now saying Teheran or Delgado will be used as a starter either with Atlanta or Triple-A Gwinnett.  Not sure why he said a few weeks ago that one of them could be used in a relief role if necessary.  Whatever the case, neither of them is going to see their development stunted while being used as a reliever.

When Chipper Jones returned to camp today, Brian McCann was happy to tell him about the “Fat Chipper” rumors that had created a buzz on the internet the internet this week because of one picture that was snapped while the wind was blowing through Chipper’s shirt.   Given that he weighs between 225-230 pounds right now, Chipper laughed and allowed McCann to have his fun.

“Mac is so happy now because every time that (chubby) kid comes on the (scoreboard screen) before our  (home) games and yells, ‘Play Ball’, I’m like, ‘hey that’s Mac,’” Jones said.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

While Chipper Jones was in camp today, Tyler Pastornicky was not.  Like all other position players, Pastornicky has until Friday to report.  But given that he has been given a chance to begin this year as Atlanta’s starting shortstop, it was easy to assume the 22-year-old infielder might have been anxious to get to what will be just his second big league camp.

Yesterday, I said he still has plenty of time and all of that other stuff.  While that still applies, I’ll have to admit I’m surprised he did not at least show up during Thursday’s workout.  But really all that matters is that he shows up to camp ready and spends the next five weeks doing whatever necessary to prepare for his first experience at the Major League level.

Tommy Hanson came to Spring Training expecting to be barraged with questions about his new altered delivery.  Three days into this year’s camp, he suddenly finds himself wishing he could be answering those questions and not the ones regarding the one-car accident he had early Monday morning.

Hanson is expected to make an appearance in Braves camp Thursday.  At that time, he will likely provide some clarity about what happened and more importantly how he has felt since being diagnosed with a Grade 1 concussion following the accident.

Whatever the case, Hanson will likely not be cleared to resume participating in workouts before Monday.

Kris Medlen said that he has seen Hanson sleeping a lot over the past few days at the residence they are sharing during Spring Training.  But it should be noted that he also added, “That’s really not out of the ordinary for him.”

Obviously many of you are wondering whether Hanson will be ready at the start of the season.  But with all of the recent studies done regarding concussions, the only thing that matters now is that Hanson go through the recovery before returning.

Sure, he’d like to make the Opening Day start against the Mets.  But in the grand scheme of things does it really matter if he makes his season debut during the Mets series or the one that follows against the Astros in Houston?

Speaking of Houston, Michael Bourn arrived in camp today and said that the Braves have not yet contacted him about a possible contract extension. No real surprise here.  It makes much more sense for the club to evaluate him over the course of an entire season and get a better feel for what they truly need beyond this year.

Bourn is one of the game’s few prototypical leadoff hitters and he has established himself as the game’s premier basestealer over the past few years.  But will his speed skills start to diminish once he goes north of 30, an age he will reach in December.  It might be easier to take a chance on  a three-year deal with him.  But I would expect Scott Boras will at least start the bidding a little higher.

With Bourn’s arrival, Tyler Pastornicky is the only projected starting position player who has not yet arrived.  Yet if he arrives Thursday, he will still be early.  If he had arrived early, the angle would have been that he’s excited to prepare for the job that he has been given.

But the fact that Pastornicky has not yet been in camp really does not mean much.  He has been working out with Jack Wilson and will come to camp prepared.  We’re still more than a month away from Opening Day.

Adam Russell has turned some heads when he has been walking through the clubhouse this week.  He is a 6-foot-8 reliever who might be the biggest reliever I have ever seen in a Braves clubhouse.   In a recent mailbag, I wrote think more Adam Dunn than Charlie Kerfeld.   On second thought, think of a super-sized Dunn.

“We’ve got football players walking around here?” Javy Lopez questioned when he recently saw the big pitcher.

Check back Thursday for updates on Hanson and other Braves news.

Follow me on Twitter @mlbbowman

Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson will miss at least a few more days of Spring Training workouts as he recovers from a mild concussion suffered during an early Monday morning auto accident.

Hanson will be evaluated after having a chance to rest for 48 hours.  If he is no longer feeling dizzy or showing any other concussion symptoms at that time, he will be cleared to gradually work toward normal workouts.  The first day he is cleared he will likely do something like ride a stationary bike for 10 minutes.

As long as Hanson does not suffer any setbacks, he could resume his workouts by this weekend or early next week.  Either way, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez does not believe the 25-year-old pitcher will be behind schedule.

“If everything progresses like we think it will, he’ll be fine,” Gonzalez said. “The thing (our trainers) do not want to do is bring him back too early and then he gets dizzy because of the concussion.  It’s just a natural progression.”

Hanson threw off the mound multiple times over the past month while he was altering his delivery in attempt to lessen strain on his previously-ailing right shoulder.   His shoulder caused him to miss the final two months of the 2011 season.  But he has not experienced any recent discomfort.

Hanson was involved in a one-car accident around 7 a.m. ET Monday while traveling to the Braves Spring Training complex.  He blew a tire and went off the road.  It is still not know whether he suffered the mild concussion by hitting his head or simply jarring it.

Gonzalez said Hanson’s concussion is listed as Grade 1 — the lowest grade.

When asked about the fact that their names were linked to trade rumors throughout the winter, Martin Prado and Jair Jurrjens reacted as expected. Both indicated that they are happy that they remained with the Braves.

But it appeared Jurrjens would have been the one who would have been able to better accept a trade.   Unlike Prado, he has actually spent a portion of his professional career elsewhere and got a taste of the shock factor when the Tigers told him he had been traded to the Braves when he was a promising 21-year-old prospect in October of 2007.

Prado has been with the Braves since signing his first professional contract in 2001 and he has developed a true love for the organization over the past decade. With this being said, he has prepared himself for the likelihood that he will not spend his entire professional career in Atlanta.

But when asked about the rumors Monday, his reaction provided the impression that he would have been crushed to learn he had been traded.

“I was shocked, but I knew it was going to happen, at least the rumors,” Prado said. “This is a business and I love the Braves. They are the team that gave me an opportunity. But I knew at some point of my career this was going to happen. I’m not thinking about that. This is something I can’t control. Whatever their decision was, I was going to respect that.”

Jurrjens’ reaction to the same question:

“When the rumors started, trying to take a nap was difficult because any time the phone rang, you think it could be somebody calling you to tell you, you’ve been traded. But it’s part of the business.   Everybody is trying to improve their team somehow.”

There has never seemed like many players were looking forward to finding out what the club might get for either Prado or Jurrjens this winter.

“A lot of people are talking about how there were not many moves made,”  Hudson said. “I don’t think there needed to be any moves.  I think the best moves were the two that weren’t made.  I felt like we had a World Series-caliber team last year and I feel like we do again.  We just had a bad month at a bad time of the year.” <p>

When asked about last year’s woeful September for the feature story that ran today, some of the Braves talked about how they started to get the sense they had been victims of the destined road the Cardinals traveled to a world championship.  Game 6 of the World Series certainly provided reason to wonder.

Then when Tony La Russa opted to retire just three days after the end of the World Series, I’ll have to admit I wondered if the Braves would have been able to hold off the Cardinals had they entered September with a 20-game lead.

Still while talk of “team of destiny” and “baseball gods” might make for good conversation, the Braves can’t ignore the fact that they simply didn’t get the job done.  This is what David Ross said after talking about how the Cards were seemingly destined to win.

“You can blame a hundred million things, but the bottom line is we didn’t get it done,” Ross said. “(The Cardinals) were hot and look at what happened to them.”

Hanson’s accident: As most of you likely already know, Tommy Hanson was involved in a one-car accident as he was driving toward the team’s Spring Training complex around 7 a.m. ET.  After making his way to the complex, Hanson informed the team’s medical staff that he was not feeling well.  He was then sent to an area doctor to be evaluated for a potential concussion.

If Hanson suffered a concussion, he will need to undergo baseline testing to determine the severity of the trauma and provide some indication as to when he might be able to return.

But the Braves did not seem too concerned on Monday.  It seemed like he was sent to the doctor simply as a precautionary measure.

I’ll provide updates when available.

Follow me on Twitter @mlbbowman

Bobby Cox and Tim Hudson both enjoyed Moneyball.  Well they didn’t like the way Art Howe was portrayed or the fact that the film didn’t at least give a pretty solid staring rotation some credit.  But they both found the movie to be entertaining.

Had the film focused on the pitchers, I am pretty sure Hudson is convinced the character portraying him would have been played by Brad Pitt.

Hudson was among the many Braves in a good mood as pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training on Sunday.  The veteran pitcher is not exactly thrilled about the fact that he will likely miss at least the season’s first month as he recovers from a Nov. 28 surgical procedure that fused his L5/S1 vertebrae with a sponge filled with bone-producing proteins.

But he’s feeling much better than he had while pitching with back discomfort in recent years. He entered the offseason hoping to avoid the surgical procedure.  But when he continued to struggle while putting on shoes and performing other normal tasks, he decided he had no other choice.

“ I definitely feel like I’m getting around a lot better,” Hudson said. “I felt like Fred Sanford for two or three years walking around the locker room.”  <p>

Yeah it would have seemingly made much more sense for Hudson to undergo surgery immediately after the 2011 season ended.  Had he done so, he might have been ready for the start of the regular season.  But now it appears either Julio Teheran or Randall Delgado will be filling his vacant rotation spot in April.

Those of you who believe Kris Medlen should always be mentioned in this discussion should know Hudson pointed toward Medlen’s locker when he said:

“I don’t have any pressure to get back early or back on time. One thing that makes it a lot easier for me is that we have guys who can fill in and be just fine. That guy (Medlen) right there, he is as good as anybody we have in my opinion when he’s healthy.”

That’s high praise for Medlen and there might soon be a day when he fills a starting role on a regular basis.  But I still think he’s most valuable as a versatile middle reliever with this club.  You can comfortably pitch him in any late-inning role.  His presence should really help Jonny Venters, Eric O’Flaherty and Craig Kimbrel over the long haul.

Hudson was also happy to point out that a fellow Auburn man, Dr. Stevan Wray, performed his surgery.

“I gave him a “War Eagle” before they put me under,”  Hudson said.

Early arrivals:  It has been pretty impressive to see how many position players are already in camp.  Position players are not scheduled to report until Friday.  Yet as of Sunday, shortstop Tyler Pastornicky and centerfielder Michael Bourn were the only projected starting position players who had not yet arrived in camp.

Camp Fredi:  During his first Spring Training with the Braves last year, manager Fredi Gonzalez placed a greater emphasis on conditioning drills.  This year he plans for the players to do a lot of their conditioning while completing baserunning drills.  He believes this will prove more beneficial than having them run along the warning track at the end of their daily workout.

“Instead of having these guys run 10 poles…These guys don’t run poles.  They run the bases for a living.  We’ll condition with them running the bases.  That’s what they do.  I learned it from the football mentality.  Why you going to ask a 300-pound lineman to run a 100-yard dash.”

Jason Heyward and Martin Prado will draw plenty of attention during the early days of Spring Training.   As some wonder how these two outfielders will rebound others will continue to ask Chipper Jones about the possibility of playing beyond this year.

Chipper will tire of that question real quick.  But by the time this month concludes, he will find himself much more willing to discuss his future than the club’s recent past.

Having had a little more than four months to distance themselves from the pain and frustration, the Braves will not come to camp eager to discuss last September’s collapse.  But the veterans certainly know that they will be asked time and again  about what happened and whether the experience will haunt or motivate them.

As I talked to Braves general manager Frank Wren earlier this week, he once again said, “We were a good team that had a bad month.”   Bad might be underselling it.  But that is a pretty accurate description.

Everything seemed to be in order when the Braves exited Wrigley Field on the afternoon of Aug. 25.  Brian McCann had homered twice in a win over the Cubs and the team had a 9 1/2-game lead in the Wild Card standings.  Yeah Hurricane Irene was making its way up the East Coast.  But there did not seem to be any real worry as the club made its way toward New York City.

Things started to change the following day when reports began surfacing the subway and other transit options in NYC would be shut down.  Saturday’s game time changed more often than Luis Valdez’s name before we finally learned Saturday and Sunday’s games were cancelled.

When told of this development Friday afternoon, some Braves players and coaches had to go back to Manhattan, pack and bring their luggage back to Citi Field.  As Chris Capuano recorded 13 strikeouts and tossed a two-hit shutout for the Mets a few hours later, you had to wonder if the Braves actually paid a few bellhops to wear their uniform and play that night.

If they did, the Dodgers did not seem to notice.   Hey now!

Anyhow as I exited the press box that evening I remember thinking it was one of the more lifeless efforts I had seen.  At the time, it seemed like a fitting ending to a weird day.  A month later, it was apparent the day was actually a sign of things to come.

This blog’s entry on Sept. 7 was headlined “Braves have slumbered since Hurricane break”.  Five days later, it read, “Things can’t get much worse for Braves”.   Oh yes they could.

The Sept. 13 entry read “McCann and Prado enhance concerns surrounding Braves.”  One week later the headline read, “Legit playoff teams would not panic in this situation.”  One week later the season was over the Braves were not a playoff team.

Little has changed with the Braves from a personnel standpoint  in the 4 1/2 months that have since passed.  The most significant offseason additions came in the form of new hitting coach Greg Walker and his assistant Scott Fletcher.  Both have already received some complimentary reviews from the players.  As most of you know, I could not say the same about Larry Parrish last year.  I Still vividly remember being in San Francisco last April when one of the players said, “this is not going to work” while talking about Parrish.

The Braves explored the possibility of trading Martin Prado or Jair Jurrjens this winter.  Over the next few months, I think they’ll be happy that they kept both.   Tim Hudson is pleased with the progress he has made since undergoing back surgery in November.  But it appears he will likely be sidelined until at least early May.

With Hudson out, the Braves will benefit from having a healthy Jurrjens’ experience in what will be a young rotation to start the season.    The rotation will likely include Tommy Hanson, Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy,  Mike Minor and Julio Teheran or Randall Delgado.  Any combination of Beachy, Minor and Teheran/Delgado has combined for no more than 58 starts.

This is why I believe the most important angle entering Spring Training centers around the health of Hanson and Jurrjens.  Yes it will be interesting to follow Heyward’s progress and provide updates as Tyler Pastornicky attempts to get comfortable with his role as Major Leaguer and starting shortstop.

The Braves need Heyward to turn things around and they need Pastornicky to consistently produce quality plate appearances as he adapts to life in the big leagues.  They also need to know Craig Kimbrel will not be scarred by last year’s conclusion and that Jones’ knees are indeed going to cooperate as he enjoys the opportunity to play at 40.

But more than anything the Braves need to enter this season knowing that they will not have to worry about Hanson’s right shoulder or Jurrjens’ right knee.  Hanson’s altered delivery has aided his shoulder like a knee brace has provided Jurrjens’ knee some stability as he has been throwing the past couple of weeks.

For many of you, it has likely been encouraging to hear and read about the progress Hanson and Jurrjens have made over the past few months.  But it’s time to see that progress and fortunately that time is now.

Braves pitchers and catchers report Sunday.

As the clubhouse staff moved boxes Thursday morning at Turner Field and players debated whether to travel to Florida next Thursday or Friday, it really started to feel like it is time to put an end to the offseason and welcome the start of Spring Training.

Braves pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex by Feb. 19.  After playing catch this morning, Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor decided they will likely start driving to the Orlando area next Tuesday or Wednesday.   Yep, the single dudes can do whatever they want whenever they want without much plan.

“I’m much more excited to get down there than I was the past two years,” Minor said. “Last year at this time I was still relaxing, playing Xbox and that kind of stuff.  This year, I’m really excited to get going.”

Minor seems so much more comfortable and confident than he was a year ago.   The 24-year-old left-handed pitcher seemed a little  hesitant when he arrived at Spring Training last year to compete with Beachy for the fifth spot in the rotation.  He did not impress during the Grapefruit League season and looked like a deer in headlights when he made a spot start for Jair Jurrjens on April 6 in Milwaukee.

At the time it was not ridiculous to wonder if he would need an entire year at the Minor League level to build his confidence and give him time to find at least a hint of consistency with his breaking ball.

Looking back at where he was last year, Minor admits he came to Spring Training comfortable with the prospect of having to spend some more time in the Minors.   He had totaled just 29 professional starts at that point and four of those were made as he was rebuilding his arm strength in 2009, after the Braves took him with the seventh overall selection in the First-Year Player Draft.

To his credit Minor quickly took advantage of the opportunity to develop a little longer in the Minors.  He worked with talented Triple-A pitching coach Marty Reed and started to show promise when he returned to the Majors for a couple starts in late May.   He proved even more impressive as he posted a 3.83 ERA in the nine starts made for Atlanta in August and September.

Minor made tremendous strides last year and Braves fans should be encouraged to learn that he has found comfort with the feel of his breaking ball over the past few weeks.  He said Beachy has been providing him encouraging feedback while the two have been playing catch.

“It feels like it did at the end of last season,” Minor said. “Hopefully I don’t eat my words and struggle with it in Spring Training.  But it’s really been feeling good out of my hand.”

It will be interesting to see exactly who is in the Braves rotation at the beginning of this season.   I’ve been projecting Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Beachy and Minor.  But it’s starting to sound like Hudson knew what he was talking about back in early December when he was telling close friends that he did not think  he would be ready for the start of Spring Training.

Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell said last week that he would be prepared if Hudson needs some additional time to recover from the surgical procedure performed on his back (herniated disc) in late November.

“We’ll progress as the doctors say he can progress,” McDowell said. “Whether it’s the middle of April or first of May, we’ll probably be a little more cautious so that we can have him at the end. There’s no reason to rush things and then have a setback.”

Fortified with the depth Julio Teheran and Randall Delgado provide, the Braves will not be concerned if Hudson is limited to 25-30 starts this year.  It is more important to allow him to fully recover and be ready to stay healthy once he returns to action.

Had the Braves traded Jurrjens, Hudson might have felt greater pressure during his rehab.  But he can now go through the recovery process with the comfort of knowing Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson are both confident they will be at full strength at the start of the regular season.

Jurrjens’ troublesome right knee should benefit from a knee brace and Hanson has attempted to take stress off his shoulder by strengthening his back and refining his delivery.

Chipper Jones has produced the most interesting nugget over the past couple weeks.  Shocker, right?  Anyhow, I’ m referring to the comments he made about Jason Heyward last week.

“When the ball jumped off his bat [in 2010], there was a sound unlike you had ever heard,” Jones said. “I didn’t see that at all last year. It’s due to some of things he was doing mechanically. The ball is jumping off his bat now close to the way it was in 2010.”

It was obvious Heyward was committed to turning things around in November when he discussed the workout schedule and diet he had been sticking to since the end of the season.  Yes, he lost 20 pounds and gained a leaner frame.  But more important this commitment allowed him to stay focused and regain some of the confidence he lost last year.

As an avid North Carolina fan, Braves head trainer Jeff Porter has long had a great appreciation for Roy Williams.  That appreciation now extends beyond the basketball court.

Porter was touched a few weeks ago when Williams sent him a letter to express his condolences regarding the tragic passing of Porter’s wife, Kathy, who was killed in an auto accident on  Dec. 31.

Williams is just one of the many who have reached out to help Porter in some way.  But one individual who really deserves to be recognized is Dr. Joe Chandler, who stayed with Porter and his 19-year-old son, David, the night of the accident and remained by their side for much of the next week.

Chandler will  always be recognized as the man who helped keep Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and so many other Braves on the field as they battled aches and pains.  But the man has proven to be so much more over the past year while selflessly providing support to Porter and Luis Salazar as they dealt with traumatic experiences.

Starting next week this blog will once again be updated with multiple entries on a weekly basis.  I figured it was time to produce a new entry when within a span of 12 hours, my mother and Chipper Jones both pointed out that I had been slacking.

There have been numerous times during this offseason when I have been convinced the Braves would eventually trade either Martin Prado or Jair Jurrjens.   Early on, there was reason to wonder if the Rockies would eventually package one of their young outfielders in a deal to acquire Prado or Jurrjens.

By the time December’s Winter Meetings concluded, there seemed to be a greater possibility of the Braves striking a deal with a pitching-hungry team that had not landed Mark Buehrle, C.J. Wilson or Yu Darvish. The belief was that once these pitchers were unavailable, there would be greater interest shown in Jurrjens.

The theory made sense.  But over the past month some of these pitching-hungry teams have shown they believe their were better options  –  Mat Latos, Gio Gonzalez and now Hiroki Kuroda  — than Jurrjens available.

So with a little more than five weeks remaining before the start of Spring Training, I’m now leaning toward believing both Prado and Jurrjens will be with the Braves at the start of the season.  Yeah, I know I jinxed it, right?  They’ll now probably both be dealt by the end of the weekend.

But seriously, I just don’t see it happening now.  The Braves entered this offseason thinking they would only trade Jurrjens or Prado if they were blown away with an offer.   As Spring Training nears, the odds of this kind of offer being made lessen.

It made sense for the Braves to at least evaluate what they might get in return for these arbitration-eligible players.  But they might have been a little optimistic to believe Prado and Jurrjens still possessed the kind of value that would warrant a significant return.

Coming off a frustrating injury-plagued season marred by a staph infection, Prado still has the potential to hit .300 with 10-15 home runs on an annual basis.  And his value increases when he once again becomes  versatile infielder who primarily plays second base or third base.

Some clubs  including the Tigers and Rockies have shown interest in Prado, but not enough to provide the Brave the kind of return they are seeking.

The same can be said in reference to Jurrjens, whose trade market value quickly diminished once his right knee became a problem after the All-Star break.   Still I think it would have made more sense for the Reds to gamble on Jurrjens’ knee than Latos’ makeup.

But it really doesn’t matter what I think.  The only thing that matters right now is that it appears both Prado and Jurrjens could be with the Braves at the start of this season.

This brings us right back to where we were in early November, when we discussed the great gamble the Braves would be taking if they traded either Jurrjens or Prado.

It’s great to have Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado and a wealth of young starting pitching.  But with Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor the Braves projected rotation already includes a pair of pitchers with less than two full seasons of experience.  This combined with health-related questions surrounding Tim Hudson and Tommy Hanson seemingly only increases the need to keep Jurrjens around a little longer.

Prado will never provide the kind of power clubs often hope to receive from a corner outfielder.  But few will be surprised if he quickly regains the form that equates to consistency at the plate and the ability to produce the  kind of quality at-bats that he produced before struggling with his confidence this past summer.

Some believe Prado’s struggles were a product of fatigue and others within the Braves organization believe he struggled under the direction of former hitting coach Larry Parrish.  Either way, he was not the same guy he had been the previous few years.

After watching Prado take a number of first-pitch fastballs down the plate, a baffled Braves coach asked him what was happening.   When Prado replied that he was “looking for (the pitcher) to hang a curve”, the coach walked away even more baffled.

In more ways than one, it was obviously a lost season for Prado.

Still thinking of the Porters:  It was great to hear Braves head athletic trainer Jeff Porter returned to Turner Field this week to start preparing for the season.   It was even more encouraging to hear that his 19-year-old son David returned to Auburn University this week, just a little more than two weeks after he and his father were involved in the fatal car accident that killed his mother, Kathy Porter.

There were many occasions over the past decade when I saw Kathy Porter with Jeff.  But since learning of the New Year’s Eve accident, most of my memories of her have focused on those days when she would shag baseballs as Jeff pitched to a young David in the outfield grass,  long after most everybody else had left the stadium at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.

As the Braves arrive for the start of Spring Training next month, I will occasionally think about those days Jeff and his wife enjoyed with their son many years ago.

When something like this happens, you wonder how you might react if forced to deal with the same tragedy.  I can only hope that I would have the same kind of strength David showed at the funeral home viewing, just three days after the accident.

As he stood next to his father that evening, young David showed that he had become the kind of young man that would make his mother proud.

The Braves expressed interest in Adam Jones.  But they did not offer Martin Prado and Jair Jurrjens to the Orioles in exchange for the outfielder.

A source with knowledge of the Orioles negotiations disputed a Baltimore Sun report that indicated the Braves were rejected when they offered Prado, Jurrjens and a pitching prospect for Jones.

The source said the Braves were told Jones was unavailable when they asked about him a couple weeks ago.  The Orioles later called the Braves to see if they would trade Prado, Jurrjens and two other “premium guys” in exchange for Jones.

The Braves said they were not interested and the two clubs have not had any recent discussions about these players.

With Mark Buehrle and C.J. Wilson no longer on the free agent market, some have argued Jair Jurrjens is the best available starting pitcher for pitching-hungry teams. But the Braves still have not received a trade proposal attractive enough to trade Jurrjens.

The Yankees, Rangers, Rockies, Reds, Cubs and Red Sox are among the clubs that have been identified as potential suitors for Jurrjens.   The D-backs (trade with the A’s) and Marlins (signing of Buehrle) were more prominent members of this group most of last week.

With a number of teams still looking for starting pitching, interest in Jurrjens could increase over the next few weeks.  One definite influence is the market for Yu Darvish. Once clubs better understand what they will have to pay the Japanese hurler, they might show greater interest in Jurrjens.

There are some concerns about Jurrjens’ right knee, which has sidelined him during the latter stages of the past two seasons. But there might still be some teams willing to take a chance on him as he comes off an All-Star season with salary projected to be just north of $5 million.  The 25-year-old pitcher has one more year of eligibility beyond this year.

The Braves also have not yet heard an attractive trade offer for Martin Prado, who is also drawing attention from the Rockies.  The Tigers were quickly rejected last month when they offered outfielder Delmon Young for Prado.

The Braves are expected to non-tender Peter Moylan before Monday night’s deadline.  Given that there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding his surgically-repaired right shoulder, it definitely should not come as a surprise to hear the Braves will not tender Moylan a contract and then be obligated to pay him something in the neighborhood of $2 million in 2012.

Braves general manger Frank Wren said last week that he plans to talk to Moylan about the possibility of returning to the organization at a cheaper cost once he starts throwing and gaining a better sense of how much he could pitch this upcoming season.

Saw some chatter about Brooks Conrad on Twitter this past weekend and it might have been sarcastic.  But for those of you projecting next year’s roster, I wouldn’t reserve a spot for Conrad.   He doesn’t seem to be much of a factor in the plans for next year’s club.