A quick poll for a Friday. How many games do you think the Braves will win in 2012?

From the AJC:

The Braves have set a player payroll budget of $94 million for this year, leaving them with several million dollars still to spend, the team's chairman and CEO said.

Terry McGuirk, in a wide-ranging interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in his Turner Field office, also said team owner Liberty Media has expressed no intention of selling the club in the near future.

And on another significant note, McGuirk disclosed that the Braves are locked into 25-year local TV contracts that will prevent the franchise from cashing in on Major League Baseball's trend toward dramatically higher telecast rights fees.

That's not to say that it's necessarily bad news either. At least the team knows what it's revenue will be in the foreseeable future, and knows that it will have to continue to build from within, and compete that way. My first follow-up question would be (and Tim Tucker should have asked this), "why isn't the team spending more in the draft and in the international market?" If the Braves can't complete with free agents, and has to retool from within, why aren't more resources being allocated to signing young players?

Here is another good quote from the article (which everyone should read in full):

"In a way, I almost relish when one of our competitors goes in the free-agent market because it’s so inefficient and such a bad use of dollars," he added. "You almost never get the value out of a free-agent market expense. We all have limited dollars to spend, so if someone in wasting those dollars in a competitive situation, it helps us."

That's an interesting valuation of the market, and one that should give us some insight into how the Braves front office evaluates players and contracts (and probably how they realize that they got burned by the Lowe and Kawakami deals).

Interesting insight from the Braves CEO. I wonder why he felt he needed to reveal all this stuff. The Braves have kept most of this close to the vest for a long time, so what's the advantage in revealing it now? I'm glad he did, even though it's not the best of news, but at least it tells us what the reality of the team's payroll is. And I guess that's the best explanation for why this news was released, the club felt like it had to provide an answer for why it wasn't doing anything this off-season. The second quote about free agents really reveals the whole reason why McGuirk gave this interview.

"Why didn't the Braves sign any big free agents," the fans ask.
"Hahaha," says the front office, "the joke is on those other teams who overspent on free agents."

(Note that the Braves are still paying for the last time they overspent on free agents.)

While the Braves have graduated three prospects to the Majors in the last two years who were challengers for, or won, the Rookie of the Year, it's good to know there is a wealth of young talent still to come in the Atlanta system. MLB Network and MLB.com released their top-100 prospects last night, and five Braves farm hands found their way onto the list.

The top guy was of course Julio Teheran, who was ranked as the fourth-best prospect in baseball. Here is the scouting report from Jonathan Mayo on the Braves young hurler:

With three pitches that grade as above-average or better, there’s good reason the Braves are excited about Teheran. With a clean delivery, he delivers fastballs in the mid-90s, and though he still looks like he could add some strength, durability and maintaining velocity have not been issues. To complement his fastball, Teheran also throws a curve and changeup, both above-average to plus, and he commands all three of his pitches well. The Braves were willing to push Teheran aggressively, then call him up at such a young age last year because of his outstanding poise on the mound. He’s not one to be fazed by taking his lumps at the highest level.

After Teheran, the next Braves prospect on the list was Arodys Vizcaino, who ranked 36th, followed by Randall Delgado at 42. Talking Chop's top prospect rankings have them reversed, with Delgado ahead of Vizzy. Much of that has to do with Delgado projecting as more of a starter, while Vizcaino has begun his MLB career as a reliever. Both are terrific young pitching prospects who should be impact players in the next year or two.

The last two Braves on the list are both hitters, a good sign for an organization that is a little thin in the hitting prospect department. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons ranks 65th on the list, more evidence that he is breathing down Tyler Pastornicky's neck, and may be ready for Major League action as soon as this season. John Sickels also ranked Simmons on his top-50 hitting prospects in baseball.

And the final Braves prospect on the list is catcher Christian Bethancourt. CB finally had a breakout year in the minors, while repeating at Rome in the first half. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and dominated, which likely earned him inclusion on this prospect list. He's still very raw and will move slowly through the system, but he's full of tools, and if he puts the right amount of energy into his everyday catching duties, he has a chance to be a special player.

Great seeing so many Braves listed in the top-100. As always you can find the Talking Chop top-25 prospects on the left sidebar all season long.

This is the final part of my comprehensive look at the Braves' offense. Here are the links to the earlier posts on the team's catchers,1st basemen, 2nd basemen,shortstops, 3rd basemen, right fielders, and center fielders.

In my last post, I remarked upon the Braves' center field woes dating back to Andruw Jones' decline & departure. What's depressing is that the Braves' left fielders have been nearly as bad for even longer. Since Ryan Klesko left after the 1999 season, the Braves have had two above-average full seasons from the position... and both were by Chipper Jones during his brief exile from 3rd base. After that, it's basically Matt Diaz in a platoon role and that one year when Charles Thomas played out of his mind.

The 2011 season brought more frustration for Braves fans, as Martin Prado--previously a reliable offensive presence--moved to left field and struggled mightily. Like Jason Heyward, his season was marred by health concerns (in Prado's case, a bout with a staph infection). Prado's main backup, Eric Hinske, also had a somewhat disappointing season, though he wasn't bad.

The graph below shows how the Braves' left fielders compared to the rest of the NL in 2011 using Weighted Runs Created (wRC). Please click to expand it:

Because Prado and Hinske both played extensively at other positions, the Braves got a disproportionately large amount of plate appearances (over 900) from left fielders; this skews their totals, making their production look decent when it was actually quite poor. Pay more attention to the rate version in the graph, which shows the Braves to be dead last at the position in the NL.

More analysis and a review of the 2012 projections after the jump.

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Former Braves minor league pitcher Steven Shell has been suspended for violating baseball's substance abuse policy. Shell was signed by the Braves last year after he was released by the Royals. He appeared in 28 games for the triple-A Gwinnett Braves. Here is what the WSJ had to say:

Former major league right-hander Steven Shell was suspended 50 games after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol.

Shell is currently a minor league free agent, and his suspension will begin once he signs with an organization.

I'm not sure if this was an off-season drug test, or a sample from this past season that was just now tested. It's a bit concerning that the Braves organization is once again linked with a positive drug test.

Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from testosterone according to Wikipedia. It is available in tablet form and can be taken orally. Like many steroids it increases muscular growth and enhances virility.

Shell saw some time in the Nationals bullpen in 2008 and 2009, and was pretty effective in 2008, posting a 2.16 ERA and a .194 batting average against in 50 innings out of the bullpen. More than likely he was not in the Braves plans for 2012, and even if he is re-signed, will likely be triple-A pitching filler.

Atlanta Braves outfield prospect Todd Cunningham has more going on than just baseball. Check out this video he released a few days ago:

I'm not sure if this is a serious video or somewhat slapstick, but the intro and the cutaways are rather funny (again, not sure if that was the intent, but that's the impression I get). Interesting stuff. You can follow Todd on Twitter @Todd_Cunningham.

Dusty Hughes was originally drafted in the 11th round out of Delta State University by the Royals in 2003. He pitched well in his first few years as a starter in A ball before undergoing Tommy John surgery midway through the 2005 season and missing all of 2006. He returned in 2007, working as a swingman for AA Wichita, earning a 3.08 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP in 108 innings, then built on that success in 2008 with a 2.91 ERA and a 1.20 ERA in 52 innings for AA Northwest Arkansas, before struggling in AAA with a 5.04 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP for Omaha. He was much better in a return to Omaha in 2009, posting a 3.50 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP in 87.1 innings, numbers good enough to earn him a September call up. He pitched in 8 games, including his lone Major League start, putting up a 5.14 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, and 15 strikeouts in 14 innings.

He earned a job in Kansas City's bullpen in 2010, and spent the entire season in the Majors, appearing in 57 games, finishing 19, and putting up a 3.83 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. Despite that solid rookie season, the Royals put him on waivers and the Twins claimed him prior to the 2011 season. He earned a job in Minnesota's bullpen to start the 2011 season, but after putting up a 9.95 ERA and a 2.13 WHIP in 12.2 innings over 15 appearances, he was optioned to AAA Rochester, where he spent the rest of the season, earning a 4.29 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP, and 10.8 K/9 in 56.2 innings over 43 appearances. After the season he became a Minor League free agent and signed with the Braves in late November.

Hughes is a bit of an undersized lefty, listed at a generous 5'10", 185 pounds, and he has only an average fastball, sitting between 88 and 91, though he pairs it with a well above average changeup that comes in between 80 and 83, a difference in speed and movement that baffles hitters when he's on. His diving slider is a solid pitch when it's on, and he's better when it is, and his curveball is a loopy show-me pitch.

There are a few open spots in the Braves bullpen, so with an outstanding Spring Training Hughes could find himself on an opening day roster for the third straight year. Atlanta already has the best pair of lefty relievers in the game in Jonny Venters and Eric O'Flaherty, so in addition to competing with pitchers like Anthony Varvaro, Arodys Vizcaino, Cory Gearrin, Jairo Asencio, JJ Hoover, Adam Russell, Todd Redmond, Jaye Chapman, and fellow lefty Robert Fish for one of the final bullpen spots, Hughes may have to contend with the team being content with only having two lefties in the pen. At worst, Hughes will provide a veteran presence in AAA Gwinnett's bullpen while waiting for an opportunity to open up in Atlanta.