Stats/lack-of-track-record be damned. I have faith in the kid. I can’t explain it. If he doesn’t learn to take a pitch, etc. this year, I’ll have a hard time supporting him. So yeah, I’ll be excited either way.

Weekly checks on Heyward’s and Hanson’s minor league stats.

And Francouer’s play this year. Some have abandoned him but I think he’s at the end of his rope and thats when he’ll play his best.

April 10th (the home opener). Weeknight Games. No more suffering through NBA games and crap college football teams on the weeknights, spring means its time for baseball. Thank God. The young players in general give reason for some optimism though I am not expecting to be watching a playoff team.

1. Rome – I go to lots of games, so it’s always fun. This year appears to be a little anticlimactic to last (Heyward, Freeman, Locke, etc), but you never know. I thought the same thing about the 2007 season, and Tyler Flowers emerged out of nowhere to make things interesting.

2. Jeff Francoeur – He’s become quite a polarizing figure these days, but he’s still one of my favorites. I really hope and expect he will turn things around. I’m realistic enough, though, to say that if he doesn’t, it’s time to move on……

3. Following all the minor league teams on a nightly basis via the net. Love it.

4. Going to Gwinnett – I’m actually physically closer to Gwinnett than Rome, and I’ll go to a few games there I’m sure….

5. First on my horizon is spring training. I think I’m going the weekend of the 19th (March), but this year I’m only going for one day instead of my usual two. The kids will drag me to Disney the other days. I may not even watch the major league game – I may just hang around the minor league complex all day.

1. January 1st – the start of my strat league’s rookie draft. I’m sitting on the picks that will land me Price, Bruce and one of Cueto/Kuroda.
2. WBC Time!!!
3. March 31st – strat league opening day.
4. April 6th, MLB opening day Braves at Phillies in Primetime sunday night HD!!
5. Following Hermida, Bruce, McCann, Gordon, Price, Schafer (when), Gallardo, Hanson (when) and a whole slew of others to see how they are progressing.
6. Making it to at least 5 or 6 games in ATL this year.
7. Although this is just a wish list right now, but i’m hoping to make some games in CIN and STL this year as well. /fingers crossed
8. Mid- July – futures and all-star games. I know, I know. I still like to watch. They can do away with the homerun derby though and this whole “home field advantage” debacle as well.
9. September call ups
10. October playoffs
11. Off-season hot stove – trades, signings, gm meetings, etc..
12. Repeat

A couple more minor things I’m looking forward to (some of which are pure speculation):
- will Cliff Lee finally fall off the “cliff”
- Anthony Reyes being given a shot in CLE – good luck Anthony!
- watching Chris Davis become the next Travis Hafner (in more ways than one most likely)
- Heap hitting the 30 HR mark come mid-sept.
- watching the Mets fold … again
- watching the Rays knock the Yanks out of the playoffs … again (OK technically the Rays didn’t actually knock them out, but just the fact the Rays made it in over the Yanks is enough for me).

TOP TWENTY REASONS BIG JOE IS LOOKING FORWARD TO THE 2009 BRAVES SEASON

1) giving up on the season in may
2) listening to THE BEACH games all year
3) going to IRON PIGS games to see (hopefully) redmond, THOMAS, and schafer among others
4) going to CBP/PNC and leaving in disgust in the 3rd inning after chipper’s hamstring blows up while running down the dugout steps
5) joining only 2 fantasy leagues to continue my god knows how long streak of winning titles
6) seeing jeff francouer and casey kotchman swing at the first pitch every at bat for 10 games straight
7) watching mccann give up on the season, growing to sabathia-size, and still starting the ASG and winning a silver slugger
8) ron gant: lead radio analyst
9) welcoming the soothing voice of chip caray back into my life for 3 or 4 nights a week
10) eventually getting so frustrated with blanco hitting a routine ground ball for a DP when we need a routine fly
11) watching KJ get platooned for some unfathomable reason
12) kyle davies: #3 starter in KC
13) adam wainwright: ACE in STL
14) the epic battle at the bottom of the division with the nats. thankfully, they’ve done even less than us
15) javier vazquez getting turned on and everyone realizes “he fucking sucks” come his 4th start
16) tyler flowers blowing through the chisox system and seeing some PT in september
17) julio teheran gets deported for some odd reason
18) same with escobar
19) bobby cox has a stroke in the dugout, still insists on managing. even not being able to move his left side, pinch hits for KJ in the 5th inning
20) the phillies & mets both shipwrecking and the marlins win the division

Peavy winning the cy young so i can say haha to everyone who ripped me for suggesting to aquire him

Great post idea, yodaime4. In no particular order:

Major League debuts: It’s always fun to see a guy get called up for the first time and this year should see a few guys debut that have had us all excited, Tommy Hanson and Jordan Schafer. It’s also pretty likely that Diory Hernandez, Steven Marek, Todd Redmond, and Kris Medlen will make their debuts at some point this year. And, of course there will be somebody we didn’t even expect, like Jason Perry and James Parr this past season.

The draft: I always look forward to this one, but this year should be very exciting with the Braves picking 7th. Over the last few years the 7th pick has yielded Yonder Alonso, Matt LaPorta, Clayton Kershaw, Troy Tulowitski, Homer Bailey, Nick Markakis, and Prince Fielder. Not too shabby.

The games: Come on, this is what it’s all about. Starting in early March in Spring Training, I go to somewhere between 60 and 100 games each year (though usually only a handful of Major League games) and I’m lucky enough to see Braves throughout the system and watch them get better from one year to the next.

The autographs: The only way you could possibly make the games better. I got 4,981 baseball cards signed this year, including John Smoltz for the first time and Dale Freakin Murphy! What makes getting autographs even more fun is how the Braves always make sure they have the very finest people playing for them and, really, getting autographs becomes second to just talking with the guys a bit. It’s nice hearing “Thank you for coming to the game.”

Baseball in general: Cause the offseason sucks. It sucks hard.

I hope Morton figures it out cause his stuff is awesome. Hoping for a real left fielder too. Swisher would be awesome!