Here's a look at the major stories in the world of the Atlanta Braves for the week ending on December 6th:

  In the Press...

• Without too much surprise, the Braves offered arbitration to both relievers Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez, while declining to offer arbitration to Adam LaRoche and Garrett Anderson.
• Only a day after the arbitration decisions on both Soriano and Gonzalez, the Braves moved quickly to secure their closer for 2010 by signing Billy Wagner to a one-year contract with a vesting option.
• Talking Chop was one of the first sources for Billy Wagner press conference notes and pics.
• Before we could fully digest the Wagner signing, the Braves signed a setup man and capable closer in his own right, Takashi Saito to a one year contract. 
• Once again, Talking Chop was one of the first sources for Saito press conference notes and pics.
• There was some hubbub earlier in the week about whether or not Soriano would accept or reject arbitration, with several national reporters having differing info. That impending decision on Soriano's part was apparently still up in the air late in the week.
• Freddie Freeman ranked as the 7th-best prospect in the AFL.

At Talking Chop...

• The Atlanta Braves Fan Confidence Poll experienced some static, but remained unchanged.
• Fan House did a good job of reviewing some Braves prospects.
• I once again made the argument for Dale Murphy for Hall of Fame!
• Talking Chop got some exclusive notes on a Sirius XM interview with Frank Wren.

Notable FanPosts and FanShots...

• Sid Bream's Moustache passed along the news of Chip Cara parting ways with TBS.
• The Keith Lockhart Era linked to a good Frank Wren interview.
• PWHjort tried to get all technical on Derek Lowe's numbers. He came to a similar conclusion that I came to in my season review... that Lowe wasn't really that bad.
• Zeus12888 shared with us his conclusions from a project he conducted in statistics class about the effects of sacrifice bunting. It's good stuff, and well put together... well worth a read.

Should be a fun week this week with the Winter Meetings getting under way in Indy.