BRAVES NEWS
Are The Braves As Good Of A Baseball Team As The Giants Are?
Yeah, this was fun to read the morning after the San Francisco Giants just won their 3rd World Series title in 5 seasons. Could the Braves, the team that you just watched stumble and bumble their way to 79 wins in 2014, possibly be better and have more talent than the team who just won the freaking World Championship?! Is that what this man is saying?
Well, no, I didn’t say that but I simply asked the question, "Are the Braves as good as the Giants"? My feeling is that the Braves aren’t as good as the Giants but maybe they should be.
He then proceeds to go down the list of positions, comparing Braves starters with Giants starters. He mostly makes obvious points, but the fact of the matter is that this was a really bad year to make this comparison. Yeah, the best of the Braves matches up somewhat decently with the best of the Giants, but where the Braves were bad, they were BAD. The Giants had a "weakness" at 2B and CF. The Braves had black holes at those positions, and that's just for starters. But, the columnist does wrap it up with this take:
So why are the Giants in the World Series if the Braves match up so well with them. Well, it obvious. The Giants know how to win, they play hard, they play as a team, they scratch for a run, they don’t strike out often, they have solid at bats, they hit with runners in scoring position. All things that the Braves don’t do!
Well, there you have it. Thank you for giving us this take fresh out of the oven.
Hart: "Payroll Will Be Between 100 MM and 120 MM"
Earlier this week, John Hart had a conference call with "A-List" Braves fans where it basically gave us a chance to ask some questions of the new GM President of Baseball Operations. Of course, the questioning eventually came to payroll, and according to Tomahawk Take, Hart said that the payroll will be "North of 100 MM, but South of 120 MM." The Braves spent 112 MM, so this means that they'll probably be in the same area as last season, I'd bet.
Braves Expected To Offer Santana Qualifying Offer
The main reason why the Braves payroll went "above budget" last season was because they ended up having to sign Ervin Santana to a deal in order to salvage what was left of the rotation following season-ending injuries to Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen. They'll probably be offering the baseball sniffer a qualifying offer, and in Dave O'Brien's blog, he states that Santana's decision is basically going to decide what direction the Braves go in with their rotation.
MLB NEWS
Giants Win 3rd World Series In 5 Seasons
Hey look, the Giants are World Series Champions again! They did it in 2010, they did it in 2012, and they've somehow done it again in 2014, after they scratched out a 3-2 victory over the underdog/sentimental favorites Kansas City Royals in an extremely tight Game 7. The Giants went up 2 early, but the Royals came back with 2 runs of their own in the 2nd inning, which is what ran former longtime Brave Tim Hudson from the game. The winning run was scored in the 4th inning thanks to a broken-bat single by Michael Morse.
The Giants had a 1-run lead at that point, and it stood up because:
Bumgarner Pitches 5 Innings On 2 Days Rest
Madison Bumgarner is the freaking man. Just 2 days after he pitched a gem against the Royals, Bumgarner made a relief appearance in Game 7 because turn down for what, right? To be honest, I figured that he was just going to pull a Randy Johnson in 2001 by just facing a few batters in a tight situation in order to pass the baton to the rest of the bullpen. Nope, he carried the Giants on home to the crown with 5 scoreless innings, and in the process he earned the World Series MVP trophy and wrote himself into October baseball lore with this amazing performance.