BRAVES NEWS
Braves bullpen battle begins to heat up
So, the back-end of the Braves bullpen appears to be crystal-clear: Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson will serve as set-up men for closer extraordinaire Craig Kimbrel. Aside from that, the picture is a bit murky, but appears to be clearing up a little bit as we enter the latter part of Spring Training.
But [James] Russell damaged his candidacy as he surrendered hits, including two homers and a double, to four of the seven left-handed batters he faced during Wednesday night's 12-5 loss to the Yankees. The veteran southpaw allowed left-handed hitters to bat .284 against him last year.
Unless Russell continues to struggle over the next couple of weeks, it appears
Jose Veras[welp, not anymore], Michael Kohn, Luis Avilan, Arodys Vizcaino and Juan Jaime are set to battle for the final two available bullpen spots.
Tom Hart leaves Fox Sports South
Yesterday, Fox Sports South announced their broadcast team for the 2015 season. Everyone's favorite duo of Chip Caray and Joe Simpson will be returning for another season. Unfortunately, this was also when Tom Hart announced that he'd be leaving FSS to focus on being the Braves GM to spend more time with ESPN. This is extremely sad news in my opinion, and the Braves TV broadcast will be worse off without his presence. You were too beautiful for this world, Tom.
Kevin Seitzer "not worried" about Chris Johnson
New hitting coach Kevin Seitzer will probably be judged on whether or not he can hopefully salvage something out of the smoldering ashes of Melvin Upton Jr. and/or help bring Chris Johnson back to the form that earned him the 2013 batting crown. Seitzer's reportedly been working vigorously with both, but he detailed the process that he's been going through with Chris Johnson in an article for Florida's news-press.com:
"We look on the video of what he was doing when he had the good year, and we try to get him back to that," Seitzer said. "That's about as simple as I can make it. So we're working on some adjustments, trying to shorten him up and work on his approach in the middle of the field. He got a little pull happy last year. He came out of his approach, and his swing got a little long. He was trying to turn on the ball too much. A right-handed hitter trying to go the left side or a left-handed hitter trying to go to the right side. Only when you're feeling good. And when you're not feeling good, you had better take it back to the middle.
"I'm not worried about results. He's going to have results."
A.J. Pierzynski receives one of the most casual ejections you'll see
Hey look, another member of the Braves got ejected during a Spring Training game, and this time it was the prime candidate himself, A.J. Pierzynski! However, what made an already special event of a Spring Training ejection even more special was the fact that umpire Joe West didn't even make the traditional motion of an ejection; He just casually turned around to the Braves dugout and informed them that they'd need a new catcher. Even the umps have gone into a Spring Training lull.
Braves falling behind in Olivera race
Although the Braves were one of the first teams to come out of the blocks and offer Cuban infielder Hector Olivera a contract, their money ($40 MM over 4 years) may not be long enough to keep pace with the money that other teams are throwing around ($50 MM and higher). However, Jon Heyman made note of the fact that the Braves may not be out of the race entirely since location and personnel (Fredi Gonzalez and Carlos Tosca are both Cuban) could come into play.
MLB NEWS
Marlins set to sign Christian Yelich to contract extension
So, the Marlins outfield is going to be pretty good for a long time. After signing Giancarlo Stanton to an absolutely ginormous contract extension, the Marlins have continued to keep a good thing together by reportedly decided to give Christian Yelich a 7 year, $49 MM extension. While Yelich's bat isn't quite there yet, his glove definitely has the chance to be one of the best in baseball (as evidenced by his Gold Glove award in a season where the Gold Glove awards were actually somewhat sensible), and the Marlins have apparently come to the conclusion that they need to keep him around for the foreseeable future. Good move for Miami, but bad for the rest of the division.
Phillies are making attempt at monumental task of trading Ryan Howard
Meanwhile in Philly, our poor rich friends in red and white continue to stumble through their rebuilding process, and their latest attempt includes an effort at pulling off what would be a minor miracle: Trading Ryan Howard.
General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters in December the Phillies would be better off without Howard, who posted a .223/.310/.380 batting line to complement 23 home runs and 95 RBIs in 153 games last season. If the Phillies are willing to cover most of Howard's salary, any team interested would only have to pay close to $10 million for two seasons of a first baseman who slugged .380 in 2014.
While the Phillies are open to covering up to $50 million, Howard also has a $10 million buyout for 2017. His $23 million club option could be picked up, however considering his age and declining offensive numbers, that may not prove to be realistic.
Yeah, good luck with all of that.