Every year the bloggers and members of the SBN baseball blog community get together and do our own BWAA-style voting for all of the major awards. No Braves finished very high in the voting. Surprisingly, Javier Vazquez was the Braves player who ranked the highest. Of course, Pujols won unanimously, as he should have, but it was a real scrum for second place votes. Here is the voting breakdown:

The AL results are after the jump

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More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Was it Divine intervention that prevented the Atlanta Braves from signing Rafael Furcal... or just his agents.

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Last off-season the Atlanta Braves announced they had come to terms with free agent Rafael Furcal on a three-year contract... but less than 24-hours later Furcal had signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the aftermath of that episode, Braves President John Schuerholtz stated that the Braves would never again do business with Furcal's agents, the Wasserman Group, headed by super-agent Arn Tellem.

As a side note to this, if we had signed Furcal, then we would have moved Kelly Johnson to left field, we never would have signed Garret Anderson, and Martin Prado may never have emerged as a bona fide major league starter at second base. And we might have traded Yunel Escobar somewhere. Things tend to work out for the best sometimes, as Furcal layed an egg in 2009.

Here are the free agents this off-season who are represented by the Wasserman Group, and are therefore off-limits to the Braves (courtesy of MLBTR):

Wilson Betemit
Aaron Boone
Nomar Garciaparra
Jason Giambi
John Grabow
Rich Harden
Shawn Hill
Reed Johnson
Jason Kendall
Hideki Matsui
Jason Michaels
Guillermo Mota
Vicente Padilla
Wily Mo Pena
Joel Pineiro
Matt Treanor
Randy Wolf
Omar Vizquel

I must say that there's no one I really want on that list, so for this year at least, no harm, no foul.

As part of season reviews for major league players and top prospect rankings for minor league players, we here at Talking Chop thought it would be a fun idea to get all of our bloggers together with the help of Google Docs and debate the various aspects of each position in the Braves organization.

The participants are, yours truly (gondeee, indicated by MG), yondaime4 (indicated by MF), royhobbs (indicated by DH), and cbwilk (indicated by CBW).

The round table for right-handed starters in the Braves organization is after the jump.

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A few nuggets of Atlanta Braves news from Our Sports Central today. First, the Braves have signed a minor league shortstop:

Coastal Bend Thunder's Amadeo Zazueta has been signed to a contract with the Atlanta Braves organization.

The transaction between the Thunder and the Braves was announced by Thunder field manager Al Gallagher.

The native Mexican was recently named one of the "Top 10 Talent" in independent league baseball by Baseball America.

Zazueta, 23, from Culiacan, Mexico, was originally signed by the Houston Astros. He played two years in the Venezuelan Summer League and was his team's Most Valuable Player in 2005.

Baseball America ranked him as the eighth-best Independent League player, and said he has a chance to be a major league shortstop (even though he is already 23). He's one of those all-field, light-hit shortstops. This is likely just minor league depth, but it's also insurance against injuries to either Yunel Escobar and/or Diory Hernandez.

Here is a link to Zazueta's stats.

In other OSS news, our old pal Rico Brogna was named manager of the Mobile Bay Bears, the double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Brogna was a minor league field coordinator for the D'Backs last year.

Every year the bloggers and members of the SBN baseball blog community get together and do our own BWAA-style voting for all of the major awards. This year two Braves placed in the NL Cy Young voting, Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens. Here is the voting breakdown:

Here is how Javier Vazquez and Jair Jurrjens stack up against the top-3 vote getters:

This was a pretty close race, and any of these guys could have a case for being the Cy Young.

The AL results are after the jump.

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The Atlanta Braves have named Dave Wallace minor league pitching coordinator and Garey Ingram the hitting coach at Class-AA Mississippi. We already knew about the Wallace hiring from a Seattle newspaper, but here is the official announcement:

Atlanta Braves Director of Player Development Kurt Kemp announced today that the Braves have hired two new staff members, as Dave Wallace has agreed to terms to become the Club's Minor League Pitching Coordinator and Garey Ingram has been named the hitting coach at Mississippi (AA). Wallace, who was given a two-year contract through the 2011 season, replaces Kent Willis. Wallace's primary responsibility will be to oversee the progress and development of the Braves' minor league pitchers at all levels.

The rest of the release is after the jump.

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The Atlanta Braves should sign Billy Wagner to be their closer... this is pretty much a no-brainer, especially after I learned that his agent is named Bean Stringfellow. I repeat, his agent is named Bean Stringfellow... and he used to pitch in the Braves organization:

First off, I love the stache. Classic late-70s, early 80s middle-American tweener stache. I think I had a couple of cousins who sported such a thing. I just can't get over that name, Bean Stringfellow. It literally turned my mood around today.

Thank you Bean Stringfellow.

You do realize that every time anyone mentions Billy Wagner from now on, they must refer to him as "Billy Wagner, whose agent is Bean Stringfellow," or somehow work in that name. Every. Time.

I can't believe that Rowland's Office hasn't highlighted this guy yet... major fail.

Bean Stringfellow got as high as triple-A.

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

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Every year the bloggers and members of the SBN baseball blog community get together and do our own BWAA-style voting for all of the major awards. This year they have chosen the Atlanta Braves rookie starting pitcher Tommy Hanson as the SBN NL Rookie of the Year. This, despite neither of the two Atlanta votes going his way. Perhaps our voters were being too cautious, or not wanting to put too much pressure on our young hurler. The reality is that Hanson is by far the better major league prospect on this list, with McCutchen probably a close second, and that may have swayed some voters despite Hanson only spending half a season in the big leagues. I find it interesting that four different rookies got a substantial number of first place votes. Here are the results:

The real Rookie of the Year awards will be announced next week.

The SBN NL Cy Young will be tomorrow and Atlanta has several hurlers that should get some votes.

The AL results are after the jump.

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Julio Teheran's funky delivery helped catapult him to the top of the Braves' pitching prospects list.

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The Braves have a long history of developing dominant Major League pitching and that trend seems to be continuing with the emergence of Tommy Hanson with Atlanta this season and with the near limitless potential of their top right handed starting pitching prospects. The top half of the list contains a pair of foreign born live arms, one of whom could become a future ace, a former second round draft pick whose stuff and body is as projectable as any pitcher to come through the system since Kevin Millwood, and a pair of more polished, durable college players who eat innings like candy.

1. Julio Teheran B/T: R/R Born: 1/27/1991 Ht: 6'2" Wt: 150
When he was signed out of Columbia as a 16 year old in 2007, Teheran was considered the top international talent available and was a major coup for Atlanta's scouting department. But, his status as a top prospect was quickly revoked by many as he battled both tendonitis and a sore shoulder as well as severely dented confidence in his professional debut, pitching just 15 innings for Danville in 2008, with a record of 1-2, an ERA of 6.60 and a WHIP of 1.46. But, those who continued to believe in him despite his struggles were rewarded for that faith in 2009, as he returned to Danville and pitched masterfully, with a 2-1 record, 2.68 ERA, and 0.98 WHIP in 43.2 innings covering 7 starts. He was rewarded for his efforts with a promotion to Rome at the beginning of August, where he pitched well, especially considering his youth, in another 7 starts, with a 1-3 record, 4.78 ERA, and 1.40 WHIP in 37.2 innings.

The jump to Rome was obviously an adjustment for him, as he saw a sizable increase in all of his numbers, including allowing more hits (10 per 9 innings compared to 7.4 for Danville), walked more (2.6 per 9 innings compared to 1.4 for Danville), and struck out less (6.7 per 9 innings compared to 8.0 with Danville). But, while his final start was poor, he was making adjustments, pitching 17.1 innings in the three starts before that while only allowing 4 runs and striking out 14 while walking 8.

While Teheran does have electric stuff, combining a fastball that tops out at 97 mph, but which is much more effective when he works it in the 94 to 95 range, with a devastating curveball that rolls in at 83 mph and a slurvey slider that could become his best pitch with more work, his mental makeup is his most impressive asset. Ironically though, his overconfidence was a part of his problem in 2008 when he had a difficult time dealing with the fact that the professional hitters in America weren't instantly intimidated by him like the amateurs in Columbia had been. Once he realized that he might not always be the best player on the field, and that he might not always have his best stuff, he was able to enter 2009 with a newfound willingness to be a pitcher instead of a thrower, and that cerebral outlook on the game, combined with his stuff, makes him likely to reach his ceiling as a Major League ace. It's also shown in his stats, as his strikeouts dropped from last season to this one but his effectiveness improved dramatically, a clear indication that he was pitching more to contact and allowing his defense to perform behind him.

Teheran will begin 2010 back at Rome as a 19 year old and the Braves are confident enough with his ability and makeup that they will have no problem moving him quickly if he succeeds. Don't be surprised to see him join Myrtle Beach's rotation sometime around the middle of the season, with AA and perhaps the Major Leagues both possibilities in 2011.

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The second half of the Braves top right handed starting pitching prospects contains several young, live arms, as well as a few more polished players, and one pitcher who could have an impact in Atlanta in 2010.

6. Caleb Brewer B/T: R/R Born: 2/2/1989 Ht: 6'3" Wt: 205
A 14th round draft pick in 2007, Brewer had a decent debut with the Orlando Braves in the GCL as an 18 year old, going 0-1 with a 4.68 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP in 32.2 innings, but certainly wasn't on anybody's prospect list coming in to 2009 after missing all of 2008 with an injury. But, he's rocketed himself up those prospects list after returning to the GCL this year, compiling a 3-3 record with a 2.82 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 44.2 innings in 12 games (10 starts).

Brewer held opponents to a pathetic .132 average against and led the team in strikeouts with 65, which was 23 more than Robinson Lopez, who pitched 4 more innings than Brewer, as well as leading the team in strikeouts per 9 innings, with an astounding 13.1. But, he also walked a ton of batters, 31, good for a whopping 6.2 per 9 innings. He had troubles with this in his first season, walking 6.6 per 9 innings that year, and while each could be explained away easily, inexperience the first season and rust this year, this is something he's going to have to dramatically improve as he moves up the ladder.

Baseball America recently rated Brewer's curveball as the best in the system, and he pairs it with a good fastball and a developing changeup. At 6'3", he has great size for a pitcher, allowing him to get good leverage on his pitches. The biggest thing for Brewer at this point is staying healthy. He should begin 2010 at Rome and since he's coming into the season as a 21 year old, he'll be a little old for a typical top prospect at that level, but given the missed time and his dominance this season, he seems capable of quickly mastering the Sally League, which could lead to quicker promotions in the ensuing years.

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