It's been often repeated this off-season, and will likely be repeated even more as the season nears: the Atlanta Braves didn't add a single new Major League player via free agency or trade. The only "moves" the team made were moves of subtraction, by trading away Derek Lowe and letting Alex Gonzalez leave as a free agent. Other than that, this team looks nearly identical to the team that missed the playoffs by one game last year.

With that in mind, today's poll question is pretty simple, "Do you think the Braves did the right thing this off-season by not adding any additional players via trades or free agency?"

Vote in the poll and discuss in the comments.

Talking Chop was the first Braves site to bring you the news that the organization was looking to move one of its minor league teams to Wilmington, North Carolina. Bobby Cox and other Braves executives have had meetings with Wilmington City Counsel Members about constructing a new stadium for a Braves minor league affiliate. Now it appears the Wilmington City Counsel is about to set the wheels in motion to negotiate with the Braves. From the Lumina News:

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and city council held a press conference Tuesday, Jan. 31 to announce that council will move into serious talks about locating a minor league baseball stadium in Wilmington.

The council will vote in next Tuesday’s regular meeting to approve a memorandum with the understanding that the city of Wilmington, Mandalay Entertainment and the Atlanta Braves Professional Baseball Club will work on finding an agreement for bringing a baseball stadium and team to the city during the next six months. [...]

Mandalay Entertainment and the Atlanta Braves want the stadium to be operational by 2014, Saffo said; hence the urgency to begin discussions.

Mandalay Entertainment via its subsidiary, Mandalay Sports Entertainment, has an ownership stake and/or consults with six current minor league teams, from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees to the highly successful Dayton Dragons, who have sold out a record 815 consecutive games. They also recently began consulting with a seventh team, the Winston-Salem Dash. I imagine that their role in this venture would be as a partner/consultant to the Braves in a new Class-A Advanced franchise in Wilmington.

The Braves agreement with the Lynchburg Hillcats, the Atlanta organization's current Class-A Advanced affiliate, will expire at the end of the 2014 season, so the urgency the article speaks about is surely meant to imply that the Braves would like a new stadium in place for the 2015 season, when they would presumably move their Class-A Advanced team from Lynchburg to Wilmington. At the same time the Braves would likely switch from having an independently owned Class-A Advanced team to one that is owned by the parent Major League organization, which is the case with all other Braves minor league teams.

It is now clear that the Braves are determined to bring all of their minor league teams under their ownership and control, leaving no independently owned teams within the organizational structure. The Wilmington Braves would be the final piece of that puzzle.

The Atlanta Braves announced which minor league players they will invite to spring training this year. This list is long and includes some of the team's top prospects and up-and-coming young ballplayers.

Last year's top pick, left-hander Sean Gilmartin, will join right-hander Zeke Spruill as the two pitching prospects receiving invites. Arizona Fall League standouts catcher Christian Bethancourt and third baseman Joey Terdoslovich will be in camp, along with top shortstop prospect Andrelton Simmons.

Outfielders Todd Cunningham and Stefan Gartrell received invites, as did catcher Evan Gattis, one of the feel-good stories in the Braves organization. Catcher Matt Kennelly also gets an invite, because you can never have too many catchers in spring training.

Our old Aussie friend Peter Moylan also gets an invite to spring training. They will join the previously announced non-roster invitees, who were (mostly) all profiled on Talking Chop over the last month. We will continue our NRI In-Depth series starting next week with the new invitees.

Links to NRI In-Depth player profiles:

Jason Rice
Drew Sutton
Luis Durango
Adam Russell
Yohan Flande
Ernesto Mejia
Josh Wilson
Jordan Parraz
Jose Yepez
Dusty Hughes

A great tweet to see from Atlanta Braves beat writer David O'Brien this morning, quoting Chipper Jones regarding Jason Heyward:

Hallelujah!

Excitement ... building.

Last year the Atlanta Braves won 89 games and lost 73. As we all know by now, they fell just short of the playoffs, and didn't have enough left in the tank to win just one of their last five games. But Braves fans are still optimistic about this team in 2012 -- a team that barely changed a single face from last year's team.

In last Friday's poll, conducted on this very website (results below), when asked how many games they thought the Braves would win in 2012, 61% of Atlanta fans chose an answer above 89 games. Forty-five percent of respondents think the Braves will win between 94 and 90 games, with the remaining 16% even more optimistic.

The second most frequently chosen wins total was between 89 and 85 games; 28% of voters chose to believe the Braves win total will fall somewhere in there. Only 8% believe this 2012 team will win fewer than 85 games. (I therefore assume that 8% of the readership of this site is composed of Mets and Phillies fans.)

The overall judgement of Braves fans voting in the poll seems to have been that the 2012 Braves team will be better than the 2011 team, even though the only moves the team made were to subtract their starting shortstop and opening day starting pitcher.

Optimism is in the air ... it must not be long until spring training.

From a David O'Brien Tweet regarding Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones:

I really have no words for that. Strange. I guess he felt it probably wasn't that serious (but if that was the case, then why did he get an MRI). Strange.

It seems like Chipper is almost giving too many reassurances of his health today (if you're following the tweets from David O'Brien and Mark Bowman). Of course, that could just be what those guys are choosing to highlight in their reporting today, and not really anything different than normal. Speaking of...

LOLarry!

Perhaps now we are seeing the reluctance of the Atlanta Braves front office to make any additional trades (beyond Lowe) this off-season. Here is Roger McDowell from Braves pitching camp at Turner Field yesterday regarding Tim Hudson:

"We'll progress as the doctors say he can progress," McDowell said. "Whether it's the middle of April or first of May, we'll probably be a little more cautious so that we can have him at the end. There's no reason to rush things and then have a setback."

"Middle of April or first of May," that's a long time to be without your ace. This could be the big reason that all the Jair Jurrjens trade rumors went nowhere, and were pretty much unsubstantiated rumors to begin with. Hudson's recovery from back surgery to repair a herniated disk in early November may put him a couple of months behind the rest of the team when spring camp begins next month.

It certainly seems like the Braves aren't counting on Hudson to start the season. Add to that the uncertainty of Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson to return from their late season injuries, and the only pitcher from last year's season-opening starting staff who seems to be a sure bet to be healthy to begin the season is Brandon Beachy. It's a good thing the Braves have great starting pitching depth.

This depth could be put to the test early in the year, as the kids will have to be ready when the bell rings if the veterans on the staff can't go. The Braves rotation to start the season could conceivably look something like this: Beachy, Mike Minor, Kris Medlen, Julio Teheran, and Randall Delgado. Then as Jurrjens, Hanson, and Hudson got healthy, the guy doing the worst in the rotation would likely be replaced with the veteran.

If that mix of youngsters is actually the rotation to start the season, then the Braves will not have a single starting pitcher in their rotation over the age of 26 ... and it would still be a really good staff. Even when Jurrjens and Hanson return, the staff would still be 26 or younger. Take a minute to marvel at that amazing young starting pitching depth...

It's going to be a spring training with lots of reports about injury recoveries. Reports of pitchers ahead of their rehab schedule, and reports of others behind in their rehab. Get ready for a lot of conflicting reports, but in the end remember that the Braves will probably err on the side of caution with Hudson, Hanson, and Jurrjens, and even if they throw well in the spring there's still a chance that all three could start the year on the disabled list.

The early season scheduled off-days don't really give the team the ability to use a four-man staff to start the season, so a full five-man rotation will probably be needed from the opening bell. By the way, if the opening day rotation is Beachy, Minor, Medlen, Teheran, Delgado, who would be your opening day starter?

Imagine the sound of cartoon car breaks screeching to a halt, and that's what my mind did when I saw this tweet from David O'Brien:

Oh great. Now we have to worry about Buddy Carlyle stealing time away from more deserving pitchers. I guess as triple-A depth he's not that bad, but more than anything he represents those Braves teams of the late 2000's when they were settling for below average players. They stumbled upon some guys who did okay at first, but far too often they stuck with those guys for too long, to the detriment of the team.

I'm already getting the chills just thinking of what a healthy Jason Heyward will mean to the Atlanta Braves this season. Here is the money quote from an article posted over the weekend about our young outfielder by Peter Gammons:

When Heyward was growing up outside of Atlanta, he went to a handful of Braves games every year, and after playing every day in one of the nation's elite programs, he watched the games with his parents. What he didn't know then was what Major League players deal with, especially when they are hurt.

"With the help of my parents, I realized that the only way to cope with disappointment is to overcome it with hard work," Heyward says. "Performance comes from work and dedication, belief and strength. Words and excuses get you nowhere."

The even tempered way in which Heyward carries himself continues to impress me time and again. I remember what a punk I was at age 20, and I also remember how immature and impulsive I was at age 25, but I've never been subjected to anything close to the pressure situations that Heyward has been under since he was in high school. For a kid his age to carry himself that calmly and be so self aware is an amazing thing, and it has been and will continue to be one of Jason Heyward's greatest assets.

I'm really excited to see what a healthy Heyward can do this year. In an off-season for the Braves that was more about subtraction than addition, a renewed Heyward is the key to a successful 2012.

I'm going to change up "Five to Collect" this week and feature a different card for five different players. This year, the Atlanta Braves placed five players on MLB's Top-100 Prospect list for 2012. I'll show you one great card for each player that would make a terrific addition to any collection.

Julio Teheran: 2011 Topps Chrome Autograph

Has Julio Teheran's time arrived? MLB has rated him as the number 4 prospect in all of baseball. He dominated AAA last year. Still, even with the departure of Derek Lowe, the Braves have a lot of quality starting pitching. There's a chance that Teheran will start the season back in Gwinnett. I think there's little doubt that at some point this season, you will see Teheran on the mound every fifth day for the Braves. I can't wait.

If you need just a single card of Teheran for your collection, it would be easy to recommend his 2010 Bowman Chrome auto. A player's first Bowman Chrome auto is typically considered the "must buy" for any collection. If you are looking to "invest" rather than collect, then this would also be the card for you. It is already selling at $35.00 on eBay, so it isn't a bargain anymore. Still, if he breaks camp in the rotation, you can expect a solid bump. If he starts racking up quality starts, you can look for the price to increase even more. So, while there's little doubt that his Bowman Chrome card is the best investment, with its posed picture and spring training background it just doesn't hold a candle to the card pictured.

Julio Teheran's 2011 Topps Chrome auto is a nearly perfect baseball card. You won't find better photography of a pitcher. He's captured perfectly in his follow through. I love that the picture is a close enough shot that you can see the determination on his face, but not so close that you can't make out his motion. The photograph's perfection is achieved by the capture of the baseball in mid-air. This is a great looking card and best of all, you can find it on eBay right now in the ten dollar range. It's hard to imagine a better modern baseball card.

Teheran looks poised to become a hobby darling. He has been signing for Topps at a prodigious rate which, while not good for card value, is great for collector's who want to amass a collection is his autographed cards at an affordable price. He had numerous auto cards selling in the eight to twenty dollar range. The time seems right to start that Teheran collection.

Arodys Vizcaino: 2010 Bowman Chrome Autograph

How glad are we, as Braves fans, that Melkey Cabrera wasn't the centerpiece of the Javy Vazquez trade? In making that deal, Frank Wren was looking to add Vizy to the farm system's already impressive collection of young arms. Last season, he moved from A ball into the Atlanta bullpen and excited everyone with that live arm of his. I have no idea if the Braves view him as a reliever permanently or whether they plan on sending him back to the rotation once the ranks thin out a bit. Either way, he's fun to watch. (MLB ranked him at 36th in their list.)

Unlike Teheran, Vizcaino is not a darling of the hobby yet. In addition to the card pictured, he has been featured on an auto card available from the 2010 Donruss Elite set, but I can't recommend that card. The set doesn't feature team logos on any of the uniforms since Donruss doesn't have a license. The air brushing looks far better than it did in the old days where it typically looked like someone had used a crayon to replace the logos. Even with the perfected photo doctoring though, there's something about a player not appearing in a true uniform, logos and all, that takes me out of a card. I am not a supporter of MLB allowing but a single card manufacturer, but I typically can't buy a card without recognizable logos.

So, I recommend getting Vizcaino's 2010 Bowman Chrome auto card. I would prefer an action-shot, but that's generally not what you get on the cards of young players in Bowman Chrome. You tend the get the pitcher looking in for the sign in a posed shot. With this card, that's what you get, and fortunately, its a good shot with a good view of the kid's face. Buy it Now auctions on eBay are typically priced in the 25 dollar range for the card, but you can typically win open auctions for the card at around 15 dollars.

Randall Delgado: 2011 Tristar Obak Autograph

If I had told you at the start of the 2011 season that Randall Delgado was going to become one the most important arms on the staff in Atlanta, you would have thought I was crazy. With each season, Delgado's stock has seemed to improve and I think we knew it was only a matter of time before he was an impact arm in Atlanta, but last year was shocking. What wasn't shocking to anyone who had watched the kid pitch in the minors was his mound composure. From the first moment he took the mound, he looked like he belonged in the big leagues. He may start the season in Gwinnett, but like Teheran, it's only a matter of time before the player MLB ranked as the 42nd best prospect in baseball is in the rotation.

Topps swung and miss on Delgado until he made it to the big leagues. Unlike Teheran and Vizcaino, Delgado has never appeared on an autographed Bowman Chrome card. For a kid who made an impact at age 21 in the big leagues, this is a big miss. Topps tried to make up for it by featuring his auto in both Topps Finest and Bowman Platinum. Both are certainly nice cards and can be purchased for less than 15 dollars typically on eBay.

As my recommendation though, I'm going to chose a card that is a bit out there in terms of obscurity. For one thing, the logo has been airbrushed off the hat in the photo. Yes, I just railed against this practice above, but in this photo, it doesn't distract as much. It helps that they chose a shot of Delgado's back so the front logo did not have to be removed. There's also the background. I've never understood why a photo of a baseball player should be superimposed on a strange background like a wheat field. There's also something about the way the light hits Delgado's face on the card. The kid looks old here. Despite all this, there's something about the way the red in the hat and the uniform pops out from the wheat field and the blue sky. The card is vibrant and since it can often be picked up for around a five spot, I'm recommending it.

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