An early look at the Atlanta Braves new promo spot for opening day (hat tip to Braves Directory of Marketing, Hill Scott):

This Is Why We Chop from @hill_scott on Vimeo.

If that won't get you in the mood for opening day, then nothing will.

The Braves have featured many great names in the franchise's long history. This post will focus on the teams from 1876 until 1906, when the franchise was located in Boston and known as the Red Stockings (until 1882) and then the Beaneaters.

Here are 15 of my favorite player names from this era, in chronological order from their time with the franchise. All names are from the player's "top-line" listing at Baseball Reference (i.e., how they are listed in leaderboards, etc.). I didn't look at nicknames that weren't a part of the player's official name, though I'm sure there are some good ones.

Foghorn Bradley, 1876: In his only year in the majors, 20-year-old Foghorn had a 2.49 ERA in 173.1 IP for the Boston Red Stockings (eventually the Braves). That ERA was worse than it looked though; the NL average ERA was 2.31, and Bradley's run average (counting unearned runs) was an unsightly 6.00. I'm guessing that his voice was rather... sonorous.

Tricky Nichols, 1876: Nichols appeared in one game for the Red Stockings, notching a complete game victory while allowing 7 hits and 5 runs (just 1 earned).

Daisy Davis, 1884-85: In parts of 2 seasons with the franchise, by then nicknamed the Beaneaters, Daisy wasn't much tougher than his name suggests. He had a 5.15 ERA with the franchise, while the NL average in 1885 was 2.82.

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The process for funding a new Braves minor league stadium in Wilmington, North Carolina, passed its first big hurdle last night. The Star News has the story:

And yes, here is confirmation that the Braves would be bringing the team under their ownership, as speculated earlier on Talking Chop:

Braves and Mandalay officials are offering a 20-year lease guarantee as part of the agreement for the city to in turn build a stadium. The Braves and Mandalay would co-own the minor league team, which Braves officials say would be relocated from Lynchburg, Va.

While the process seems to have gone smoothly so far, there were signs of discontent outside the council meeting last night:

Protestors who carried signs in front of city hall and raised them during the meeting, have similar concerns.

Beau Derosa and Martin Goter sat outside city hall before the meeting holding signs that read "I call foul on corruption" and "Next election you are out."

Talking Chop has been on this story from the beginning, first passing along reports of the Braves interest back in early December of last year, but the AJC is finally catching up.

Overall I support this strategy, but I do hope they decide on an original name for the team, and don't just call them the Wilmington Braves. The Wilmington Wahoos or the Wilmington Wombats would be so much better.

In case you missed the announcement on Monday, here are two videos compiled from the Atlanta Braves press conference to unveil the new uniforms. The first one is from MLB.com, the second is available at FoxSportsSouth.

The Atlanta Braves seem to be pulling out all the stops in order to secure a new organization-owned minor league team, complete with brand new stadium. The Braves have targeted Wilmington, North Carolina for this endeavor. Here is the local ABC station with the latest.

Former Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox, as well as Atlanta Braves General Manager Frank Wren and Mandalay Baseball CEO Art Matin are in town to attend tonight's Wilmington City Council meeting.

Talking Chop has been following this story since the beginning, click here for all the previous news about the Braves' partnership with Mandalay Entertainment. I'm sure we'll have more news tomorrow pending the outcome of the City Council meeting.

Here it is, more prospect goodness from Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus:

1. Julio Teheran, RHP
2. Randall Delgado, RHP
Four-Star Prospects
3. Arodys Vizcaino, RHP
Three-Star Prospects
4. Christian Bethancourt, C
5. Andrelton Simmons, SS
6. Tyler Pastornicky, SS
7. Sean Gilmartin, LHP
8. Edward Salcedo, 3B
9. Matt Lipka, OF
10. Zeke Spruill, RHP
Two-Star Prospects
11. J.R. Graham, RHP

Nine More:
12. Nick Ahmed, SS
13. J.J. Hoover, RHP
14. Joe Terdoslavich, 1B/3B
15. Kyle Kubitza, 3B
16. Brandon Drury, 3B
17. Carlos Perez, LHP
18. Adam Milligan, OF
19. Todd Cunningham, OF
20. Billy Bullock, RHP

No real surprises here. Like Mayo did yesterday, Goldstein lists Nick Ahmed really high, which in my opinion is a huge over-ranking of him. Mycal Jones is absent from this list, though Cunningham is present. I'd list Jones ahead of Cunningham, though Goldstein does list Jones as his "sleeper" later on in the article.

On of the things that he does in his organizational reviews is to list the top young talents in the organization, not just prospects. Here is that list:

Top 10 Talents 25 And Under (born 4/1/86 or later)
1. Tommy Hanson, RHP
2. Jason Heyward, OF
3. Craig Kimbrel, RHP
4. Julio Teheran, RHP
5. Freddie Freeman, 1B
6. Brandon Beachy, RHP
7. Mike Minor, LHP
8. Randall Delgado, RHP
9. Arodys Vizcaino, RHP
10. Christian Bethancourt, C

Just look at that list of players; the top-9 are ready to contribute, or already are contributing, right now. Included in that top-9 is an entire starting rotation, plus a dominant closer and setup man. That's just sick (in a really awesome way). An entire starting rotation 25 years old or younger ... WOW!

Good stuff as always by Kevin Goldstein, and I encourage you to read the full article and prospect reviews here. Most of it is subscription only, but there's no time like the present to get a Baseball Prospectus subscription.

It's going to get fast and furious with prospects this week. Today we got an Atlanta Braves prospect list from MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo, then tomorrow we get the Baseball Prospectus list from Kevin Goldstein. Finally on Friday, ESPN's Keith Law releases his top-10 for each organization.

Here is Mayo's top-20 list:

1. Julio Teheran, RHP
   
2. Arodys Vizcaino, RHP
   
3. Randall Delgado, RHP
   
4. Andrelton Simmons, SS
5. Christian Bethancourt, C
6. Sean Gilmartin, LHP
7. Tyler Pastornicky, SS
8. Joe Terdoslavich, 1B/3B
9. Zeke Spruill, RHP
10. J.R. Graham, RHP
11. Edward Salcedo, 3B
12. Nick Ahmed, SS
13. J.J. Hoover, RHP
14. Matt Lipka, CF
15. Brandon Drury, 3B
    
16. Carlos Perez, LHP
17. Todd Cunningham, OF
18. Mycal Jones, CF
19. Navery Moore, RHP
20. Billy Bullock, RHP

It's a decent list. I like the inclusion of Moore and Bullock at the end, even though relievers usually don't make the cut on top prospect lists. Though I find it strange that neither Kubitza nor LaStella make the list while Ahmed is listed pretty high. Ahmed at 12 is the biggest over-rank on this list, in my opinion.