Do the Braves Need More Pitching?

You can never have enough pitching. Ever since Bobby Cox returned to Atlanta from Toronto, as GM, the organization has made it a priority to draft and develop as many young pitchers as possible. A much better method than to trade for or sign as a free agent. 

Sure the Braves need more pitchers. They always do. That said, exactly how many starting pitchers do they currently have?

Starting pitchers: Sale Holmes Lopez Ritchie Elder Perez

Injured: Strider Schwellenbach AJSS Waldrep 

That’s ten starters, not including rookie sensation Didier Fuentes. That’s why I had no problems with GM AA not trading prospects for a starting pitcher this past offseason. 

I saw a trade proposal where the Braves up three prospects that I’d never heard of. I wouldn’t mind that kind of trade. 

Also missing time with injuries: Acuna, Baldwin, Murphy, Harris, Kim, and Profar. Add the four injured starters, and that’s ten front line players missing chunks of time. No wonder they're finally cooling off, you think?

Albies and Baldwin and Acuna leading the NL All Star voting, with Olson trailing Freddie at first base. Cool All Star posters the Braves graphics department put out this year.

WILLIE MAYS  [SABR Bio] Though no official box score survives to validate it, Retrosheet has uncovered a  game account indicating that 17-year-old Willie Mays—playing for the Birmingham Black Barons—hit his first professional home run on 11-Aug-1948 off veteran Negro League pitcher Chet Brewer. Mays clearly recalls Brewer drilling him in the arm with a fastball in his next plate appearance. The impact was so severe it sent Mays to the ground in tears, an incident often cited as a “welcome to the league” moment for the future Hall of Famer. Mays received a telegram from Brewer later that said “Dear Willie. Sorry. Whitey”.  Whitey was Brewer's nickname. Going up to bat in the 12th inning of Game 2 of the 1973 World Series, Mays reportedly told Oakland catcher Ray Fosse, “Ray, it's tough to see the ball with that background. I hope Rollie (Fingers) doesn't throw me any fastballs.”  Believing Mays couldn't catch up to the heat, Fosse called for a fastball, which Mays promptly hit for a single over Finger's head to drive in the go-ahead run in a 10-7 Mets victory. It would be the final hit of  Mays' major league career.

I was never a big Roger Clemens fan. Racked up Cy Young awards while sucking on steroids, jumping from the Red Sox to Jays to the Yankees to the Astros. But it blew my socks off when he came to the support of the Christians taking a stand on the Giants.

I make it a practice to not watch the college World Series, so me watching three of the Dawgs games in Omaha has probably put the hex on them. Can’t believe Tim Kurtz didn’t make it out to Omaha.

Glad Carolina won the Stanley Cup, since Matthew has been following them all year. He’s constantly wearing their jerseys - he has 2 or 3 different Canes jerseys, plus two other hockey jerseys. He’s becoming a regular Uncle Joey. 

Denison: how a mother prevented an attack on our nation’s capital.