Despite the disappointing season, manager Bobby Cox is looking toward 2009 with rose-colored glasses. He believes every problem this year was caused by injuries to his pitching staff, and that most of those pitchers will return healthy next season. The starters will pitch more innings, so the bullpen can pitch fewer and thus will blow fewer leads. Healthy position players will hit more than singles, and they will string these hits together for big innings. And RF Jeff Francoeur will not ground into double plays with the bases loaded.
BIGGEST NEEDS: The Braves need two front-line starters, but who doesn't? Even if RHP John Smoltz and LHP Tom Glavine come back and pitch well, they are still in their 40s, and their days of throwing eight or nine innings are over, no matter how good and consistent their stuff. The Braves also need another power hitter to complement 3B Chipper Jones. That task can't always fall to C Brian McCann, who needs days off during a long season. The Braves are keeping their fingers crossed that RF Jeff Francoeur delivers more power next season, but they know they can't count on that. FREE AGENTS: RHP John Smoltz, LHP Tom Glavine, LHP Mike Hampton, LHP Will Ohman, OF/INF Greg Norton, RHP Elmer Dessens, RHP Jorge Julio, RHP Julian Tavarez.
Whether Smoltz and Glavine pitch next season depends on how quickly and how well they recover from this season's surgeries -- right shoulder for Smoltz, left elbow for Glavine. The Braves would love to keep Hampton and Ohman, depending on the price tag. Norton came up big in his role as a pinch hitter, leading the majors with 18 pinch RBIs and 17 pinch walks. The bullpen was such an Achilles' heel that Dessens, Julio and Tavarez most likely will all be invited to spring training.
ARBITRATION-ELIGIBLE: OF Matt Diaz, RF Jeff Francoeur, LHP Mike Gonzalez, INF/PH Ruben Gotay, INF/OF Omar Infante, 2B Kelly Johnson, 1B Casey Kotchman, RHP Vladimir Nunez, C Corky Miller.
It's probably not possible for Francoeur to have a worse season than he did this year. At least that's what he and the Braves are counting on, and why they shouldn't have to go the hearing route, even though Francoeur has not been happy with the length or the dollars offered in proposals before the previous two seasons. Johnson really kicked his offense into gear in September. Gonzalez was up-and-down in his return from Tommy John surgery (14 saves, 4.28 ERA). Infante's playing time was limited due to a slow recovery from a broken hand suffered last offseason. Only Gonzalez has a shot at more than a moderate pay increase, due to the scarcity of left-handed closers.
IN LIMBO: OF Matt Diaz may have lost his left field platoon spot when he missed four months with a torn-up left knee, courtesy of an unpadded section of the wall in Miller Park. He could be a candidate for a trade package with rookie RHP Charlie Morton and rookie LHP Jo-Jo Reyes, whose lack of improvement exasperated Cox.
MEDICAL WATCH:
3B Chipper Jones does not have any structural damage in his right shoulder, an MRI showed. Instead, it's just acute tendinitis, and he'll spend the offseason rehabbing it.
LHP Tom Glavine (left elbow surgery) and RHP John Smoltz (right shoulder surgery) are expecting to be recovered by spring training.
RHP Peter Moylan's Tommy John rehab has been going well; the beginning of May will mark one year since the surgery and is the earliest he could be expected to return.
RHP Rafael Soriano (ulnar nerve transposition surgery, small bone spur in the posterior of the right elbow removed) is expected to be ready to pitch again by spring training.
RHP Tim Hudson (Tommy John surgery in August 2008) could miss the entire 2009 season, although a late-season activation is his goal.
LHP Chuck James, who was in the rotation at times in 2007 and 2008, in September 2008 finally underwent the shoulder surgery he'd been trying to avoid for two seasons. Dr. James Andrews repaired the slight tear in James' rotator cuff and cleaned up the frayed labrum. James will be out for at least the first half of 2009.
