After losing 90 games in 2008 and striking out with several high-profile personnel pursuits early during the offseason, it was beginning to look like the Braves would have to rely more heavily than they hoped on aging, familiar faces and some young players whose careers are yet to be defined. But after the January signings of free agent pitchers Derek Lowe and Japanese star Kenshin Kawakami, the Braves and manager Bobby Cox felt better about their chances of ending a three-year playoff drought in 2009.
It remains to be seen whether the Braves have enough offensive firepower and whether their talented but surgery-scarred bullpen can stay healthy enough to help the Braves climb from fourth place back to the top of an NL East division they once ruled.
Rotation
The Braves signed Lowe, who's averaged 15 wins and 208 innings over seven seasons, and Kawakami, a former Japanese Central League MVP in January, only days after John Smoltz decided to sign with the Boston Red Sox after 21 years with Atlanta. The Lowe and Kawakami signings were a huge relief for the Braves, who pulled out of protracted trade talks for San Diego's Jake Peavy in November and were outbid for A.J. Burnett. Lowe and Kawakami join Jair Jurrjens, coming off a 13-win rookie season, and Javier Vazquez, acquired from the White Sox in a December trade.
Management
Frank Wren's second winter as the Braves' GM didn't go as smoothly as the first, though not for lack of trying. Wren and his top assistants have actively searched every market for talent, including Asia. Things were certainly different a year earlier, when, in Wren's third week on the job in October 2007, he traded Edgar Renteria to Detroit for Jurrjens and center field prospect Gorkys Hernandez. Cox wants another shot at the postseason before he retires. Players say he's as great a motivator and team handler as ever, but the Braves just haven't had the pitching depth recently that they had when they were one of baseball's biggest spenders.
Difference maker
Braves officials hope 2008 was an aberration for Jeff Francoeur, who hit .239 with 11 homers, 71 RBIs and a .294 on-base percentage. Once regarded as the heir apparent to Chipper Jones as franchise golden boy, Francoeur hit 29 homers in 2006 and won a Gold Glove in 2007 while batting .293 with 19 homers and a second 100-RBI season. But now he'll need a bounce-back season to secure his future with the Braves, who need him to improve strike-zone command, drive in runs and stop trying to pull everything to left field.
Final analysis
No longer division favorites, the Braves have seen how the other half lives. Since ending a run of 14 consecutive division titles, they have gone 235-251 over the past three seasons, while the Phillies have a 266-220 record and the Mets are 274-212. The Braves can improve upon last year's fourth-place finish in the NL East, but they'll need fewer pitching injuries and improved production from a few players who regressed in 2008. They made no significant offensive additions to a team that ranked 14th in the NL in homers in 2008 — and that was with Mark Teixeira in the lineup until late July.
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Author:Fox Sports
Author's Website:http://www.foxsports.com
Added: March 27, 2009
