FanHouse Braves

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

The Atlanta Braves were alive in the wild-card race late in the season due to a powerful pitching rotation that featured six viable starting candidates (at least there were six at the end of the season). The Braves ranked third in the National League in team ERA with a 3.57 mark and had two 15-game winners in Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez. They also ranked fourth in team batting average and sixth in runs scored even without a true cleanup hitter in the lineup.

If you examine their bullpen you'll also find two relievers who were in the top five in strikeouts among relief pitchers -- Mike Gonzalez with 90 and Rafael Soriano with 102. These relievers shared the closing duties for most of the season and each had ERA's below three to finish the year.

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On the free-agent market, all the focus has been on John Lackey. On the trade market, the talk has been about Roy Halladay. The consolation prize for teams seeking a top-flight arm may come out of Atlanta.

The Braves have two of their top starters on the block, Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez, and there's little doubt that at least one of those two pitchers will be moved, according to multiple major league sources. With strong resumes for both, there should be teams lined up for their services.

One source said that the Braves intend to move one of the two pitchers, and who goes will depend on the offers they receive.

You probably want to be spared the cheesy "home is where the heart is" stuff, but to Tim Hudson that sentiment apparently carries a lot of weight. Hudson, who grew up about 100 miles away from Atlanta in Phenix City, Ala. has once again given the Atlanta Braves a hometown discount. It all comes down to two parties wanting to continue a mutually beneficial relationship.

"I wanted to be back and they (Braves) wanted me back", Hudson told local sports-talk radio station 680 the Fan this morning. "Sometimes you have to tell your agent that I'm happy here and you work for me."

According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Atlanta Braves are near a deal that would extend the contract of 34-year-old Tim Hudson by another three years. Rosenthal cites major league sources, and one source told him it would be shocking if the extension wasn't complete within the next four days.

Hudson was once a Cy Young-type pitcher -- he finished in the top-6 three times in a four year span -- but those days are long gone. He can be a valuable part of a pitching staff, though, as he went 16-10 with a 3.33 ERA in his last full season (2007). Since then he's made just 29 starts in two seasons, due to having to undergo and come back from Tommy John surgery.

Former Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres second baseman Marcus Giles was arrested early Wednesday morning for domestic battery after his wife called the police. The details of the incident are somewhat sketchy, but the El Cajon police were called by the California Highway Patrol to the scene where the incident allegedly took place.

Police arrived on the scene to find the Giles' car parked on the shoulder of the highway, placed Giles under arrest and took him into custody.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Braves are all but done in the NL wild-card race, not that there was anything they could do about it. Atlanta, which had surged into contention over the last few weeks, ran into the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco Wednesday night.

He was on -- very on -- and now the Braves' playoff push is off.

Nolasco struck out 16, a Marlins record, including a stretch where he fanned nine in a row, one shy of the major league record of 10 straight held by Tom Seaver.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That a couple of game tying three-run homers threatened to make the NL wild-card chase really wild, but the teams that hit them both lost, leaving the Rockies three games up on the Braves with five games to go.

The excitement began in Atlanta, where the Braves' Matt Diaz hit a sixth-inning shot to erase a 4-1 lead. Unfortunately for Atlanta, the Marlins responded with Jorge Cantu's tie-breaking single a half inning later, and Florida held on to snap the Braves' seven-game winning streak.

A few hours later, Rockies closer Huston Street was looking to convert his 27th consecutive save opportunity when he gave up a game-tying homer to the normally powerless Jason Kendall of the Brewers in the ninth. Like the Marlins, the Rockies overcame it, winning in the 11th on Chris Iannetta's two-run homer.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
This Jurrjens kid is pretty good.

Jair Jurrjens threw seven scoreless innings on Monday as the Braves downed the Marlins 4-0 and climbed within two games of the Rockies for the wild-card lead.

Atlanta has two more games with Florida and then four against Washington. Colorado hosts Milwaukee for three before finishing with three games at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Right now we feel like we're in control," [Chipper] Jones said. "We're dictating at-bats whether it be on the mound or whether we're hitting. And a lot of good things are happening."

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That Jim Thome picked a good time to finally make his first significant contribution since the Dodgers got him to be their star pinch-hitter. Thome's two-run pinch-hit single keyed a four-run inning in a come-from-behind 8-4 victory over the Pirates that locked up a playoff spot for Los Angeles.

Thome had been 2-for-11 pinch-hitting for the Dodgers, with no RBI. He came up just after the Dodgers had taken a 5-4 lead and delivered a two-run single. Just a day earlier, Thome had an injection in a sore foot that has hampered him for a couple weeks.

After the Dodgers won, they had a subdued champagne toast -- no dumping or spraying -- to celebrate the team's third postseason appearance in the past four years. They are holding off on the big party until they close out the Rockies. Their magic number to win the NL West is two. They could do it as soon as Sunday.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That when we told you a few weeks ago that the Braves were just about dead, we might have been a bit premature. Led by Javier Vazquez's third complete game of the season, the Braves beat the Nationals, 4-1, winning their fourth game in a row and 12th out of the past 14.

The Braves are still 3 1/2 behind the Rockies in the wild-card race (and mathematically alive in the NL East, believe it or not), but they do have at least one thing in their favor. They play the Nationals six more times in their final nine games, with the other three against Florida.

In Friday's game, Vazquez added another line to his under-appreciated resume. He is 10-2 since July 7. He has 15 victories this season. The only pitcher to win at least 10 games every year since 2000, Vazquez is second only to Randy Johnson in strikeouts in the decade.

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