The Atlanta Braves acquired lefthanded closer Mike Gonzalez in a trade sending first baseman Adam LaRouche to the Pittsburgh Pirates, further depleting their offense by LaRouche’s 32 HRs, 90 RBIs and .285 BA.

Gonzalez gives the Braves a quality closer to go along with lefthander  Macay McBride who pitched in 71 games last season, Oscar Villarreal with his 9-1 mark with a 3.61 ERA in 92 innings over 58 games last season, Rafael Soriano obtained from the Seattle Mariners with a 2.25 ERA in 53 games last season, Chad Paronto with his 3.18 ERA in 65 games last season in set up roles and 37 year old veteran Bob Wickman closing from the right side.  Gonzalez’s 3 year stats are impressive, both as a set-up man and last season as a closer, but whether this was a deal for the Braves or a steal for the Bucs remains for the season to tell.  But it seems apparent that the Braves bullpen is the strongest in the NL East, maybe among the strongest in the NL despite the recent AP report on Yahoo Sports.

As I wrote previously about the Braves starting pitching, once one gets by 41 year old Jon Smoltz who had his second straight fine year as a starter after 3 great years in a closer role, Tim Hudson with his ERA uncomfortably close to 5.00 and Mike Hampton who saw limited action in 2005 and sat out 2006, their staff effectiveness is highly suspect.  Their big hope seems to lefthanded starter Chuck Jones who finished last season with an 11-4 record and 3.98 ERA in pitching 119 innings in 25 games started.  Beyond these 3 starters, there is nothing more than inexperience and exploding ERAs.

In terms of offense however, after centerfielder Andruw Jones and his 41 HRs and 129 RBIs, 3rd baseman Chipper Jones with his 26 HRs, 86 RBIs and .324 BA, rightfielder Jeff Francoeur’s 29 HRs, 103 RBIs and .262 BA, shortstop Edgar Renteria’s 14 HRs and .270 BA and catcher Brian McCann’s 24 HRs, 93 RBIs and .333 BA there is no other support, noone else of note.

Sports Illustrated, in it’s recent Weakest Links post sums up the Braves this way; “The Braves have a bullpen now — a year too late, as it works out — but the right side of the infield has at least as many holes as Jeff Francoeur’s swing.”

 In short, the Braves will have all that they can handle battling with the Florida Marlins over 3rd place in the division.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at 7:16 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.