Kuzul

The Atlanta Braves (16-9) have all but wrapped up the first month of the 2013 season.Highs include a 10-game winning streak and a sweep of the National League East preseason favorite, Washington Nationals. The low point came over the weekend as the Detroit Tigers swept the Braves.The tough series with the Tigers knocked a few players' grades down a letter.Here's a look at the April edition of every player's' grade in 2013.Begin Slideshow

The plan was for Turner Field to still be filing in nearly 50,000 Braves fans for the postseason. Unfortunately, the lasting images remembered are the cleanup crews picking up debris from angry Atlanta fans after the infield fly call made by Sam Holbrook and Chipper Jones walking off the diamond for the final time. It wasn't suppose to end that way. Nonetheless, decisions have to be made about the 2013 club. Who will replace Chipper at third? Will they re-sign gold-glove center fielder Michael Bourn? Do Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm fit into their plans next season? Will Martin Prado and Jason Heyward receive long-term contracts? Who are free-agent and trade targets?Those are just a few items on the docket for General Manager Frank Wren this winter. The Braves have nearly $30 million to spend after the contracts of Chipper Jones ($14 million), Derek Lowe ($10 million) and Michael Bourn ($6.8 million) are ...

Jair Jurrjens isn’t getting any better. Since suffering a knee injury in the second half of the 2011 season, Jurrjens has looked uncomfortable on the mound has has vastly underperformed for an Atlanta Braves team that needed him to be one of the consistent starters in their rotation. So far in 2012, Jurrjens has four starts and a 9.37 ERA which is the highest of any Braves pitcher. He has allowed 30 hits and 17 earned runs in 16.1 innings, and his pitches have looked flat with no movement to deceive hitters. Tim Hudson is due to come up from triple-A Gwinnett within a few weeks, and the starting rotation needed to be fiddled with to find room for him.  The Braves had hinted that they would be sending Randall Delgado, a young Braves right-hander who has two wins in three starts this year. Delgado, although his ERA is 5.74, ...

The Atlanta Braves are currently in second place in the NL East, which I find very impressive, yet they remain five games behind the Philadelphia Phillies. I know the Braves are quite capable of overtaking their first-place rivals—they have only a few obstacles that are keeping them from doing so.In this slideshow, I will explain what these obstacles are and how the Braves can possibly overcome them.Begin Slideshow

This article will identify the 10 best late-round fantasy draft steals.When I identify these players, I will make reference to the draft I participated in with Yahoo! in terms of when these players were drafted.  I will also examine where Yahoo! has ranked said players overall and how that affects where they are taken in the draft.  I will also examine why these players would pay huge dividends for any fantasy team.However, you should note that I am not trying to find you the next Jose Bautista, I am merely giving you elite players that you can wait until later to grab in the draft and be considered a genius.  So, without further ado...Let us begin!Begin Slideshow

Before the start of the season, I wanted to see which pitchers statistically had the best fastballs, curveballs, sliders, cutters, changeups and splitters of the 2010 season.Here are a look at the top fastballs of the 2010 season. A few notes:The Pitch Value data was created by Fangraphs.com. I will be using the statistic, wFA, which denotes the runs above average for a particular pitch—in this case a fastball.  The "wFA" stat benefits starting pitchers and pitchers who throw a certain pitch more often. Because the more often you throw a pitch, the better the chances are of it being successful.Sometimes, PITCH/FX does not sort pitches into the right category. For example, Brandon Morrow’s splitter was categorized as a fastball.Both two and four-seam fastballs are lumped together.Begin Slideshow

For a sky copter sky plane traffic report on the outlook for the 2011 Bravos, let's go to Captain Herb Emory. How's the season looking Captain Herb? Captain Herb - Well, it looks like the Braves will be in contention for a NL Pennant in 2011. I like the addition of Uggla and no glaring losses. Freddie Gonzalez is a solid skipper who will take over for the great Bobby Cox. I wish we had one more lefties in the starting rotation for those series against the lefty dominated lineup of the Phillies. The Phillies will be tough to beat with that starting rotation. Speaking of rotation, when was the last time you had your tires rotated? Go to Big 10 Tires to get them rotated today. How is the outfield looking Kim McCarthy? Kim McCarthy - Well Captain Herb, the Braves outfield in 2011 has potential to be very good, but with question ...

It was a magical season for Tim Hudson, who had pitched just 42.1 innings in 2009 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2008.  His numbers were fine in that span (3.61 ERA, 1.46 WHIP), but no one knew exactly what to expect in his first full year back.  Hudson performed better than anyone could’ve expected, posting the following line: 17 Wins228.2 Innings2.83 ERA1.15 WHIP139 Strikeouts (5.47 K/9)74 Walks (2.91 BB/9).250 BABIP The question for fantasy owners is if he has any chance of replicating the numbers?  The first big strike against him is his strikeout rate.  He has a career K/9 of 6.06 and the only time he has actually been above 5.81 since 2003 was in ’09 when he posted a 6.38 K/9.  Of course, that was over a minimal sample size so it can be taken with a grain of salt. Without the strikeout rate, there's a big risk that the ...

It is the goal of every professional athlete to leave their respective sport on their own terms, riding off into the sunset on the heels of a championship season filled with praise and accolades. This was not the case for Billy Wagner, as his 16-year baseball career ended in pain and frustration last October as his Atlanta Braves fell to the San Francisco Giants in the 2010 MLB playoffs. Wagner attempted to play through a painful hip injury that plagued him over the latter part of his career, but was unable to continue and his Braves failed to stay afloat in the playoffs. The player who may be asked to fill Wagner’s shoes is Craig Kimbrel, a powerful young reliever who embodies similar stuff to his predecessor, including a high 90s fastball and a knee buckling slider. Drafted straight out of high school in the third round of the 2008 amateur ...

Rumors rumors everywhere.  Where will Cliff Lee land?  The Yankees, duh. It seems every off season that pitching is the biggest issue for those teams looking to make a big splash in free agency. The Atlanta Braves are looking at a 2011 season that very much like 2010 will include much depth at starting pitching.  Carl Pavano, Andy Pettitte, Jorge de la Rosa, Javier Vazquez, and Chris Young are just a few names that come quite popular upon the signing of Cliff Lee if and when Brian Cashman signs him to come to the Bronx. The biggest need of the offseason was fulfilled with the trade for Dan Uggla on November 16, 2010.  His right-handed power will bring a much needed boost to the Atlanta Braves offense. It is safe to say, I don't see the Braves shopping for any above average starting pitching this offseason.  If anything, the Braves could consider adding a veteran ...