The 133rd season of Major League Baseball is upon us. Over the next month and half, we will be taking a look at each ball club, leading up to the Expert Predictions of the esteemed staff at Sparty & Friends. We will be previewing each team, from worst to first. Today, we turn our attention to the home of Baseball’s Buffalo Bills, only if the Bills had actually won a title during their run of near misses…

When I was growing up, I was actually a pretty good athlete. I played numerous sports right up through High School. But baseball was always my first love. I played at every level possible until my body began to give out. And playing baseball made me watch baseball – specifically, the team I played for. In the youth leagues, I played for the Braves, so I instantly latched onto the real life version as my secondary team – behind the Red Sox, of course.

Now, it didn’t hurt that the beginning of my Braves fandom coincided with the end of the Braves’ run of futility in the 70’s and 80’s. I started following the team through TBS games and grew up watching guys like Ron Gant, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Avery, the end of the Dale Murphy era and Sid Bream’s 42-second jaunt around the bases to beat Barry’s throw. So I got spoiled watching Atlanta keep making the playoffs, and heartbroken when they kept falling short.

Heading into 2009, the Braves are coming off of a 72-90 record; only their second losing season since roughly 1847…. or maybe it was 1990, one or the other. (EDIT: In fact, that’s the biggest non-technology-related reason for this post being a day late – I’m just not used to Atlanta being this bad…)

Last Season: 72-90 (3rd place in the NL East)

Who’s Gone: P Elmer Dessens (FA), P Mike Hampton (FA), P Chuck James (FA), P Jorge Julio (FA), P Will Ohman (FA), P John Smoltz (FA), Julian Tavarez (FA)

Who’s New: P Tom Glavine (re-Signed), P Kenshin Kawakami (FA), P Derek Lowe (FA), LF Greg Norton (Re-Signed), C David Ross (FA), Javier Vasquez (Trade), Boone Logan (Trade), P Eric O’Flaherty (Waivers)

Projected Lineup:
1. Josh Anderson (CF)
2. Yunel Escobar (SS)
3. Larry Wayne Jones (3B)
4. Brian McCann (C)
5. Kelly Johnson (2B)
6. Jeff Francoeur (RF)
7. Matt Diaz (LF)
8. Casey Kotchman (1B)
9. Pitcher du jour

Projected Rotation:
RHP Derek Lowe
RHP Jair Jurrjens
RHP Kenshin Kawakami
RHP Javier Vasquez
LHP Tom Glavine

CL Mike Gonzalez / Rafael Soriano

Key Bench Players:

Omar Infante (OF)
Greg Norton (INF)
David Ross (C)

Manager: Bobby Cox

Lineup Outlook – That is one sad looking lineup. Outside of Larry Wayne, there is a distinct lack of power up and down the lineup. There are five players who could, in theory, make a push at that 30-homer ceiling. But realistically, only Chipper & McCann have a real shot.

This is going to have to be a team built for speed, in the true mold of a National League lineup. Get on base, commit petty larceny, hope like hell for an extra base hit. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Braves lead the NL in sacrifice bunts in ’09 – there’s just no other way for them to generate consistent offense. If they’re even close to contention in late July, expect them to make a run at a big bat. Otherwise, they’ll be selling off parts like Johnson & Francoeur to build for ’10 and beyond.

Starting Rotation – God, this makes me feel old. Tom Glavine, brought back on a one-year contract to finish out his career after a serious injury in ’08, is the projected fifth starter. He was the first pitcher I even really followed outside of Boston when I was pitching as a kid. Guess this marks the end of any chance I have of making a comeback as well…

The rest of the staff took a pretty big hit when John Smoltz left for Boston, and the Braves tried to patch it up with Derek Lowe (who they grossly overpaid), Javier Vasquez (when he wins his next big game, it’ll be his first), and Kenshin Kawakami (who?!?) a 33-year import with no defined role in the rotation. There’s very little chance Tim Hudson makes it back to Atlanta before September, but even if he does he’s likely not going to contribute much.

Having a solid closer in place – either a healthy Mike Gonzalez or Rafael Soriano… or both – will help lock down the rotation and the bullpen.

Prediction – I simply refuse to believe that the rest of the National League is that much better than the Braves, but in the NL East, the Mets & Phillies are leaps and bound ahead of Atlanta. They might able to pull out 85 wins, but anything more than that would be a miracle. Prediction: 79-85 wins, 3rd in the NL East.

And finally, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Braves aside from the fact that it involved one of their farm teams, but the comedic value is too high to pass it up.  Perhaps the most unbelievable part of the whole scenario is that it only lasted a little over two minutes…  And here I’ll bet you thought I was going to break out the tomahawk chop…

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