Kuzul

Since May 31st, the Atlanta Braves have been all alone in first place atop the NL East.

The Braves have seen their lead rise to as much as seven games this season, but now they find themselves only one game ahead of Philadelphia with just two weeks left to play in the regular season.

With that said, who is really the team to beat in the National League East?

Is it Bobby Cox’s Braves in the legendary manager’s final season or the reigning champions of the National League?

We asked Phillies Featured Columnist Vincent Heck and Braves Featured Columnist Evan Walker to make their cases for their respective team.

Vincent Heck: 

I’m a man of faith and I know that, anytime you lack faith or doubt something great and powerful, you are sorely mistaken. The Philadelphia Phillies are powerful, on the road to great. Even if greatness does fail, it still doesn’t justify your reasoning as to why you doubted most of the time.

If you doubted the New England Patriots would win the Super Bowl in their infamous 18-1 season, you were unjustified in your doubts—period.

A great team overcomes adversity, does the unexpected, even beating the teams they are not supposed to beat—that’s greatness.

The Phillies are special in that they got their stardom as a humble, underdog, wild card team. They know how to win against hearsay—they’ve done it before.

They have since, proved, that they have risen to “powerhouse” status, considered by most to be on the brink of greatness.

The Phils mission hasn’t changed at all: Win another World Series.

The road, however, has definitely changed. This year, the charming Atlanta Braves stand in the path of a team who has always been determined to win and have always succeeded to a degree.

We all know the Braves can’t meet the Phillies in the World Series, so, somethings gotta give.

We know the firepower that the Phillies contain, there’s no need for me to run down statistics. You know Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, and Carlos Ruiz.

Those men speak for themselves.

Those aren’t the men, on Monday the 20th through Wednesday the 22nd, that the Braves should be concerned with. It’s these men:

Monday: Cole Hamels
Tuesday: Roy Halladay
Wednesday: Roy Oswalt

The Atlanta Braves, a superb team, a relentless team, a talented team, have to contend with an offense known to put up nine run comebacks a couple times each season. And bat against three bonafide aces.

Now, as I said before, I am a man of faith, but men of faith don’t choose who they put their faith in frivolously. No—if you’re going to put faith in something, make sure it’s proven and tested.

That my friends is the Philadelphia Phillies, who have the same core from 2008 and 2009, with upgrades.

I like the Braves, but the truth is, their best chance in beating Philadelphia is as a wild card. Then, possibly, they may catch the Phillies “smelling themselves” too much.

But if the Braves win the division, there is no doubt in my mind the Phillies will take it to them in the NLCS.

Because a great team overcomes adversity, does the unexpected, and beats the teams they are not supposed to beat—the Phils are “not,” necessarily supposed to beat the New York Yankees—I’m not quite sure I’m ready to throw the Braves in that discussion yet.

Evan Walker:

The Philadelphia Phillies are a good team.

Last year, they were great. The year before, they were great, but I am not convinced that the Phillies are the same team from 2008 and 2009. They’ll need to be that team and more to avoid the tomahawk in 2010.

As we all know, this year will be the last year of the Bobby Cox dynasty and if they’re anchor Chipper Jones departs, it will be the end of the “Team of The 90’s.”

Welcome to the team of the 2010’s.

Only one word can describe the most walk-off wins in baseball, the transformation of a talented rookie into a keeper of the flame that ignited baseball’s postseason for 15 seasons, and incredible pitching in a year certain to be remembered for incredible pitching

Magical.

The Braves need no superstars. They have no Howard’s and they have no Utley’s.

Instead of a team full of Subway commercials stars, the Braves have a team of 40 different baseball players, any of whom can don the hero’s cape on any given night.

The big three pitchers in Philly are dangerous, but three pitchers do not make a pitching staff.

You need at least four pitchers to be successful in the playoffs.

Joe Blanton and Kyle Kendrick both have ERA around five, so although Hamels, Halladay, and Oswalt are almost guaranteed great performances, Kendrick (4.72 ERA) and Blanton (5.25 ERA) make the rotation questionable with a 3.70 combined ERA.

Cy Young candidate, Tim Hudson anchors the Braves rotation along with Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurjens, Derek Lowe, and Mike Minor. All of them combined have a 3.53 ERA and none of them have ERA above 4.50.

The Braves are statistically the better team in just about every category, but the reason that they have been in front of Philadelphia for the majority of this season is not about statistics.

This season is about giving a legendary manager a deserving high note to end his Hall of Fame career.

This season is about the stewardship of a baseball legacy and the beginning of a new baseball dynasty.

No matter who wins the division or who wins the wild card, the Braves and Phillies will meet in the postseason and it won’t be pretty.  But it will be great baseball.

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Major League Baseball is about to get a serious face-lift on the managerial front this offseason considering that already this regular season there have been five managerial firings. These include Seattle’s Don Wakamatsu, Kansas City’s Trey Hillman, Baltimore’s Dave Trembley, Arizona’s AJ Hinch, and Florida’s Fredi Gonzlez. 

Once this season ends, we won’t see Bobby Cox, still managing the contending Braves, or Lou Pinella, who got a head start on retirement, any longer as a manager. The duo have combined for over 4,300 major league victories, six National League pennants with a pair of World Series titles. 

We can’t forget about Cito Gaston who is managing in his final season with the Toronto Blue Jays and his managing career. Gaston has as many World Series titles (two) as Pinella and Cox. 

Yet as we look upon this season as the Year of the Pitcher how about can we have a standing ovation for the Year of the Manager? This offseason will dictate the future of Major League Baseball for years to come because as many as 10 teams will have probable openings with a few other teams on the bubble depending on the rest of the hirings or firings. That’s nearly three quarters of the entire league, perhaps getting a new manager from Opening Day 2010.

Even though the regular season ends in early October, expect for their to be as much as a handful of managerial moves during the postseason. 

In an earlier article, I wrote about the possible MLB managerial changes this offseason and headlined those teams but a lot has changed and with a month left in the regular season, this can be seen as the update to what’s to come, whose on each teams radar, and the probable choice for the team’s new manager. 

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It’s one of the most amazing stories of the 2010 baseball season. Omar Infante, a career utility player, has stepped into a starting role with the Atlanta Braves and is threatening to become one of the most unlikely batting title winners in baseball history.

On July 30th, the Braves All-Star second baseman, Martin Prado, broke his finger sliding into home plate.   Prado landed on the 15-day DL and Infante was inserted into the starting lineup at second base.

Since that day Infante has hit .363 with a .400 on-base and a .513 slugging percentage. 

He’s scored 29 runs, hit five home runs and thrown in three stolen bases to boot.  Since July 29th, he’s had 23 multi-hit games and at one point, hit safely in 14 straight. 

On August 10th, Chipper Jones was lost for the season when he tore his ACL making a dazzling play at third base.  The injury assured that Infante would remain at second base and Prado would play third upon his return. 

Infante has been an absolute life-saver for the Braves, playing in every game since that July 29th date.  In all but two of those games he’s batted lead-off and helped Atlanta maintain their NL East lead.   

Even before Prado and Chipper’s injury, Infante was a valuable asset for the Braves.  In the 73 prior games, Infante started 40 of them, playing five different positions: 2B, SS, 3B, LF and RF.  He hit .330 in those games, including a .429 mark in July.

With Infante‘s insertion into the starting role and his continued prowess at the plate, his chances of winning the batting title have become a distinct possibility.

In order to qualify for the batting title, a player must record 502 plate appearances.  Infante is presently hitting a NL best .343 and  stands at 393 PAs with 25 games remaining on the Braves schedule.  If he continues his pace of 4.6 plate appearances per game, achieved since he became a full-time starter, Infante will finish with 512 plate appearances.  He’ll obviously have to play every game to make this mark, but even if he doesn’t he can still win the batting title.

How you ask? 

Well it’s simple.  If Infante finishes with say, 490 appearances, Major League Baseball will add 12 at-bats to his total and recalculate his batting average. These at-bats are considered hitless ones.

Tony Gwynn won a batting title in this manner in 1996 when he recorded 498 plate appearances and 451 at-bats.  His average of .364 was reduced to .359 and he still led the National League. 

Prior to this season, Infante was only a .264 career hitter (though he did hit .305 last year).  The important fact to remember with Infante though, is that he is only 28 years old.  Players often reach their peak around that age, a fact that’s even more true for Infante, who’s body has less wear than others because of his reduced role in prior seasons. 

Carlos Gonzalez, with an assist from Coors field, is Infante’s main competition.  He’s hitting .337 to Infante’s .343.  Joey Votto is a distant third at .321. 

It’s difficult to determine who the most unlikely batting title winner in NL history is. 

Al Oliver, a name few know, won the title with Montreal in 1982.  But he hit over .300 eleven times in his career.  Another Atlanta Brave, Ralph Garr won the title in 1974 (Garr was also 28 when he accomplished the feat).  Rico Carty also did it for the Braves in 1970.  Very few people outside of Atlanta, remember these names. 

In the American League, Bill Mueller hit .326 in 2003.  He was a .286 career hitter before that.   Mueller was also out of baseball three seasons later. 

The only distant comparison for Infante is Snuffy Stirnweiss.  Stirnweiss played for the Yankees in 1945 when baseball was severely depleted by the departure of players to World War II.  Stirnweiss hit .309 in 1945. He never hit above .256 again and hit only .268 for his career. 

With Infante‘s hitting showing no signs of slowing down and a decent shot at 502 plate appearances, he has a very real chance to become one of the most unlikely batting champions in baseball history 

I’d love to hear some readers thoughts about whether or not Infante might be the most unlikely batting champ in the long history of baseball and whether or not he has a legitimate chance at the feat.

You can view the history of NL and AL batting champs, going all the way back to when Levi Meyerle hit .492 in 1871, here. 

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The Atlanta Braves should think twice before they make a move that will weaken their chances at winning a second World Series title.

While nothing has happened yet, the stars are certainly aligned for Mr. May, Troy Glaus, to replace All-Star Omar Infante in the lineup at third base, which would bump Martin Prado back to second base.

Since Atlanta acquired first baseman Derrek Lee from the Chicago Cubs, Glaus has rested his ailing knees and returned to play three games for the Gwinnett Braves at the hot corner this week.

During those three games, May’s NL Player of the Month has been raking at the plate, racking up two home runs, seven RBI’s, and five hits in 10 at-bats at the Triple-A level.

However, while those numbers and Glaus’ improving health may impress GM Frank Wren and manager Bobby Cox enough for them to make him the starting third baseman in place of the injured Chipper Jones, it’s a bad move.

And I’m not saying that merely based on his .174 batting average and two home runs over the last 46 games.

Glaus should not re-enter the daily lineup because Atlanta cannot afford to take super utility man Omar Infante out of the daily lineup.

According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Infante has a .381 batting average in 27 consecutive starts and has shown some uncharacteristic power recently, hitting five home runs in his last 17 games.

Additionally, Infante has been consistently good in 2010, unlike Glaus, posting a .365 batting average in 65 games since June 1, which would put him in contention for the batting title if he had enough at-bats to be eligible.

Defensively, Infante has been solid, committing only 12 errors despite lining up at five different positions for the 2010 Braves.

Most importantly, Infante has committed only four errors in 99 chances at second base, his current position, this season.

As for Glaus’ fielding skills, both he and Prado have the same career fielding percentage at third base (.952), but you would have to think that the younger Prado would be more mobile and agile than Glaus and his ailing knees.

Granted, the Braves’ bench is significantly weaker without Infante and losing the reliable guy who can play almost anywhere should a starter go down with an injury hurts the bench.

However, Atlanta’s subs are still strong, boasting the likes of Melky Cabrera, Eric Hinske, David Ross, and the team’s best clutch hitter in Brooks Conrad.

In addition to those guys, Glaus would provide a power bat off the bench and could serve as the designated hitter should the Braves advance to the World Series.

As far as the rest of the season is concerned, Atlanta hopes that Glaus will once again prove his doubters wrong by playing good defense at third base and being a key bat in the Braves’ lineup down the stretch in September and potentially October.

Unfortunately for Atlanta, hope should be a last resort in a pennant race.

If the Braves want to hold off the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East race, they need to go with the best guys they have—a strategy that finds Omar Infante in the everyday lineup and Troy Glaus on the bench.

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On Wednesday, the Atlanta Braves completed a four-player deal with the Chicago Cubs to bring first baseman Derrek Lee to Atlanta.

Atlanta gave up three pitchers in the deal to a pitching-deficient club; two were righties, and one was a lefty.

The trade beckoned a question within the minds of the Atlanta faithful: What about Troy Glaus?

Speculation flew that Glaus was done for the season; that this knee issue of his was more serious than first reported; that Glaus, for all he had done for Atlanta, was being thrown under the bus.

Then came what I suspected all along: that the Braves were wanting Glaus to reacquaint himself with third base to give the Braves two solid hitting and fielding corner men.

With all this said, what does the trade for Derrek Lee really mean for this Atlanta Braves team striving to stay atop the National League East division? Let’s analyze, shall we?

Derrek Lee brings excellent defense to Atlanta’s infield.

Derrek Lee, a 14-year veteran of the game, has not always been known for Albert Pujols-like power, but he has swung the bat well. He has shown power and average in spurts through his career and is hitting .251 this year with 16 home runs and 56 runs batted in.

My projection is that Lee will finish with about 25 homers and 75 or so runs batted in this year.

He had a career year in 2005, bopping 46 homers, driving in 107 runs, and hitting an astounding .335. The next season, 2006, he injured his wrist and was limited to only 175 at-bats, in which he still was able to muster eight homers, 30 RBI, and a .286 average. He hit well last season, hitting 30 HRs, putting up 111 RBI, and hitting .306.

This season, however, has been a season of issues for all the Cubbies. Yet to make my point, what has never been an issue for Lee was his defense. A three-time Gold Glove Award winner (2003, 2005, 2007), Lee has 89 career errors and boasts a career .994 fielding percentage. Nice, if you ask me.

I compare him to a good-hitting Doug Mientkiewicz, who only had 30 errors his entire 12-year career and holds an impressive .996 career fielding percentage. Only two-thousandths of a percent better than Derrek Lee? Yes.

To make a point about defense, it was defense that won Boston their championship. They had a few select good power hitters, but it was the defense of guys like Mientkiewicz who solidified the championship (and, in fact, made the last out…and then kept the ball and enraged Red Sox Nation).

As the old mantra goes, offense wins games, but defense wins championships. I guess it doesn’t just apply to football, does it?

Derrek Lee adds a great clubhouse veteran presence.

Lee has consistently been lauded as a unifying presence, one that held the bits and pieces of a shaken and shattered Cubs clubhouse over the past few years. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Lee in the Cubs clubhouse, I doubt the Cubs would have gotten as far as they have over the years.

When you have such polarizing clubhouse influences as Carlos Zambrano, Alfonso Soriano, Milton Bradley, and the like, you are going to have choppy waters. Derrek Lee was oftentimes the team lifeguard, pulling good players out of choppy situations. Lee is gone, and the Cubs locker room will suffer. Who are your leaders now? Ryan Dempster? Aramis Ramirez?

Look, for all the Cubs’ good spots, and their bad, Lee was one of the best. I think Jim Hendry realized that the Cubs were the Titanic of the baseball world and that he needed to get the good people off before the ship ran afoul on the iceberg known as reality. Derrek Lee was one, as were Ted Lilly, Mike Fontenot, and Ryan Theriot.

Hendry realizes there is nowhere to go but down from this situation, and he is ready to bring her on down, restock, refuel, and try it again. You will see a new Cubs club next year if the front office actually cares about winning the World Series for the first time since Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House. If not, expect the Cubs to look like the 1980s Braves before it’s all said and done.

Derrek Lee Can Hit.

As I mentioned before, D-Lee has had good and great seasons throughout his career. When he’s been healthy, he has hit no fewer than 20 home runs since 2000, when he was with the Marlins. He even won a ring in 2003 with the Marlins and had a Gold Glove to boot.

But the thing is that he can hit, and hit well. He has a career .289 average, 309 career HRs, and is five RBI short of 1,000 for his career. Projecting that he finishes 2010 with 25 homers and 75 RBI, that would put his career numbers at 318 HR and 1,114 RBI. That would mean he averages 22 HR a year and 80 RBI a year.

If he finishes with an average of .275 on the year, meaning he would have to get 55 hits in 164 more at-bats (figuring around 582 more AB on the season with 41 games remaining and four AB per game), or pretty much go 1-for-4 every game, it would put his average at .283 per year.

An average of .283, 22 HR, and 80 RBI per year are decent numbers. Those numbers plus a fielding percentage of .994 means one heck of a first baseman, provided he stays healthy. He is 34, so he should have another three years or so left in the tank. 

Derrek Lee isn’t a money-hungry player.

Derrek Lee is at the end of a five-year, $65 million contract. He made $13 million a year for those five years and probably knows that he won’t be making that much when he hits the free agent market. The Braves are looking at dumping about $20 million next year from their books, which is plenty of money to re-sign Derrek Lee.

My thought is that Lee will probably get anywhere from $8-10 million a year on his next contract, and given that he is 34, it will probably be a three to four-year deal, so you are looking at maybe a three-year, $28 million deal this offseason, or, at the max, a four-year, $38 million deal.

With the Braves paying him $10 million a year, that still leaves the Braves with plenty of money. Even Liberty Media can be happy with that (the cheapskates!).

So, give props to Frank Wren on a good trade for a good player. I can’t wait to see Derrek Lee in Braves garb. I want to see Lee, Rick Ankiel, Glaus, Chipper Jones, and Eric O’Flaherty back next year, along with Brooks Conrad, Martin Prado, Omar Infante, Brent Clevlen, and David Ross. We have a good thing going with all these young guys who perform well and get paid decently, but not exorbitantly.

Good job, Frank Wren, and welcome to the club, D-Lee!

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With the news breaking on Thursday that Chipper Jones was done for the 2010 season and, potentially, his career with a torn ACL, the Braves found themselves without some sense of certainty at the hot corner for the first time in nearly sixteen years.

Mark Twain once said: “A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away.  He must have time to modify his shape.”

But, you know what?

The Braves don’t have any men that are really square enough to fit into the hole left behind by the veteran switch-hitter…no one’s had to be shaped into that mold with the stature of the 38-year-old Jones.

And they don’t have the time to allow one of their round pegs to modify their shape.

So, the question for the Braves right now is simple: Who is going to be thrust into the square hole at third base?

On the waiver wire, names like Chone Figgins, Edwin Encarnacion, and Jose Lopez would all have to pass through all of the American League and the majority of the National League before the Braves would have an opportunity to claim them (and, even then, trade partners would likely have pretty high demands since they would know the Braves’ desperation).

And since the options down on the farm don’t exactly scream “excitement,” (Brandon Hicks, though an amazing talent in the field, lacks the bat to play regularly in the Majors; Wes Timmons is a 30-year-old career Minor Leaguer with a .964 FLD% in 104 games at third in AAA; Freddie Freeman is an amazing option if Troy Glaus moves to third…but Glaus’ running is painful to watch, so I’d imagine that his defense at the hot corner would induce a similar effect; Joe Thurston has posted a .255/.303/.376 line at AAA with the majority of his time coming at 2B) we’ll focus on the three big names currently on the big league roster 

Brooks Conrad, despite his occasional defensive brilliance and title of “Captain Clutch,” is best utilized as a bench player (at least for the time being) and has struggled when given starting opportunities in 2010 (as would be expected from a guy that has a mindset of “hack, hack, hack”).

So I think we can eliminate him from the list of contenders right off the bat (although he will, in my opinion, be a valuable asset off the bench to fill in at 2B and 3B down the stretch in the scenario I will reveal momentarily).

So, that leaves Omar Infante and the soon-to-be activated Martin Prado as the two candidates for the hot corner (with the other playing second base…so we’ll run with this theory).

Prado has shown great improvement with the glove at second base with increased playing time, but UZR likes Prado as a third baseman (3.2) more than as a second baseman (-10.1)…that’s not to say that UZR is the be-all, end-all of all types of defensive profiling–it’s just going to be our base for comparison here.

And while UZR doesn’t love Omar Infante at second (-2.5), the way things would swing with Prado at third (where Omar is at 1.0), the Braves would be at their best defensively.

And by phrasing that last paragraph in the way I did…I’ll go ahead and cut to the chase and say that I think that Martin Prado should be the Atlanta Braves’ third baseman when he returns from the disabled list sometime at the beginning of next week.

So, that brings us to our next question concerning this new-ish (since Chipper has been on-and-off the DL for years now) issue: How does the line-up set-up now?

After all, the Braves just lost the guy that’s been batting third in the line-up since 2005 (the year after JD Drew left Atlanta) and no one, obviously, has much experience being “that guy.”

In that spot, you, ideally, want a guy that’s going to be hitting for a fairly high average with a ton of doubles and a ton of hard line drives to move guys first-to-third for the four- and five guys.

With the choices at hand, you have to like Jason Heyward and Martin Prado…Heyward for the ability to hit balls hard all over the field and Prado for his average and gap power.

With those two guys/thoughts in mind, this is the line-up I’d put on the field if I were a grumpy old man with a No. 6 on my back (joke):

Since four-through-eight here is largely unchanged, I’ll offer a fairly brief explanation of why I chose the 1-2-3 punch that I listed for the Braves.

By sliding Prado into the three-hole, even though Jason Heyward will likely have that spot in 2011, you give a nice doubles-hitter two very nice OBP guys in front of him and a pretty strong home run threat directly behind him. 

While the presence of Chipper Jones in the middle of the line-up was nice, this line-up loses virtually nothing in terms of offense (Chipper’s line for ’10 will go down in the books at .265/.381/.426) besides a name.

It’ll be sad if this is indeed the end of Chipper Jones‘ career, and the hole he (potentially) leaves behind pertaining to leadership and “plate presence” will be tough to replace.

But, even though the Braves are in the thick of a playoff race and will be forced to do some “on the job training” with whoever takes over the third base job, this team is equipped to move up, up, and away into the future.

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From the third week of May to the All-Star Break, when the Atlanta Braves were rolling, Billy Wagner was one of the best closers in baseball.

Over that approximate two month stretch, the 39-year-old southpaw was 16-for-17 in save opportunities while collecting one win in a total of 23 appearances.

However, since the dawn of the second half, Wagner has blown four saves in 13 chances (and given up a go-ahead, solo homer in a non-save situation—a game the Braves would lose).

But, hey everybody goes through rough stretches, right?

Well, there is reason to believe that might not be the case here.

When you consider the fact that Wagner blew a grand total three saves in the season’s first three-and-a-half months, you have to wonder if fatigue could be catching up with him.

And when you consider further that all of his chokes, if you will,  have come either pitching on either zero or only one day’s rest (and the one day came after a high-stress BS in Florida), fatigue definitely looks as if it could be the culprit in this sudden drop-off.

Now, when the Braves assembled the 2010 club, the solution to this problem was simple: give Wags the day off and let Takashi Saito close out the game.

But now that option is, essentially, out the window.

After Saito suffered a hamstring injury in Los Angeles earlier in the season, the Braves have used the 40-year-old Japanese righty sparingly, at best, and almost never in back-to-back contests.

And if the issue with Wagner is going to be going to be going in back-to-back games, it simply doesn’t make sense to run Wagner-Saito-Wagner-Saito when save situations, hypothetically, in four straight games (or maybe that’s just me—I just am not fond of a straight-up closer rotation since you’d basically be losing one reliever every night).

So, I am proposing a sort-of John Axford-like solution with 25-year-old phenom lefty Jonny Venters.

If you don’t know who that is, I’ll offer this explanation: he’s the dude that essentially took Trevor Hoffman’s job in Milwaukee.

Venters, who has a 1.09 ERA and 17 holds in 57.2 innings out of the Braves ‘pen (and only one homer allowed, to boot), has been one of the best relievers in baseball against both lefties (.183 BAA) and righties (.163 BAA) as he has worked batters over his 96 mph sinker and late-breaking slider in late and (usually) close situations to the tune of 65 strikeouts (to 25 base on balls).

While he lacks closing experience, his arsenal definitely reeks of closer stuff.

And even though Venters (who has gone back-to-back games too many times to count) has been a key cog in the middle-relief role in Atlanta, until Wagner (who has sang Venters’ praises—that’s why I think he’d be at least somewhat cool with this sort of set-up) shows the ability to become a consistent threat to slam the door on nightly basis, Venters needs to get chances in the ninth.

By sliding Wagner down into seventh and eighth inning roles (when the game won’t be put out of reach if he gets shaken up) to work on his ability to go back-to-back or rest up, and giving Venters the near-every night job of shutting the door, the Braves, in my eyes, are giving themselves a better shot at finishing games unscathed.

That doesn’t mean Wagner gets completely kicked to the curb, though.

He would get to spell Venters occasionally and would be given the opportunity to get his job back if he performs well in set-up work (which should be the case if he gets fired up over this sort of demotion).

And if he does win the closing job back, his batteries should be re-charged from what would almost surely be a reduced workload.

Granted, the lack of “adrenaline” could make Wagner a liability any earlier than the ninth.

But even that doesn’t seem to be doing the trick for ol’ No. 13 right now.

For me, it’s an experiment worth taking a stab at—you really lose nothing by inserting a younger, equally dynamic arm into the ninth inning fold.

And if Wagner gets pissy, hey, he’s retiring after this season, anyway, right?

Kidding.

Shifting the load at the back of the ‘pen, on paper, makes the Braves a better team—simple as that. 

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NL All-Star manager Charlie Manuel said he was told to include a utility player on the NL roster, so he has chosen Omar Infante of the Braves.

Infante is a very versatile player who can play all the infield and outfield positions, but he has one home run and 22 runs batted in this season. He is a good player, but he is not an All-Star player.

His teammate Troy Glaus, who has hit 14 home runs and driven in 56 runs, would have been a much better choice, not to mention the NL home run leader Joey Votto, who has hit 21 home runs.

It had been my understanding that the NL wanted to win the All-Star Game this season, but now I am doubtful after seeing Votto have to win a final vote to make the team and a pitcher like Carlos Silva being left off the squad.

Manuel did what most All-Star managers do, picking his own player Ryan Howard over Joey Votto, even though Votto was among the NL home runs leaders at the time while Howard was 10th.

Adrian Gonzalez was chosen as a reserve first baseman despite Votto having more home runs, runs batted in, and a higher batting average. He should have been on the final vote ballot while Votto should have been on the team to start with.

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The Mets, Marlins, and Nationals are all three games behind the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies, while the Braves are 2.5 back.

Either this speaks to how good the division is compared to what many thought, or it speaks to how many flaws the Phillies truly have and how average the division is.

Prior to the season, the Phillies were projected to win the East by a majority of the baseball world. The prediction seemed rather accurate when you consider how much success the Phillies have had the past two years, as they have made the World Series in both seasons and won in 2008.

The problems that I and many other NL East followers saw were a less than stellar bullpen with little to no depth and a rotation with more back end types than front end. Injuries have been the biggest problem for the Phillies, but as of late it has surprisingly been their bats that have gone cold rather than their bullpen blowing late leads.

It is only a matter of time until the Phillies get it together at the dish, but with Brad Lidge, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Madson on the shelf, it is time for one of the other NL East teams to make a move on the Phillies.

The Braves are in prime position to do so.

With a series against the Marlins coming to a close and Tim Hudson on the mound against Ricky Nolasco, followed by a six-game home stand vs. both Pennsylvania teams, the Pirates and the Phillies, the Braves have a big seven games ahead of them.

With a 13-6 record at home, including six walk-off victories, the Braves have shown that winning in Turner Field is going to be tough for any visitor to do. The Braves put together a good series against the Pirates last week, and with Derek Lowe, Kris Medlen, and Kenshin Kawakami going, it sets the Braves up perfectly against the Phillies with both Tommy Hanson and Hudson getting starts against the division’s top team.

The NL East is all jumbled up right now, and each team must recognize the importance of surpassing the Phillies while they are still rather injured. The Braves still boast the most consistent rotation in the division, making it easy to give them the best shot to hang around until later in the season of the rest of the 24-win NL East teams.

Atlanta has been playing great as of late, and the trend must continue through June, a notoriously rough month for the Braves season after season, if they wish to make the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

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The Braves are through 44 games, which puts them over a quarter of the way through the season, and you know what that means.

That’s right—it’s time to hand out some grades and make some early judgments on how the season is going so far.

I’m looking at the bullpen today and will get to the lineup regulars next. Check out my report on the starting pitchers here.

Eric O’Flaherty

With an ERA below 2.00 and a WHIP below 1.00, O’Flaherty has been superb for the Braves so far. The fact that he’s pitched in half of Atlanta’s games so far is troubling, but he’s only worked 19 innings total, so hopefully the quantity of games is nullified by his short appearances.

First Quarter Grade: A

Peter Moylan

Moylan has been rock solid out of the ‘pen in 2010. His sidearm delivery presents a different look for hitters, and he really has the confidence of the team and the Atlanta fans. Moylan has also appeared in 22 games, and the Braves need to be careful with him since he has been seriously injured in the recent past.

First Quarter Grade: A

Billy Wagner

At first glance, Wagner hasn’t had a very impressive year: five saves to go along with two blown saves. But this is Wagner’s first full year after major surgery, and it seems that he’s still getting into the swing of things. He has a low WHIP and ERA to go along with a very good strikeout/walk ratio (25/7) so I think the best is yet to come for Billy Wagner with the Braves in 2010.

First Quarter Grade: B

Takashi Saito

Saito has been a bit of a disappointment for the Braves so far. He’s not nearly on the level of his countryman Kenshin “7.3 mil, 0 wins” Kawakami, but he hasn’t been the fantastic setup man he was advertised as when he signed with the Braves this winter. Saito’s ERA this season (3.72) is more than a run higher than his previous season high (2.49 in 2008 with the Dodgers) so there’s reason to think he will improve as the year goes on.

First Quarter Grade: C+

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