The Greatest Baseball Preview in America: Atlanta Braves

Quick Marlins thought: The Florida Marlins payroll is smaller than each of the salaries of several Yankees players.

THE ATLANTA BRAVES

Pitching: I love the Braves pitching. The Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz combo will be tough to beat, especially with Denny Neagle, Steve Avery, and Charlie Liebrandt to round out the rotation. Can Mark Wholers stay healthy in the pen? Or will Alejandro Pena have to step into the closers role? Well, whoever's on the mound, I'm sure Leo Mazzone will be able to get the very best out of them.

Wait, wait. This isn't the 90's? Oh.

The Braves pitching is not good.

Hitting: Out on a limb, but I'm confident: Andruw Jones is going to be a first ballot hall of famer. Chipper Jones won't be. Who saw that coming five years ago? The rest of this squad, aside from Smoltz, Wickman, and Renteria, is VERY young. If Atlanta starts getting some money again, the Braves and Mets can own two playoff spots through the end of the decade. While the Mets should get back this year, the Braves are still a year away.

Miscellaneous: I used to be a full-fledged Braves fan until about the 99 season, when I slowly started moving towards the Sox. By 2001, I was fully in the Sox camp, cheering hard for them in the interleague games against the Braves, and being truly bummed out when the Sox missed the playoffs and not caring that the Braves were in them. By 2003, the Braves were just another team to me, with the Cubs surpassing them as my favorite NL team. The point? I have none.

Braves-related Ridiculous Proposition Bet: Over/Under on amount of teams that inquire about uber-valuable Free-Agent to be Andruw Jones at the trade deadline: 12.5


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