So I was at the Bulls/PawSaux game tonight, and since Buchholz was having a rehab start, I figured I'd share some observations.

Clay Buchholz: 4IP 2H 4BB 5K 3ER HR 75 pitches (41 strikes)

His stuff was great. Definitely the best curve ball (78 mph all night) I've seen in a minor league park. He was missing bats with it all night. Heater was decent, worked 91-94 but with not location. It was a weird night, really, since he was either blowing people away (first inning: F8 K(taken) K(swinging) in order; 4th inning: K(t) K(s) BB (on 5 pitches to Mike DiFelice of all people) K(t)) or sucking (2nd inning went BB, F9 (to the warning track) BB 1B 5-3 F7 (another hard-hit ball; LF made a nice running catch); 3rd was similar except Dan Johnson's fly ball left the park with a walk on base.)

I would hope the Sox give him at least another rehab start because as I said, his location was off all night. Everything was up (even the breaking pitches, half the time), and everyone on the team besides DiFelice hit the ball hard against him (when they were able to touch it, that is).

Chris Mason: 6IP 6H 1BB 7K 3ER 2HR

John gave this guy a B- in his book, and he's been decent when I've seen him. He tends to work behind hitters more than you'd like to see, and he's rarely efficient. I dunno. I'm not great judge of talent or anything, but he seems more likely to fit in the bullpen than a ML rotation to me. Also, the velocity on his FB was down a bit today, mostly high 80s and I don't recall him breaking 90 on the stadium gun.

Jed Lowrie: sucked

Actually, that's not really true. He went 1-4 with 2Ks, a 3B and a GIDP. The 3B was a hard-hit fly ball to the gap in right-center. The RF had a play on it (a tough one, but one a ML RF makes), but he couldn't bring it in as he was feeling for the wall on the warning track, and the ball got away from he and the CF, who was also near by. Lowrie showed good speed getting around the bases, though, and for a second there, I thought he might try for an inside-the-park job, but with none out, they held him up. But yeah, other than that, he looked pretty bad, especially on his first inning whiff.

Reid Brignac: 0-2 K BB RBI

He drew a walk in the 2nd off a wild Buccholz and stared at a beautiful curve leading off the 4th. His RBI came on a sac fly in the 7th. With runners at first and 3rd and one out, he nearly took reliever Edgar Martinez (not as good as the real one...) to straight-away center. Really a well-hit ball, but it hung up long enough for the CF to get to the track and bring it in. He also had a nice play turning that DP on Lowrie; They only got the 2nd out because of a very strong throw.

Joel Guzman: Remeber him?

Guzman has been on a tear of late with 5 HRs in his last 10 games (although his OBP is still sub-.300). He almost had another two tonight, one a shot of Buccholz to the track down the line in RF in the first inning, and the other high off the "blue monster" toward the gap in left-center in the 6th that went for a double. He added a single in the 7th and finished 2-5 with an RBI and a K. Watching him this season, I'm shocked anyone ever thought he could play SS. He's a 3B now, and he's pretty bad over there. His arm in particular doesn't seem suited for SS in the majors.

Dan Johnson hit the HR off Buccholz in the 3rd if anyone cares. He had a good night, going 3-4 with a couple of singles and a walk. But I guess we already knew he could own AAA.

That's the deal, here's the press release:

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080114&content_id=2345 642&vkey=pr_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

What a moronic move by Wren. You're telling me Devine wasn't worth $4M or whatever it would have taken to get Cameron?

I was initially fine with this. I thought, "sure, bring in Kotsay for a filler guy and see if he's healthy. Prolly a 50/50 shot that he's not done, and maybe he's servicable as a #8 hitter."

But now it looks like Cox is going to hit him 1 or 2 in the lineup and count on him to play 145 games. Oh, and word is we're now on the market for a "veteran" to shore up the bullpen.

And was it really necessary to throw in Richmond, who still has the potential to actually do something eventually?

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Note:  I realize this isn't franchise-wrecking or anything; I just can't think of a reason for doing it at all. There's like a 50/50 chance it improves the team for 2008, and after that, it's all downside.

After pitching for about 15 minutes in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform in 2004, he's made it back to the majors after recovering from TJ surgery.

Anyhow, he proceeds to blow away the Brewer lineup tonight, stirking out 8 in 5.2 IP giving up 6 hits on only one run, coming on a solo HR by Rickie Weeks. I've been listening to the game on the radio, and he was hitting 91-94 on the FB all night with off-speed stuff in the low-80s. (I think he's got a slider and a change.)

Anyhow, I follow the Braves pretty closely and I like to think I have a fairly good idea of what's going on in the minors. But this guy came out of nowhere to me. Apparently, he was lights-out for Richmond down the stretch, but I don't think he had an outing near as good as tonight's (not in the regular season, anyway).

So does anyone have the goods on this guy? Part of me thinks to night was just a "career night" kinda thing. But 8Ks 1BB in 5.2IP against one of the top offenses in the NL is pretty impressive.

C McCann (This is like a given)
1B Teixeira (hey, a guy can dream!)
2B Kelly Johnson
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Chipper Jones
LF B. Jones/someone (Diaz still?) in a platoon
CF Lillibridge? More likely a FA
RF Frenchy

SP Hudson
SP Jo Jo Reyes
SP James
SP FA
SP FA

Pen- Devine, Moylan, and a crap shoot. Maybe Royce Ring is still around.

I do think Chipper will be around to play 3B, but Lillibridge might get moved there if not CF. Also, I still like Eric Campbell, but I don't know if the Braves will be sold on starting him. I do think the Braves will re-sign Tex, even if it's expensive. For LF, I think Heyward is still in the minors. Same for Cody Johnson. Along with the plethora of pitchers. Basically, Atlanta has a top-3 minor league system going into 2010 in my mind. And this is

The biggest problem will obviously be the rotation, and unless Reyes and James take steps forward and Hudson (who I think will sign an extension) doesn't take steps back, we'll see a rather weak rotation.

At least until Hanson and Rohrbough get called up in May. :-D

So, what're the feelings on this fellow? He's been on an absolute tear after a dismal start to the season in high-A Mrytle Beach (that hitter's haven). The K-rate has been somewhat terrifying, and even after you toss out his poor April in which he struck out 21 times in 54 ABs, we're still talking about a guy with 50 Ks in 180 ABs through the next two months.

Of course, other than that everything is nice and shiney: he's walked in nearly 15% of his total plate appearances and has 16 HRs on the season. He's doing even better away from home (.900 OPS vs. 1.150).

Is KK destined to be a Three True Outcomes player? His K-rate, BB-rate, and HR-rate seem to point in that direction. If so, how good will he be? Are we talking Adam Dunn territory? Dunn had a higher minor-league BA than KK, along with a better K/BB rate, and Dunn went through the various minor league levels at younger ages than Kala (AA, AAA, and MLB by 21 while Kala turned 22 this year and is still in High-A).

John gave him a C+ coming into the year, saying he looked like a sleeper and was worth keeping an eye on. Do we have a better sense now of what kind of player he is? Or do we have to wait until a promotion to AA for the real test?

Do people have any thoughts on this kid? John's remark mid-season last year was "probably league-average in middle relief", but he's been quite a bit better than "league average", and as a starter to boot.

Moreoever, he's faced some of the best the NL has to offer, starting against Atlanta, Philly twice, and the Mets, with his worst (and only bad) outing coming in his 2007 debut against the Diamondbacks. Since then, he's struck out 1 per inning and allowed only 6 ER and 11 hits in 25.1 IP.

So could Bergmann confound his minor league numbers and become a solid, ML pitcher?