We've heard all day that certain players won't be making the post-season roster for the 1st round, and I'd say the Braves are just about ready to announce the entire thing. Talking Chop will certainly post the final roster once it comes out, but here's a look at what we'll probably see:
Hitters: 14
C - Brian McCann, David Ross
1B - Derrek Lee, Troy Glaus
2B - Brooks Conrad
3B - Omar Infante
SS - Alex Gonzalez, Diory Hernandez
OF - Rick Ankiel, Melky Cabrera, Matt Diaz, Jason Heyward, Eric Hinske, Nate McLouth
Starting Pitchers: 4
Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson, Tim Hudson, Brandon Beachy
Relief Pitchers: 7
Billy Wagner, Jonny Venters, Peter Moylan, Craig Kimbrel, Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Dunn, Cristhian Martinez
There's already been reports today that neither Freddie Freeman nor Mike Minor will make the trip to San Francisco, so that rules those two out. I'm thinking that I'd prefer Freddie over Glaus for the back-up 1B spot because of his superior defense, but Troy has the experience and is right-handed. No complaints about Minor not making it.
It was announced today that reliever Scott Proctor will make the trip, but not the roster. He will serve as insurance in case a pitcher on the roster gets injured.
Jair Jurrjens is in Orlando at the Braves' complex and will actually pitch in an instructional league game tonight. They haven't announced if Jair will make the roster or not, but I'm betting they'll try to get him healthy for any potential games after the first round. No reason to rush him back, as Jair certainly figures into our future plans and Beachy being capable of making a start if necessary.
Takashi Saito was also told he won't be on the post-season roster, and it's probably for the best since he's battled shoulder tendinitis for weeks now. Similar to Jurrjens, I expect there's a good chance we see him if we make the 2nd round. Eric O'Flaherty continues to battle re-occurring problems with blurry vision and won't make the trip to San Francisco either. The Braves still aren't sure why EOF is having all of these problems, and I'm sure it has Eric worried.
So there it is. It would certainly look a lot better with Chipper, Medlen, Prado and others in there instead of the guys we do now, but injuries are something you can't prevent. We just need every one of these 25 guys to contribute each night and hope for the best.