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BRAVES NEWS
USA Today ranks the Braves' starting rotation as worst in baseball
Well, this is an awkward way to start off the morning, isn't it? USA Today's For The Win recently decided to rank all of the starting rotations in baseball, and our Braves didn't exactly get a rosy review. In fact, they're coming in at #30, which would put them at dead last in this ranking. At least you don't have to scroll far to find them?
[Julio Teheran is]notable because he’s basically the only legit Major League starter set for the 2016 Braves rotation. Atlanta is in rebuilding mode, and there’s some upside to the pitchers likely to follow Teheran. But unless guys like Matt Wisler and Williams Perez develop better and faster than expected, the last season in Turner Field will be a very long one.
Freddie Freeman ranked as ninth-best 1B in baseball, according to CBS Sports
Hey look, y'all: More rankings! This time, the Eye on Baseball is peering towards the state of first basemen in baseball. Right now, there's a pretty big crop of talented first basemen, and the current face of the Atlanta Braves is among them. CBS Sports recently ranked Freddie Freeman as the ninth-best first baseman in all of baseball, and the fifth-best in the National League. That's a solid spot to be in.
Austin Riley comes in at #6 in 2016 3B prospect watch
What's that? You said you want more rankings? Well, we've got them for you! This time, the latest set of rankings comes from mlb.com's Pipeline coverage, which means that we're focusing on the minor leagues now. They've been going from position-to-position with their rankings, and they've reached the hot corner. According to mlb.com, the 6th most intriguing 3B prospect in baseball is 2015 draft pick and promising slugger Austin Riley -- not bad for a guy who was just drafted last year and might've been a pitcher if things were different. I'm sure that the Braves are happy with him continuing to progress as a third baseman, though.
MLB NEWS
Brewers modernize classic Ball-in-Glove logo with new alternate uniforms
As most of you may know from my contributions to news.sportslogos.net, I'm a pretty big nerd when it comes to sports logos and uniforms (which makes me happy as a Braves fan that the Braves actually have really nice uniforms). One of my favorite looks is the vintage Milwaukee Brewers Ball-in-Glove logo, which is a stroke of creative genius. So I'm pretty jazzed about the fact that they've brought this logo back and dressed it up in the Brewers' current colors and paired it with a new alternate uniform, to boot. I'm a neutral party and I'm excited about these uniforms, and our friends over at Brew Crew Ball are happy too since it means that their unpopular gold jerseys are gone now.
Introducing a new alternate uniform for 2016! See it in person on Sunday at #BrewersOnDeck: https://t.co/N9HlLyrQOn pic.twitter.com/aAwLZFyaVB
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) January 26, 2016
Are the Blue Jays better off now than they were at the start of the offseason?
One of the more intriguing stories as we head into the upcoming season is centered around the Toronto Blue Jays and their hopes of staying relevant in the AL Postseason conversation. The crew over at Bluebird Banter is now trying to figure out whether or not the franchise is in a better position now than when the offseason started. It's an interesting look at a team that's trying to keep aspirations high after breaking a lengthy playoff drought last season.
Quite obviously, the on-field team is better today on paper than it was then, but that's obviously an extremely low hurdle considering the added $30-million in 2016 payroll and $40-million of future commitments. The more interesting question to me is whether the Jays are actually better off as a franchise (both 2016 and beyond) considering both the costs incurred and benefits purchased.