Atlanta Braves news and links: The move to Cobb County begins

BRAVES NEWS

Braves have begun to move out of Turner Field

It hasn’t even been a full month since the final game of Major League Baseball was played at Turner Field, but the Braves have already begun to move to SunTrust Park in Cobb County. They’ll be moving to a stadium that’s very nearly done (83 percent done, according to Cobb County Manager David Hankerson), and Ricky Leroux of The Marietta Daily Jorunal had the details behind the Braves incremental move to their new home.

Plant said the Braves began moving things out of Turner Field on Oct. 3, the day after the final game at Turner Field, and while some of the equipment and other items will be stored in a warehouse for a few months, some are already being delivered to SunTrust Park.

“Some of our field equipment, for example, that’s used for all of the maintenance work that (Field Director) Ed (Mangan) does throughout the summer,” Plant said.

The first game scheduled at SunTrust Park is an exhibition against the New York Yankees on March 31, but Plant said there will be several events at the ballpark and adjacent mixed-use development before that matchup.

SunTrust Park may have a decent amount of foul territory after all

The crew over at Tomahawk Take recently published an article where they claimed that there would be a minimal amount of foul territory at SunTrust Park. As it turns out, it’s still smaller than the foul territory at The Ted, but it’s not as small as they figured it would be.

When you overlay the SunTrust representation with the Turner Field graphic, an apples-to-apples comparison does show a smaller foul ground. The difference is not nearly as dramatic as that portrayed 2 weeks ago, but there is a noticeable difference.

Instead of averaging 25-30 feet all around as I had previously written, it appears to be more like 30-40 feet in width… perhaps 75-to-80% of the Turner Field’s foul ground. Much safer for all concerned while still enhancing the fan experience… and giving pitchers at least a little more breathing space.

Checking in on Mallex Smith and Matt Wisler’s fall ball adventures

Meanwhile, two players who the Braves are hoping will play a big role in any future successes are currently honing their craft in Latin America in the winter leagues. Mallex Smith has had a rough go of it as he got cut by his team in Mexico, while Matt Wisler has been busy in the Dominican Republic working on his game so that he can actually make some progression in 2017. For more information, it would definitely be worth checking out Ivan’s post on the matter if you haven’t already.

MLB NEWS

Aroldis Chapman throws an eight-out save to send World Series back to Cleveland

The Cubs went into the seventh inning of last night’s game against Cleveland with a slender one-run lead. After Carl Edwards Jr. picked up the first out of the inning, Joe Maddon decided that it was time to stop messing around and brought in Aroldis Chapman in an attempt to make an eight-out save. 42 pitches later, Chapman made it happen, and now the Cubs will be going back to Ohio with hopes of possibly taking this series in seven games.