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BRAVES NEWS
Snitker: Only Folty and Teheran are rotation locks right now
We’re one day away from February, which means that we’re now only a couple of weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting. Speaking of the pitchers, Brian Snitker talked with Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about what figures to be a very lively competition for spots in the Braves rotation this season. Snitker went as far as to say that Mike Foltynewicz and Julio Teheran are the only guys who have already locked down a spot, so there’s that.
Regardless of the opening-day group, Snitker suspects most of the candidates will make a few starts anyway.
“We’ve got some good candidates, and it takes a lot,” Snitker said. “The average in the major leagues is like 11 starters, I think, that were used (during season). It takes a lot of guys to get through a major-league season. Starters, bullpen; we’ll get down there (in Florida), stretch some guys out and see where we’re at.”
Braves try to stay out of mascot controversies
The big news back on Monday concerned Cleveland and the fact that they were dropping the infamous Chief Wahoo logo by the time the 2019 season rolls around. Cleveland will be able to keep the trademark so they’ll still be able to sell stuff with the logo on it — which is actually similar to what the Braves do with the logo that they finally dropped back in 1989. Mark Meltzer of the Atlanta Business Chronicle got a quote from Braves spokeswoman Beth Marshall explaining this.
“The laughing Indian hasn’t been a part of our primary team marks for decades,” spokeswoman Beth Marshall said. “To preserve the trademarks, MLB does keep the logo in the Cooperstown Collection and some licensees sell merchandise with that image, a very small percentage of our overall merchandise.”
Acuna continues tradition of Braves producing highly-rated prospects
Ronald Acuna was recently tabbed as the best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America and apparently this has become a long-running trend for the Braves when it comes to that publication. J.J. Cooper wrote about the Braves and their history of cultivating a nice amount of young talent over the years.
Braves big-wigs show up in Rome
Wayne Cavadi was recently in Rome for their annual Hot Stove event and apparently this was a prime year to go to that event because some of the big-time higher-ups showed up for this one. Brian Snitker and Scouting Director Brian Bridges were there and this was also Alex Anthopoulos’ first-ever visit to Rome. So if you went to this event, you got to see the dugout manager, the scouting director and the general manager. Not bad for an event concerning the Single-A affiliate!
MLB NEWS
San Diego believes KC has offered more for Hosmer than they have
It’s nearly February and the current crop of unsigned free agents would probably be good enough to make the playoffs if they could start their own team. One of those players is Eric Hosmer, who has been in the center of a bidding war between the Royals and Padres for what seems like the entire offseason. The latest news now is that the Padres seem to believe that the Royals have offered more money than the Padres have. If that’s the case, then it sure seems like the Royals could end up re-signing Hosmer after all of this.
Milwaukee still in the running for Darvish
Meanwhile, our friends at Brew Crew Ball noted that even though the Dodgers are reportedly the favorites to retain the services of Yu Darvish, the Brewers are still in the conversation to potentially land him. Milwaukee has been one of the only teams that’s been super-busy during this slow offseason and if they manage to bring in Yu Darvish as well then that would be the capper on what’s been a solid Hot Stove season for the Brewers.