MLB 2008 Season

[tiger88 934]

My first reaction when I saw the braves roster was that the hitting looked great and the pitching looked really iffy.

smoltz and Glavine are both way way past their prime and run out of steam with many weeks left in the season. Hell, Glavine did that the last time he was here in atlanta. Last year was his one really good year in NY and he tanked his last month of the season there too. They pitched Smolts early because they didn't want to pitch him in the cold in clorado.

Then you have hampton. Good when he is healthy which is somewhere between rarely and never.

I don't have a clue who jo jo reyes is. Is he that lefty that came up last year?

Uh, Smoltz doesn't have a history of fading down the stretch. And he was downright dominant today. Jo Jo Reyes is a minor league pitcher. Jair Jurrjens is our new starter, and Chuck James is about to come off the DL and can fill in until Hampton rehabs his boobie.

But to say Smoltz is way past his prime and suggest he won't be effective is silly. In his last 3 seasons combined, his ERA is almost in the 2s.

The starting pitching won't be a problem. I think Hampton will be back. And don't forget we get Gonzalez back in July to help shore up the late innings. Chuck James is serviceable as a 5th starter, and they don't need 25 wins from Glavine. If he can win 12-13 Smoltzie and Huddy will do their jobs, and the back end of the rotation will be good enough to win the division (I think).

smoltz numbes are great for the past three years. he has also tended to have problems with his elbow/shoulder late in the season, including missing starts and so on. I didn't say he wouldn't be effective, I'm sure he will be during the bulk of the season. twenty bucks says he fades at the end and glavine does too. glavine has been fading at the end of the season since before he left atlanta. They are both well past their prime physically.

I'm glad you have confidence in hampton. I hope you're right. He's already missed another start this year due to pulling his pec or whatever. When he is healthy he is a good pitcher.

I hope they all come through big time this year, I'm just not that confident that they will. I was a little disappointed to say the least when I saw the starting rotation. Hitting looks great. However, if you don't have pitching down the stretch you are basically just peeing in the wind.

Sorry, but you're completely wrong about Smoltz. He did not miss any starts in August or September. He did not tend to have elbow or shoulder problems. He's 41 and can still throw a 94mph slider. Past his prime? Dream on.

He was 4-2 in his final 11 starts last season. The only start that he didn't go at least 6 innings in that stretch was the last game he pitched when playoffs were out of the picture. He never allowed more than 3 runs in those games. He had one complete game where he only allowed 3 runs and actually got the loss. In one game he went 8 innings, allowed 2 runs and got a no decision.

In 2006 Smoltz was 12-4 in his last 18 starts.

As for Glavine...he was 5-2 in his last 13 starts last season. Yes he got shelled at Shea in his last start of the season but to say he faded is again just plain wrong.

I hate to see Smoltz go down, but I had feeling his arm was suspect.

Does snyone know what is up with hampton? Last thing I heard he had strained a pec or something and haven't seen him since. He should have to pay like 80% taxes on his 15 million a year he has earned for doing absolutely nothing.