Braves Clippings Monday, October 19, 2015 Fox Sports

Short Hops: Braves second basemen review/preview

Zach Dillard

FOXSportsSouth.com's team of Braves writers are taking a look back at 2015, position by position, and breaking down what we know heading into what figures to be another busy offseason. The focus here, second base.

STATS THAT MATTER

20: Jace Peterson finished his rookie season with 20 weighted runs created after the All-Star break, the second-lowest mark among all qualified MLB second basemen.

1.1: Peterson wrapped up the '15 season with a 1.1 WAR, making him the first Braves to be worth more than one win above replacement since 's 19-homer 2012 season.

186: The led the majors with 186 total plays this season. Though Peterson was not among MLB's top fielding second basemen, in terms of defensive runs saved, he and shortstop were a formidable combo up the middle for most of the season.

THREE KEY QUESTIONS

1. Has Jace Peterson ended the franchise's revolving door at second base?

Elliot Johnson, , , , Ramiro Pena ... the list continues. Over the past two seasons, the Braves second- base spot has experienced constant turnover — an overflow of near-replacement level production in the aftermath of Dan Uggla's late-career decline.

Atlanta attempted to plug this hole by handing Alberto Callaspo a stop-gap $3 million contract at last year's Winter Meetings, but it was the acquisition of unheralded rookie Jace Peterson — a secondary piece in the trade, behind top prospect Max Fried — that did the trick. For a while, at least.

Peterson stole the show in and stormed out of the gate for the Braves, even filling the leadoff spot at times. By the time the All-Star break rolled around, his bat had cooled off, but he was still tied with outfielder in WAR (0.9) and was holding his own in his first full season. The good times faded in the second half, though. The 25-year-old ended his campaign hitting .221/.293/.319 after the break, watching as fellow rookie Daniel Castro began stealing starts down the team's forgettable stretch.

So what does Peterson's quiet second half mean?

All told, he's the most promising second-base option the team has had since Uggla's bat was producing. He hasn't even reached arbitration and the physical tools are present and accounted for. And with the Braves sending former top prospect Jose Peraza to the Dodgers in the Hector Olivera trade, the farm system isn't exactly overflowing with challengers. Peterson is the Braves' best option at the moment, and there are bigger issues plaguing the team.

If the team elects to devote its money and attention elsewhere this offseason, leaving the job to Peterson (or another player within the organization if necessary) in the short term, it would be understandable. As the 2014 season can attest, it could be much worse.

2. How many below-average hitters can this lineup afford?

The Braves have been 's lowest-scoring team over the past two seasons, and, in terms of Peterson, it brings up the question of just how many defense-first players one team can start. The narrative for players like Andrelton Simmons and Christian Bethancourt follows a similar path — the "whatever you get with the bat is gravy" plan — so if Peterson's offense does not revert back to its first-half form, it calls into question whether the middle of this lineup can support another shaky bat. It couldn't in 2015. Simmons is already locked into the starting lineup and if Bethancourt finally seizes the catcher job, that could mean one-third of the lineup is devoted primarily to defense.

Peterson wrapped up his rookie year with an 80 weighted runs crated plus, with 100 wRC+ being league average. He did not hit for enough power to support a .314 on-base percentage, and his 12 steals did not line up with his minor-league rates or athleticism. Again, the physical tools are there for him to develop into a quality major-league player.

The Braves can probably afford to wait for another season to see if he starts to reach his potential, but if this middle infield doesn't start hitting — Simmons is not entirely exempt here, either — Atlanta will likely have to address the issue before moving into SunTrust Park.

3. Will the Braves be active in the free-agent market in search of a potential upgrade?

The need for more offensive production at second is not an exclusive problem. Similar to the catcher position, where Bethancourt's struggles have the team scouring a shallow market and weighing its options on 38-year-old veterans like A.J. Pierzynski or exploring trades for a possible solution, finding a quality bat at second can be difficult.

Still, there are options, depending on the Braves' willingness to spend.

Ben Zobrist, the 34-year-old utility guru coming off his worst season in seven years, is a top-of-the-market option in free agency, right alongside the likes of (Mets), Asdrubal Cabrera (Rays) and Howie Kendrick (Dodgers), each of whom could provide an upgrade offensively. Two- time former Braves utility man , who the Braves traded to the Mets along with at the midseason deadline, is another option here. The team could also gamble on low-cost, underperforming former first-round picks like Gordon Beckham — a local product — or Stephen Drew.

Again, unless the team swings for a coveted free agent like Zobrist, it might be best-served to sit tight with Peterson and trust in his development.

The Marietta Daily Journal

Keys to getting to and from the Braves’ new ‘Battery’

The Braves’ SunTrust Park and accompanying live-work-play neighborhood is filling in and taking shape.

On Wednesday, team executives released more details of who and what will be part of the new Cumberland community.

The mixed-use development next to the ballfield will be known as The Battery Atlanta and will include a range of restaurants from pizza places to barbecue diners to steak houses. Five restaurants were named Wednesday and there’s still spots remaining. Braves chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk said, “We have 40 restaurants chasing 20 spots.”

This on top of the already announced nine-story Comcast office tower, a hotel from Omni Hotels & Resorts and The Roxy, an entertainment venue with capacity for 4,000 patrons.

The Battery seems to be living up to its billing — not an easy task in light of the descriptions bandied about by developers and Braves’ execs. They’ve called it a place with its own “heartbeat” and “vibe” that will be occupied by “blue chip brands” everyone knows, all next to the “crown jewel” of the project — SunTrust Park.

An aerial rendering released by the Braves shows the ballpark and the mixed-use development. Identifiable are retail shops, apartments with amenity pool, parking garages and the pedestrian bridge connecting the development to The Galleria across Interstate 285.

But the question on most minds remains accessibility.

The good news is that the state of Georgia recently agreed to help Cobb County fund 11 transportation projects, many of which surround SunTrust Park. Those projects include intersection improvements, road upgrades and realignments, new roads, pedestrian paths and sidewalks.

Also, Cobb commissioners last week approved a $200,000 study of pedestrian traffic in Cumberland and the SunTrust Park area. The goal is to add or improve pedestrian paths to better integrate vehicular and foot traffic.

The Braves’ plans call for 6,000 parking spaces for the 41,500-seat stadium, but that was when a bridge for walkers, cyclers and shuttle bus service was still front and center. The bridge would span Interstate 285 and connect the development to the Galleria area. The project is now on hold as stakeholders take another look at design and landing and launching points. The delays will prevent the bridge’s completion in time for 2017’s . Without that access point, parking adjustments could be in order. The Braves are expected to announce their parking plan in the next few months.

Cost estimates for the bridge vary, but Cobb Chairman Tim Lee is clear that regardless of the final cost, county taxpayers are only on the hook for $9 million — monies expected to come from SPLOST funds and federal dollars. In a statement released this month, Lee said, “Even if the bridge costs $100 million, the cost to Cobb County will not exceed $9 million. Period. I have also consistently stated that any additional costs will be covered by our many public and private partners.”

Who those partners are is not clear. Candidates include the Cobb Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, Cumberland Community Improvement District, Galleria Office Park property manager Childress Klein and the Braves themselves.

Each of these stakeholders would see benefits from a Galleria-SunTrust Park connector. None more than the Braves.

Now comes District 2 Commissioner Bob Ott who says the bridge as it is now being described may not be the best way to connect. He suggests the study mentioned above might lead to a completely different solution.

The need for access is undebatable. A “crown jewel” is no good if you can’t get to it.

A 2014 Atlanta Regional Commission traffic study memorandum reports that without the bridge and circulator buses “approximately 16,000 people will be required to cross Cobb Parkway to access the site.” That’s a recipe for pedestrian danger and traffic delays.

Meanwhile, The Battery continues to fill. McGuirk says retailers are “ready to go” and he expects more significant announcements soon.

The transportation initiatives underway will help make the area around the Braves stadium more navigable — essential efforts if baseball fans and restaurant and retail patrons are to better enjoy their trip to The Battery and SunTrust Park.

The Macon Telegraph

Cubs fans, we feel for you

BY BILL SHANKS

To think the Cubs have played 70 years without a trip to the is sad. We can only hope (unless you're a fan) Chicago fans soon will be rewarded with an event that has not happened in most of their lifetimes.

It should also make all of us feel guilty to complain about no team from Georgia winning a major sports championship in a long time.

But it has been a long time.

It's hard to believe we're coming up on the 20th anniversary of the Atlanta Braves winning their only World Series championship in Atlanta. It seems like yesterday, doesn't it, when Tom Glavine shut down the mighty and David Justice hit the game-winning on that cold October night in 1995?

How long will it be before the Braves get back to the Fall Classic? Well, watching this year's postseason teams might make you realize just how far the Braves are to getting back to somewhere they visited frequently in the 1990s. In fact, with five appearances in the World Series that decade, it was almost like that was what the Braves did every season.

After their worst season in 25 years, the Braves have a lot of work to do. We've continually heard about the 2017 season, the year the Braves move into the spanking brand new Sun Trust Park. But it might take a bit longer than that to build a championship team considering how far they have fallen in the last year.

Progress is being made, but it's going to take time. We might be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Braves' only championship in Atlanta before believing the Braves are close to realizing that dream once again.

The Falcons never have won a title since joining the NFL in 1966. They got close in 1998, when they lost to Denver in Super Bowl XXXIII. Despite Thursday's loss to , Atlanta's season has gotten off to a great start with a 5-1 record in the first season of the Dan Quinn era. There is a renewed hope that the new head coach can get this franchise on track to be a Super Bowl contender.

The team that might be the closest to a run for a title is Atlanta's basketball team. The Hawks got to the Eastern Conference Finals last season before losing to Cleveland. Atlanta's new season will begin in a few weeks, and with an improved roster, the Hawks should have another shot at being contenders. But are the Hawks true candidates to win the NBA Finals? Well, only time will tell, but they likely will have to once again go through LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The football programs at Georgia and Georgia Tech seem to be stuck in neutral. It has been 35 years for Georgia and 25 years for Georgia Tech since they raised championship trophies. That's too long for programs in this football hotbed state with tremendous talent. We should frankly expect more, especially with programs all around them in the Southeast doing much better. There have been winning seasons for teams in Georgia, but what about championships? Forgive us Cubs fans, but we would like one, too. Maybe if they win one on the north side of Chicago this year, we'll have hope those dreaded championship droughts can end. If the Cubs can do it, certainly our sports teams in Georgia can, as well.

The Anniston Star

Cubs, Mets, others will make Braves climb back to relevance tough

By T.K. Greer/Special to The Star

Playoff baseball has been everything we could want it to be so far.

There’s been plenty of good pitching, timely hitting, superb defense, questionable managerial decisions and one insanely epic bat flip.

The final four teams — Royals, Blue Jays, Cubs and Mets — are all worthy of playing for their respective league championships. They’ve been among the best teams in all of baseball the entire year, in addition to the Cardinals and Pirates.

And while the wild card and first-round games are certainly a small sample size, really watching and examining the playoffs has led me to a conclusion about the Atlanta Braves current situation — they may not be in the back of the class of the NL, but they are a long, long way from the front.

The Cubs, Mets, Cardinals and Pirates are not going anywhere anytime soon. Chicago’s talented roster is full of youth at almost every position outside of starting pitching. The Mets starting staff is very likely the envy of every other team in the majors. The Cardinals are the Cardinals; they are going nowhere. And while the Pirates may have a few tough offseason decisions to make on a couple of their key contributors ( and Pedro Alvarez), they have a deep, flexible roster — and a couple of more prospects in the pipeline.

All of that and we haven’t discussed the extraordinary wealth of the Dodgers and the underachieving and also deep-pocketed .

While I expect the Cardinals, Pirates and Dodgers to continue to regularly be in contention for at least the next couple of years, let’s take a closer look at the two teams vying for the NL championship. They are a fascinating case study in how to build a franchise.

The Mets rebuilt their organization around starting pitching, specifically, power arms. The Cubs built theirs around high-ceiling hitters. And both organizations got it right.

Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz give the Mets the deepest starting rotation in baseball. And Zack Wheeler, who missed the year after Tommy John surgery, gives them another electric arm.

The Mets’ offense struggled all year to keep up with its starting pitching until summer trades at or near the deadline brought in Kelly Johnson, Jose Uribe and the powerful Yoenis Cespedes. A promotion of rookie Michael Conforto added another quality hitter, and the Mets were off.

Johnson, Uribe and Cespedes are all free agents at season’s end, and although the Mets have been cheap since the Bernie Madoff scandal of several years back, a long playoff run should embolden ownership to pay what it takes to keep Cespedes. Regardless, that pitching combined with a few smart additions, will have the Mets in contention for a while.

As for the Cubs, who wouldn’t want that hitting? Kris Bryant is going to be a star, a perennial 30-plus home run slugging . Antony Rizzo is Bryant’s left-handed compliment. Kyle Schwarber might already be one of the top left handed hitters in the game.

Then there is Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Starlin Castro and Jorge Soler, all oozing with talent. Add to that , who is arguably the best manager in baseball, and you have to believe the curse of the billy goat is going to end soon — possibly in the next 15-20 days.

To this point, the Braves have chosen to rebuild, or retool, if you prefer, by acquiring young starting pitching. The question is, are any of the guys they have traded for (Matt Wisler, Manny Banuelos, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz) the next deGrom, Syndergaard or Matz? Or could a hitter like Hector Olivera turn into a Bryant or Rizzo?

In my mind, this postseason has shown Atlanta is far behind. Yes, the farm system is stronger than it was eight months ago, at least in terms of quality depth. Yes, there were a couple of bright spots this year (Shelby Miller, Cameron Maybin), but there is so much still unknown about their prospects.

Atlanta’s front office can call their rebuild a retool, a reset or whatever else they want, but based on what we’ve seen this year and since the playoffs started one thing seems for certain: The talent level is a long, long way from being playoff caliber. And it wouldn’t be a surprise to me if the Braves aren’t behind this year’s playoff clubs after 2017, either. It took the Mets and Cubs years to acquire the talent they have now. It may be that the Braves’ timeframe ultimately will be longer than they envisioned.