John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, the conglomerate which owns the Atlanta Braves, sold about two-thirds of his stock in the company as part of a repurchase program. And like many things in this turbulent market, the reaction was not a good one:

The chairman of the media conglomerate sold 4.5 million shares of it on Thursday. [...] Malone got $11.00 per share for his sell-off, a 12.4% premium from the stock's closing price on Thursday. Investors of Liberty Media were put off by the chairman's lack of confidence in the company, sending shares down 38.9%, or $3.74, to trade at $5.90, on Friday afternoon.

This divestiture of company stock by its chairman seems to signal a move towards Liberty being even more of a corporate entity beyond the control of Malone. The article goes on to talk about Malone's future plans, another move that could affect the Braves:

In September, Malone revealed plans to spin off Liberty Entertainment from Liberty Media. Liberty Entertainment is currently a tracking stock. If the plan goes through, the new Liberty Entertainment would comprise roughly 50% of the DirecTV Group and all holdings belonging to Starz Entertainment, FUN Technologies and Liberty Sports Holdings. It would also include 50% of GSN and 37% of WildBlue Communications.

The listing of "Liberty Sports Holdings" seems to indicate that the Braves would be a part of this new spin-off company. We've been told from the beginning of this purchase that Liberty Media's swap-purchase of the Atlanta Braves was simply a short-term marriage of convenience, and that once the tax-loophole restrictions had run out in several years the company would be put back up for purchase to, presumably, a single buyer. The creation of this new company, Liberty Entertainment, seems to signal a possibility that Liberty plans to hold onto the Braves longer than originally planned -- making it a key piece of this new entity.

This move and the actions of Liberty are of great concern to many Braves fans who view the control of the team by a faceless corporation as an impediment to the kind of attention and financial flexibility an individual owner would likely bring to the franchise.

At the major league level…
… A scrap-heap of scrappy players. Gregor Blanco and Josh Anderson can be exciting players, but they are not impact players. They are good defenders, but they lack consistency and they profile more as fourth or fifth outfielders than everyday players.

Center field is a place where a team can put a lesser hitter as long as that player is a superior defender. Both Blanco and Anderson barely fit that bill, and some would probably argue about their defensive ability, but they have good range, solid and accurate arms, and play the field with good natural instincts.

The issue with keeping a lesser hitter at that position, is that for ten years center field was manned by the power-hitting Andruw Jones. Since his departure, the Braves have not been able to replace his power production. If they go with either Anderson or Blanco, then they’ll need other positions to step up in the power department.

The future Braves center fielder…
… Some may not be as excited about Jordan Schafer as they were after he led the minor leagues in hits last year, then tore up the Arizona Fall League, but even after a suspension for HGH, the talent which led the Braves to draft him in the third round in 2005 is still there. With the kind of disappointing season some people think he’s had, first off the field, then with his performance on the field, Schafer’s competitiveness should not let him repeat below expectations again.

Much like Cody Johnson, Jordan Schafer finished the season as strong as anyone in the Braves system. While he struggled to hit his weight before the All-Star break, after the break he hit over .300 with an OPS over .900. Schafer hit .323 in August with a 1.049 OPS -- indicating that his troubles were most likely behind him.

He does have some holes in his game, and like many left-handed hitters, one of his Achilles heels seems to be facing left-handed pitching. In 2008 he was a .311 hitter against right-handed pitching, but against lefties he hit just .196. That's the sort of thing that can really be exposed at the major league level, especially late in ball games.

Schafer will strut his stuff in the Mexican Winter League for the next few months, then he should be primed to try and win the battle with Blanco and Anderson for the starting center field job next spring. The Braves need to give this job to Schafer and see if he can handle it. Many believe that he can be an impact player and that he will only get better in the outfield and at the plate.

More for future consideration…
2. Gorkys Hernandez – It may seem like he had a down year, but Gorkys’ numbers were almost exactly the same as they were last year. While his average was down 30 points (.293 to .264), his OBP (.344 to .348) and SLG (.391 to .387) were unchanged from a year ago. The only significant drop in any of his numbers were his stolen bases, which went from 54 to 20. Gork will get a crack at double-A next year as a 21-year old – expect great things in the years to come.

3. Calvin Culver – A young 26th-round 2008 draftee showed some good speed and situational hitting in the GCL after being drafted. He’s a big-bodied JuCo guy out of California – two places we’ve had some good luck recently.

4. L.V. Ware – A community college draftee from 2006 with good speed. He’s a short wiry guy who showed good gap power at Danville.

Others:  C.J. Lee (sort of an under the radar guy who hasn’t proven that he's a speed guy or a power guy)

Photo of Jordan Schafer and Gorkys Hernandez courtesy of Chip Jett.

At the major league level…
… it may not be the kind of soul searching that Andruw Jones will be doing this off-season, but Jeff Francoeur will have to have his own little "come to Jesus" meeting with himself. To put the blame of the 2008 disaster all on Frenchy’s shoulders is a bit much, but he deserves to take a big chunk of the blame for 90 losses.

Frenchy represents an interesting dilemma for the Braves. In one corner is much of the Braves PR and team branding that puts Francoeur at the forefront, and in the other corner is a player who was the WORST everyday right fielder in baseball this year. His .653 OPS was the worst among everyday right fielders, and he was listed dead last among right fielders in VORP (value over replacement player) with a (negative) -17.3! In fact, using the VORP metric, Frenchy was the fourth-worst player in the major leagues – out of 1038 players listed, he was listed 1035, just above Andruw Jones, Corey Patterson, and Tony Pena.

Was this season an anomaly or did it finally peel back the shiny-happy coating and reveal the real batter?

If the Braves stick with Jeff Francoeur as their right fielder next season, they should do so with some trepidation and a quick trigger to replace him with the first thing that comes to Frank Wren’s mind (not named Jason Perry). Next year is the last option year for Francoeur, so he can be sent to the minors without having to pass through waivers. If the Braves are serious about winning next year then they should not flinch if Francoeur is struggling, like they did this year, when they demoted Francoeur.

But what can Frenchy do to figure it out? He tried tinkering with his swing all season, trying everything he could and everything anyone told him to break out of his many funks. (Perhaps he should watch tape of Brian McCann hitting.) Beyond just getting Francoeur back to his 06/07 production, there should be a desire to see him go way beyond that – to have that breakout year that everyone has wanted to see from him for the past two or three years. In 06 and 07 his production was in the bottom third of everyday right-fielders, so one could point to that decrease in production in right-field (from J.D. Drew and Gary Sheffield) as another big reason the Braves have failed to make the playoffs the last few years.

I didn’t mean to turn this into a Frenchy-sucks piece, because I do honestly like the guy, and one can never doubt his hustle or desire. But at some point hustle and desire and raw talent have got to translate into above average major league skills. The Braves can’t have a right fielder who is expected to hit in the middle of the order put up a .359 slugging percentage. Francoeur needs to get better or he needs to go.

The future Braves right fielder…
… He’s one of the top-five prospects in all of baseball, and Jason Heyward is also the Braves top prospect. He did everything the organization wanted him to do in his first full season of profession baseball at just the age of 19. The real question now becomes, just how fast are the Braves prepared to move him up the minor league ladder. If my complaining about Jeff Francoeur in the first half of this piece was a sign that the Braves should make a change in right field, then after next year they really don’t need to look any further than Heyward.

This season at Rome he performed exactly how a top prospect should perform – his hitting, slugging, and on-base percentages were all in the top-10 in the league. He struggled a bit after a late-season promotion to Myrtle Beach, hitting .182 (4-for-22), but he turned it around a bit in the Carolina League playoffs, before falling off again. I wouldn’t put too much stock in those numbers as it was only a couple weeks of games.

Will the Braves take the slow and steady, one level per year approach with Heyward, or will they give him a mid-year call-up to Mississippi if he’s repeating his 2008 performance? He’ll only be 20-years old next year, so the slow and steady approach seems like the right one, but how much could events in the major leagues (the afore mentioned jettisoning of Francoeur) increase the need to move Heyward up and see how he responds to the challenge. 

More for future consideration…
2. Jon Owings – JMO is finally moving up and out of the lower rungs of the minor league system. He’s been slowed by injuries, but while healthy the last two years he has shown impressive power and an improving ability to recognize pitches. As one of the truly nice guys in baseball, it’s easy to root for Owings to succeed. He’ll face a test next year in Mississippi, but if successful, a major league job shouldn’t be too far behind.

3. Chris Shehan – The Braves were able to woo Shehan away from Georgia Southern after his junior season, where he hit .428 with 22 homeruns. He displayed decent power and good speed in Danville, and seemed to adjust well to wooden bats. He should start for Rome in right field next year, and I think a lot of people are excited to see what he can do. He could turn out to be one of the real steals of last year’s draft after being taken in the 30th-round.

4. Concepcion Rodriguez – He’s sort of the forgotten guy at Myrtle Beach, but he played stellar defense and showed a good all-around game at the plate. He’s one of those guys who was signed out of Panama and grew into his own in the Braves’ Dominican academy. With his refined game he could catapult up the depth chart if he finally taps into all his talent.

Awesome photo of Jason Heyward courtesy of Chip Jett.

Arizona Fall League 10/7

Every one of our pitchers on the AFL roster pitched in this game. Medlen gave up the lead, but our team (the Solar Sox) came back and won the game in the tenth inning.

• T. Hanson, 2IP, 1H, 1SO
• D. Heath, 2IP, 0H
  
• K. Medlen, 2IP, 3H, 2R, 2SO, HBP - In his second inning of work he struck out the first two batters, then a single, passed ball, a hit by pitch, and a triple and the game was tied... I guess you can get rusty in two weeks
  
• S. Marek, 1IP, 1H, 1SO

Hawaii Winter League 10/7

• K. Ka'aihue, 0-2, 2SO, HBP - at least he's back in the lineup
  
• J. Venters, 2.2IP, 5H, 3R, 1BB, 3SO, Loss

I didn't get finished with the writeup for center field last night, so we'll take a break from the prospect reviews and finish up the week on Thursday with right field, and Friday with center field. Then next week it's pitching.

At the major league level…
… the left-field options are a collection of bad alternatives. There’s no one on the Braves immediate roster that looks appealing as a typical left field bat. The position is one on the Braves that should be used for a big thumper – someone who doesn’t necessarily need to be a good fielder, but can contribute power in the middle of the batting order and give opposing pitchers reason to fear our lineup again.

Last year’s opening day starter in left field, Matt Diaz, is not an everyday player – he’s a pinch-hitter. He has shown that he may be an effective platoon player as the right-handed half of the platoon, and maybe that has some value in the NL East dominated by left-handed starting pitchers, but platoons are not sustainable as a long-term solution, and Diaz will never be that fear-inducing hitter.

Brandon Jones has not given the Braves or their fans too many reasons to think that he can be a steady producer in the outfield. He may still get a chance to be a regular, but he will be "option-B" next year if the Braves can’t sign or trade for a power hitting left-fielder.

The future Braves left fielder…
… The young first round draft pick may have gotten off to a slow start in 2008, but Cody Johnson finished as hot as anyone in the Braves organization. Johnson’s season at Rome is a tale of two halves; his first half was entirely disappointing, he hit only .210 with almost 100 strikeouts in 66 games. But in the second half of the season, Johnson smacked 17 homeruns, hit .296 and controlled his strikeouts (79 in 61 games).

The overall jump in strikeouts was the biggest cause for concern for Cody this year. In 2007 he struck out once every 3.4 at-bats, but in 2008 he struck out once every 2.6 at-bats. His slugging percentage and on-base percentage also declined from last year, but most of that can be attributed to the tough start he had. But what started off as a disappointing season, turned into a promising season, and one in which we saw one of our most touted prospects face on-field adversity and overcome it. How he adjusts to Myrtle Beach next year will tell us a lot about what kind of player he has become.

More for future consideration…
2. Luis Sumoza – Sumo is the prospect we received from Boston in exchange for Mark Kotsay. He’s a young power prospect that the Braves have had their eye on for some time. Still only 20, he’s got time to develop. He should be assigned to the Beach next year as part of the fantastic outfield/DH rotation of Johnson and Heyward.

3. Willie Cabrera – There were so many good hitting performances at Myrtle Beach this year that it’s going to be interesting to see if these guys continue that good hitting in Mississippi next season. Cabrera is a guy who came out of nowhere to put up good numbers at high-A. He is a draft-and-follow guy, and while prospects are supposed to get better, he seemed to come out of nowhere to have one of the best seasons at the Beach. If he continues this rate of improvement next year he will emerge as a very important prospect.

4. Matt Young – He’s really an organizational player, but he’s got a lot of fire and some useful intangibles like speed and good plate discipline.

Others:  Layton Hiller (2008 15th round draft-pick came out of nowhere to show some good power against left-handers in the GCL; if he can figure out right-handers he may be an interesting power prospect to watch)

Photo of Cody Johnson courtesy of Chip Jett

No word as to why, but Kala Ka'aihue hasn't played since his two-steal performance on October 1st. Perhaps that's too much running in one game for the big guy. As for our pitchers, one did good, one did not.

Game of 10/2

• J. Venters, 3.2IP, 3H, 1R, 2BB, 0SO, 1HR, Win - he had a 7-to-3 groundouts-to-flyouts ratio in the game, good start for Venters (only threw 39 pitches)

Game of 10/4

• M. Broadway, 0.2IP, 5H, 6R, 3BB, 0SO, 1HR, Loss - not a good outing

The Arizona Fall League starts tomorrow!

At the major league level…
… Some guy name Brian McCann. He’s only been an All-Star for three straight years and been one of the five-best hitting catchers in the majors during that time. He’s signed for a long time, and he’s shown no signs of slowing down as he’s caught more and more games each year he’s been in the league. McCann is one of the re-building blocks of this team, and he won’t be supplanted anytime soon.

He’s all that any team can ask for at the catcher position. He’s a consummate perfectionist and works hard at his catching. In looking at his runners thrown out, they are not eye-popping by any means, but remember that the Braves have had an organizational pitching philosophy for a long time of concentrating more on the batter than the baserunner, and that leads to a lot of good jumps and more stolen bases. Don’t always blame the catcher for stolen bases.

Barring injury, Mac will be the man behind the plate for a long time in Atlanta, and the Braves and their fans are just fine with that. Whatever went wrong with the Braves this year, it didn’t have a thing to do with McCann (now, his old roommate, that’s a different story).

The future Braves catcher…
… While no one may be unable to unseat Brian McCann, and even after trading away two major league caliber catchers the last couple of years in Max Ramirez and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Braves still have plenty of young catching talent beginning with the combination of patience and power in Tyler Flowers. T-Flow is a Moneyball wet dream, and now that he’s fully healthy and his steroid suspension a distant memory, there doesn’t seem like too much that can keep him from becoming a major league caliber hitter.

He may eventually find himself as a first baseman or DH-type player, but after being limited to playing those alternate positions last year because of injury, he returned to catching and made decent strides in most facets of being behind the plate. All indications are that he needs more work calling a game, and with such a big body his footwork as he unloads on his throws will always be a constant struggle.

Flowers reminds me of Saltalamacchia in his physique and hitting prowess. If Flowers were a first rounder like Salty, instead of a draft-and-follow, he would probably attract even more attention that he has attracted. That’s not to say he hasn’t gone unnoticed as we saw last spring training when he got rave reviews from Bobby Cox and his staff. He’s a great guy to have in case of injury to McCann, and he may eventually be an interesting guy who could play some catcher, first base, and come off the bench for the Braves. But the odds are that, like Salty and Ramirez, he’ll be used as trade bait at some point in the next two years.

More for future consideration…
2. Daniel Elorriaga-Matra – I was a big fan of his when he was drafted late in last year’s draft, and signed a month later. Many considered him a top-five round prospect out of high school in Florida. The Braves convinced him to enter their catcher factory of a minor league system and learn on the job. His short stint before injury in the GCL this year was impressive, but with the glut of good young catching talent in the low minors, he may get bumped back to a short-season club again next year. He’s still just 19, so there’s plenty of time to develop.

3. Matt Kennelly – A star product of Australia, Kennelly is another guy who has drawn comparisons to Saltalamacchia. He did well this year at Danville, and rode a hot streak during a 10-game promotion to Rome. He’s one of the organization’s "international projects," so assume that he’s several years away from being considered major league ready, but he’s also only 19 and has plenty of time.

4. Braeden Schlehuber – This year’s fourth-round draft pick got his feet wet in the GCL after signing, and like most catchers in the Braves system, he won’t be rushed at the lower levels. It will be interesting to see where they put Matra, Kennelly, and Schlehuber between Rome and Danville.

5. Clint Sammons – He’s turning out to be an all-catch/no-hit catcher, but every once in a while he can break out the lumber. He’ll have to learn how to be a backup as it looks like the Braves will make him McCann’s backup next year over the Corky Millers of the world.

Others:  Christian Betancourt (Panamanian teenager held his own in the DSL; he will be an interesting kid to keep an eye on in the years to come); Phillip Britton (he's a light-hitting, good defensive catcher, sort of a poor-man's Clint Sammons)

Photo of Tyler Flowers courtesy of Chip Jett