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Jason Heyward continued his demolition of spring training pitching hitting a two-run homer off Max Scherzer and collecting a walk in Monday’s trashing of the Tigers.

Heyward is currently 5-for-12 with three extra-base hits so maybe just maybe he’s starting to make even me believe he’ll be on the opening day roster. Ah but there is still a few more weeks of March so I won’t bet on it yet.

Still it’s great to see him get off to a good start and even I can’t discount that.

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Troy Glaus has done this to me in the past and I just have to hope it isn’t happening again. Glaus was once a very good third basemen for the Anaheim Angels. The type that could lead the AL in homers on year and take his whole team on his broad back to a World Series in another.

He was one of the power hitting guys who could be called “The Slugger” you know the type of power that hit balls onto picnic tables, the kind that could drive in 100-plus yearly, the kind of guy you wanted on your team.

Oh but what havoc a bunch of injuries will do to your career. He’s been bounced around both the NL and AL since the time he was thought of that highly and while the results have been very good when he’s healthy the time on the DL has also been so large that you can only begin to think of the stats he could have had on the back of his baseball cards.

A new season, a new team and yet Glaus is still giving me good vibes. He’s always seemed to get off to reasonable starts and if Sunday is any indication of things I think he’s again set the bar high for my expectations. Glaus was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI on Sunday as the Braves middle of the order was in full check and they were clicking.

Glaus is without question the Braves go-to guy at the cleanup spot with the hope that Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, and Chipper Jones are on base for him to drive in. If he struggles he’ll move down the order which ultimately means the Braves are going  to again turn to McCann/Escobar as the four-five combo which isn’t the worst thing in the world but something everyone hoped would be updated by the acquisition of a big bat this winter: Troy Glaus’ big bat this winter.

Ideally Glaus remains in the four spot much of the year which puts a very couple of very good hitters behind him in McCann and Escobar which would only elevate the number of runs the Braves score this year. Exactly what we need to go along with a stellar rotation.

Despite the fact the Braves finished sixth in the NL in runs scored last season they struggled for good portions of the year to give their starting pitching any wiggle room and found themselves in tenth in home runs and slugging percentage.

Glaus will need to put an end to that power outage or this team isn’t going any further then it did last year. I hate to say it but it’s true. As much as we can write about Jason Heyward it’s the free agent first basemen that will play the biggest role for the Braves in 2010.

Heyward at best puts up number that could be replicated by Melky Cabrera. That’s fine.

But for the Braves to be a serious playoff team Glaus needs to put up numbers that read 30 homers, 100 RBI, 70 runs scored.

Can he do it? I’ve always believed he could but he’s sometimes left me disappointed. Will he do it? For the Braves sake I sure hope so.

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Jason Heyward stole the show in the Braves opening spring training game notching a hit, two walks and a stolen base.

On the mound Tommy Hanson started the game going two innings before giving way to Kris Medlen who matched him. Jesse Chavez ran into trouble in the fifth getting tagged for three runs.

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Obviously John Heyman is bored. He’s now speculating that the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds have interest in outfielder Garret Anderson. Anderson showed he has nothing left in the tank last season when he hit .268/.303/.410 with 13 home runs, 61 RBI while playing left field for Atlanta.

Wow. That’s a good laugh and a good excuse to test out some new things I did to my blog.

Hah Garret Anderson. Now that is funny. Say it again… and again… one more time. Hah. Seeing Anderson in the outfield for the Braves next year is almost as bad as watching Jon & Kate plus 8. Someone poke me in the eye with a spear.

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Pitchers and catchers have reported and we find ourselves just over a week away from the start of spring training action. Spring training can be interested and boring to watch all at the same time.

Most of the early games will feature guys who will be in the opening day lineup for an at-bat or two and then pave the way for role-players, Double-A question marks and even some A-ballers who have found themselves on the big league fields.

There are also veterans looking to hang on, a guy or tow coming out of semi-retirement and plenty of wide eyes as the baseball season gets underway.

Most contending teams have their core intact, the Braves are no different. Any additions or subtractions to the roster figure to be on the bench or bullpen level.

Despite all the hype and talk around Jason Heyward it’s looking like the 20-year old will at-least start the year in the minors. The reasons are simple: get him needed at-bats at the highest minor league level, ensure he is healthy and well of course to delay service time. So while it will be curious to see what Heyward can put up this spring anything less then amazing should send him to the minors to start the year.

The Braves dodged the first bullet when Jair Jurrjens MRI came back clear but there will still be an eye of Jurrjens as well as Tim Hudson who is looking to pitch his first full season since 2007. We’ll all be holding a hand over our mouths as Derek Lowe throws his first spring innings while we cheer the sophomore season of Tommy Hanson. And of course Kenshin Kawakami will be looked upon to prove that he is the answer in the fifth spot.

By my count the Braves have 11 position players who are guaranteed to make the team barring injury.

With David Ross sitting behind Brian McCann the Braves are perhaps the deepest in the majors at catcher.

The infield from left to right leads Jones, Escobar, Prado and Glaus. No changes are expected or hoped for.

The outfield figures to be a mix of Melky Cabrera, Nate McLouth and Matt Diaz. Sprinkle in a little Eric Hinske, maybe a bit of Omar Infante for fun and there you go.

That leaves roughly two spots open. One of the spots will go to an infielder with Brooks Conrad (fair or unfairly) having a leg up on the competition at the moment.

The remaining spot may go to a thumper off the bench. And to that we turn to Mitch Jones. Jones comes to camp hoping to crack the bench and spend his first full season in the majors. While he’s shown to be a minor league bopper it’s yet to be proven if he can hit in the majors. But that’s what spring is for huh?

If the Braves hold 13 position players that leaves 7 in the pen. Billy Wagner will pitch the ninth with Takashi Saito and Peter Moylan ahead of him. Eric O’Flaherty will again act as the primary lefty and Kris Medlen figures to be given a spot based on his strong run at the end of the year.

All these numbers leave two spots in the pen of which newcomer Jesse Chavez and Manny Acosta would appear to be the favorites. JoJo Reyes, James Parr, Luis Valdez and even Scott Proctor who is returning from Tommy John surgery will do all they can to wrestle those spots away from them.

The best chance to impress the Braves front office would be at infielder or bullpen.

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The market for outfielder Johnny Damon was reportedly dead. No one wanted him at his demands of $10 million at three years, the Yankees refused to go any higher then $5 million and when you walk away from their money your wallet can only get smaller.

Since that time it’s been said, reported, quoted, speculated, analyzed, put under a microscope for 4th graders and even written on toilet paper that Johnny Damon likely would get no more then $2-3 million on a one year deal with any club.

Even Kansas City. And the Nationals were out of the question because well Johnny Damon simply wouldn’t entertain the idea of going to an offensive death sentence, and if that’s Washington you can only imagine what Pittsburgh is.

But now we hear different. Everyone is saying it now. Everyone! Maybe it’s all the snow and well people can’t get out and their cars are stuck and they are inhaling dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. Maybe life on Mars has discovered us and decided to play a cruel joke on everyone, making them believe Johnny Damon is again worth $5 million or worse… a two year deal.

Johnny Damon had a great 2009 season, but he was also playing in a sandbox had the best offensive team in the league around him and well let’s face it my lack of depth perception makes me as good of an option to play left field as Damon is.

It’s easy to look at the Braves current roster and see that Damon is an upgrade. Frankly he’s an upgrade over everyone in the outfield. McLouth, Diaz, former Yankee teammates Melky Cabrera and Eric Hinske, Jordan Schafer and well the knees and hips of Garret Anderson which for some reason remain sitting two feet from the warning track.

But at $5 million? Two years?

Ok call me confused, late for dinner, or whatever. The Braves have not been honest about their payroll for 2010 at all. They said that Damon wasn’t in their budget when it appeared he could and probably would have signed with them at $5 million nearly two plus weeks ago. Now all of a sudden because the Detroit Tigers are interested they suddenly have the money to spend?

Even worse. Agent Scott Boras is angling for a two year deal! While both teams are now said to be checking in at $5 million on one year deals, it’s becoming clear that the team that caves into giving a second guaranteed year or additional money will be the eventual suitor for Damon. Well unless the Yankees get involved again which you never really know.

It’s to the point where it’s annoying hearing anything about the Braves. Everything starts and ends with Johnny Damon and playing left field.

If Johnny Damon really had this type of interest from teams all along it wouldn’t have been a secret. Am I the only one who noticed that Boras never really talked about the teams that he said were “interested” in Damon and now he’s freely flying off at the mouth with the words Tigers and Braves like a dog with rabies?

So what now we are going to give Damon $5 million to act a fool and Melky Cabrera $3.1 million to stare at him? Someone hit me in the head.

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On and off again this winter we have heard that Johnny Damon and the New York Yankees haven’t been talking about bringing the outfielder back. Damon had been wanting a three year deal from the Yankees worth in excess of $10 million annually.

The 36-year-old had a tremendous 2009 season, finishing with a .282/.365/.489 batting line, 24 home runs, 82 RBI and 107 runs scored in 550 at-bats.

With Hideki Matsui signed by the Angels and Melky Cabrera traded to the Braves the Yankees currently have Brent Garnder listed atop the depth chart in left field. Gardner finished last year hitting .270/.345/.379 with 3 homers, 23 RBI, and 48 runs scored while stealing 26 bases last year.

That alone has many believing that despite Damon, his agent Scott Boras and the Yankees not talking that something will eventually get done to bring him back to the Bronx.

Brian Cashman and the Yankees front office either have little interest in bringing back Damon or they have played their cards excellently to avoid paying him a huge contract. With the number of teams interested in Damon dwindling his value has also went down. Leaving some to suspect that the Yankees will now swoop in and sign him.

It’s been back and forth between Mark Bowman of MLB.com and David O’Brien of the AJC to whether the Braves are seriously looking at Damon. Damon to Atlanta would be great for the Braves as it would allow them to put him in left field which would allow Jason Heyward to stay in the minors and get needed at-bats he’s missed since his latest string of injuries.

Last winter Bobby Abreu signed a $5 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels. It may take that to happen for the Braves to have a real shot at him. Though some believe the Braves may only be able to sign Damon should he fall in the range of $1-2 million, a number no one can truly see him falling to. For example Colby Lewis recently got $5 million over 2 years and he spent the last two years in Japan after no success in the majors. There’s simply no way Damon gets paid less then Colby Lewis.

The Detroit Tigers were linked to Damon in the last few days but management denied they were even considering him. Considering the Tigers are financially stressed and have been looking for at-bats for Ryan Raburn it’s easy to see why these two aren’t a pair.

There’s always the chance he could join the New York Mets but Boras and the Mets are at odds over Carlos Beltran’s recent surgery.

One thing is for sure. We haven’t heard the end of this one.

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Mark Bowman reports that the Braves and Tom Glavine are again on friendly terms and that the organization figures to employ Glavine in some capacity this season.

Along with talking to Glavine about the potential to serve as an announcer or a front-office executive, the Braves have also provided an offer that would allow him the chance to travel to their Minor League affiliates to serve as an instructor.

The Braves were recently spurned by Greg Maddux who opted to join the Cubs organization in a similar role a week ago.

Last season the Braves released Glavine after he completed a minor league rehab assignment. The divorce was ugly as Glavine claimed the Braves released him simply to avoid paying him, while Wren and the front office tried to suggest the Glavine had decreased velocity and had struggled in his rehab.

It appears the two may have put that behind them now. I can only say that having a future hall of fame pitcher is always an added bonus to any team.

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Brandon Jones, who was once considered one of the Braves top prospects, was designated for assignment to make room for Eric Hinske on the 40-man roster.

Jones, 26, hadn’t done much in recent years to justify keeping him around and after a decent spring spent most of last year in  Triple-A. He hit .281/.360/.419 with seven home runs and 57 RBI during his time there.

There figures to be plenty of teams such as Cincinnati, Kansas City and Pittsburgh interested in taking a flier on the guy so who knows maybe he will see the majors this season after all. I just wouldn’t count on him doing all that much.

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Eric Hinske will make $1 million base salary in his new contract with the Braves according to Dave O’Brien’s twitter.

Apparently the contract also has some incentives which weren’t specified at this time. It’s likely Hinske would have to play a considerable amount of time to reach most of those goals.

He batted .242/.348/.432 with eight home runs and 32 RBI in 190 at-bats with the Pirates and Yankees last season. An official announcement should come at the beginning of next week once he takes his physical.

Last season Hinske made $1.5 million on a one year deal he signed with Pittsburgh. He’s been a part of the last three American League teams to make the World Series. (Boston, Tampa Bay, New York)

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