When tryptophan wears off, Braves offseason should perk up
I’m thinking that if my man Homer Simpson were judging the early portion of this baseball offseason, he’d offer a one-word summary: Bor-ing. But things are going to pick up soon, folks.  Not long after the tryptophan wears off from our Thanksgiving turkey. Here we are in the final week of November, and the Braves and most teams are waiting for this offseason train to really get rolling down the tracks. It should after the Dec. 1 deadli

Braves could add to roster by Friday
It gets overshadowed by other baseball offseason deadlines, but it’s an important one nonetheless. Friday (Nov. 20) is when teams must have 40-man rosters finalized including those minor leaguers that must be protected from the Rule 5 Draft that’s held on the final day of the Dec. 7-10 Winter Meetings. (Stay with me during the preamble — I promise this blog should get exciting and memorable quickly. Oh, and remember you can follow us on Twitter @ajcbraves.) Between Friday and the Rule 5 Draft, teams can add major league free agents to the 40-man, but not players from its minor league system. And so by Friday, most teams will add at least a minor leaguer or

Braves explore options during GM meetings
Schiller Park, Ill. – Yes, sir, that’s the address of my budget hotel ’bout a mile from the sprawl of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where baseball’s GMs are having their meetings, thus doing their small part to make it clear to everyone watching that things are tough all over. Key Biscayne, Dana Point, Calif., Palm Springs, Naples, Fla. – that’s where they’ve had these meetings in recent years, usually at a Ritz-Carlton or St. Regis or some other cradle of luxury. Some of those places were so pricey that us schlub reporters would drive over in our rental cars and barely afford to pay for parking, much less breakfast

Fall League’s in full swing, rumor mill’s about to be
Phoenix – Greetings from the desert Southwest, where it’s a cloudless day with the temperature headed to 90 and another slate of Arizona Fall League games starting at 12:30 p.m. before intimate gatherings that are typically made up of couple dozen scouts and about 75-100 others including autograph hounds, girlfriends, potential girlfriends and assorted others fortunate enough to have the afternoon off. (And if they’re involuntarily unemployed, well, then at least they live in a place where they can go watch top prospects play in beautiful weather without crowds or high prices.)

Would you really trade Jurrjens?
While it’s still a little early for many trade rumors of substance to start percolating, there is one Brave whose name is occasionally mentioned on this blog as a potential trade piece, one that to me seems not just highly improbable but almost outlandish. Jair Jurrjens. Yes, there are some denizens, presumably of sound mind and in a sober state, who advocate trading a 23-year-old elite starting pitcher who is not even eligible for arbitration until the 2011 season. A pitcher who won 13 games as a rookie, then improved significantly in 2009 during his second full season in the majors.