Mark Bradley

If Fredi can get Nate McLouth going, we'll name him valedictorian. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

Bobby Cox said this week he’d give his successor “an A-plus,” but Cox has always been given to bouts of irrational exuberance when it comes to the Braves. Still, we thank the former manager for broaching the topic, and we welcome this opportunity to cast a cold eye on Fredi Gonzalez’s job performance and award him a totally rational …

A-minus.

The new man has been really good. The numbers are one powerful indication — the Braves awoke Friday with the fourth-best record and the best ERA in baseball — but the numbers don’t tell the entire tale. To say everything has broken right for Fredi’s club would be to ignore a run of injuries that sent the starting outfield to the disabled list and the ongoing flailings of Dan Uggla, whose batting average hasn’t topped .200 since May 16.

Uggla didn’t arrive as just another in a series of Frank Wren’s impulse buys: He was a calculated acquisition …

Continue reading Fredi Gonzalez: The new manager gets a surpassing grade »

Game 6 against the Bulls: Was it his last night as a Hawk? (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)

And here we thought tonight’s NBA draft would be a snooze-fest for Hawks fans. Turns out it could become … pardon the expression … a Smoove-fest.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Hawks, who currently hold only the 18th pick of the second round, are trying to trade Josh Smith to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second pick in the draft. With this pick, Wojnarowski writes, the Hawks would take Enes Kanter, the center from Turkey who was ruled ineligible to play for Kentucky this season by the NCAA.

Smith rumors have been running rampant the past 36 hours, and it’s not clear of any of them will come to fruition ever, let alone before the draft is done. (Me, I’m skeptical. But that’s just me.) But all among us who figured we’d skip the draft because the Hawks didn’t have a Round 1 pick might want to rethink.

The Kanter deal makes some sense, at least from the Hawks’ …

Continue reading Will tonight’s NBA draft be a snooze-fest or a Smoove-fest? »

Once and future teammates? Not so fast, my friend. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)

The volume on the Josh Smith trade rumors has been cranked up to 11 — “Spinal Tap” joke — and somebody needs to dial it down. I nominate … myself.

It has been reported that the Hawks are gauging interest in Smith ahead of tonight’s NBA draft, which only makes sense. It has also been reported that Smith wants out of Atlanta, which I’m not sure is the case, and has even submitted a list of teams he wouldn’t mind joining. (The list, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, includes Boston, Houston, Orlando and New Jersey.)

Smoove-related speculation has been running the highest in Orlando, where Smith’s best friend (meaning Dwight Howard) plays, and Boston. Ken Berger of CBS Sports reports that discussions between the Hawks and the Magic are “totally legit.” But now we ask: Other than Howard himself, who among Magic men would the Hawks want?

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel notes that, …

Continue reading The Josh Smith trade rumors: I’m not buying any of them – yet »

Chipper Jones salutes one of his two all-time favorite teammates. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

He carried the team at the end of last season, and he’s carrying it again. He’s at worst — at worst – the second-best player at the sport’s most demanding position, and he’s about to play in his sixth consecutive All-Star Game. And yet somehow Brian McCann remains …

Underrated.

“Around here he’s not,” said pitcher Tommy Hanson, meaning within the Braves’ clubhouse. But outside it?

“I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves,” Hanson said. “And it’s not only his hitting — it’s his catching, too. It’s the way he works with us. He takes a lot of pride in trying to get us through the game.”

Said David Ross, McCann’s understudy: “He gets All-Star votes, but I don’t think he has the reputation [nationally]. He’s kind of seen as a complementary piece.”

He’s more than that. He’s the centerpiece. He’s at worst — at worst — the second-best everyday Brave of the past two decades, and he has …

Continue reading Brian McCann: A great player who’s an even better teammate »

May 23, 2008: Jo-Jo Reyes discusses key matters with former allies. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

Jo-Jo Reyes used to be a Brave. He was the ride-along in the last summer’s Yunel Escobar/Alex Gonzalez trade. Lately he has become infamous for going 28 starts without winning, which matched an all-time big-league worst.

The good news: Jo-Jo Reyes starts against the Braves today.

The less-good news: He’s pitching better.

He has, believe it or not, won three of his past four starts, beating two decent teams from Ohio (Cleveland and Cincinnati, duh) and Baltimore. His ERA is a not-that-horrible 4.18. And he has actually been good in interleague competition (3-1 with a 1.79 ERA).

That said … even by Braves standards, it would look pretty bad to lose to a guy who went from June 13, 2008, to May 30, 2011, without winning a start. But the Braves, as we’re aware, often make ordinary pitchers they’re facing for the first time look like Christy Mathewson. And this will be the first time, not …

Continue reading Live from the ballyard: Could the Braves really lose to Jo-Jo? »

Trey Thompkins on his last night as a Bulldog. (AP photo)

Iman Shumpert, Travis Leslie and Trey Thompkins have reason to be optimistic as Thursday’s NBA draft approaches. Each of them is projected to go in Round 1 in somebody’s mock draft.

The three local products also have cause to fret. Each is listed as a Round 2 choice in somebody else’s mock draft. The latest in mockeries:

• Shumpert, the Georgia Tech guard, is projected to be taken by the New York Knicks with the 17th pick of Round 1 (link requires registration) by Chad Ford of ESPN Insiders and by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd pick of Round 1 by NBADraftExpress. He’s also tabbed to go to the Portland Trail Blazers with the 21st pick of Round 2 (the 51st overall) by NBAdraft.net. If you’re counting, that’s a variation of 34 places from highest to lowest.

•Thompkins, the Georgia forward, is projected as going to the Boston Celtics with the 25th pick of Round 1 by NBAdraft.net. He’s also slotted to go to the …

Continue reading NBA draft buzz: Shumpert up, Leslie steady, Thompkins down »

Switch the jerseys. Whaddaya think? (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)

Dwight Howard has said he’ll opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Otis Smith, Orlando’s general manager, has said he won’t trade Howard and believes the NBA’s best center can be persuaded to re-up with the Magic. Other NBA clubs won’t sit around and wait. They’ll make offers for Howard.

Should the Hawks make an offer?

They could make a tantalizing one: Al Horford and Kirk Hinrich for Howard and power forward Ryan Anderson. That’s an All-NBA center (third team) with a Florida background who’s under contract through 2016 for a reasonable $12 million per season and a useful guard whose contract expires in 2012. The Magic could make something of that.

Or this: Josh Smith and Marvin Williams for the same two Magic men. That’s two starters — we’ll say for the sake of argument that Williams still qualifies — who are 25 years old and who are under contract through at least 2013. …

Continue reading Al Horford for Superman: Should the Hawks make that offer? »

When you retire, you have more time for the grandchildren. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)

Edwin Rodriguez resigned as Florida’s manager Sunday. The job has been filled  by the cigar-smoking Jack McKeon, who’s 80. What I’m wondering: How long before some team with a vacancy makes a run at a cigar aficionado who’s a spry 70?

“Nobody’s going to hire me,” Bobby Cox said Monday, speaking via iPhone. “I’m too young. I’ve got to earn my spurs first.”

About McKeon, Cox said: “Jack’s full of life and energy. Every time he’s come back — in Cincinnati and with Florida — he’s won.”

Let the record reflect that Robert Joseph Cox did some winning himself — 15 division titles, 16 playoff appearances, five National League pennants, one World Series title. He retired last fall, but he remains one of the most respected figures the game has known. And so I wondered: Has any club issued a feeler as to Cox’s interest in managing again?

“No, no, no, no,” he said. “I’m too busy. They can’t catch up …

Continue reading The Marlins hire McKeon. When does a team call Bobby Cox? »

This ground-rule double by Freddie Freeman drove in Jordan Schafer in the seventh. (AP photo)

Enough with this we’re-better-than-we’ve-played stuff. It’s time for the Braves to play better. They’re getting healthy. (Well, except for Tommy Hanson.) The schedule between here and the All-Star break isn’t oppressive. If there’s an upward move in this club — and surely there is — this would seem the moment.

The Braves have positioned themselves to make the playoffs — they’re tied for the wild-card lead — despite playing nearly half a season with one hand tied behind their backs. This was built to be a good-hit, good-pitch team. It has become a great-pitch, seldom-hit assemblage. It shouldn’t have happened, but it has.

It’s time for it to stop happening. It’s time for the guys who are paid to hit to … you know, hit. It’s time to see if this club can indeed give the regal Phillies a run for the National League East.

Said Chipper Jones, who missed the weekend series against Texas with …

Continue reading It’s time for the Braves to start hitting the mark. And the ball »

The NL's pitcher of the month for May needs to halt a June swoon. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)

The Braves had a chance to consolidate the gains made on their road trip, on which they went 7-3. They’ve since gone 1-4, their only victory coming on a walk-off balk. They lost a series to the Mets and have lost this one to the Rangers, and now they’re just trying to exercise damage control.

Jair Jurrjens is pitching today, and that’s usually a good thing. He’s 8-3 with an ERA of 2.13. But Alexi Ogando is working for Texas, and he’s 7-1 with an ERA of 2.71. And the Braves, as you know, have a way of making ordinary pitchers look like Walter Johnson. Imagine what they might do against a good one.

The Braves trailed the Phillies by two games a week ago. They’re six behind now, Philadelphia having beaten Felix Hernandez in Seattle last night. They’re still in good shape for the wild card — tied with St. Louis and Arizona for the lead in that category — but that six-game spread between …

Continue reading Live from the ballyard: The skidding Braves need a win (duh) »