Meat and Potatoes: Atlanta Braves Weekly Recap 3/12 to 3/18

More Atlanta Braves News & Notes.

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• In a good sign for what could be a shaky starting rotation for the Braves, Julio Teheran had an excellent start against the Rays this week, as Brad Rowland of Talking Chop described. He went 4 scoreless innings in a mere 34 pitches.
• John Gant was not part of the last round of roster cuts. In a somewhat surprising development, Gant seems to be viewed by the Braves as at least equally likely to impact the big league club as guys like Sims and Jenkins. Well, Benjamin Chase of these pages isn’t surprised, actually. He wrote about Gant’s roster survival here.
  • If Gant is indeed an underdog for a spot in the 2016 rotation, he would join what is looking like a competition for 2 remaining spots between himself, Folty, Williams Perez, and Manny Banuelos. Perez could find himself in the bullpen, as well.
• Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher are still Braves. I’ve been predicting that Swisher will be cut and that Bourn will stick on the team. Of course, one can see reasons to keep both players, and there is still time for a late Spring trade that would move one or both players. For what it’s worth, Bourn told Mark Bowman that he is comfortable with mentoring younger players, but that he’s here to play hard and win.
• Jeff Francoeur has been playing some center field. I personally see little point in this; Frenchy has been grading out as an average to below average right fielder for several years. He would be a lousy option in CF, but I guess the Braves want to kick the tires and see just how lousy.

• It seems that Francoeur and Emilio Bonifacio are in competition for a bench job. Francoeur provides some right-handed pop off of the bench, but Bonafacio carries versatility and superior defense. If Bourn is around though, Bona’ may be redundant anyway. This, along with what the Braves decide to do with the infield bench situation, remains an interesting Spring storyline.
• The Braves released a rendering of SunTrust Stadium and revealed that there will be some interesting outfield dimensions and wall heights. Alan put together an excellent piece highlighting the interesting stuff, as he typically does.
• Players gonna play: Pitching prospect Max Fried made saw his first game action since Tommy John surgery! Cuban Dian Toscano also saw his first game action and collected his first hit! He exists, as our own Fletcher Batts assures us!
• Braves rookies competed in a talent show of sorts this week, and it was hilarious. Our own Jeff Schafer compiled some of the best photos of the event here. You can see some video from last year’s show here. And last, some tweets I included for your convenience:

• The Braves participated in MLB Snapchat Day. Not sure what such a thing might entail? You are not alone. Don’t worry, Fletcher Batts has got you covered here. Here’s a little taste:

Click to Slide 3 for my weekly rundown of interesting links from around the league!

Next: MLB Links From Around the League!