Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop, Thank You Turner Field, Top Prospect List

End Of An Era: Greatest Moments in Turner Field History

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: For the past 20 years, Turner Field has given us many, many memories. It’s mostly the players or plays you remember, but the field where they play on will always be in your hearts. You’ll remember the place you traveled miles and miles with your father to go watch the Braves play or where you went to school around the Atlanta area just to attend or the facility you spent the majority of the time in over the summer months. I’ll always remember Turner Field because because I remember traveling with my family to games when I was young, going with friends when I was older, taking my wife to games and most importantly going back with my family later in my life. The past 20 years have been great Turner Field, thank you!

The Atlanta Braves’ lease at Turner Field officially ends on Saturday, Dec. 31. That’s 20 years of great games, good times, and a few tough losses.

The Braves will spend their foreseeable future at SunTrust Park, a $672-million stadium in Cobb County. The new locale promises a potent mix of old-school ballpark feels with a state-of-the-art fan experience. Amenities include top-shelf shopping and dining options adjacent to residential space.

But the ballclub’s fans will always remember Turner Field, the epicenter of so many great moments in Braves history. Although the Braves left the facility some months ago, theactual leasing agreement says that the team’s 20-year lease expires on the last day of 2016. End of an era, indeed.

Larry Brown Sports

Report: Teams unwilling to give Jason Hammel more than one year

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Of this offseason, I’m most surprised that Hammel doesn’t have a contract yet. The 34-year-old has gotten better with age as he’s now entering his 12th year in the MLB. He started out his career slow with the Rays and Rockies, but started to turn it around with the Orioles in 2012. When he was traded to the Chicago Cubs, he was a whole different pitcher. The past three seasons, he’s started 29, 31 and 30 games all with a below 4.00 ERA. After the Cubs declined his $12 million option for next year and decided to give him a $2 million buyout, I thought he would look pretty good in an Atlanta Braves uniform. Now that the Braves have a solid five starters (as of now), he wouldn’t fit for us. If things change though, I wouldn’t mind the Braves signing him to a one-year deal…which seems to be the only thing he’s being offered right now.

Jason Hammel was expected to be one of the top pitchers in a weak free agent market, but apparently he is having trouble coming by long-term contract offers.

Fan Ran Sports’ John Perrotto says many teams are unwilling to give Hammelmore than a one-year deal. There are two reasons for that. One is that teams are concerned about the elbow issues that led Hammel to be left off the Chicago Cubs’ postseason roster. The second is that some scouts believe Hammel’s stuff is declining.

Hammel, 34, is coming off three straight seasons of a sub-4.00 ERA. He went 15-10 with a 3.83 ERA last season.

CBS Atlanta

McAuley: 2017 Braves Top 30 Prospects (1-10)

Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Who doesn’t love a good Atlanta Braves prospect list? I do! Braves reporter, broadcaster, anchor/host of 929 The Game of CBS Radio Grant McAuley put together this very thought out list of Braves prospects for the 2017 campaign. Tomahawk Take put together a list of top prospects at the end of October, you can view that here, and will be putting out another top prospect list early in 2017. Two things that are consistent with all lists…Dansby and Ozzie lead all lists and Maitan and Soroka continue to rise quickly. With today being the final day of 2016, we’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2017!

The Atlanta Braves returned their focus to young talent following the 2014 season. The results have been astounding. Spending nearly two years stockpiling talent through the draft, trades and international signings, John Coppolella and company have rebuilt this prestigious system into perhaps the best in the game.

In the finale of this three-part series, I present the very finest of Atlanta’s Top 30 prospects. With the No. 1-10 prospects, we see the crown jewels of this rebuild. The group is led by Dansby Swanson, who burst on the scene in 2016 and gave Braves fans a glimpse of the future.

Keep in mind, this is just my accounting of the Atlanta system, which I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Additionally, a new “Around The Big Leagues” podcast accompanies each part of this series. The next episode (Top Prospects Chat – Part 3) will be released just after the New Year.