The Braves have signed 36-year old lefty reliever Joe Beimel to a minor league deal.  Beimel missed all of the 2012 season due to Tommy John Surgery.  He last pitched in the majors in 2011 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, working in 35 games (0 starts) in which he was 1-1 with a 5.33 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP.  Beimel has pitched in 567 games (23 starts) in his first 11 years in the majors and he is 24-32 with 4 saves, a 4.21 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP.  If Beimel looks good in the minors, he won’t be there long as the Braves need someone to replace Eric O’Flaherty from the left side of the pen.

Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox signed a one-year extension with the Braves for the 2010 season.  Cox has announced that he will then retire from managing after the 2010 season and then will become a consultant and adviser for the Braves for five years.  Cox is currently the 4th winningest manger in major league history.  He is behind current St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa, then John McGraw, and then the winningest manager of all-time Connie Mack.

23 year old left-handed hitter Brian McCann exploded on the scene in his first full season in the major leagues. He hit .333, with 24 homers and 93 RBIs in only 442 at bats. McCann had an amazing .960 OPS which is incredible for a catcher. McCann hit 18 homers in the second half of the season which is strange for a catcher, because they usually wear down in the second half. He just smashed right handed pitching as he hit .351 with 21 homers against them. He also hit an outstanding .246 with runners in scoring position last season. He will likely bat fifth again and provide great protection in the line-up for the surging Andruw Jones. McCann has to work a little bit on his defense as he made 9 errors and had 5 passed balls last season. He threw out 22% of would be base stealers last season.

25 year old switch hitter Brayan Pena will likely be the backup for McCann this season. He hit .302 with a .714 OPS in AAA for the Braves last season. He also batted 41 times for the Braves and hit .268 for them. Pena might be able to hit for a decent average for the Braves but he won’t hit for much power as he only has hit 9 homers in 6 seasons in the minor leagues.

31 year old Corky Miller will likely be an insurance policy in the minors for the Braves. He hit .260 in AAA last year with 13 homers and 36 RBIs. Miller has been a horrible hitter in the majors as he has a career batting average of .190 with a .595 OPS. The Braves are in deep trouble if this guys plays at all for them.

The Braves were disappointed in how they played last season but they figured that if they fixed their bullpen all would be good this season, and that’s what they went out to do in the off-season. The first thing the Braves did was trade starting pitcher Horacio Ramirez to the Seattle Mariners for 27-year old Rafael Soriano. Soriano throws gas and he’s a great pitcher. Soriano had 18 holds last season for the Mariners and had an ERA of 2.25 with a 1.08 WHIP. The Braves hope he duplicates that season for them. The Braves also traded first baseman Andy LaRoche to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left handed reliever Mike Gonzalez. Gonzalez has a career ERA of 2.37 with a 1.22 WHIP and he averages 10.58 strikeouts per 9 innings so it looks like the bullpen will be fine for the Braves this season. The Braves also signed Tanyon Sturtze to compete for an early spot in the bullpen.Â

The only major player the Braves brought in for the field of play was 1B/OF Craig Wilson. Wilson could platoon with Scott Thorman at first base for the Braves. Wilson offers a good power bat as he hit 17 homers in 359 at bats last season. Chris Woodward was brought in to compete for the utility infielder job, but he will have to hit better than the .216 he hit with the Mets last season if we wants the job. The Braves also brought in Willie Harris to battle for a bench spot.