Kenshin Kawakami News

Before Frank Wren caught a flight Wednesday from Chicago to Phoenix to see Braves pitching prospects in the Arizona Fall League, the Braves general manager met with teams interested in some of his team's older pitchers.

So here goes: With the re-signing of Tim Hudson, the Braves have six starting pitchers under contract for 2010.

It's October 2010. The Atlanta Braves are playing the Philadelphia Phillies in a packed house at Turner Field.

He started as a starter. Then he became a championship closer. I'm just throwing it out there, OK? So don't all scream at once.

The Braves are hoping baseball writer Bill James is right about Jason Heyward. I would imagine when Braves general manager Frank Wren starts his day, he doesn't think, "Before I call another general manager this morning, let me see what Bill James thinks." But here we go.

It's rare to hear a player openly state that he'll take less from his current team than from others, especially before negotiations have even begun.

While the Chunichi Dragons clinched their Central League postseason berth several weeks ago, the Yakult Swallows had to battle right down to the wire to make it to the big dance.

Having been on the mend, is Tim Hudson now on the wing? Here's a a bit of a surprise: Citing "major-league sources," Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reports Tim Hudson will decline his option to re-up with the Braves and will become a free agent instead.

We all know what the Braves will be after this offseason . Right now, it's wide open as to who they'll go after.

He's a big dude with bigger ability -- seriously huge ability -- and many believe Jason Heyward will be the face of the Braves before long.

As we all know by now: -The Braves need a big bat to compliment Brian McCann and Chipper Jones in the lineup.

Braves general manager Frank Wren doesn't face the same task that he did at this time last year, when he needed to reconstruct his starting rotation.

The Braves knew the odds were stacked against them in their quest to win the NL Wild Card.

Jorge Cantu doesn't mind when opponents intentionally walk Hanley Ramirez to pitch to him.

Atlanta, which had won eight of 10 and 15 of 17, began the night two games behind NL wild card-leading Colorado with six games left.

A A A A We're at the point where every game is important, the end-all-be-all. Yes, agreed, we're there.

The Atlanta Braves have a playoff-worthy rotation, with a triumvirate of aces in Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens, and Tommy Hanson.

You have gone through a full season now, save for this final week-plus ahead of us.

Javier Vazquez can do the math. He sees the overflowing Braves rotation. He knows he could be a pitcher the Braves try to trade in the offseason, given his skyrocketing value after a dominant season.

We go around baseball's rotations every Sunday of the season in our weekly Pitching Planner.