The Braves offseason has been decent to this point, a big bat is still needed.

There will be plenty of new faces in Atlanta and plenty of old faces gone.

The players that will not be returning from the 2009 season include...

Mike Gonzalez

Rafael Soriano

Garrett Anderson

Javier Vazquez

Kelly Johnson

Greg Norton(thank God)

Adam LaRoche

The new faces include...

Melky Cabrera

Billy Wagner

Eric Hinske

Takashi Saito

Jesse Chavez

Troy Glaus

Right now, I feel that the pitching staff is fine, and the emergency starter in Kris Medlen is better than most teams have as an emergency starter.

Additionally, the bullpen shouldn't be too far off from last season, Gonzalez and Soriano are gone, but Saito and Wagner are coming off of good seasons, and assuming they keep Moylan, the rest of the pen will be pretty much the same.

I have mixed feelings about the Cabrera/Vazquez trade.

But, I do think it is about the best the Braves could have gotten for Vazqez, as there were some decent prospects involved as well.

Plus, last season was easily Vazquez's best season of his career, and not many would expect him to repeat, and Cabrera is a very clutch hitter that has playoff experience.

The pick up of Troy Glaus has really grown on me.

This was a 2 million dollar, one year deal.  So, the Braves didn't sink much money into him, and in 2008 he had 27 homers and 99 RBIs, he was hurt last season, and if he doesn't produce, Freddie Freeman is waiting.

I do like the Eric Hinske signing simply because he has played in the past 3 World Series while playing for three different teams, winning two of them.

I think the Braves had a decent offseason, nothing really huge, but some moves to fill holes that were needed.

A big bat is still needed.  The Braves have great pitching and a lot of guys that can get on base, but power is an issue.

Escobar has gotten more powerful as his career has progresses, but I think the best case scenario is Jason Heyward make the team out of Spring Training and live up to all of the hype.

If not, they need to look to trade somebody to get a big bat.

The line up heading into the 2010 season as of now looks like this...

1. Nate McLouth- CF

2. Matin Prado- 2B

3. Chipper Jones- 3B

4. Troy Glaus- 1B

5. Brian McCann- C

6. Yunel Escobar- SS

7. Melky Cabrera- RF

8. Matt Diaz- LF

I see plenty of guys that can get on base, but only one that has potential to produce any power, and that is Troy Glaus, and he is no guarentee.

Players coming off the bench...

David Ross- One of the best back up catchers in the game

Eric Hinske- Proven winner

Omar Infante- hits for great average

Diory Hernandez- Solid defense but needs work with the bat

Gregor Blanco- very fast and solid defense, but needs work with the bat

The rotation will be...

1. Jair Jurrjens

2. Tommy Hanson

3. Derek Lowe

4. Tim Hudson

5. Kenshin Kawakami

They do have one of the best rotations in the Majors, nothing to complain about really.

Bullpen...

Takashi Saito

Billy Wagner

Peter Moylan

Jesse Chavez

Eric O'Flaherty

Kris Medlen

Manny Acosta

Not a top of the line bull pen, but a decent one.

I like the back end of the bull pen this year, not asd much as Gonzalez and Soriano, but I think it will be fine.