Previously published in The Detroit Free Press and Baseball Digest on May 28, 2008.

ATLANTA – The last time Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox said, “This kid can pitch, he’ll be around here for a while.” he wasn’t kidding. The year was 1988, Cox was the GM for the Braves and the “kid” he was referring to was John Smoltz, a young, hard-throwing pitcher who had just been obtained in a trade with the Tigers.

Since then, Smoltz, who still pitches for the Braves, has blossomed into a sure Hall of Famer, posting 210 wins, 154saves and over 3,000 strike outs.

In May, 2008 as manager of the Braves, Cox made a similar statement, “This kid can pitch, he’s gonna’ be a good one”. This time the “kid” Cox is referring to is another acquisition from the Tigers, 22 year-old starting pitcher, Jair Jurrjens. After eleven starts this year, the rookie pitching phenomenon, is taking the National League by storm.

After being part of an unpopular trade that sent hometown favorite, Edgar Renteria to the Tigers, Jurrjens is now being referred to as the most impressive rookie pitcher the Braves have had in over a decade.

The Braves were at home on Memorial Day Monday and Cox, again showing confidence in Jurrjens, put the rookie right-hander on the mound against the first-place Diamondbacks and their ace Brandon Webb (9-1). Going into Monday’s game, Jurrjens had a 5-3 record with an impressive 2.64 ERA.

At that time, Jurrjens ERA was 4th best in the league and better than Webb’s (2.69).

Against the Diamondbacks, Jurrjens, out-pitched Webb during the Braves 7-3 win, but was pulled with a 5-3 lead because of a blister developing on his throwing hand, just one out shy of recording his 6th victory of the season.

During his post game interview Monday, Cox said, “Jurrjens pitched incredibly good. He’s a young kid; he’s pitched a ton of good innings for us this year.”

Yes he has and his record should indicate that. In two of his past outings, the rookie walked away with no decision after giving up no runs in one game then only one run in another. It is safe to say both of those outings deserved to be victories as well as Sunday’s game if he were left in for one more out.

Jurrjens record could easily be 8-3 right now which would only rub more salt in the wounds of Tiger fans as they watch their team’s starting pitching staff struggle throughout the year.

Jurrjens who has not given up more than four runs in any of his outings this season, is way ahead of Smoltz’ pace, thus far, as Smoltz struggled his first year as a rookie in 1988 then went on to win 12 games in his second year, posting an ERA of 2.94. Jurrjens’ performance is creating a buzz around Atlanta and talk about the possibility of him taking home the 2008 NL Rookie of the Year award.

While Renteria is having a respectable season hitting .279, the Tigers sit near last place with one of the statistically worst starting pitching staffs in baseball, it’s hard not to notice what contributions Jair Jurrjens could be making for the Tigers at this point of the season.

This season, only one of the Tiger’s starters has more than three wins and with the Tiger starters having ERAs between 4.58 and 6.66, they could use a young right arm like Jurrjens’. While the top four starters for the Tigers have given up at least seven home runs each, Jurrjens has given up just a total of two long balls in his 11 outings.

Many Braves fans hated to see Renteria get traded and were bitter and questioned the move. Over the years, Bobby Cox has shown he has a knack for recognizing talent, and the Braves manager liked the potential he saw in shortstop Yunel Escobar.

When Jurrjens’ name came up in trade talks, he jumped on the opportunity to land the great prospect, even at the expense of Renteria, his all-star shortstop.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Escobar was hitting .310 compared to Renteria’s .279. Both players each had 4 home runs, 4 errors and almost an identical number of RBI’s.

Clearly the Braves have not lost any offense from the transaction and have made a huge gain in their starting rotation. With John Smoltz on the mend from typical aches, pains and injuries of a 40 year-old pitcher and Tom Glavine turning 42 years-old this season, Jurrjens success coupled with the evolution of Escobar is making Braves fans forget about the loss of Edgar Renteria.

With solid starting pitching hard to acquire in Major League Baseball, this trade appears to be an excellent move by the Braves.

Time will tell if the Renteria/Jurrjens trade will haunt the Detroit Tigers and their fans, like the Smoltz trade of the 80’s.

In the meantime, in Atlanta, the team and fans are reaping the rewards.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

DETROIT – This year, star MLB players are learning there are no guaranteed positions on the rosters. Despite receiving enormous salaries and long-term contracts, All-Star players and fan favorites are being forced to trade in chartered flights and room service at five-star hotels for Greyhound bus rides and overnights at low-budget motels.

Dontrelle Willis, $29,000,000 over three years, discovered that in June when the Detroit Tigers tossed the All-Star left-hander out on his ass and shipped him to their Single A affiliate in Lakeland.

How’s that for a kick in the nuts.

The organization couldn’t even trust the former All-Star at their AAA or AA affiliate.

Willis was booted off the Tiger sqaud after posting a dismal 0-1 record with Detroit over four starts, lasting a total of 11.1 innings. His problem seems to be a major one–he couldn’t throw strikes and walked 21 (almost two per inning average) while posting an ERA of 10.32.

After reporting to sunny Florida, Willis (see his photo in our Sports Mugshots Gallery) and his control problem got even worse. He couldn’t come close to the strike zone in Lakeland while facing teenagers struggling to make it to AA ball.

$29,000,000 over the three years equals $185,897.43. Let’s see . . .  at $10 a pop, the first 18,589 medium Little Caesars pizzas that owner Mike Ilitch sells each week goes into this underachieving flop’s pocket while the rest of us bust our asses trying to make ends meet.

Another victim of demotion is the Atlanta Braves’ Gold Glove winner Jeff “Frenchy” Francoeur. After batting a miserable .121 over an 18 game span, Bobby Cox relegated the starting outfielder to AA affiliate Mississippi, the same team Francoeur played for before his MLB debut in 2005.

Over the past two and a half seasons, Francoeur has started 408 games and was settled in as a regular for the Braves until the surprising news came after the Braves lost to the Phillies on Thursday. He was held hitless in four at bats that game, swinging at the first pitch in his last three at bats for routine outs.

Francoeur who hit .293 last year couldn’t hit a watermelon tossed to him underhanded right now. He visited an eye doctor in late June and began wearing a corrective lens in his right eye hoping to break out of his slump but that worked about as good as whatever Willis has tried lately.

After that doctor visit, Frenchy’s performance at the plate got even worse. His average before the corrective lens was .246 and dropped even lower to .234 over the next few weeks.

His mechanics were horribly out of synch during Thursday’s Philly game; so bad that Cox had finally seen enough and immediately after the game, demoted Francoeur.

The Tigers responded to the Willis move that occurred on June 10th by winning 15 out of the next 18 the rest of the month of June.

Talk about putting the fear in the rest of those players! Those remaining guys wearing the “D” in Motown weren’t gonna give up those steak dinners for Denny’s. 

Both of these transactions are justified and they send a strong message . . . get off your ass and produce or don’t let the door hit you in the ass.