Your daily source for what's going on with the Braves, Falcons, Thrashers, and (unfortunately) Hawks.
Welcome to Atlanta Sports Central! Thousands of current and former Vanderbilt students call Atlanta their home, but since we're not currently living in the city, it's hard to keep track of what is happening on a day-to-day basis.
My goal with this blog is to compile every worthy tidbit regarding Atlanta's four major sports teams: Braves, Falcons, Thrashers and (regrettably) Hawks. Possibly this could turn into a Braves-only blog come April, or a Falcons-only blog in September, who knows? Since I don't necessarily have any "inside information" a la Buster Olney or any other pundits over there at the Worldwide Leader, I'm just looking to give a few opinions, possibly give some space for a forum discussion on anything Atlanta sports-related, maybe have a live chat or something when opening day rolls around.
My basic goal is to give you all the information you need every day in one space so you don't have to spend time looking all over the Internet hoping to stumble across a worthy story. Enjoy!
Obviously, the major news headline today was the Falcons trade of career backup Matt Schaub to the Houston Texans. Once the deal is finalized, the Falcons will receive two second-round draft picks from Houston, one this year (#39 overall) and one in 2008. The teams will also exchange this year's first round picks so the Falcons move up to #8 overall instead of #10.
So, apparently coach Petrino has made the decision we thought would wait until the start of training camp: that the QB job belongs to Michael Vick for 16 straight games (and hopefully more), and he won't have to hear cries for his job from the media, because there will be no viable backup to replace him.
This is a good move on two fronts:
1) The confidence that led Petrino to allow Rich McKay to trade Schaub shows that he and Vick have worked extremely well together and can confidently approach this season knowing that Vick will be a different quarterback than in 2006. We all knew going in that Petrino was an outstanding quarterback developer, and an offensive genius, though I personally was skeptical when Petrino adamantly declared that Vick would have to "throw a lot more" this season. Apparently, whatever new system they have in place is stable enough that they are 100% confident that Vick is their guy.
2) I mean, let's face it, Schaub hasn't really done anything as a quarterback in the NFL. The classic darling of the preseason, Schaub has started only two games in his career, and lost both of them. Sure, he ran Knapp's West Coast offense rather flawlessly in last year's season finale at Philly, but that system was a lame duck at that point as far as the Falcons were concerned. The point here is that the Falcons are getting tremendous trade value for a guy who is being judged solely on potential. Two second-round picks will allow them to upgrade at wide receiver, cornerback, or offensive line however they see fit. And a second-round pick should be able to start right away in this league, so assuming they draft well, the Falcons should come out winners in this deal. Schaub will probably flourish in this league (though maybe not with the woeful Texans), but considering he was a free agent at the end of this year, the Falcons basically had to make a decision now: keep him and hope Vick falters so we can use him, but if Vick falters we lose him after the season, or get three dimes for a quarter by trading him now. I think they made the right choice.
A couple of ramifications to this trade:
1) David Carr is basically out in Houston, bidding good riddance to the organization that drafted him as their star but couldn't put any pieces around him to give him any chance to succeed.
2) Jake Plummer was rumored to be considering the Texans as a team to latch onto out of retirement, hoping to earn the chance to become a starting QB once again in the NFL. That chance is probably gone with Schaub now landing the starting job in Houston, and who knows if Plummer will even play a down this year.
-ESPN.com's Jeremy Green thinks the Falcons should draft a quarterback to back up Vick. Len Pasquarelli is reporting that Cincinnati's Anthony Wright is a possible candidate for that position.
-The Braves lost to the Nationals in their Grapefruit League game Wednesday night, blowing a 2-run ninth inning lead to lose 6-5. A positive outing for newcomer Mark Redman as he pitched 5 innings and gave up two runs. Andruw Jones connected for a 2-run homer. Don't worry about the bullpen meltdown; the culprit, Jonathan Johnson, is not expected to be even close to the major league club this year.
-The Braves play the Mets tomorrow at 12:05 as Kyle Davies takes the mound.
-Mike Hampton threw at about 90% strength Wednesday as his oblique continues to improve. The initial prognosis of a 2 month recovery is slowly dwindling, but the Braves are exercising caution. His next bullpen session will be on Saturday.
-Apparently the Hawks had a five-game home winning streak. Until last night, when the Heat continued their winning ways with a victory at Philips.
-The Thrashers play at home against the San Jose Sharks tomorrow at 6 pm. You can catch live audio of that game here.
That's all for today, don't forget the first round of regional action at the NCAA tournament tonight! Memphis-Texas A&M and Kansas-Southern Illinois kick off the action at 6:10 pm.
