[quote name='CocheseUGA']Which is what we expected.
We didn't go and get anyone else because Hampton looked so good during spring, and offseason workouts. Frankly, if he can get over the injury bug, he's still got good stuff. We do still have a number of starters that can pitch for us, the question will be if they'll be any good. Glavine has been pretty good, Hudson has been great. Smoltz was very good for his first few starts before the shoulder started bothering him. Frankly, I have no problem with him closing again. When he closed, the only other time I can remember such enthusiasm to see a reliever come in was Rocker. I loved Smoltz being the closer for those couple of years. It was amazing to see him go from an effective starter to a dominant closer. If he can come back and be our shutdown guy, then I think we'll be ok.
We still have:
Hudson
Glavine
Jurrjens
James
Bennett (long reliever, spot starter)
Reyes
We still have bodies, but we'll have to see how they do. Am I worried? A little. If Hampton can't come back before the AS break, I'm worried we'll trade one of our nice prospects again for short-term help, something we were supposed to be able to avoid going into the season.[/QUOTE]
Hampton hasn't pitched since 2005 and only started 12 games that year. He has tried to come back a few times this year and each time has another injury. If the Braves were counting on this guy, that is just dumb. Even if he had a great spring. Hampton is done. I wouldn't count on him getting over the injury bug.
Even without him the Braves starting pitching was not bad with Hudson and Smoltz leading the pack, but now with Smoltz going to the pen, there starting pitching is pretty bad. After Hudson you have Glavine who can give you a good outing here and there but won't eat up innings. And then you got inconsistent guys the whole way down. They are going to need there offense to pick things up in a major way.