From Baseball America's writeup of the top-20 prospects in the Hawaiian Winter League, our lefty starter Jonny Venters was ranked as the 14th-best in the league:

Venters ranked as the league's second-best lefthander (among U.S.-affiliated players) for several observers, trailing only [Jeremy] Bleich. A draft-and-follow signee, Venters has taken his time to develop but showed three average pitches in Hawaii. His fastball sits in the 87-90 mph range, at times touching 92. His slider remains too inconsistent for some scouts, but others saw it as an average pitch that flashed plus at times. His changeup is his best pitch, and he projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter.

"His fastball is deceptive and heavy," Cole said. "He hides it well, and his change gives him a putaway pitch."

Nice review of Venters, though I think the jury's still out on him, and even with a good year in Mississippi next season he will likely only turn into next year's James Parr. Gosh, it sure seems like so many of the young pitchers the Braves had high hopes for are turning into back of the rotation starters. Even guys like Chuck James, Horacio Ramirez, and Kyle Davies, who had strong starts to their careers fell into a back-end of the rotation starter mold at best. While I like the good news on Venters, I'm still not going to get too excited about these kinds of guys... I'm waiting on Tommy Hanson.

Venters is elidgible for the Rule V draft this year, though it's not likely anyone will take a chance on him.

I saw this several weeks ago over at Rain Delay and thought I'd pilfer it and re-post (click picture for larger version):

This is a perfect example of a pitcher who didn't show dominance early on. The most impressive and prescient note here is when the scout writes, "doesn't give in to the opposition, [...] he attacks the hitters on every pitch."

Consider this post the blog equivalent of a sitcom clip show. Since we've had so many new readers lately, I thought it would be a good (and easy) idea to rehash all of the Braves prospect reviewin' I did just after the end of the regular season. If you're looking for some holiday reading material, here you go:

First Base:  Freddie Freeman, Kala Ka'aihue, Ernesto Mejia, Barbaro Canizares, Alberto Odreman, Daniel Falcon, Gerardo Rodriguez, Ryohei Shimabukuro

Second Base:  Travis Jones, Robert Brooks, Diory Hernandez, J.C. Holt, Cole Miles, Elys Blanco

Third Base:  Jon Gilmore, Eric Campbell, Van Pope, Adam Coe, Jake Hanson

Shortstop:  Brandon Hicks, Brent Lillibridge, Michael Fisher, Shayne Moody, Travis Adair

Catcher:  Tyler Flowers, Daniel Elorriaga-Matra, Matt Kennelly, Braeden Schlehuber, Clint Sammons, Christian Betancourt, Phillip Britton

Left Field:  Cody Johnson, Luis Sumoza, Willie Cabrera, Matt Young, Layton Hiller

Right Field:  Jason Heyward, Jon Owings, Chris Shehan, Concepcion Rodriguez

Center Field:  Jordan Schafer, Gorkys Hernandez, Calvin Culver, L.V. Ware, C.J. Lee

RH Starting Pitcher:  Tommy Hanson, Julio Teheran, James Parr, Eric Cordier, Jacob Thompson, Randall Delgado, Zeke Spruill, Todd Redmond, Deunte Heath, David Francis, Casey Hodges, Cory Rasmus, Ryne Reynoso, Kyle Cofield, Michael Broadway, Paul Clemens, Kyle Farrell

LH Starting Pitcher:  Cole Rohrbough, Jeff Locke, Brett DeVall, Scott Diamond, Richard Sullivan, Edgar Osuna, Jose Ortegano, Johnny Venters, Steve Kent, Steve Evarts, Chad Rodgers, Brett Oberholtzer, Luis Avilan, Dimaster Delgado

Closer:  Kris Medlen, Craig Kimbrel, Stephen Marek, Kevin Gunderson, Cory Gearrin, Benino Pruneda, Nick Fellman, Lee Hyde, Rico Reid, Brett Butts, Michael Nix, Tyler Wilson, Luis Valdez, Sung Ki Jung

While you're out-and-about today, or maybe in-and-plugged-in, here are three shopping suggestions for the most import person in your life, yourself.

Cole and Mason King Pepper Mill The first item is something I came across on Amazon.com, and it's a must for every culinary baseball fan. It's actually baseball bat sized, and boasts, "two and a half feet of pure pepper grinding power." How can you turn this down... really. ...$50.00

The Baseball Prospect Book 2009 This next item is one I pimp quite often on the site, but for good reason -- it's well worth it. Yes, there are other prospect books out there, but this is the only one with comprehensive reviews of players written by one guy. That may not seem like a selling point, but when comparing prospects, it's good to see how one person feels about one player verses another, as opposed to other prospect books where multiple people write about prospects and an opinion of one guy may not take into account the other guy. As you can tell, I'm not a good salesman; just buy the book and you'll be happy. ...$29.95

Graphical Player 2009 No holiday shopping list is complete without a bit of self-promotion. I was lucky enough to be able to contribute the Braves' player writeups to John Burnson's Graphical Player 2009. This is a great tool for all you fantasy baseball players out there, as it gives you tons of graphs depicting each players recent historical performance as well as comparable stats for his position, and of course a writeup from an expert (like me) that followed each player's team last year. ...$21.95

I hope I've been able to help you stimulate our economy... happy hunting.

Here's to all the chefs out there, and all the chefs we are or have been thankful for.

Maybe it's because we were so spoiled last year with all of the early activity, but I'm itching for some action this hot stove. By this time last year we had already traded Edgar Renteria for Gorkys Hernandez and Jair Jurrjens, traded the Vulture for Josh Anderson, and singed Tom Glavine -- almost half of the moves we made all of last off-season. But this year, we've done nothing.

Oh, there's been a lot of talk. A. Lot. Of. Talk. But no action for the Braves. Though, doesn't it kind of seem that when things are quiet, that's when the Braves make a surprise move. It's seems that way right now.

I'm headed up to the mountains of North Carolina to spend some time with the family, so in all likelihood I'll be sans internet access for most of the long weekend. I'm sure I'll be jonesin' for the internets after about 10 minutes. I have scheduled a post per day that will hopefully keep everyone entertained and keep discussion going. If any news breaks, but sure and put up a fanpost or a fanshot. If you make it a real good one, and I hit the internet over the weekend, then I'll promote it to the front page.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!

From the rumor machine himself, Ken Rosenthal:

"They've shown no reservations acknowledging that they need that guy going forward, especially if (John) Smoltz and (Tom) Glavine aren't back," Burnett's agent, Darek Braunecker, said Monday.

"They see the significance long-term of having a guy who can be at the top of the rotation and have the desire and capability of leading a staff. They've communicated that to me better than any club."

At least we're impressing his agent more than any other club. Rosenthal goes on to say that the bar is set by Burnett's agent at five years, and that is a similar length that the Braves would likely have to agree to if they traded for Jake Peavy. At this point it really does seem like silly money, but five years and $80 million for Burnett would be acceptable in my book.

Rosenthal also speaks to our recent waiver claim of a bullpen lefty from Seattle:

For now, the Braves are intrigued by their addition of left-handed reliever Erik O'Flaherty, whom they claimed on waivers from the Mariners last week. O'Flaherty, 23, did not pitch after June because of a back injury, but the Braves consider him a potential sleeper.

Keep in mind that this is just Rosenthal repeating what the Braves people have told him, and of course they're going to put a positive spin on something like this. Still, this is a very Braves-esque kind of move -- not flashy, but a solid building block.