Kent County Braves

   Thanks for visiting the Kent County Braves' homepage. Kent County is a charter member of the World Top Gun Baseball League. Their history has been mostly positive with winning seasons two of the three completed seasons and in the current season.

  Their best season was 1999 when they won 106 games and a wild card spot. The Braves defeated Havana to advance to the second round where they were bested by division champion and rival Avenel. The Fang went on to represent the American League in the Series where they were defeated by the Arizona Thunder.

   Unfortunately, 2000 was time to pay the piper. The team had been 195-129 in their first two years and could have hovered around .500 again but decided it lacked the pitching to compete seriously with playoff clubs. General Manager Dale Murphy traded away such stars as Vinny Castilla, Albert Belle, Ray Durham and Tony Clark. The deals did net the team several players who are part of 2001's improving club. (Jermaine Dye, Darrin Erstad, Jerry Hairston Jr., Cliff Floyd, and Mike Lowell) 2001 saw Kent County have the number one overall pick with which they selected shortstop Rafael Furcal.

  Ivan Rodriguez was the teams first ever selection in the startup draft and he remains the team captain. Only Rodriguez and Jeff Fassero, who won 20 games in 1999, have been with the club all four years. Fransisco Cabrera has managed the team all four years and has kept the same staff. (Third base coach Sid Bream, First base coach Glen Hubbard, and pitching coach Phil Niekro.) I hope you will enjoy this page and come back and visit as the Braves try to rebuild for 2002 and beyond.

Dale Murphy	Ivan Rodriguez	Rafael Furcal	Cliff Floyd	Jeff Fassero

Lidle

Warwick,RI (TGNN)--The Kent County front office continued its busy off season today acquiring pitcher Corey Lidle. Lidle was acquired from the Divided Sky Sox for the Braves first round pick in the upcoming Rookie Draft, pitchers Chuck McElroy, Jesus Sanchez, CJ Nitkowski, and infielder Herbert Perry. A small amount of cash was rumored to be included in the deal. Lidle will be plugged into the starting rotation.     "The local talk shows seem to think we may have given up too much. I think its a good deal for us. Corey is signed for two years and at a good price.The players included in the deal were going to have trouble making the team anyway. The pick may net them (Divided) a good player but we liked Corey too much to let him go somewhere else while we waited for the draft." ,said Dale Murphy at the press conference to announce the trade. "I am very happy to be here. I like the area and the siginings they've made improve the team. Hopefully, Kent County will be a place I can stay beyond my current contract.", beamed Lidle.

Delgado	Warwick,RI (TGNN)-- Braves General Manager Dale Murphy has been very busy in the offseason signing free agents. Eighteen players are returning or making their way to Kent County. The GM changed that this year by spending over 27 million dollars. He had been criticized in past seasons for being inactive in the free agent market except to resign his own players.
Bartolo Colon	Bartolo Colon and Carlos Delgado headline the new signees. Colon inked a team record 7.51 million dollar deal for 3 years. Delgado signed for a mere 7.121 million also for 3 years. Murphy had this to say about his two biggest signees, "We wanted to shore up the starting rotation. Bartolo fit the bill perfectly he's young and was willing to sign a three year deal. We didn't want to have to be back in the market next year. Carlos was a bit of a surprise, we really like his bat but we didn't think he would sign here. He's definately an excellent addition for us."
Hermanson	Dustin Hermanson is also packing his bags for Rhode Island. Dustin agreed to a two year 3.57 million dollar deal. He is expected to take the #2 spot in the rotation behind Colon and incumbent starter Scott Schoenweis. Bobby J. Jones was also brought in agreeing to a one year $751,000 deal. Pitching coach Phil Neikro had this to say, "The Braves are a better team today adding these two. Both can pitch 200 innings for us this year. Dustin will be around for two years and Bobby's contract allows us to extend him cheaply if we like what we see. Bobby had a down year last year but I hope I can help him rebound."
Graves	Danny Graves and Derek Lowe topped the list of players who were resigned. Each player had signed offer sheets with other teams and were resigned to 3 year deals. Both are expected to be key contributors to the bullpen in 2002. Kerry Ligtenberg was also resigned to a two year deal. Craig Counsell and Jesus Sanchez penned one year extensions. Herbert Perry was brought back on a minor league deal.      The other players who were signed are: Outfielders Ron Gant and Gerald Williams. Infielder Quilvio Veras. Pitchers Turk Wendell, CJ Nitkowski, Mike Stanton, Jason Grimsley, and Chuck McElroy. Only McElroy has been on the team before. Stanton and Grimsley are expected to make quality contributions to the pen.