Good morning. This is Leadoff, the early buzz in Atlanta sports.
In the spirit of the most universally optimistic day on the baseball calendar — the first day of spring training! — we call your attention to this Sporting News article headlined "17 bold(ish) prognostications for the new season."
The article predicts that Dansby Swanson will win the National League rookie-of-the-year award, that “maybe someone such as, I don’t know, Freddie Freeman (6.5 WAR in 2016)” will win the NL’s Most Valuable Player award and that Bartolo Colon “will continue to mesmerize America” with “a surprisingly good season.”
And, as you would expect if all those things were to happen, the Braves “will surprise people” as a team, according to the article by Jason Foster.
He writes: “Don’t laugh. Atlanta will be a compelling on-field story in 2017. The Braves won 20 of their final 30 games in 2016, giving hope that the team’s rebuild would be complete faster than expected. They’ve got a legit ROY candidate in Swanson, a legit MVP candidate in Freeman, an elite center fielder in Ender Inciarte, plus a potentially solid starting rotation. While most pre-season projections peg the Braves somewhere around 72 wins, a four-win improvement over 2016, a total that’s closer to 80 is possible. If everything breaks just right — and I mean just right — Atlanta could even finish the season above .500.”
Braves pitchers and catchers hit the field at 10:30 a.m. today for their first workout of spring training.
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A St. Louis-based asset liquidation company has been hired to sell various pieces of the Georgia Dome that aren't slated for reuse in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium or elsewhere on the Georgia World Congress Center campus: seats, lockers, signs, pieces of artificial turf, furniture from the suites, you name it.
Full story here on the plans for emptying and liquidating the Dome.
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Sports facilities continue to be a boon for the construction industry in this state. The University of Georgia Athletic Association board of directors Tuesday approved a $63 million project at Sanford Stadium to add a new locker room, a new space to entertain recruits, a new plaza for fans and a larger video board.
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How did football coach Jess Simpson move from Buford High to Georgia State to the Falcons within about three months?
