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Braves camp report
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Five things to know about the Atlanta Braves:
1. Can you say "Contract Drive?" All-world center fielder Andruw Jones, entering the final season of his six-year, $75 million deal, is said to have lost nearly 20 pounds during offseason conditioning. "He needed to," third baseman Chipper Jones says. "We hope he has one of those patented walk years. We hope he goes out and impresses everybody this year -- especially me, because he's hitting behind me." Andruw Jones drilled 41 homers and collected 129 RBI last year despite battling some knee pain, which he hopes is reduced by a physique that is more svelte.
2. Chipper Jones battled a sore right foot last season -- he had a partial tear of the plantar plate of his right second toe -- and suffered a torn tendon in his left foot two years ago. This season, he is breaking out a shoe model designed specially by Mizuno, complete with orthodic inserts. "I'm doing everything I can" to avoid repeat injuries, Jones says.
3. Nobody is more welcome in Braves camp this spring than Rafael Soriano, the set-up man acquired from Seattle, and Mike Gonzalez, the former Pittsburgh closer who will help set up Bob Wickman. The Braves blew 29 saves last season en route to a 79-83 record. Those long nights must have made it difficult for Chipper Jones to stand on his sore foot, right? "Let me tell you, my foot didn't hurt as much as my heart most nights," Jones says. "That was tough to watch."
4. The Braves don't expect many changes while the sale of the franchise to Liberty Media from Time Warner is completed. Most of the details are finished, but major league owners still must approve the deal. In the meantime, the Braves will enter the season with their usual payroll in the neighborhood of $80 million or so.
5. One of two keys GM John Schuerholz fingers for the '07 Braves is how second baseman Kelly Johnson fares (the other is Mike Hampton's comeback from surgery). The Braves will be extremely young on the right side of the infield with Johnson -- who replaces Marcus Giles -- at second and rookie Scott Thorman at first. But don't commit to Johnson at second just yet. He enters camp as the odds-on favorite to win the job, but hot prospect Martin Prado could blow past him with a big camp. "Bobby (Cox, manager) loves him," Schuerholz says of Prado. "It's going to be a battle for our second base spot. We think we're going to be fine, whoever wins the job."