The Atlatna Braves number-one pitching prospect will go to the hill one more time this year. Tommy Hanson gets the start in the Arizona Fall League championship game for the Mesa Solar Sox today at 2:30pm ET. Hanson has been blowing away everyone in the AFL this year and leads the league with 5 wins, a 0.63 ERA, and 49 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings.

Hanson will not be the only Braves prospect in the game. The team was asked to vote on who should get the start and they chose four Braves to fill out the starting lineup (including Hanson):

1. Matt Young (ATL) LF
2. Jason Donald (PHI) SS
3. L. Morrison (FLA) DH
4. Jeff Larish (DET) 1B
5. Tyler Flowers (ATL) C
6. S. Cousins (FLA) CF
7. C. Wells (DET) RF
8. Van Pope (ATL) 3B
9. Will Rhymes (DET) 2B

This is an important start for Tommy Hanson, as we'll get to see what kind of big-game pitcher he is. He's already shown some of big game creds when he struck out seven in three hitless innings in the AFL Rising Stars game last month.

If you have a subscription to MLB.TV the you can watch the game here.

Per a Braves press release:

The Atlanta Braves today have added four players to their 40-man roster. They purchased the contracts of infielder Diory Hernandez and right-handed pitchers Todd Redmond and Stephen Marek. They also claimed left-handed pitcher Eric O'Flaherty off waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

No suprise on the first three, and it's a good sign for each that they are on a clear path to the majors. This O'Flaherty character on the other hand. He's your typical LOOGY, but has an emerging three-pitch mix highlighted by a good fastball. Still, this is a fairly weak move, similar to the T.J. Bohn pickup from Seattle in November 2006.

I'm excited to see Marek get a chance in the pen, though I think he'll need some time at triple-A. Diory, on the other hand, will likely turn some heads in spring training and push for a backup job. Redmond is still a year away, but injuries and a thin major league staff could push up his arrival time.

Everyone say it with me, the Cubs are players in the Jake Peavy sweepstakes, but the Braves are the only team that has the pieces to get the deal done. How many times have we heard this in the past couple of weeks? Another flight of fancy:

The Chicago Cubs will continue their efforts to obtain Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres despite re-signing Ryan Dempster this week, according to a source close to the negotiations.

The only team known to be engaged with the Padres (the Atlanta Braves are expected to resume their pursuit) on Peavy, the Cubs are attempting to put Peavy alongside Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ted Lilly and Dempster, easily the deepest rotation in the NL.

Still, as the Cubs’ payroll rose with the Dempster deal – four years, $52 million – there were questions about their continued desire for Peavy, who is owed at least $60 million over the next five years. Padres GM Kevin Towers has said the Cubs lack the parts to swing the trade for Peavy, meaning they’d have to involve at least one other team in the negotiations.

But, the Cubs are still in.

“They are still alive,” the source said.

At this point, I'm just going to keep chalking these reports up to the fact that baseball people seem to have nothing else to talk about. So we are meant to believe that the Cubs, who already have roughly a $120 million payroll, are going to add another $15MM per year to a team that's trying to get sold.

I still don't buy that one pitcher's signing (Ryan Dempster) alters the Atlanta Braves course away from free agent pitchers and back towards Jake Peavy. Some people are acting as though he is our only option this winter. But while the money clouds of the Yankees are closing in on others, no one really knows who will be the ultimate winners in this market.

ESPN's Buster Olney, former Mets and Yankees beat writer, is urging the Braves to move back towards Peavy and finalize a deal, or else risk losing out on Peavy all together:

And the signing of Ryan Dempster is just the latest indication that the Braves are vulnerable to becoming the team left standing when the game of free-agent musical chairs stops. CC Sabathia is headed to the Yankees or to a California team, in all likelihood; big-money teams are bidding on A.J. Burnett; and Derek Lowe's agent is asking teams for five years, and the Yankees likely will be one of the contenders for his services. [...]

So the Braves' best shot at a free agent might be with Oliver Perez -- and with all due respect to the talented but erratic lefty, he is not the kind of consistent impact pitcher that Atlanta wants or needs. And as the free agents come off the board, and the Braves remain empty-handed, the leverage of San Diego GM Kevin Towers will rise -- not significantly, but incrementally. [...]

The Padres don't appear to have any other serious suitors for Peavy, but history tells us that circumstances can change rapidly. A player for another team can get injured in an off-field accident, setting off an unexpected chain reaction: Aaron Boone got hurt playing basketball, the Yankees voided his contract and swooped in and made a deal for Alex Rodriguez after weeks of negotiations between the Red Sox and the Rangers, at a time when Boston believed (rightly) that there were no other serious bidders for A-Rod. Stuff happens.

Olney has his moments, and nothing scares Braves fans worse than Oliver Perez (except maybe one of the Boone brothers). While it seems a foregone conclusion that the Yankees will be big money players, the Braves have, at times, not shied away from spending money on a free agent they thought would make a difference. We all get wrapped up in the "hometown discount" mantra that is trotted out there everytime one of our guys is a free agent, and while that may have worked for some, that philosophy has failed to retain the majority of Braves free agents.

We once spent lavishly on the best starting pitcher on the market. The five-year $28 million deal with an average annual value of $5.6 million for Greg Maddux was a record when we signed him away from the Cubs in December of '92. This may be the time to spend lavishly again, even on par with the Yankees. (Or could that sentiment be a pipe dream, with the Braves preferring to pursue bargains instead of bonus babies.)

While I do think it's fun to talk about this stuff, sometimes ad nauseam, I just don't see that much change ocurring from one day to the next, even in this seemingly fluid market. Olney seems to be basing his need for speed on the Aaron Boone / Alex Rodriguez example from a few years ago, but that was a rare situation, and these trade talks are very different. I continue to applaud Frank Wren for not giving in to the Padres demands, and sticking to his espoused longterm philosophy of rebuilding again from within (while still trying to put a winning club on the field this year).

My opinion is that there's still plenty of time, and that most of these guys won't sign until after Thanksgiving or until the Winter Meetings.

It could certainly be an interesting time tomorrow when Frank Wren chats with Braves fans on the official team website (3pm).