Odds & Ends: Braves, Dodgers, Villalona

A few Monday evening links.... David O'Brien at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogs that the Braves need to add a legit power bat to compete for the NL East next season. Brian McCann is the only player to hit 20 homers for Atlanta so far in 2009. O'Brien suggests that, at the very least, the Braves need to make a strong attempt to re-sign Adam LaRoche. LaRoche has raked since coming to Atlanta, hitting .356/.429/.638 in 44 games. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs argues Joe Torre is making the Dodgers worse by giving Ronnie Belliard playing time at the expense of Orlando Hudson. Belliard is outperforming Hudson lately, and keeping Hudson on the bench is saving the Dodgers some money, but Cameron thinks that playing Belliard at second base in October would hurt the team's World Series chances. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that Giants prospect Angel Villalona has pleaded innocent to the charge of murder. Still, Baggarly says it's an...