Hudson from Oakland. 

New faces in Atlanta this spring will be reliever Dan Kolb (trade from Milwaukee), set-up specialist Gabe White (free agent), and outfielder Raul Mondesi (free agent).  A familiar face returning was outfielder Brian Jordan (free agency).

Atlanta will face extreme opposition for the NL East pennant in 2005 from the Florida Marlins and New York Mets.  The Philadelphia Phillies could pose a threat if their pitching holds up.

Atlanta's offense is not like the fence-busting line-ups of years past.  They try to get by on speed, precise hitting, and the occasional long ball from the Jones' (Chipper and Andruw).  Speed is evident up the middle with Marcus Giles (8 HR, 48 RBI, .311 AVG, 17 SB) at 2B and Rafael Furcal (14, 59, .279, 29) at shortstop.  Chipper returns to the hot corner after a stint in the outfield (30, 96, .248) and 1B is shared by Adam LaRoche (13, 45, .278) and the ageless Julio Franco (6, 57, .309, at age 46).

The outfield is veteran based with Andruw in center (29, 91, .261), Mondesi (3, 15, .241, 133 AB with Pittsburgh and Anahiem) in right, and Jordan (5, 23, .222, 212 AB with Texas) in left.  Plate duties will be manned by Johnny Estrada (9, 76, .314), once an afterthought throw-in in a salary dumping maneuver by Atlanta in the Kevin Millwood trade who was an All-Star in 2004, and Eddie Perez (3, 13, .229). 

The heat will fall squarely on the Jones' to pick up the slack if the new acquisitions, Mondesi and Jordan, don't live up to expectations.  Atlanta should be one of the teams that benefit greatly from the "Return of the Pitcher".  Small-ball and base stealing is back in vogue as the four-bag taters are now under scrutiny.

Even though the big name pitchers Atlanta once boasted of have departed, Atlanta still boasted the best team ERA in baseball last year.  The staff will be anchored by newly-acquired Hudson (12-6, 103 SO, 3.53 ERA in 27 starts), followed by once starter turned reliever turned starter again John Smoltz (11-9, 156, 3.19 in 29 starts, based on 1999 stats - his last year as a starter), Mike Hampton (13-9, 87, 4.28 in 29 starts), John Thomson (14-8, 133, 3.72 in 33 starts) and Horacio Ramirez (2-4, 31, 2.39 in 9 starts).