HOUSTON -- Jordan Schafer is heading back to Atlanta, and the outfielder couldnt be happier about rejoining the big league organization where he started his big league career. Schafer was reacquired by the Braves on Thursday when they claimed him off waivers from the Houston Astros. "Im excited to go back," Schafer said during an interview with The Associated Press. "Its the first team that gave me an opportunity to play professional baseball, the first team to give me an opportunity to play in the big leagues. I still have a lot of friends over there and people I talk to, and Ive lived there for a while." Schafer, who hit .211 with 27 stolen bases in 106 games for the Astros in an injury-plagued season, spent 6 1/2 years in the Braves organization before he was dealt to Houston in July 2011. He is eager to put this season behind him and bounce back in 2013. "Ive got to get back on track mentally more than physically," he said. "I mean physically, I think everybody knows that my skills and my tools are there. Its just I need to take care of mentally being in the right mind frame and having a positive attitude and being a good clubhouse guy and all that kind of stuff." He was part of the trade that brought centre fielder and leadoff hitter Michael Bourn to Atlanta before the 2011 trade deadline. Bourn hit .311 in the first half of the season before slumping to .225 after the All-Star break. He struck out a career-high 155 times in 155 games. Schafer stole a combined 22 bases for the Braves and Astros in 2011, but he was arrested the following October in Tampa, Fla., on a felony possession of marijuana. He won Atlantas starting job in centre field as a 22-year-old in 2009 despite having never played above Double-A. He was suspended for the first 50 games of 2008 for a human growth hormone violation of minor league baseballs drug policy. Bourn, who stole 42 bases for the Braves last year, is expected to draw considerable interest from other teams as a free agent. Schafer is looking forward to playing for a team coming off a trip to the playoffs. "They were a playoff team last year and obviously the whole goal of playing 162 games is to make the playoffs and to try to win a World Series," he said. "So Im super excited about going back and joining a playoff team there, and Im just going to go there to try to do the little things to help them win." Although he had a tough year in Houston, where the Astros lost a franchise-record 107 games, leaving the team is somewhat bittersweet. "Im sad in some instances because I made some friends in Houston and theres some good people there and Ill miss some of that stuff," Schafer said. "But ... they decided to go in a different direction in Houston, and Im happy the Braves gave me an opportunity again." Atlanta is not exercising a $7 million option on third baseman Chipper Jones, who retired after the season-ending loss to St. Louis in the NL wild-card game. The Braves also said catcher J.C. Boscan and pitchers Erik Cordier and Robert Fish were sent outright to the minors and that Boscan refused the assignment and elected free agency. cheap jerseys from china . A report written in the Philadelphia Daily News by gossip columnist Dan Gross said that in December 2009, new head coach Peter Laviolette asked his players to commit to not drinking for a month and each player was to write his number on a locker room board as a pledge. According to two unnamed players, Richards No. nfl jerseys china . The sixth-seed from Thornhill, Ont., wrapped up his 83-minute victory with a 10th ace to advance after playing last week in Bangkok and reaching the quarter-finals. http://www.chinawholesalejerseysnf... . Ranford skated in slowly as the first Kamloops shooter and ripped a shot blocker side on Laurent Brossoit. Colin Smith had the other shootout goal for Kamloops, while Blazers goalie Cole Cheveldave stopped both Edmonton attempts. [url=http://www.chinawholesalejerseysnfl.com/]cheap jerseys . The team announced he will need three months to recover from surgery to repair an injured meniscus. He was hurt in Montreals 24-12 win in Toronto on Sunday. wholesale jerseys . 1 Lleyton Hewitt knocked out Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the Valencia Open on Monday, ending a 10-match losing run against top-10 opponents.The first official NHLPA reaction to the NHL offer is in -- NHLPA executive director Don Fehr sent a letter to all players and agents last night -- and not unexpectedly the leagues proposal wasnt met with great enthusiasm. In the letter, which breaks down a summary of the NHL offer, Fehr writes the following: - "Simply put, the owners new proposal, while not quite as Draconian as their previous proposals, still represents enormous reductions in player salaries and individual contracting rights. As you will see, at the 5 per cent industry growth rate the owners predict, the salary reduction over six years exceeds $1.6 billion. What do the owners offer in return?" - "The proposal does represent movement from their last negotiating position, but still represents very large, immediate and continuing concessions by players to owners, in salary and benefits (the Players Share) and in individual player contracting rules." On some of the specific aspects of the NHL proposal: - "They want to "clarify" HRR definition and rules. It is not immediately clear what this means, but so far all of their ideas in this regard have had the effect of reducing HRR, and thereby lowering salaries." - "The Players Share is reduced to 50 per cent from 57 per cent immediately -- this season. This is a reduction in the share of 12.3 per cent. On last years revenue numbers, this would mean that players salaries would be cut by about $231 million." - "The proposal includes a "Make Whole" provision, to compensate players for the anticipated reduction in absolute dollars from last year (2011-12), to this year and next year. However, it would work like this. The PPlayers Share in subsequent years would be reduced so that this "Make Whole" payment would be made.ddddddddddddIt is players paying players, not owners paying players. That is, players are "made whole" for reduced salaries in one year by reducing their salaries in later years." - "Finally, they also proposed that the players could appeal supplemental or commissioner discipline to a neutral arbitration, on a "clearly erroneous" standard, which, as a practical manner, makes it very unlikely that any decision would be overturned." The final two paragraphs of the letter sums up where Fehr believes the process is at and reinforces the players position on all issues: - "We do not yet know whether this proposal is a serious attempt to negotiate an agreement, or just another step down the road. The next several days will be, in large part, an effort to discover the answer to that question." - "Bear in mind the approach that the Players have taken to these negotiations. It is: - Given the enormous concessions players made in the last round, plus 7 years of record revenue reaching $3.3 billion last season, there is no reason for a reduction in the amount the players receive. - Players are willing to take reduced share going forward so that the NHL can grow out of whatever problems some franchises face. - The player contracting rights secured in the last negotiations should be, at minimum, maintained. - Revenue sharing needs to be enhanced and structured so as to encourage revenue growth by the receiving teams. - The overall agreement has to be fair and equitable for both parties. Bargaining is both give and take." ' ' '