Atlanta Braves II

Status
Not open for further replies.
#8,028
#8,028
Vercingetorix said:
All we read all spring were stories about how involved Chipper was with the other hitters, how he claimed to have fixed Heyward's swing, etc etc. If this is what we get when Chipper's involved in anybody else's swing but his own, then no thanks.
Click to expand...

I think DOB overblows Chipper's impact. I'm sure Chip gives pointers, but I highly doubt he does all the swing fixing.
 
#8,029
#8,029
Vercingetorix said:
I'd rather have a random Strat-O-Matic player than Fredi, but this isn't his fault. It's only three games, but this lineup is what you get when you build a team around what you hope could go right rather than what you expect could go wrong.

How much of that is Wren and how much of that is Liberty Media we probably have no way of knowing.
Click to expand...

No it's not, but he's already blown a couple opportunities. Like, ya know, pinch hitting constanza twice, bringin in Livan in that situation (who did a great job), then bringing in Durbin over Martinez. Did we lose those games because of him? No. But he's not helping at all.
 
#8,031
#8,031
zjcvols said:
No it's not, but he's already blown a couple opportunities. Like, ya know, pinch hitting constanza twice, bringin in Livan in that situation (who did a great job), then bringing in Durbin over Martinez. Did we lose those games because of him? No. But he's not helping at all.
Click to expand...

Of course he's not helping; he's an idiot. But it isn't his fault that the lineup right now has only two hitters that even sort of scare the other team's pitchers. The offense is going to suck unless Heyward and Freeman both hit like all-stars, and there's not much Fredi or anybody else can do to work around it.
 
#8,032
#8,032
Vercingetorix said:
Of course he's not helping; he's an idiot. But it isn't his fault that the lineup right now has only two hitters that even sort of scare the other team's pitchers. The offense is going to suck unless Heyward and Freeman both hit like all-stars, and there's not much Fredi or anybody else can do to work around it.
Click to expand...

I agree. The fact we are holding every single pitching prospect is ridiculous. It's almost a joke. I believe in the philosophy you trade prospects for players that can help your team, but in being smart in trading prospects. The fact we didn't put Delgado or Vizcaino on the market during the winter and say "show us what you got" bothers me greatly.
 
#8,033
#8,033
I'm finding it very hard to watch this team...I still am having a hard time getting past the fact that we literally have more pitching in the minors than we can use and we have our grip on them so tight that we won't listen to offers...I have a real problem with hoarding players like a packrat at the expense of winning ballgames. Sorry, rant over...I'm just so damn frustrated!
 
#8,034
#8,034
Comments in the thread are hilarious.. Hudson just had back surgery. Hanson has shoulder issues. Jurrjens hasn't finished the last two seasons. Beachy and Minor haven't been through entire big league seasons but you want to trade their only replacements. You thought the Livan signing was bad? Trade Delgado or Teheran and see who's in the rotation at the end of THIS season, much less in the future.
 
#8,035
#8,035
TBrown said:
Comments in the thread are hilarious.. Hudson just had back surgery. Hanson has shoulder issues. Jurrjens hasn't finished the last two seasons. Beachy and Minor haven't been through entire big league seasons but you want to trade their only replacements. You thought the Livan signing was bad? Trade Delgado or Teheran and see who's in the rotation at the end of THIS season, much less in the future.
Click to expand...
Meanwhile up in Gwinett ... Teheran got rocked again.
 
#8,036
#8,036
BigOrange15 said:
I'm finding it very hard to watch this team...I still am having a hard time getting past the fact that we literally have more pitching in the minors than we can use and we have our grip on them so tight that we won't listen to offers...I have a real problem with hoarding players like a packrat at the expense of winning ballgames. Sorry, rant over...I'm just so damn frustrated!
Click to expand...
Wait til next year and you'll be glad we didn't turn those guys loose.
 
#8,037
#8,037
I think I've posed this point before but I can't help but wonder.

Just how thin is the line Frank Wren has to walk? The Braves are (and will be for a LONG time) at a financial disadvantage. When our local media contract brings in something like 20M per year as opposed to the potential for the Dodgers for example to bring in anywhere from100M-300M PER YEAR when they re-up their media contract soon. (Part of why they went for 2 billion.)
I can understand TO A POINT why Wren is reluctant to part with prospects given this fact and what happened with Andrus and Wainright (sp?). I'm not giving him a pass, I just wonder how much liberty he really has behind the scenes. I could unfortunately see us treading the slippery slope of waiting on crops of prospects to mature like the Royals and Pirates. These local media packages are making or breaking the livelyhoods of MLB franchises imo.
 
#8,039
#8,039
GAVol said:
Wait til next year and you'll be glad we didn't turn those guys loose.
Click to expand...

Nobody's talking about turning all those guys loose. All it should take is one of them to get a good young outfielder, and that would go a long way toward fixing the lineup problems, both now and when two OF slots open up next year.

Whether the Braves have six top starter prospects or only five, there's likely to be enough pitching to win for a few years. But the offense is weak right now and potentially a dumpster fire next year with the loss of Bourn and even the theoretical presence of Chipper. And we all know the Braves won't sign anybody on the FA market. The only way to fix the problem is by trading a pitcher.
 
#8,040
#8,040
Vercingetorix said:
Nobody's talking about turning all those guys loose. All it should take is one of them to get a good young outfielder, and that would go a long way toward fixing the lineup problems, both now and when two OF slots open up next year.

Whether the Braves have six top starter prospects or only five, there's likely to be enough pitching to win for a few years. But the offense is weak right now and potentially a dumpster fire next year with the loss of Bourn and even the theoretical presence of Chipper. And we all know the Braves won't sign anybody on the FA market. The only way to fix the problem is by trading a pitcher.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what I was saying but stated better. Something has to be done or we are in trouble...
 
#8,041
#8,041
I assume Wren's thinking goes like this: "Hudson, Hanson, and Jurrjens are all short timers. Therefore we have to keep all our top young pitchers, because we don't know which ones will develop the way we expect. We don't need to worry about the offense too much because having a foursome of McCann, Uggla, Heyward, and Freeman will be enough. We can fill in spare parts around that core as needed. The higher priority is keeping all the young pitchers so we can replace our whole rotation basically for free."

I understand the thinking; I understand the budgetary constraints that make that thinking necessary. It's just that the whole thing falls apart if Heyward and Freeman aren't the two studs that the Braves are fantasizing they'll be. It's way better to be casting around for a fifth starter than it to have several gaping holes in the everyday lineup.

(I assume that there's some magical thinking going on about Joe Terdoslavich too.)
 
#8,042
#8,042
I just don't like all the reliance on the young guys. Our future CF, 3B, and LF are two guys who are playing in single-A and a guy who lead single-A in batting at 23...makes me mad.
 
#8,043
#8,043
zjcvols said:
I just don't like all the reliance on the young guys. Our future CF, 3B, and LF are two guys who are playing in single-A and a guy who lead single-A in batting at 23...makes me mad.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you're talking about Lipka in CF and Joe at 3rd. LF is who? I'll be stunned if Lipka ever makes the bigs. No one has said anything about reserving a spot for him.
 
#8,044
#8,044
Lipka has a lot of athleticism and can play defense. Good walk rate. Just has to make contact.

Salcedo is the planned LF for 2014.
 
#8,046
#8,046
The FO. Or at least it seems. Unless they sign Prado long term, who else they got? They gave him the biggest international money in team history for a reason.
 
#8,047
#8,047
Actually, it works out perfect. Prado has one year of arbitration after this. And if Liberty keeps owning them, ATL will continue to go young.
 
#8,048
#8,048
Salcedo hasn't played an inning in LF to my knowledge and neither he nor Lipka have hit. Not everyone who enters the system has a reserved spot at the big league level. Braves also aren't going to field a team of 25 440k-arb eligible players. Yes the current "cheapness" of ownership is frustrating, but let's not get carried away.
 
#8,049
#8,049
TBrown said:
Salcedo hasn't played an inning in LF to my knowledge and neither he nor Lipka have hit. Not everyone who enters the system has a reserved spot at the big league level. Braves also aren't going to field a team of 25 440k-arb eligible players. Yes the current "cheapness" of ownership is frustrating, but let's not get carried away.
Click to expand...

Not saying they should.

But that's exactly how the Braves are playing and have played it.

Garrett Anderson? Casey Kotchman? Johnny Estrada? Mark Kotsay?Those guys were rentals to wait for prospects to come up. That's how Atlanta has done it the last 7-8 years.
 
#8,050
#8,050
zjcvols said:
Not saying they should.

But that's exactly how the Braves are playing and have played it.

Garrett Anderson? Casey Kotchman? Johnny Estrada? Mark Kotsay?Those guys were rentals to wait for prospects to come up. That's how Atlanta has done it the last 7-8 years.
Click to expand...

Drawing a blank on the LF prospect we've been buying a rental on for the last ten years, because he doesn't exist.

McCann and Freeman had the minor league profiles to make acquiring a rental a pretty good idea. Salcedo and Lipka aren't that. I understand where you're going, I just disagree. However I do agree with what V said earlier regarding the Braves FO holding their breath on Joey T. Lipka is way too far away for anything to be expected of him. Salcedo is still raw..and I literally have no clue where your comments about him in LF come from.
 
New posts
Status
Not open for further replies.

VN Store



Back
Top