Atlanta Braves II

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#8,051
#8,051
Well, Heyward, but he plays right. They were hoping Francoeur would show up and he didn't.

In 2008? Freeman had played 1 year and no double A ball when they got Kotchman.

Salcedo has been projected as either a 3B/LF type to scouts. That's where I'm getting it at. Though I think Terdo would be better in LF, Salcedo at 3B.

And that's the point. The organization routinely banks on prospects when it's probably not smart to do so.
 
#8,052
#8,052
When Kotchman was acquired, he had the potential to be re-signed. He didn't hit..at all. Obviously he wasnt the answer then. I would consider Troy Glaus the rental. How was Freeman looking then?
 
#8,053
#8,053
Before the Uggla extension, when's the last time that the Braves acquired, either by trade or free agency, a position player who turned out to be a long-term solution anywhere on the field? Brian Jordan? Fred McGriff? Every other long-time Braves regular I can think of for the last 15 years came up through the organization. Even before the Liberty acquisition, the Braves have believed in mostly developing your own players and plugging holes with short-term acquisitions.

Basically this is a team that fell in love with its rotation of young pitchers 20 years ago and has been far too organizationally focused on pitching ever since.
 
#8,054
#8,054
Vercingetorix said:
Basically this is a team that fell in love with its rotation of young pitchers 20 years ago and has been far too organizationally focused on pitching ever since.
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isn't that the way all organizations that have to work within a budget work though? The toughest thing to find in baseball is a quality starter.
 
#8,055
#8,055
Last time the Braves went and really paid for a position player was probably Andres Galarraga and Gary Sheffield.

I think they were ready to pay JD Drew and Rafael Furcal, but . . . we know how those negotiations went.
 
#8,056
#8,056
GAVol said:
isn't that the way all organizations that have to work within a budget work though? The toughest thing to find in baseball is a quality starter.
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You don't build a rotation like the Braves had in the 90's on the cheap.
 
#8,061
#8,061
Everyone lets take a deep breath. Last time the braves started 0-3 they finished with a 101 wins. Not saying this team will win 101 but there are a 159 more games for things to turn around.
 
#8,063
#8,063
GAVol said:
isn't that the way all organizations that have to work within a budget work though? The toughest thing to find in baseball is a quality starter.
Click to expand...

There are diminishing returns to the 4th and 5th starters, though. You can live with three good starters that you lock up for awhile and a rotating cast of league-average innings eaters better than you can a couple of indefinite gaping holes in the lineup. You would think that the Braves would have learned that in the 90s. But they're still willing to go to war every year with a lineup that's half made up of castoffs and scrubs.
 
#8,064
#8,064
Not to mention the fact that since Brian McCann there really hasn't been a homegrown player have sustained success. Honestly, the organization is still reeling a little from Jeff Francoeur crapping out. If he was serviceable at all, he'd be the right handed OF bat they're dying for right now.
 
#8,066
#8,066
slh1089 said:
Everyone lets take a deep breath. Last time the braves started 0-3 they finished with a 101 wins. Not saying this team will win 101 but there are a 159 more games for things to turn around.
Click to expand...

I would agree if it wasn't for the end of last season. The odds are that this isn't a last place NL East team. But maybe we shouldn't rule that out as a possiblity, albeit slim.
 
#8,067
#8,067
Weezy said:
I would agree if it wasn't for the end of last season. The odds are that this isn't a last place NL East team. But maybe we shouldn't rule that out as a possiblity, albeit slim.
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The pitching should be very good. Barring catastrophic injury, as always, I think the whole season turns on four upside/downside situations for the offense: Chipper, Prado, Heyward, Freeman. If all four of those guys have good seasons, this is potentially a first place team. If all four of those guys have poor seasons, this could be a last place team. And I think each of those situations is basically a coin flip.

(I'm taking for granted that Bourn, McCann, and Uggla will all be productive, that SS will be little more than an automatic out in the 8 slot all year, and that no deal will be made to shore up the OF for the 40-162 games that Chipper will miss.)
 
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#8,068
#8,068
40-162.. Nice.

People are more optimistic about Bourn than I am. I'm not Prado's biggest fan, but I think he's more what he's been than what he was last year. I dont think that's a coin flip. I agree completely on the other 3 situations, and the overall assessment though. I think chipper will be under in production we need, Freeman will be good, not great but I don't think he'll bust. Heyward is the key, imo, and I don't think anyone knows which way that's going.
 
#8,069
#8,069
I expect Bourn to be solid but not great, which is good enough. I agree that Prado's got the best chance of those four question marks to have a good season....but unfortunately if you were ranking them by importance, he'd be the last one. The whole season really turns on Heyward and Freeman. The organization made that decision a few years ago, and here we are.
 
#8,070
#8,070
I think we know what we get with Prado of he stays healthy and that is a very solid
2 hitter. As everyone else said, the other keys are literally a toss up. I have a feeling the management makes a mid season move, ala Bourne last year, if Chipper doesn't stay glued together enough.
 
#8,071
#8,071
Fredi, obviously paying attention to our discussion of Heyward's significance, has decided to sit Jason tonight.
 
#8,072
#8,072
slh1089 said:
I think we know what we get with Prado of he stays healthy and that is a very solid
2 hitter. As everyone else said, the other keys are literally a toss up. I have a feeling the management makes a mid season move, ala Bourne last year, if Chipper doesn't stay glued together enough.
Click to expand...

I'm not as high on Prado as a #2 hitter, only because so much of his OBP is due to his batting average. Which means that when the singles aren't falling in, he's making lots of outs in front of the run producers. He's more valuable than a lot of similar players because he's got good doubles power, but there are going to be long stretches -- sometimes even whole seasons -- when he hits .250, and then he's not helping you.

I like Prado; I just think he's a type of player that I don't like depending on too much.
 
#8,073
#8,073
TBrown said:
Fredi, obviously paying attention to our discussion of Heyward's significance, has decided to sit Jason tonight.
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The offense sucks, so you should definitely sit the guy who got half the team's extra base hits in the first series. Great idea.
 
#8,075
#8,075
I never in a thousand years would have thought that this Francisco experiment would have given Fredi another excuse for sitting Heyward, yet here we are. Francisco's in, the reanimated corpse of Matt Diaz is in, Heyward's on the bench.

I don't know what the hell Fredi has against Heyward, but I'm pretty sure Jason is in a cagematch situation with his manager. Only one of them is going to survive in Atlanta.
 
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