Show #142: The Braves Offense Goes Missing
Discussing the bats and relief pitching. Assessing Freeman and McLouth at the plate. And best and worst signs of the week.
173 Responses to “Show #142: The Braves Offense Goes Missing”
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 » Show All
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 » Show All
April 11th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
I’ve kept really quiet about the whole “where should Heyward bat” issue because I really don’t have a clue. It does seem like he was more comfortable in the 6 hole last year. Maybe it was mostly due to injury but could it also have something to do with his comfort level. What if he’s just better further down in the lineup?
April 11th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Great news: http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2011/04/11/jurrjens-ready-to-go-after-six-strong-innings-in-gwinnett/?cxntfid=blogs_atlanta_braves_blog
Now, if only he could hit … Just kidding (sort of).
April 11th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
@ Leah
It seemed to me he was more comfortable 2nd. Him batting 2nd and Martin batting 1st was definitely a jumpstart for the 2010 team.
April 11th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Leah – I think the disparity you saw with Heyward was completely about his injured thumb.
But I continue to waffle everyday about the 2 vs 6 hole. I get that the book says he should be in the 2. And bunching all your best players at the top of the lineup makes all the sense in the world. But, I also shudder to think of 6 – 9 being AGon, McLouth, Freddie, pitcher. That’s pretty brutal. And I liked Sunday afternoon, bottom of the 9th, we had Chipper, Mac, Uggla and Heyward coming up. It’s a really stout middle of the lineup (I know it didn’t work out, but on paper it was very exciting1). Anyway, I don’t have a real point here… tired. Going to bed.
April 11th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
It is early in the season but the Braves strengths and weaknesses appear, so far, to be the ones we suspected. Chipper has been a plus, catching, starting pitching (need more than Lowe and Hudson;time for Jair and Hanson to step up/tired of hearing about the potential) and bullpen are all pluses. Uggla, Freeman, McLousy and a very weak bench could be real problems all season long. There may be a reason that Uggla was traded; some careers end early (does Andruw Jones ring a bell). Hard to win games without runs; Ask Lowe.
April 12th, 2011 at 10:09 am
“Jurrjens appeared to get stronger as the game went on too, retiring nine in a row to finish his outing. He needed only 12 pitches in a clean fifth inning and 11 in the sixth.”
My favorite part…
April 12th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Article I referenced about stuggling superstars:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-10_Degrees_Jeter_struggles_041011
April 12th, 2011 at 11:07 am
I’m torn on a lot of the guys you mention, Walker. Bonds, Manny, Clemens, and A-rod have such objectionable public personas that it’s easy to call them cheaters and exclude them.
Bonds without steroids is still one of the greatest players of all time. His physical appearance and statistical performance make it fairly easy to demarcate when he started juicing, and he would easily have made the Hall without ‘roids. Clemens was arguably the most dominant and intimidating pitcher in the MLB pitcher for two decades. A-rod is great in every aspect of the game, and is poised to break numerous career batting records. All three are most likely HOFers without steroids, but who knows. That’s the problem.
Manny, I’m not so sure about. With the exception of percentages, Palmeiro has better career numbers than Manny. More of everything. He was also a significantly better defender (3 GGs in a row). Palmeiro is also part of the 3k hit club – may not have made it without juicing those last few years though.
The Hall should make special wing for the steroid era. I think McGwire and Sosa should be included because of their importance for the game in the late 90s. I don’t think it can be overstated how much impact their homerun chase had on reviving the game after the strike.
April 12th, 2011 at 11:14 am
I just think it is way too early to jump all ove the offense…time will benefit the Hitting and on paper they are solid…now we just need time for the stats on paper to match real life…but What does need to happen is the bottom of the bullpen has to be fixed…we do not want to wait too long…let’s face it Sherril and Linebrink = Washups…Good careers…but they are done! Get somebody out there…there are some Free Agents and some trades we can make I am sure…let’s do it while we can so we don’t fall too far behind
April 12th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Turley – there are some real solid relievers in Gwinnett. Marek, Abreu, Asencio are all off to great starts. Let’s look there first. Spend money on a center fielder.
April 12th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Maybe we should start a petition.
April 12th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Hey curt if you want to go get another CF say in trade. Who do you see as possibilities because honestly their very thin at best. McCutchen or the guy in St. Louis. I can’t remember his name otherwise really slim in my view.
April 12th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
We should totally start a petition.
Turley – welcome to the board!
Heading to Target Field soon. I’ll try to report back here tonight on it.
April 12th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Colby Rasmus in St Louis. I think the Braves have tried with him. Asking price is probably too high.
Never know who might be available. And no way is Pittsburgh giving McCutchen up. Marlon Byrd?
April 12th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
just turned on the game not sure how pitches Hanson was at but i wish the Braves would let our pitchers throw more than 7 innings when they have a shut out going seems like we got to see maddox smoltz and glavine do it, oh well 5 nothin! go Braves!!
April 12th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Oh Hamilton…double blast.
April 12th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Somebody remind me how to put a player on the DL…Arg.
April 12th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
How’d I know you’d have Hamilton?
13,000+ at the Ted tonight!
*facepalm*
April 12th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Keep obvious roiders out of the Hall. It’s a small, imperfect shot in the dark at justice. But it’s better than nothing.
April 12th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
Might as well get this started, when do we see Teheran in ATL? He hasn’t received the hype Hanson got, which I like, but I think he might be better. I think his overall command of 3 pitches is way ahead of where Hanson was at his age. I would like to see Hanson and teheran blossom into pitchers that scare other teams- Not afraid to throw inside and dominant early in the count with power.
April 12th, 2011 at 11:07 pm
I’ve heard Pedro Martinez comparisons to Teheran’s change up. That’s exciting.
April 12th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Back from Target Field. LOVED IT. Small, intimate feeling. Brightly lit (total opposite of Turner), great, interesting food (fried cheese curd!). And the location is terrific. A true downtown stadium. Right next to the Target Center (where the Timberwolves play). Downtown Minneapolis was really cool even without the baseball. Much more happening than I imagined.
I didn’t see the Bravos tonight, obviously, but it’s a great looking box score. Funny how one game can seemingly cure all of a team’s ills.
April 12th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Hall of Fame is nothing without Bonds and A Rod. Lets be real here 65 % – 75% of players were probably using.
April 13th, 2011 at 7:20 am
#43 I auto drafted him…it was fate.
April 13th, 2011 at 7:39 am
Interesting stat about Hanson (taken from Jeff Schultz’s article).
“The three wins in his 22 previous starts might have cast Hanson as a train wreck, but that wasn’t the case. He went 3-10 despite a solid ERA of 3.49. His average run support in those games: 2.7 per game. He had one five-start stretch last season in which he pitched at least six innings, allowed one or zero earned runs and went 0-2 with three no-decisions. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the first time that has happened since earned runs became an official statistic back in 1913.”