Show #152: The Braves Stumble At Home
Can the team be better? Heyward’s star. The starting rotation. And batting the pitcher 8th.
165 Responses to “Show #152: The Braves Stumble At Home”
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Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 » Show All
June 23rd, 2011 at 3:39 am
Just because I like to stare at it:
August, 2011 depth chart
Lowe
Hudson
Hanson
Jurrjens
Beachy
Minor
Teheran
Delgado
Medlen
It’s just so silly.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:19 am
#75 – Agreed.
#76 – Bub. It really is great. And the more I think about it, I don’t believe the Braves make a big move in July with one of those names.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:19 am
#76, so true.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:29 am
Curt, predictably cynical or numbingly pragmatic also work, and its your glass-half empty view on a team thats actually doing well, along with your trouble with simple math that is motivating me here. You described the Braves in the pod cast as a “sub-par team”. Please correct me if that wasn’t you…and if it was, correct yourself!
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:23 am
Another trade possiblity I read:
Ryan ludwick to Braves
Justification (from article):
.256/.325/.393/.717 9HR 45 RBI
But away from PETCO
.280/.329/.417/.745
Avg to above avg fielder, can play all three
Would be owed 2.2M for remainder of season
Currently Type B free agent – estimated trade cost – two of Brett Oberholtzer, J.J. Hoover, Cory Gearrin, Mycal Jones (doesn’t cost A or B level prospects, i.e. Terhan, Minor, Delgado, etc.)
Probable line-up:
LF Martin Prado
CF Jason Heyward
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
RF Ryan Ludwick
2B Dan Uggla
1B Freddie Freeman
SS Alex Gonzalez
Mix in Schafer to allow Prado lots of rest for legs down stretch that he will need (assuming full recovery from staph). Would allow Prado to play 2B & 3B to rest Chipper and Uggla
Comments?
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:51 am
Hey Mark, I think any player we trade for is going to have to be a full time CF or SS, or they will be a part time player. I wouldn’t be against having Ludwick to fill in at the corners, but I wouldn’t play him everyday over anyone we have, and I wouldn’t put Heyward in CF full time. Luckwick would have to be cheap enough in terms of prospects to justify him being used as a part time player. Same with Willingham, who you mentioned earlier.
June 23rd, 2011 at 10:51 am
Lol a DAP.
June 23rd, 2011 at 11:07 am
Oh, Walker…I saw your post on the last page about Morton. The trade didn’t exactly work out the way we hoped, but I wouldn’t get worked up about Morton yet. his stats are that of a 4th starter, and just because he has Halladay’s mechanics, doesn’t mean he’s going to pitch like Halladay. He does have good stuff though.
June 23rd, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Curt , good points on Cuban (#72). Could we be that lucky? Call him and plant the seed; he could have a winner right away. His money and Braves pitching could start a dynasty!
June 23rd, 2011 at 1:45 pm
@DAP
I would rather have Morton right now than mcLouth. That I know for sure.
June 23rd, 2011 at 4:18 pm
I think you guys are being too tough on the Bravos. Know how many teams in the MAJORS have more wins than we do? TWO. The Phillies and Red Sox. This with all our injuries and Ugglas painfully slow start. Ease up.
June 23rd, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Royce and others – you are probably right, But can you honestly tell me that it feels like the Braves are that good. If you had watched all the games this season, but were not able to look at the standings or the records of any other teams, would you truly believe that only two other teams had more wins than them? And, when told that, wouldn’t you sort of feel that the rest of the league must not be so good?
I am not going to get into the DAP assault on Curtis, but just to be clear, our sentiments were that the Braves feel like a sub-par team. Maybe “par” is unrealistically high. Maybe they are not that “sub”.
Again, you are most likely right – we have been tough on our boys and their record should speak for itself.
June 23rd, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Hamilton, being myself the world’s worst offender in this area, I have to say that in baseball, except at rare intervals, teams never seem like they’re doing that well. It’s an extremely frustrating sport to watch day by day.
I hang out on the Philly blog sometimes, and you never saw fans of a first place team with a maybe-historic rotation and clear leg up come playoff time so down in the dumps. Some of that is because the internet is filled with neurotic worry-warts. But some of it is because that’s baseball. A big long grind of ballplayers seeming to not quite do what they could do if only they __________.
June 23rd, 2011 at 6:25 pm
re: the perception of this podcast’s pessimism, I’m surprised to just now see it talked aobut this heavily in the comments. It’s the first thing I ever heard about ABT. But that’s its personality: Wonder Stevie vs. the Downcast Duo. I thought we all knew this? 8)
June 23rd, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Well, I just clicked, with trepidation, on Rotten Tomatoes’ first big gathering of Cars 2 reviews. Just as I feared. Et tu, Pixar?
I’ll be in my darkened room with covers pulled over my head, listening to “American Pie” on repeat.
June 23rd, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Bub makes a good point on the shows balance in personalities. It’s called an opinion folks.
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Good Point Bubdylan. Baseball is a Fail sport and is extremely frustrating.. That’s why it takes the good teams 81 games to get 10-15 games over 500. If I only succeed at anything in life 3 out of 10 times I’m a considered a loser. Not in baseball. I don’t care what yall say. We are some crazy spoiled fans to complain that we only have the third best record in MLB and leading the wild card even though we have an ancient 3rd basemen, weird manager, injuries galore, rookie first basemen and closer. I feel lucky. Complainers are like a man that drives his wife away because he concentrates only on the few things she doesn’t do and not on all the great things she does do. Relax folks the Braves will get into the playoffs this year.
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:30 pm
You boys just need a podcast visit from Ballpark Frank & Scott to iron everything out.
June 23rd, 2011 at 7:58 pm
92 was me. Sorry
June 23rd, 2011 at 8:44 pm
My hope is that at some point we get back to talking about the Braves. Particularly during a week where we all can find something to be happy about. I find it ironic that to point out that the show is negative, people have heaped negativity on us, and in some cases resorted to personal attacks.
First off, this show is done on a weekly basis. During the show, we cover what went on during that past week. This past show was done after the Braves had gone 2-4 at home against some decent, but not high caliber opponents. Two wins coming on a walk off balk, and when two infielders collided on a pop up and allowed the Braves to score 2 runs. The pitching looked bad. The offense continued to be bad, etc., etc. Not a lot to get excited about. It was reflected in the show. Imagining that this week’s show will be a little different, based on what we have seen so far.
We try and take on topics that will generate conversation. If we spent every show talking about how perfect the team was, agreeing on everything, and buying our championship t-shirts, how interesting would that be? How much conversation would we generate? The whole purpose of this exercise and this forum is so we can talk with other fanatical Braves’ fans about our favorite team. We don’t get paid. We do it because we love the team as much as anyone else on here. Speaking for myself, I am not a hopeless optimist. Just my nature. Are the Braves good this year? Yes. Are they great? No. Can they win the WS? Yes. Can they miss the playoffs? Yes. There it is. I’ve watched the Braves for a long time and they have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Just the way I feel.
We appreciate so much that we are able to do this podcast, and that 1 person (Ham’s mom) listens, let alone hundreds. We appreciate that all of you take the time to be part of this community. We sought out topic suggestions on Twitter. We want you all to be part of the show. We each have our own opinions about stuff. That’s what makes it great and rich. No issue in people disagreeing. Let’s just make sure we keep it to the team and civil.
Thanks for listening. Go Braves.
June 23rd, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Bub – am I really a member of the Downcast Duo? Can’t I carve out my own spot in some way? Surely, I am no Stevie, but c’mon . . . meet me half way.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:13 pm
Ham, you suffer from a little aural confusion. You and Curt sometimes sound alike. One of you is just gonna have to start suckin’ helium before each answer. I vote it should be Curt.
(In seriousness, I like all you cats. I hope there isn’t a nastier vibe here than what I thought I was commenting on, or I’d have stayed out of it. I only scanned some of it…)
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Bub, I’m the one whose always right
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Also, in case my high-falutin’ post #88 seemed to belong to the “take the high road” optimism gang, I’m sure everybody here remembers how negative I can be in bad moods toward the Braves. I may be the worst here for personal attacks.
Wrapping up an incomplete in Shakespeare, I’ve barely been able to watch any games. It’s easy to keep your chin up when five minutes of box scores and after-game quotes are all you have to suffer each day, and you only hit the highlight films after wins.
Far, far less agonizing from a distance.
June 23rd, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Curt, so you go by “Steve” on the show? No wonder I stay confused.