Show #209: Questions Remain for Braves in Left and Third
The BP hat. The crazy Bourn talk. A platoon at 3rd and Left? And the potential money at the trade deadline.
136 Responses to “Show #209: Questions Remain for Braves in Left and Third”
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Pages: « 1 2 3 4 [5] 6 » Show All
January 25th, 2013 at 10:08 am
#99 – what if they “cuss” a la Fantastic Mr. Fox? Ex: “Steve, I don’t give a cuss what your opinion is. Keep your cussing mouth shut for the love of cuss.”
Speaking of Mr. Fox, I’m giving up baseball in lieu of Whack-Bat.
January 25th, 2013 at 10:33 am
101 – Or we could old school Johnny Dangerously (a pretty funny movie, btw), “Frank Wren, that fargin sneaky bastage!”
#95 – I think your second batting order is the most likely. Most of all because I believe Heyward will be our #3 batter with almost no exception.
January 25th, 2013 at 11:45 am
@93
The one issue w/ Delgado was the lack of a consistant breaking ball. He hasn’t developed one so far, so the chances he does are dwindling. You need three pitches you can throw for strikes to start (and win) consistantly. He could be really good out of the pen with the two pitches he has, but we needed him to be a starter.
January 25th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Discussion topic:
Premise:
Teams needing OFs are unwilling to pay Bourn the money & years he wants for a long term contract. Teams wanting Bourn are unwilling to sign Bourn at $8M for one year AND give up 1st round draft pick.
Question:
What would you think of signing Bourn to a one year, $8M deal; then trade him to Texas for Mike Olt, possibly eating up to $2M of the salary?
Texas gets the CF/leadoff man they need at an affordable price (which they can possibly negotiate a longer term deal while he is there or make the qualifying offer after the season), they don’t give up their 1st round draft pick and we get a power hitting 3B of the future (maybe now, too).
Thoughts?
January 25th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
BJ Upton does NOT need to be batting at the top of the batting order. He has a consistently bad OBP If you want to hit him 1st every 3rd Sunday fine. Heyward was made for the 2 spot and Simmons has a decent OBP. They are our top 2.
January 25th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Eric Byrnes is painful on the MLB network. I never knew anyone could make Mitch Williams look smart. According to Byrnes, the Braves don’t even have a top 5 OF. Are you kidding me? A couple of the teams that beat us out on his list were the Rockies and the Blue Jays. Yuck.
Per AJC twitter, Fredi says top 3rd of the order will be 1. Simmons, 2. Heyward, and 3. J. Upton, as most probably expected. The idea of Simmons leading off is growing on me. At first I was a bit concerned that he might be the only choice to leadoff, but who’s to say he can’t handle the job. It can’t be worse than Schafer or Pastornicky leading off.
January 25th, 2013 at 9:04 pm
What time zone are you guys using?
January 25th, 2013 at 11:12 pm
Chipper Jones will play for the Braves again. I’m telling you. Evvybobby think I’m crazy, but just wait…
January 26th, 2013 at 12:14 am
@108- Oh, Bub. More of that crazy talk. It was madness last year. And it’s more so now.
January 26th, 2013 at 12:16 am
JJ to the Orioles. I hope he turns it around.
January 26th, 2013 at 12:23 am
109, it’s even less now, without Prado? Without a 3B? Okay, I won’t push it. But remember where ya heard it.
January 26th, 2013 at 12:24 am
*even less of a chance…
January 26th, 2013 at 12:29 am
I mean, okay, I have to flesh it out a tiny bit this once:
In Chipper Jones’s last game, he almost single-handedly wrecked the post season. Now, we are a 3B away from being the best team in baseball. You don’t think that, come July, if 3B is still a black hole, he’s gonna hop on the treadmill and play the Rocky soundtrack? Couple million bucks and the chance to put a Hollywood ending on his career?
January 26th, 2013 at 1:25 am
Walker @105, I agree that Simmons will probably hit leadoff but he’s any better suited for the leadoff role than BJ Upton?
I think Simmons and Juan Francisco/Chris Johnson (and of course the pitcher) should hit at the bottom of the order. Aside from that, I would be fine with the rest of the lineup arranged in any order.
But it’s not going to be that way. I think Simmons gets first crack, then BJ. I guess Heyward would get the third crack at it but I don’t know.
January 26th, 2013 at 12:56 pm
You know what Bub, if Johnson and Francisco tank I could seriously see that happen. Chipper wouldn’t surprise me.
January 26th, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Oh how you make me laugh.
January 26th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
All – check out the new blog from Shaun about the trade. Good stuff. Except you, Leah. You might want to skip it.
January 26th, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Would you rather
A) Win 105 games (and the division) in a season and get swept out of the first round of playoffs
or
B) Win 89 games (and a Wild Card spot) and not exit until a Game Seven loss in the World Series
January 26th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
Choice B of course
January 26th, 2013 at 8:29 pm
See, I just can’t get that excited about post-season victories short of a championship. There’s just too much suggesting it’s luck-driven.
Of course, that luck applies to a championship, but … still, it’s a championship. I can suspend my disbelief in that case.
I think I’d take the division and the monster season over anything besides a WS crown.
January 26th, 2013 at 10:40 pm
Having just sat through UGa losing by 5 yards – on their way to a sure national championship, and the Falcons losing by 10 yards, on their way to a Super Bowl, and the infield fly………….worst sports year ever. So A or B really doesn’t matter. They both suck.
January 26th, 2013 at 11:00 pm
Worst sports year ever? The Braves, Bulldogs, and Falcons all had great years. Do you mean the worst sports postseason year ever?
January 26th, 2013 at 11:14 pm
It all really gets down to the age old question: is it better to have loved and lost than not loved at all?
I’ll take the amazing regular season and the heartbreaking post season over a crap regular season any day. Remember back to ’06 – ’09? Season over by July. Now THAT’s the worst.
January 27th, 2013 at 12:00 am
Got bored and looked at what Frank Wren inherited versus today’s team:
1B: Tex to Freeman
2B: Kelly Johnson to Dan Uggla
3B: Chipper Jones to Juan Francisco/ Chris Johnson
So much for the bad news.
SS: Escobar to Simmons
LF: Blanco to Upton
CF: Kotsay to Upton
RF: Francoeur to Heyward
C: McCann to McCann, last of the Schuericans.
SP: Hudson to Hudson
SP: Jurrjens to Medlen
SP: Campillo to Minor
SP: Jo Jo Reyes to Maholm
SP: Hampton/Morton to Beachy/Teheran
CL: Gonzalez to Kimbrel
Bennett, Boyer to EOF, Venters
Considering all the bad luck (Hanson? Jurrjens?? Lowe??? UGGLA????), seems like we have the best GM of any team on a tight budget. Nationals GM looks pretty golden right now, too, but he’s spending like a drunk sailor and they had all those bad year draft picks like the Rays did to get the whole thing started.
January 27th, 2013 at 11:38 am
Quick break from the Braves stuff, to share a pretty damn funny pair of quotes I stumbled across this morning. Read them in order:
“I would say it’s the end of the world as we know it. …
I am speechless by that contract. … It’s unbelievable.
Literally, it will take the sport down, that contract.
We’re right back to the ridiculous contracts. It can’t be.”
- Marlins president David Samson,
on reports Ichiro Suzuki would sign a $100 million contract
“My mother always taught me that if the only thing you have to say is,
‘(Expletive) Dave Samson,’ then don’t say anything at all.
So I’m not going to say anything at all.
Is my mother the greatest or what?”
- Mariners GM Bill Bavasi, after signing Ichiro to a $90 million contract