Atlanta sends Helms, Foster to Milwaukee for King
Yes, Wes Helms is no longer a Brave. Frankly, he was born to be a Brewer; his low batting average and walk totals and occasional home run power will fit right in.
Ray King is a former Braves farmhand who’s had a pretty good two-plus seasons for the Brewers as a lefty reliever. Looking over his stats, he might have some control issues that Leo could possibly fix. He’s a good pickup even if you don’t count the value of just getting rid of Helms. Now if we can only find a taker for Vinny…
I’m not sure having Wes Helms on the roster was such a nightmare. He is a pretty good hitter, he just needs a little help in some places. I don’t think you worded that right.
Guys like Wes Helms (average defense, low on-base percentage, decent power) basically grow on trees.
Effective left-handed relievers who get a lot of groundballs and walk less than half a batter an inning DO NOT grow on trees.
This was a great move. I am so SICK of Braves fans apologizing for poor or average hitting.
Now let’s find an infielder with at least league average on-base or power ability.
Wes was one of the worst hitters in the league for a third baseman. (Though Vinny is the worst.) As a first baseman, he’s not even the bottom of the barrel, he’s the scum you scrape off from underneath the barrel. And they kept using him at first.
I’m a fan of Wes Helms, and cringed when the Braves passed him over for Vinny Castilla last winter. As a pinch hitter and occasional spot starter at the corner INF against a LHP, he would be ok. But I’m certainly willing to admit that he does little, if any, to push a team closer to championship level play.
John Foster seemed to become a fan favorite based primarily on a good 02 Spring Training. Citrus League games mean amazingly little to me, though. And his overall minor league performance is spotty at best.
The addition of Ray King is a good one, I guess. He’s done well as a Brewer. But its been as the LOOGY, something that Cox / Mazzone have no track record of having employed. How he fares against RHB will be the key to his continued employment with the Braves.
Well, King does have a definite platoon split, but he’s no Steve Reed or Mike Meyers. Righties have a .738 OPS against him, which I suppose would make him average to slightly below average against right-handed hitting. In other words, not someone you want facing Pat Burrell, but not somebody you mind facing, say, David Bell and Placido Polanco.
King’s control numbers aren’t nearly as bad as they look, once you take out the intentional walks, which he tends to give up in spades. 13 of his 49 walks the last two years were intentional. This is, to put it mildly, an easy thing to fix.