Atlanta Braves : Sortable Player Stats
Wilson Betemit and Matt Diaz are tearing up the Grapefruit League. Wilson’s hitting .464/.483/.607; Diaz is hitting .462/.462/.769. I predicted that Betemit would be good in spring training; I probably should have included Diaz, who fits the profile as well. Note that they have one walk between them in 54 AB, not unusual for ST.
Michael Ryan has played about as well as the above, but I don’t see any place on the roster for him. Other players hitting well are Langerhans, Jurries, Renteria, KJ, and (in limited action) Jordan and Brandon Jones (the only Jones in camp). McCann is struggling a little; Marcus and LaRoche have been awful. I’m not worried about Marcus. Diaz seems to have made the ballclub, or rather has reached the point where he would have to play his way off the roster. If the Braves carry 12 pitchers, that leaves only one spot between Jordan, KJ, and Jurries.
The best pitcher in camp has been Joey Devine. He’s thrown seven innings and struck out fourteen against one walk and seven hits. He’s given up three runs, all of them unearned. Lance Cormier has also been excellent, allowing just six hits and one unearned run in seven innings; five strikeouts and no walks.
Mike Remlinger is probably on the verge of hanging it up; his 2 2/3 innings so far have been a disaster. Travis Smith, unsurprisingly, has sucked, as has Brad Baker.
LaRoche has got to go. He is BRUTAL!
I’d rather see a full year of Diaz, Jurries or Betemit at first. They will all hit better than LaRoche
Spring means nothing, I would like to see Laroche get a month to show if he is ready to carry his weight.
Diaz can hit AA fastballs, this we already knew. Not sure what he has proven besides that.
Ok, a question for those of you who know more about baseball than me:
Can someone please tell me why the Braves wouldn’t at least TRY Wilson Betemit at first base? Is that a crazy idea? I am so serious.
Well, the best I can do is that Betemit is much more valuable as a 3B/SS than as a 1B, but I agree with you that so long as he’s a better hitter than LaRoche, Diaz, or whatever else we’ve got, why not just play him there until he’s needed elsewhere? His defense probably won’t be very good, but LaRoche hasn’t been the darling of many defensive metrics that I’ve seen. From a player developement standpoint, its a bad move, since you don’t want his already-mediocre defensive skills at SS and 3B to atrophy as he learns to play a new position, but in the short-term, it might generate a better lineup than one with LaRoche in it.
That said, I think I’d prefer to give LaRoche a shot at it full-time and then maybe platoon him with Diaz when the need arose. Also, Betemit just doesn’t look like a “super sub” type (a la Chone Figgins), and I don’t know if his bat is worth pushing him into a new position that hard.
I am not sure if it’s more brutal to watch LaRoche plays or to see the US trailing the Korean 6-1 after Hee-Seop Choi’s three run hr!
Its too bad about Remlinger, but I am encouraged by Kevin Barry’s performance. He pitched well at the end of last season, so I certainly hope he makes it. After all, he is not young anymore.
People on ESPN.com keep using the word “chalk” about the NCAA tournament. It seems that they are talking about the top seeds, but I’ve never heard that called “chalk” before. Where did that come from?
Case for Chipper to move to 1st:
(1) injury prone at 3rd
(2) stays in infield as he prefers
(3) no more platoon with Ladouch
(4) makes room for Betemit, et al.
(5) 4 years of big money left on K (now vested)
(6) no more Ladouch
The only drawback I see is Chipper could be incapable (Piazza) or the Braves could be saving room for Salty. Here’s why that seems implausible.
(a) being a corner infielder, chipper should be more agile and capable than a mediocre catcher
(b) we have a glut of first basemen in the AA-AAA ransk right now
(c) McCann is far from a proven commodity
I hate to beat a dead horse, but when I stay awake at night over the fact we lost a 48 year old player’s bat, its a sign things should change.
LaRoche at the plate is a lot like my golf game. At some point, I’ll hit it pure, it just clicks of the face of the club, and sails into the sky. The problem is, thats 1 out of 150 swings.
Agreed dd. Salty is athletic enough IMO that he could move to 3B this season and be ready as soon as next spring with some luck (if McCann proves to be a capable option at C).
I think it would be a lot tougher for Salty to learn to play third than it would first. Plus, I don’t think Chipper gets his injuries from playing third. He injured his hamstring playing Left, and injured his foot running the bases.
I would like to see the Braves make a run at Wilkerson, who has played first in the majors already, or Mike Sweeney, who if he is healthy can flat out hit.
I was suggesting the Braves might want to keep first open for Salty, not third.
Third is a more physically demanding position to field than first. Some first basement of note, David Ortiz, Matt Stairs, John Kruk, Cecil Fielder and countless others who’d rather be a DH. Chipper is still capable of playing 3rd, he’s not Bob Horner, but it would still place greater demands on him physicall, which is not a good idea considering how badly we need his bat.
At this point, Betemit is the one guy on the bench I’d want to make a spot for in the line-up. I’d rather have Diaz/jurries/laroche on the bench and Betemit starting at third.
I like Betemit, but as a fill in for 3b and SS. I don’t think he is a full time starter, I don’t know if he could handle the pressure. Filling in for someone who is injured and who you know is gauranteed a spot when they come back is a lot different than having to perform everyday to keep you spot.
The only stats I care about are 36-24-36, the stat line for one Erin Andrews, who is batting .676 against my heart this Spring. Sign her up Bobby!!! I’d like to shag some fly balls with her. Phoa….
Only .676? Not 1.000?
The thing about Betemit is that we [i]need[/i] him as a backup to Chipper and Edgar. There’s no one else in the system (excepting the unlikely possibility of KJ) who is ready to play 3B or SS for Atlanta, and going out and getting a backup at this point just seems implausible. I honestly think that was the biggest reason ATL wanted to get Renteria. If they had someone capable of backing up Betemit/Chipper, I don’t think they would have had a problem letting Betemit start. (Of course, as I said at the time, just sign Alex Sanchez and call Marte up if Chipper gets hurt…..) But anyhow, I don’t really forsee anyone on the left side of the IF moving at this point.
Alex Gonzalez, you mean? Alex Sanchez is the roids-using slap hitter who played on the Devil Rays last year.
If betemit played 3rd, chipper could “back him up” if he got injured. God knows, we have enough Class AAAA first basemen to throw out there if that happened.
I doubt they ever considered using Betemit at SS full time. Pete Orr is the likely back-up, if Renteria suffers a serious injury. I dont think Bobby will play with a shaky defensive SS. Betemit’s only place to go is 3B or OF.
Just look at the way Escobar is hitting, thats the answer in a few years when we are done with our ‘rent’al short stop.
Escobar is THE man….I can’t wait for him to get to Atlanta!!
Is Rafael Palmeiro still a free agent????????
;-D
>Pete Orr is the likely back-up, if Renteria suffers a serious injury. I dont think Bobby will play with a shaky defensive SS.
Those two sentences contradict each other.
Give LaRoche a break the guy hit 20 home runs last year. Enough LaRoche replacement talk he plays great defense give him a good chunk of a season and then start complaining
Doh! Yeah, I meant Gonzalez above. Betmit will play SS if Renteria goes down. If they wanted to play Orr there, they would have done that last year when Furcal was hurt. Betemit can play the position adequately and his bat makes up for his defense. And like I say, they don’t really have anyone else.
a) tony batista proved that you can hit 30 home runs and still be terrible. that said, laroche is not quite tony batista.
b) laroche is a pretty bad defender, at least range-wise. he seems okay at picking throws but nothing special.
c) i’m more scared about our corner OFs than I am about laroche.
I’m actually more worried about the bullpen after what I just read. Apparently Foster might need Tommy John surgery, and since mcbride hasnt thrown in a week and remlinger has sucked (except for today) they are talking about moving james to the bullpen. I definitely don’t agree, so hopefully mcbride will return to health and remlinger will round into form. i guess we could always make a trade.
I think that Chuck James might have been headed for the pen the whole time.
I am out of town, so I won’t be posting very often (In case you guys care…)
James makes the bullpen much better.
LaRoche a bad defender? Please. He picks it fine and he can throw to all bases, something most 1Bs never dream of. He’s no Keith Hernandez, but I like his D at first. I just wish he wasn’t batting 5th.
You want bad defensive 1Bs? Look no further than the 2 NYC teams. We know about Delgado, but Jason Giambi looks like he’s trying to negotiate a minefield out there. And his glove! I’ve never seen an MLB 1B just flat-out miss so many catchable tosses to first. Giambi makes Dave Kingman look graceful.
But I’ll guess that someone out there has come up with a defensive study that has Giambi rated above LaRoche.
I agree with ububba, the only problem I have with LaRoche is that he is batting 5th in the lineup. If the Braves have one more power bat and are keep LaRoche at the 6th or 7th spot of the batting order, I am sure I would not be complaining about him as much.
Glad to have the site back 🙂
What’s wrong with McBride? He’s the main lefty, was even before Foster got hurt.
I have no idea what was wrong with the site.
You know things are pretty bleak to begin with, when your bullpen is rocked by an injury to a guy like John Foster.
Apparently Mcbride has a strained forearm just below his left wrist. He hasn’t thrown since the 6th of March. The only relief lefty healthy essentially then is Remlinger, and he hasn’t been great. I figured we want two lefties down there, so hopefully macay is good to go soon.
Ubub —
If you think Giambi is the nadir of defense at first, you must be too young to have lived through Gerald Perry. His teammates called him The Claw.