Adam LaRoche Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com
Defensively, I mean. However, he meets a minimum standard of competence. He catches the ball when it’s thrown to him. That doesn’t seem like much, but like I said it meets the minimum standard.
First base is an odd position in that it’s where you stick the unathletic hitters, but at the same time a really bad defensive player is going to make you totally miserable. They don’t have to be good, but they have to catch the ball when it’s thrown to them — an activity that isn’t the major part of the job description for anyone else but catchers.
Remember Ken Caminiti? The Braves tried him at first base at the end of his career, and he made six errors in 33 games. Over the course of a full season, that would have been about thirty errors. Throw in the errors charged to the other infielders, and you see the problem.
Brian Jordan has played 19 innings at first and looked awful; he’s only been charged with one error but could have several more. Jordan was a terrific defensive outfielder, is a good athlete, and works harder than anyone. If he can’t make it at first base with all of spring training to work at it, what makes anyone think that someone can just pick it up as he goes along?
Moving Chipper across the infield, with no experience at first base, or moving Betemit there, seems likely to be a disaster. I think Chipper should move, but on-the-job training during the season will cost the Braves games, and the difference between Betemit and LaRoche as hitters just isn’t enough to make it worth it.
Smitty & Spike-
We understand your points. I also agree that Bobby won’t sit LaRoche…no one is saying he will, even if he should. Adam has been just ADAM LAROCHE enough to keep his job. A smarter, less stubborn manager would bench Adam but not. Mr. Loyalty!
I don’t think Chipper or Betemit is a long term solution at first unless they play stellar defense along with great bats.
But either is a far far superior baseball player on every level to Adam Laroche.
Alex, the first base position will eventually go to Salty.
I agree with Mac. Any positioning change by either Chipper or Beta-meat will be done in spring training rather than in the mid-season. I don’t think Bobby will hate Adam to a point which he will completely keep Adam off the starting lineup.
agree that Beta-Meat has more value at Third or Short. If your looking for a proto-type 1st baseman, bring up Jurries. Ladouche is just that, a douche. He would be a fantastic bench guy, but for a team thats expected to compete, a .250 20 70 guy is not what you want from First base.
Now I know Alex is going to jump all over that comment, so let me give you some of my reasoning. 250 20 70 is fine, if you get power and rbi’s from other sources, and we will, from Chipper, Andruw, and hopefully Francouer. But we dont get it, really, from LF or C, two positions that generally are power and rbi producing positions. If we had a true power hitting LF or C, then fine, let Ladouche be Ladouche and you deal with it
Thanks Mac, that is the point I have been trying to make. LaRoche isn’t as good at first as Pete, Don, Joe, Skip, and “Back In Chicago” Chip say he is, but he isn’t as bad as some people on this board have made him out to be.
Playing the position of first base, on defense, neither Chipper nor Betemit are as good as LaRoche is right now. Playing first base at a big league level is a lot harder than it looks. It would be like taking Smoltz and putting him in left field.
..and I have called for Jurries to be called up now since Spring Training, so again, Lance, I agree with another thing you said.
It’s the LADOUCHE defenders I have a problem with.
I don’t think we can complain from what we have gotten out of McCann or Langerhans. They have been playing at an all-star level all season.
Smitty, dont get me wrong, I am not bad mouthing Mccan or Langerhans, they have been fantastic, and have done great jobs. That being said, they are not going to be traditional power guys. I dont see either of them hitting 30-40 hrs, and driving in 90-120 rbi’s. Thats why the douche at 1st is a glaring black hole of sucktitude.
Catchers usually aren’t in there for their hitting, usually defense and ability to call a game. They need to hit some, but they usually aren’t RBI machines.
True smitty, you got me there. Ok, so lets forget catcher. Lets look at LF. My point being, if Langerhans were a 30-40hr and 100-120rbi guy, then Ladouche sucking wouldnt be as big of a problem, he would help make up for his lack of production, and by the same token, if Ladouche were a 30-40hr and 100-120rbi guy, then what Langerhans gives us is perfect. But Ladouche wont/cant, so, I think it would be better to replace him, than any other move Bobby could make.
brian jordan is a career outfielder trying to move to a completely different position where more structure and less athleticism is used. career outfielders trying to adjust to first base and career infielders trying to adjust to first base is not a good comparison. there have been many career infielders to make a change to first later in their career and been successful. adding, some of them probably did it on “the fly” as well. imo, giving betemit a few snaps at first base would not be disastrous (anything to get the k king out of the lineup). moving betemit to a completely different dimension (say right field) would be.
and again, let me say Langerhans is great, has given us good production. I am not advocating him being moved in anyway. Get rid of the Douche
This constant yearning for Jurries is kind of getting old. First of all, it’s still April and this is just LaRoche’s 2nd year (? Third? too lazy to check, sorry). He’s still young. He will improve.
Secondly, why do you think Jurries would be any better? Cause he had a good spring? A lot of players had good springs. Good springs don’t mean shit. Jurries is no Francoeur or McCann or even Kelly Johnson. Maybe someday Jurries will turn out to be a pretty good ballplayer, but I doubt he’ll ever be a longterm starter in the majors. Most likely if he came up now he would struggle.
I know that LaRoche infuriates half this board, but he really is the best option right now (although even I would love to see Betemit play more often).
If you took a look around the league, catcher is generally a weak offensive position. Victor Martinez is in a class by himself. That being said, beyond Joe Maurer there’s very few solid offensive catchers. We should be glad we have McCann, because he seemingly has the ability to be a top 10 offensive catcher in years to come.
As for LaRoche, I’ve never been a fan of his. He’s slow. He’s lazy. He hits .250 with very average power. He’s easily one of the bottom 5 offensive first basemen in baseball which really is a position of offensive strength for most teams. For Atlanta, it is a weakness.
I really like Betemit. He too would provide little power from first base, but he would surely hit for a higher average and play solid defense. I doubt he’s the long term answer, because Salty will undoubtedly be our first baseman of the future (hopefully the not so distant future).
Let’s go Davies!
I think as a team, not just LaRoche, we need to put the ball in play more. We are striking out way too much.
I dont think its a yearning for Jurries as much as its “Anyone but the Douche, or Brian Jordan”.
Alex is right, you shouldnt have a guy like the Douche providing protection to Andruw in the line up.
I mean come on man this are the same people who also yearned for Devine, and they were right on that one. Stupid Cox, man if he would only listen to Alex R.
All being said I also would prefer for Laroche being benched, but really the options we have right now are not all that great. Though I imagine Betemit would be better.
No one is pitching around Andruw so far.
IF you get a chance to see a movie and Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel)comes to your town, go see it. It is one of the best war movies I have ever seen. The movie is about World War I when several German, French, and other regiments put down their weapons and celebrated Christmas together for one night. Very touching, good movie.
Anybody else notice the Maddux, Thomson, Glavine 1-2-3 ERA on MLB? I love Greg Maddux…
I think McCann will be a 20 HR guy, and LaRoche is actually a 30-35 HR guy (just extrapolating from his career numbers and what he’s done this season). His problem is that his on-base skills are just terrible (his OBP right now is .299) and you can’t have that in the middle of the order. LaRoche is in his third year and at this stage we can be pretty sure that this is what he is — a low OBP guy with good power.
Jurries is not hitting in Richmond. Nobody is hitting in Richmond, except for Carlos “No Mas” Duran, who is leading the team with a .400 OBP and .435 SLG.
Why LaRoche bats 5th and Francoeur 6th (instead of the other way around) has always baffled me.
To me, the perfect lineup (with Adam) would be:
Giles
Renteria
Chipper
Andruw
Francoeur
LaRoche
McCann
Langerhans
Sans Adam, let’s do this:
Giles
Betemit (1B)
Chipper
Andruw
Renteria
Francoeur
McCann
Langerhans
What is the deal with Future Braves? I see it is for sale, I think Secondbass should buy it. He always has great updates from Rome. Maybe he and somebody from Mississippi could chip in and give us a AA recap (seeing as how most of our players come from Mississippi, so we won’t need any Richmond updates.)
A 30-35 HR guy?! Maybe playing in Arlington or Colorado. Just wow.
Why can’t LaRoche hit 35? Last year he hit 20, in 450 AB — over a normal 650 or so that would be 29 HR. This year he’s hit four through 18 games — a 36 HR pace. His isolated slugging percentage last year was right on the average for first basemen, the problem being that his BA and OBP were so low it didn’t matter.
I’ve always liked LaRoche’s defense. He’s our best shot to dig balls out of the dirt, something Jordan simply cannot do. LaRoche is far better than any minimum standard for defense at first. His height also helps him come back to the bag for an out after an off throw. There’s really nothing wrong with LaRoche’s defense.
“Stupid Cox, man if he would only listen to Alex R.”
Then we’d all be up crap creek without a paddle.
Maybe if LaRoche could lay off those sinkers on the inside part of the plate he would walk more and strike out less.
Adam is a good first basemen compared to the rest of the majors. I do not believe that there are any dominate First basemen in the majors right now.
Except that guy in St. Louis, what is his name, umm…. oh yeah ALBERT PULJOS!
I don’t guess that 30-35 HR’s is too bad (too bad that’s all he brings), but my point was just that LaRoche really is the best we have right now and that your hate is better saved for the Mets, Phillies, Pac-10, Big 10, Bin Laden, and boy bands.
My point earlier was just that some people seem to get so upset by LaRoche’s play (or lack thereof) that they begin to see any possible alternative unrealistically. Jurries is no answer.
I think the same thing happened earlier this season with Reitsma and Devine. There’s a reason LaRoche is our firstbaseman and that Jurries is in Richmond. Same with Reitsma and Devine. We don’t have answers to these questions in house and the out-of-house options are (apparently) too expensive.
That said, we do have other options to bat fifth in the batting order, at least I think we do.
Go to hell Big 10!!!
Mac, it’s wishful thinking to believe Roach can hit 30-35 HR. That’s all peachy he his 20 in 450 AB last year, however, he hit a grand total of 33 in 850+ PA the prior 2 years. I understand he’s an more expierenced hitter and all, but his plate discipline is actually getting worse.
And that “he’s on pace” thing is a little absurd, especially in April. Hey, John Thomson is on pace to post a sub-2 ERA. And I see Andruw as having a chance to drive in 190 runs. I mean, he’s on pace to drive in over 200.
I agree about Jurries. What is he, like 27 or 28? With a good spring? Woo hoo! LaRoche is a better option than Jurries.
Mac, I appreciate this thread. Hopefully it will serve as a reality check for some. Of course, I’m not optimistic.
LaRoche did have good minor league numbers and pitched 2/3 of an inning (one K)
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/L/adam-laroche.shtml
And for whoever it was that claimed LaRoche wasn’t “clutch” (if such a thing exists), please check those playoff stats. Admittedly, they’re in a significantly limited number of at-bats. However, LaRoche has hit huge homeruns for us in each of the past two postseasons.
If LaRoche can get his Avg and OBP up to his career averages (.267/.326) and keep his SLG where it is (.525), which I think is a reasonable expectation, then he isn’t bad and is less a problem than the lack of a great relief pitcher and Chipper’s inability to stay healthy.
We just need to get Adam to have patience at the plate. He needs to go hang out with Kelly Johnson and avoid Francoeur like the plague.
“Why can’t LaRoche hit 35? Last year he hit 20, in 450 AB — over a normal 650 or so that would be 29 HR.”
Platoon advantage. To get 650 AB, he would have to have ABs against lefties, and he’d be lucky to hit 2 HR in 200 lefty ABs, let alone 15.
If he faced nothing but RHP all the time, he’d be a 35 HR guy, but that just isn’t realistic.
What’s infuriating about Adam LaRoche is that he could be a good player, but he’s not. Tennessee Brave said it best: every so often he hits the ball beautifully, and the other 99 times out of a hundred he either strikes out, grounds into a double play, or otherwise embarrasses himself. According to the metrics he’s also atrocious defensively, if you want to believe that; frankly, I would take a first baseman with Kevin Millar’s defense if he gave me Carlos Delgado’s offense.
Unfortunately, right now Adam LaRoche is worse than Dave Kingman. His only value is that he’s projectable, so that maybe some day he’ll grow INTO being Dave Kingman. Oh, and he’s slow, makes poor baseball decisions, and is petulant and whiny whenever Bobby tries to suggest things like the fact that he hits left-handers like Tony Pena, Jr.
Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. And yeah, I admit that I cheer every time he hits a home run for us. But I really don’t like this guy. I agree with everything Alex R. has ever said about him.
My reality check is simple:
LaRoche’s deficiencies are obvious, low BA, low OBP, slow as Xmas, lotsa Ks, and most notably he’s our 5 hitter.
However, I don’t wish to exaggerate his shortcomings either. LaRoche is an above-average defensive 1B. He picks the tosses out of the dirt & he can throw well to any base. His range is limited, but at 1B that doesn’t much matter. He’s not a bad 1B. Jason Giambi is a bad defensive 1B. Carlos Delgado is a bad defensive 1B. Defensively, LaRoche is south of Derrek Lee, but way north of those guys. Trust me, if you saw Jason Giambi play as much as I do, you’d think LaRoche was Don Mattingly.
But with LaRoche, defense should rarely enter into the conversation unless that conversation also includes Brian Jordan.
His few plusses: His Slugging Percentage is good & his limited number of post-season ABs have shown some big hits.
But why we’re talking about Betemit replacing him is beyond me. Betemit is about as valuable a backup as there is in the NL, let’s not try to make him George Sisler. (“Gee, maybe Betemit can replace Sosa as our 5th starter, too.”)
Save Chipper, I personally don’t believe that we have another guy on the team RIGHT NOW who will be better overall at 1B; we also don’t seem to have another guy who is a perfect No. 5 hitter. We know it’s not LaRoche. Perhaps it’s McCann, perhaps one day it’ll be Frenchy. Right now, it’s neither. We don’t have that guy.
LaRoche is a cheap player with glaring & frustrating deficiencies (but he’s also a guy who gets some big hits) and, unfortunately, he’s not batting 7th. But unless Chipper moves to 1B, a sweet package deal for a better 1B comes around, and/or Arthur Blank buys this team & springs for the next Jimmy Foxx, LaRoche is our 1B.
Next…
Thanks for the suggestion, Smitty, but I couldn’t handle anything full time. Not to keep it interesting for anybody to look at, that is. I’m actually better off trying to grab a comment here now and then than anything else.
So far, I’ve been to 4 games in Rome (one got rained out, so I’m going back this Thursday). My impressions so far are that Eric Campbell reminds me of Bob Horner, but he steals a few bases now and then; Elvis is good, but seems to have a ways to go on both offense and defense (he’s young, so okay); Jamie Romak is a nice guy; Jordan Schafer is not a nice guy; Beau Jones has struggled; where did Kala Ka’aihue come from and why isn’t he on prospect lists….he can hit!; Quentin Davis can hit and does a cool flip on his way to the outfield; Ovandy Suero is dang fast; and Dayton Moore was at the last game I went to that got rained out.
Smitty – was it you who asked to see pictures on Flickr? I’ve taken a ton so far, but I haven’t posted them yet.
I agree with ububba, ermoore, etc. I won’t repeat it all. Go read the previous thread if you want to see these same positions argued with less eloquence by me 🙂
I agree with absolutely every word of your post, ububba. You said what I wish I would have taken the time to.
As for the character complaints by AAR and others, I don’t get it. He’s widely considered a great teammate. His slowness (as evidenced in the playoffs last year) is attributable to his footspeed, not his effort.
And can we please lay off the ADD jokes? It’s obviously a problem, and it results in him spacing out from time to time. And maybe it explains the blank facial expression he often sports. However, I don’t think it’s very respectful or adult-like to bash somebody for their learning disability. Did anybody here call Curtis Pride “Deaf Boy”? Of course not. So let’s stop with the needless ADD cracks. Please.
Ububa is right.
Who is Kala Ka’aihue?
What did you guys think of Prado? I like him
I know it was only one game, but he had a great debut. I really liked him and I think he’ll do well. He looked really good both games that I saw in Mississippi last weekend. I also met him after one of them… he’s quiet, but very nice!
kala kaiaihue is a hawaiian guy, 1b prospect. he was on lists but got hurt and had to go to Juco i believe?
second bass, i was the guy who asked for flickr pix – let me know when you upload some 🙂
Prado is a cool name, a baseball sounding name. He is going to be huge and he has a great swing.
During Fox Sports’ coverage of Friday’s game, one of the broadcasters described LaRoche’s defense as “gold glove quality.” How very Joe Morgan!
I loved it when they announced Prado’s name at the Mississippi games… it sounds neat! LOL
A lot of people have really praised LaRoches glove. He has a good arm and has mastered that glove flip to the pitcher. You guys are too hard on his glove work.
I’m not a big Adam LaRoche fan and anyone who’s read my columns know that already. I believe that Salty’s fuure is there as McCann is intensifying his hold on the catcher position.
I’m really having trouble understanding Alex R.’s not liking Bobby Cox and the reasons he always takes shots against him. There are those who consider him among the all time great managers in the history of the game.
Yes, Salty has a future there and I like him and I love Brian. It’ll be interesting to see what they end up doing with that situation. Having seen Salty… I prefer McCann but they are both very good and I would hate to see either of them go.
Adam’s got a sweet swing but it just kills me how often he’s down 0-2 after two pitches.
It is not Bobby Cox’s fault that Lonnie Smith can’t look at a third base coach. Nor is it his fault that Mark Wholers didn’t throw good ole Jimmy the 98mph smoke. It isn’t Bobby’s fault that Jeff Reardon hung one to Ed Sprage. Bobby didn’t tell LaRoche to keep running in Houston last October, nor did he say Julio was off the base at first when he reall wasn’t.
Bobby did send Fransico Cabrera to the plate in 1992. Bobby took a chance on a few rookies last year. Bobby Cox gets more out of his players than any manager in the game. He makes mistakes sometimes (all managers do)becuase he gambles, but most of the time Bobby is right on the money. I can’t think of a better manager in the game today.
That’s not a shot at Alex, I just think saying Bobby Cox is stupid, is well… stupid
Michael, I think our gripes with Bobby come in the form of his in-game managing style. Going to Remlinger last night was ridiculous with two outs in the 9th – Chuck James would have been a much better option..
Off the field, I’d rather have Bobby than anyone. On the field, eh, I don’t know – I love Guillen and LaRussa.
Check out this quote by Frank Robinson yesterday:
“(Gary Majewski)’s out there just throwing, he’s not pitching,” Nationals manager Frank Robinson said. “He thinks harder is better and it’s not.”
Can you see Bobby doing that? I can see a quote from Bobby like “Eh, it was one bad pitch. It’ll happen. He’s a good kid – he’ll learn from this and bounce back”
Players love Bobby for that, Wryn. Robinson certainly could have made his point to Majewski without embarrassing him in public. In my opinion that is bad management style. Who would YOU rather work for – the guy who tells everyone about your mistakes, or the guy who fiercely defends you and comes to you about it in private?
Remlinger did get the weak chopper to LaRoche and got the save.
LaRoche did catch the ball and ran to the bag to get the out.
I bet if Bete-Meat was over ther he would have done a back flip then touched the base and spiked the ball.
By putting Remlinger in the game you give him a chance to a tone for his wild pitch the other night. That builds his confidence and will make him a better pitcher.
Do we know Chuck James would’ve gotten Nick Johnson out? No, we don’t.
Do we know that the Remlinger move worked out? Yes, we know that. Therefore, by definition, it was a good move.
Was I terrified? Of course. Would I want to see that move again? Probably not. Reminded me of the one John Foster save last year when he replaced the mouthbreathing Kolb & got Cliff Floyd to pop up on his first pitch.
Walking out of Shea, I said, “Great move, but I don’t ever want to go through that again.”
The Braves made it to the World Series two years in a row with Sid Bream, so why can’t they do the same with LaRoche?
Do we know Chuck James would’ve gotten Nick Johnson out? No, we don’t.
Do we know that the Remlinger move worked out? Yes, we know that. Therefore, by definition, it was a good move.
I dunno, I go back and forth on this. As I was watching Maddux pitch yesterday, the Cubbie announcers talked about how he focused on process rather than outcome. He might beat himself up over a hanging change that gets popped up and easily shrug off a low-away tailing fastball that gets hit ouf of the park. That seems like the correct attitude to have, but I’m not sure if it applies to management or not. I think it should, though.
My point really was more about the fact that last night was one of those games where Bobby got away with a move that made everyone wet their pants. It worked, so I’ll give him credit. I have a hard time criticizing good results, especially if the unorthodox move that got us there doesn’t become a pattern.
Hey NY METs,
Kieth Hernandez is sexist! Ha ha ha!
(Sorry, I had to feed the troll)
I still don’t see why everyone thinks that James would make such a great closer. Let me repeat what I said the other night when arguing about this: He is a junkballer. He is a starting pitcher. At best, he is a muti-inning relief pitcher. He is not a situational pitcher by any means. He is not a fastball pitcher by any means. If I need to get one guy out, Chuck James is not the guy I’m trusting to get that out. Just think to yourself, “Would I trust Horacio Ramirez (let’s assume for the moment that it’s on one of his good streaks) in this situation?” If the answer is no, then you don’t want James in there. Take away the mental and injury issues of Ramirez and they’re the exact same pitcher. Now I’m not saying that James won’t some day become a decent starter. Plenty of junkballers have managed to do this. But he is not a closer, under any stretch of the imagination.
I also don’t see the reason for the intense hatred of Mike Remlinger, either. Granted, he’s not great, but he’s fairly reliable. He’s no worse than anyone else we have in there (except Reitsma, of course, who he is unequivically better than). He is also an experienced reliever, which Chuck James is not. He knows what to do in that situation, which Chuck James (the starting pitcher) does not.
I’m starting to think that it might be best of we do let James in there in one of these situations so that he can give up a walk-off home run and we don’t have to listen to people say how much better he would be than anyone else in our bullpen anymore. Oh, and Villarreal’s much better than people seem to think, too, but I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
I’m sorry, but saying James and Horam are the same pitcher is utter lunacy. What, they’re both left handed finesse pitchers? NEWS FLASH: So are a lot of pitchers. There is absolutely nothing in past performance that links James and Horam together.
I agree that James isn’t cut out to be a closer or a LOOGY, but comparing him to Ramirez at this point is wayyyyyy off-base.
On the note of the anti-LaRoche sentiment.
From what I’ve seen he’s been excellent defensively and average offensively. I think people are missing two key components of this situation:
1. Economics- They are not building a team in a vacuum. LaRoche is basically free to the Braves. He makes well under a million a year I believe.
2. Team Building- The problem with statheads is they seem to miss the whole picture. Stats are a tool for analysis but should not be the sole crux of your argument. If any of you were building a team in the business/tech world would you just look at someone’s GPA and scores on standardized tests? A clubhouse is no different than a boardroom when it comes to the importance of meshing personalities.
Too often people debate baseball decisions with the rational of a Fantasy Player. Thats how the Yankees do it and look how many championships they’ve won lately. The four they took had a core team that came up through their own system. To have a real discussion you need to consider all of the aspects of decision making. The argument needs to begin with the acceptance that Bobby Cox & JS are trying their hardest to put the best team on the field given the parameters they work under. That does mean that they are beyond reproach. It does mean that Bobby always puts the team that he feels has the best chance to win and ignores personal bias. Of course they would like Pujols at first and Rivera as the closer, but it just can’t be done. How many of you wanted Andruw and Furcal gone last year during their slumps? Intelligent baseball analysis can’t include rash analysis.
Big error- meant to say “That does NOT mean they are beyond reproach.”
On the field, eh, I don’t know – I love Guillen and LaRussa.
Four words: Leadoff hitter Timo Perez.
All managers make inexplicable strategic decisions, and I can’t see where Bobby makes a whole heckuva lot more than Joe Random.
horam hasn’t had a good k rate since a three start stint in greenville in 2001. he’s never had a decent strikeout rate at any level above A ball, and has never averaged over 4.94 per 9 in the majors. meanwhile, james’s lowest minor league k/9 was 8.02 in 33 innings in richmond last year. it was over 10 in significant innings at every other level possible. yeah, they’re similar pitchers, nick.
Hey Kyle….I’ll let you know when it happens. Don’t expect too much…I’ve gotten some decent shots, but not the quality I want yet. I need to get better seats!
Remember that for most of the season last year the banner on this site read “Trade Furcal”, at first because he was stinking up the joint, then because I’m too superstitious to remove it… So, yeah, I was one of the guys who wanted Furcal out, though I’ve never been an Andruw-basher.
The basic point is correct; teams are organic entities, and you can’t ignore that. And you can’t ignore the fiscal realities. I do think that the Braves could have found a reasonably cheap alternative at first base, but keeping LaRoche isn’t as indefensible as some seem to think.
And I could give you a list half a mile long of the dumbass decisions LaRussa has made. The most overrated manager or coach in any sport, in my opinion.
Regarding Remlinger… the move just didn’t make sense because Remlinger has a reverse split. The truth is that until McBride comes back, the Braves have no real LOOGY. I guess Cox wanted the guy with the most experience out there, but I would have had no problem tossing out Villareal instead. James… is the “long guy” right now in the pen, and it wouldn’t be ideal to use him just for 1/3 of an inning. Until Devine and McBride (and hopefully Boyer later in the year) are in the bigs and pitching well, Remlinger is going to get the ball in a lot of important situations.
Thanks Second Bass for the Rome scouting report. I believe that Kala Ka’ aihue was orignally drafted by the Red Sox, but not signed when they learned that he had have Tommy John surgery. Given both the way he played last year and his start this year, he is a real steal for the Braves.
Amen to Matthew’s previous post. And how old is this Kala Ka’ aihue?
How many games will Betamit start at 2b, ss, 3b and DH? For rest and injuries? 35 to 70 games?
Too valuable to mess up by having him play 1b. I’d say. Does anyone think we can rely on Orr and Prado to be primary backup?
Make that an amen chorus. Players aren’t just numbers or body parts you can plug into a situation. You don’t have access to inside information that may guide Bobby’s decisions.
>
It’s idiots who feel free to throw such insults at one of their team’s players that I have a problem with, whatever their faults. Go and pull for the Mets or Yankees or Phillies or whatever team where “asshole” and “fan” are synonymous.
It’s the “douche” comments I was referring to.