ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Braves at Marlins
What we have here is Miserable Braves Loss Type 3.1(b), Starting pitcher gives them quality start but they make some dude off the street look like Walter Johnson, plus reliever gives up homer which provides margin of victory. A complete Miserable Braves Loss Type Index will be ready when the team is eliminated (mid-July).
Jorge Sosa allowed a second inning homer, which has been his problem all year but after that was the 2005-vintage Sosa, getting out of trouble repeatedly. I have no confidence that he can repeat this, but I expect he’ll get at least one more start.
But the Braves were shut down by someone named “Ricky Nolasco”. Renteria had a hit and two walks and scored the only run the team got off of Nolasco. Diaz had two hits; LaRoche hit a ninth inning solo homer to cut it to one, which would have tied it but for Tyler Yates’ allowing a homer to Dan Uggla.
People who really need to go, like now, are Francoeur — hitless but the announcers are still making excuses (“Look at the RBIs!”) and Orr, who popped up when pinch-hitting and is now hitting .206 — I’m surprised it’s that high. Betemit got the start at second and went 1-4 with a double but struck out twice.
And now we get the Red Sox, just to see what misery really is. Can someone press the reset button now?
Becasue their fans will blabber on about misery?
Is Ramirez starting that second game or what? Anybody know?
Looking like Cormier and James will be called up to replace Thomson and HoRam.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/0616bravesnotes.html
Saving Hudson and Smoltz, the Richmond Braves actually have a better pitching staff than the Altanta team!!!
Well, they have a good defense.
So, when is Lidge’s flight to Atlanta leaving?
(sarcasm)
Lidge is going to meet the team in Florida to tell giels himself
I know a little too much about the Red Sox, so forgive me for being REALLY irritating this weekend and I’ll be back to my regular levels of irritation on Monday. Rules for this series:
-Try not to make Jon Lester look like Cy Young in his 2nd ML start. His 1st wasn’t so bad. He has good stuff and velocity and, like most young pitchers, struggles occasionally with control, but got bit in the ass by bad D last time out. I’m not optimistic but I think Frenchy might have fun with him.
-They’ve been struggling just like us lately. Swept by the Twins and would have been swept by the Rangers save a walkoff 3-run bomb by Ortiz. Pitching, offense, everything sucks. But I think they started out at a higher level anyway. Really, though, this could go either way with the way both teams look right now. Should be interesting.
-Do not pitch to Manny. Ortiz has been struggling, he has not. I hope HoRam doesn’t go on Sat. because Manny will treat him like BP. Youkilis is also really good. Crisp sucks right now.
-Do not go into the 9th trailing. While their middle relief has been shaky at best, Jonathan Papelbon simply does not give up runs. If we trail in the 9th, we lose, so act like the game is 8 innings.
That’s all. I’m actually excited for this series, as I think it could be a lot better than most people are thinking. I don’t feel like commenting on tonight’s game, because I can’t think of anything insightful that hasn’t been said already. Again, apologies in advance for being irritating this weekend.
Lightning bolt ass looked alright, by the way….got hit hard a couple times, but got out of his jam and had some life on his pitches.
Wow, Reggie Sanders and Steve Finley…I don’t know what to say…
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-nlrdp&prov=ap&type=lgns
If you play for eons, you can amass all kinds of stats, kc. It just happens.
I just can’t take a guy seriously when his name is Coco Crisp.
From that link:
“The Braves’ pitching woes continue to mount. John Thomson will be off the mound for a while and Horacio Ramirez might not be there Saturday.
Further tests in Atlanta confirmed that Ramirez hadn’t suffered a concussion or a skull injury after being hit in the side of the head by a line drive Sunday in Houston. But manager Bobby Cox said he might still scratch the left-hander from his start against Boston.
“He wants to pitch, but I don’t know,” Cox said. “I think it may be better to skip him.”
If Ramirez doesn’t start, the Braves will have to promote a pitcher from the minors. That would probably be Lance Cormier, who has made two starts for Class AAA Richmond after starting the season in the Braves’ bullpen.
Chuck James isn’t eligible to be recalled until Sunday. The left-hander is likely to be promoted next week and take Thomson’s spot in the rotation Tuesday against Toronto.”
Lance Cormier can’t pitch ONE scoreless inning. How is going to be a starter? I’d rather Travis Smith come back!
FREE CHUCK JAMES!
Why do the braves suck so much this year? I guess i saw this season coming though. I likes what i saw from the new pitcher, but he was a little wild at times.
Davies pitched in a similar situation last year against the Red Sox and had an impressive debut. Could lightning strike twice?
First,
I am finally on before going to bed. I chose my wife and a new selection of DVD’s over another loss…but hey, the laptop had me follow all the lowlights!
Jenny, always one of my favorite posters on here, easily wins the ‘post of the night award (Mac, we should start this…Raoul should win every night because he always makes me laugh). Anyhoo, Jenny’s most awesome post:
Um, not to get people’s hopes up or anything, but the Red Sox have sucked pretty bad as of late. Of course, we may cure what ails ‘em, but this could be a series of wonderfully balanced craptastic proportions this weekend.
See, that’s the kind of post I am talking about! “Wonderfully balanced craptastic proportions”. Sounds like a successful visit to a proctologist.
Still, all laughter aside, The Bosox are going to spank us this weekend. Jenny, we are not just the cure for what ails them, we are the cure for what ails all of Baseball right now. Hell, the Pirates and Cubs have called Bud’s office asking if it’s possible to have extra games against the Braves.
The best part (sarcasm coming again…) is that ESPN finally got their wish…they hoped after 14 straight years if they ignored us long enough we’d finally go away. It appears to have happened.
Re: The Astros trading us Qualls and Lidge. Yes…and George Bush is having a sleepover with the Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore right now. Except Bush and the Chicks and Moore and more ‘likely’. Why on Earth would Houston dissect their bullpen to add a 3rd 2nd baseman? and add payroll?
ok…anyone got realistic rumors?
Re: Bobby Cox as H.O.F. Manager.
Hey Bobby, Cooperstown is calling…time to head there, now.
Seriously…he deserves to be in the Hall and I am his biggest critic. However, his in game managing skills have aged me 50 years in the span of the last 14 yrs. Frankly, I wonder how we won 14 straight and the first 10 was because we had 3-4 #1 starters to everyone else’s 1 #1 starter. That’s the end of it…we have always been a strikeout–wait for the home run type team and that’s our deathknell now because we don’t have the starting pitching to back it up anymore. Plus, no closer.
So, the bottomline is…until I see real, wholesale changes on this team in terms of who starts and who doesn’t, what order the lineup is in, and who’s in our bullpen, it’s impossible not to be depressed and sarcastic about it.
Actually Dan, I am sure James will be called up, but I would prefer Kevin Barry instead of Cormier. Free Kevin Barry!!!
Guess who’s on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week? David Ortiz. Maybe the Braves will catch a break?
He’ll still go 8-13… 3 hr’s and 7 rbi’s on our staff…
“He’s (Renteria) been great,” Cox said. “I don’t know where we’d be without him.”
I don’t know where they are with him.
Hey Guys,
I am an astronaut and I’ve been in space for the last 3 weeks. When I left we were 3.5 back, is that still the case?
just add a 1 in front of that 3 Charlie
Bobby sure knows how to crack me up…
The Miserable Braves Loss Type Index (MBLTI) is a great idea: the meltdown has been truly astonishing, particularly because they really seem to find new ways to lose games.
I know it must be hard to trade players who are playing so poorly, but after yesterday’s meltdown, I’m sure the Marlins are interested in acquiring Ray and Remmy who are without a doubt the greatest contributors to the Marlins offense.
Thank Balls I don’t have to listen to the “Marlins are on fire” diatribe for the next few months. As much as it sucks to admit the Braves are playing poorly, the Marlins just played LESS poorly this series. Their defense and pitching was equally abysmal but we didn’t capitalize on it.
Why is Andruw missing hanging breaking pitches? Why can’t Frenchy identify a backdoor slider? Why are we making our best hitters bunt? No one knows but God. That’s right; Bobby Cox.
Oh and Charles, if you’re going back to space sometime soon, can I come?
Rob, I think we will need a pretty huge spacecraft for the next trip. There will be a huge crowd of Braves fans on board.
Maybe the Mets could finance one. They seem to be good for it.
JEFF FRANCOEUR IS NOT THE PROBLEM WITH THIS TEAM !!!
I’ve been a die-hard Braves fan since the Russ Nixon era and I know the season hasn’t been what we all expected so far, but can we please stop with the Francoeur bashing. He is far from THE problem on this team like everybody makes him out to be. Did nobody expect growing pains in his first full season ?? With the exception of Pujols, who just steps right into the big leagues and doesn’t have to learn how to hit, plate discipline, etc. ??
He plays great defense and his offense is frustrating at times, but he’s only going to get better people. It doesn’t happen in this league overnight. You have to be patient. Frenchy doesn’t come in and give up runs in the 7/8/9th every game.
Interesting comparison in their first FULL seasons in the big leagues:
Chipper 23 yrs old .265AVG/.353OBP/.450SLG/23HR/86RBI
Frenchy 22 yrs old (projected)
.248AVG/.265OBP/.453SLG/34HR/114RBI
Not as great, I agree but not terribly far off in the power numbers as a future Hall of Famer. The kid needs some more time to learn, but the talent is there and there’s no reason for him to be in Richmond likes others have suggested. Who do you want up, do you want an outfield of Jones-Diaz and Thorman, is that really gonna be that much better than what we have now ???
There’s a difference between saying “Francoeur is not the problem” and “He’s only going to get better”. He may well become a very good player down the road, but right now his offense is a big problem. Unless of course we’re already throwing the towel, in which case he can suck as bad as he wants.
I really hope we win tonight. This funk is bothering the hell out of me.
Chuck James isn’t eligible to be recalled until Sunday.
I’m pretty sure he’s eligible as long as someone goes on the DL. Since Thomson would be going on the DL, James could be called up to replace him.
There goes ESPN again on the Mets. God it makes me so ill.
I don’t care who it is anymore. The Braves, Phillies, Nationals even the Marlins, I just want so badly for some NL East team to get hot and pass the Mets. The Braves still kind of control their fate, they got NINE games left with the Mets.
Is it 1988?
It is onlt like 75 days until fooball
jj, a guy with a .265 OBP has no business whatsoever in the lineup, unless he’s pitching.
Here is the rummor I read at the AJC, not my barber or anything.
Giles and Sosa to the Twins for Joe Nathan. Also, the other deal in the Braves lap is with the Padres. It would involve Dave Roberts going to Atlanta, along with a relief pitcher.
Smitty, you have to stop getting our hopes up. Actually your trade rumors helps me get through some of these days at work.
Fellas, I know this may seem harsh, but we shouldn’t be rooting for deals where the Braves trade good players and/or prospects for a shot at the playoffs this year. This team simply isn’t good enough to win in the postseason if they were lucky enough to get there, and probably won’t be good enough to make the playoffs even if they add bullpen help. Joe Nathan, great pitcher that he is, still can’t pitch every day.
Say we are winning 3-2 in the 7th and Smoltz is too tired to keep pitching – when do you put Nathan in? In the 7th, so that Remlinger can blow the game later? In the 9th, when Villareal has already allowed 3 runs to score?
IMHO, we should be trying to move Renteria for prospects – that shouldn’t be hard to do now that he’s playing well; maybe we’ll get back more than we gave.
I don’t understand how you can say Francoeur’s offense is a big problem when at least he has been having a good game once in a while. What are Chipper and Andruw doing–supposedly the stars of the team and they suck big team. No one expected Francouer to be Albert Pujols this year, but I kept hearing about how Andruw was going to be even better than last year and how Chipper was poised for a big comeback. I’m still waiting.
Frankly, I think last year was a fluke. They really weren’t that good, but they managed to play over their heads because: (1) Andruw kept hitting home runs at opportune moments; (2) Sosa was incredibly lucky, especially on the road; (3) Francoeur and the other young players gave them a temporary boost; and (4) there were no real good teams in the division. None of those conditions exist this year; it seems the Braves fended off impending doom last year and the chickens have come home to roost.
They aren’t as bad as they are playing. Most of you are probably too young to remember, but this is just like 1982 when they lost 20 out of 21 and were finding every imaginable way to lose, including, as I remember, losing a popup in the wind. At some point, they will start playing better, although I can’t see them making much of a run since the bullpen seems unfixable.
As for trades, you can only trade if other teams want to do deals. I doubt anyone wants to trade with JS for the following reasons: (1) they don’t want to help the Braves; (2) they have been snookered by JS on deals for prospects before; and, relatedly, (3) Braves prospects aren’t as good as advertised. As for trading major league talent, like Giles, those kinds of trades are very tricky these days because of salary and arbitration considerations. And why would someone trade a top flight reliever for a second baseman who seems to be getting worse not better. Unless you can find a team that is desparate for a second baseman, I think it’s going to be hard to trade Giles, unless you just want to get rid of him for anything we can get.
And, something about the Braves vaunted farm system. Sure,they have produced a lot of good position players, but where are those pitchers we keep hearing that they draft. As far as I can tell, they have no power arms in the system–at least none that are close to being ready. What does it say when they are reduced to relying on retreads and jouneymen like Yates and Ken Ray? True, they have had some injuries, but where are the Jonathon Papelbons in this organization? All these high school pitchers they draft end up being either trade fodder (good) or hurting their arms (often both).
I really think we can get the wild card. Most of the teams in front of us aren’t that good. We need to make some moves though. You are right that some teams won’t deal with us, but we do have some talent that others might want.
Rosenthal talks about the Braves and some of the trades we hae looked at. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5700028
In recent trade talks, the Braves wanted a reliever, most likely setup man Scott Linebrink, when the Padres asked for infielder Wilson Betemit, according to a National League executive.
The Padres, who envisioned Betemit as their full-time third baseman, balked at the Braves’ request, preferring to keep their bullpen intact.
Cubs right-hander Scott Williamson, currently on the disabled list with an elbow injury, is another reliever who has drawn the Braves’ interest.
The Braves also have been pursuing a right-handed platoon partner for first baseman Adam LaRoche; they floated the idea of Reitsma for Rockies Class AAA first baseman Ryan Shealy before Reitsma was injured, an industry source says.
Mac, you’ve raised an interesting question: Is this the worst (Atlanta) Braves team ever? Somehow I don’t think so, but if it doesn’t impose too much on your otherwise busy life, how about a qualitative/semi-quantitative comparison to earlier, really bad teams? It would distract us all from the current drone of losing to think about where this team (so far) fits in history.
Would 1988 be the best candidate for comparison? With the Braves finishing at 54-106 (59-101 Pythagorean) and 39.5 games back of the Dodgers, it seems a good one. It also seems appropriate that the Mets won the East at 100-60 that year. The team BA was .242 and no one with more than 200 ABs hit better than .300. The Great Dale Murphy had started his decline. Team ERA was 4.02. No pitcher had double-digit wins and Tom Glavine had 17 losses in his first full season.
What do you think?
Foxsports.com has their lead story this morning on whether the Braves should be buyers or sellers. I’m sure some of you have seen it. I think this is becoming a more interesting conversation as time goes on… many folks here have been begging JS to make a move, and as long as we do that – we still, obviously, have hope.
But at what point should the Braves cash it in and start re-grouping for next year? Are they gonna be further hampered by the ages of JS and BC? I only ask that because those two many not have it in them to go through a brief rebuilding process. Most of their fans won’t want to do that either – nobody does, but few of us are used to it – but it may be worth the Braves’ efforts to unload Hudson before his 2008 salary kicks in.
If the Braves can be ‘sellers’ now so as to be ‘buyers’ next year – immediately, that is – then I think they should. Actually, whatever will make them competitive again next year, which can easily be done, they should do. But unloading whatever prospects they have for a short-term loan could be further damaging. JS just may not know how to be anything BUT a buyer.
Let’s beat the Red Sox; their fans are too much… they still think their martyrs and that anyone actually cares.
sorry… I meant “they’re martyrs” – I hate mistakes like that!
Oh, children, gather round…..
I spent last night with my 10 year old son and the Baseball Encylcopedia. We went back together to my childhood and the first year I followed the Braves. That would be 1967.
We paged through season after season in last place, losing 92-97 games, the monotony broken by the occasional fifth or fourth place finish, with the cicada-like cycle of emerging in first, only to be swept by the East Division leader.
It can get a LOT worse, and it has. This team doesn’t compare to the teams of Biff Pocoroba, Rowland Office, Pat Jarvis, Marty Perez, etc.
Fifteen years on top? I would have taken that in a fricking heartbeat in 1975.
I dont know what we should do, but to be honest with you I like what Florida does every 3 or 4 years. Yes, they had a rough go at it, but look at where they will be in 2 years. There rotation is better than ours already. I dont think we should have a fire sale, but I think we only have two players that are untouchable (Smoltz and Chippa). Chipper should still move to 1st to make room for Betemit, but that’s another post.
If we are still 10-15 games under .500 we should really look at who stays and who goes. I would like to see Hudson and Andruw stay, but that’s 17-18 million next year and Hudson gets really expensive after that. No offense to anyone here, but Andruw performance isn’t worth 13-14 million. Should we look to see what we can get from these guys and prepare for next year? I would love to see Hudson, SMoltz, Hampton, Glavine, Davies rotation next year or Glavine-James swap in that rotation, but can we really afford that. I dont know what we should do. Also, Renteria is playing decent enough to bring in some good prospects. We have to improve our infield defense for the types of pitchers that we have. Any thoughts?
I really think we can get the wild card. Most of the teams in front of us aren’t that good. We need to make some moves though. You are right that some teams won’t deal with us, but we do have some talent that others might want.
I really think you’re delusional, no offense. This team will finish closer to last than the wild card. There is very little of redeeming value of this team other than Brian McCann. We’re back to the days of Murphy, Horner and 23 scrubs.
And with McCann, unless his power comes later, I can’t get too thrilled in modern MLB about someone that yes will hit .320 but with 9 HRs and 78 RBI for a 125 game season(as a catcher).
We are not out of the wild card yet. We just need to stop the bleeding and beating the Red Sox could give these guys some confidence. We need to win tonight and again on Sunday. We are still in the playoff hunt, we just need confidence.
I think at this point we are buyers. If we can get some moe goinging we can make a run that might take us through the playoffs. I think we have a lot of needs, but there are three that I think we can and will aim to fix:
1) Bull Pen- Just about anyone would be an upgrade. We need a pitcher who can come in and get a big strike out. It isn’t Stockman (He was hit hard last night) Yates hasn’t been that bad (save the home run last night) as hard as som people have been on Remlinger, he isn’t the worst one out there. Ray has been good too. I think we need one guy to solidify the pen and let the rest fall in to a role.
2) A lead off hitter- Giles isn’t getting it done. We need a spark plug at the top of the order. I know some people think speed is over rated, but I think a guy on first who can run will force the pitcher to throw more fastballs to the 2-3-4 hitters.
3) A platoon partner at first- We need the right handed bat at first that Bobby wants. LaRoche hasn’t been our biggest problem this season. But Jordan filling in for him has been a massive hole. Chipper isn’t moving and Betemit isn’t playing first.
Smitty, has your barber or your mother’s-sister’s-cousin’s- dad told you a date of when we will release Villareal, Remlinger, Jordan, and Pratt. I was just wondering.
I have not chimed in much before but I read this journal often and enjoy it, we are in a weird spot right now, I lived through all of the 80’s as a Braves fan and have enjoyed the heck out of our run, it was due to end at somepoint, which is looking like now. I believe we should be sellers and dump a Hudson IF we can really nab some long term pieces. Sadly, he is probably the only player worth anything to other teams, maybe Giles too, maybe.
What makes it all difficult of course is the ownership situation, it musy be hard for JS to make long term decisions with no idea what the long term will allow.
I hate that we are losing but I do find this situation intriguing as it could decide the course the franchise takes for the next few years.
What’s with the Ricky Nolasco bashing? This is a good young pitcher , not some chump “off the street” I’ve been watching him pitch all year and he’s not as good as Josh Johnson or Olsen but he’s better than most of the pitchers we have on our team.
And I think you are way off base in regards to Frenchy also. The guy has the second most runs driving in on our team for petes sake! You’d be stupid to give that up.
i have a bold predicition for tonights game. wilson at 1st base and leading off. in the game yesterday, they said that bobby was not closed to the idea of having wilson get a shot at 1st. then giles could go back to second and put renteria in between frenchy and diaz.
Jordan’s knee or back will go numb around June 15 for some reason, kind of like Reitsma.
They will stick Jordan in the game and he will strike out and walk to the bench. They will say he has been playin g in pain for three weeks.
July 28th Villareal tweek something in his shoulder and go on the DL, then he will make a minor legue rehab marathon for about 6 weeks.
August 4 Pratt will be running out a bunt (Bobby’s favorite way to give away outs) and tear his groin.
Let Giles hit 7th, though I fell he will be traded today
is francoeur giving you guys less that what you expected? we knew he hardly walks, and we knew his .300 ba last year was a bit high. personally, 30-35 hr’s and 100-110 rbi’s is a better season than what i ever would have thought he would have this year. if he drives in 105 runs and he scores 80, i think his year has been a success. the obp stinks and should be higher (probably around .300), but come on!
i tossed that around in my head and giles hitting seventh would put frenchy, giles, and diaz back to back to back. lot of free swinging. i would just like to see what giles could do going back to his original spot. if he is not traded by away interleague play, the lineup could get very interesting with the dh.
Francoeur bat hasn’t been in the top ten of our problems. His five errors hurt us more thatn his not walking
His errors will go down as he becomes a better fielder. How many times has the threat of his arm saved us a sac fly run? (watching Gonzo scared to run against him comes to mind in the last dbacks series) Sending him back to Richmond is a HORRIBLE idea.
Bledsoe, yeah, it sure can get worse than it is now, if the poor play continues beyond this season. The first year I can recall following the Braves — the 1981 strike-shortened year and the last year of Bobby’s first run with the Braves — the team was under .500 and finished 4th in the West. I’m sure everyone here knows what the rest of the ’80s had in store (1982 excepted, in part).
But, the earlier question was: Is this the worst Atlanta team? I don’t think it is, but the disappointing late ’60s-early ’70s teams aren’t a comparison to the truly woeful 1988 team. Those teams had Aaron, Niekro, Cepeda, Alou, Torre.
Francoeur’s play is most certainly in the top-10 of Braves problems, though it’s less relevant than the poor pitching. I’m less concerned about this season than I am about his long-run development.
The dude has tons of power, but not enough to make up for all of the opportunities he’s costing his teammates by making outs, where he leads the majors. His linear weights are still negative and worse than Brian Jordan’s. Jeff is at -3.3, BJ is at -2.16. If you’re not familiar with linear weights, it’s a system that weights player contributions–good and bad–according to the impact the contributions have on run scoring. It’s too easy to focus at the things he does well, especially when that thing is hitting home runs. But he needs to be working on fixing the not-so-glamorous area of making outs. I’d like to see the Braves to start encouraging him to walk more. I think the HR success is distracting him from doing what he needs to be doing to further his development, which I fear the Braves are retarding.
Worst Braves team?
See my screen name.
When asked about the Braves’ 1987 season, Gerald Perry replied, “it would’ve been a good summer to paint the seats.”
Let’s all have some perspective. Our #3 starter Mike Hampton will miss the entire year. Our #5 starter Kyle Davies will miss a significant chunk of the year. Our #4 starter Horacio Ramirez has also missed a good bit of time. Two of our most reliable relievers Blaine Boyer and John Foster from last year will most most or all of the year. Macay McBride, another good reliever, also missed most of the first 2 months. Our closer from the end of last year now has a 4.60 era as a setup man for the Yankees (did anybody really want to overpay to bring him back after game 4?). We won 14 straight division titles because of pitching and this year as a result of injuries, some poor offseason moves (we’d be much better off with Estrada as backup catcher/platoon 1b than we are with Cormier and Villareal), and a few pitchers who are underperforming (Thomson, Sosa, and Reitsman most notably) we don’t have much of it. Franceour and Giles could have .400 obps and we’d still be losing a lot of games because our pitching sucks. This looks like it just isn’t our year, but there’s still a lot of games to be played. And we don’t have to beat the Mets to get into the World Series. They can win 110 games and we only win 90 and we can still be World Champions if we win the wild card then beat 3 teams in the playoff (not that I actually expect that at this point but still).
I love it Ron!
Cool article on the batter’s box about franchise all time records. every franchise in the NL east has a losing record over its history.
http://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060614045950280
The Braves are the closest to .500 – we currently stand 23 wins below .500 all time, after being a staggering 525 back two games into the Schuerholtz regime in 1991. If we could manage 93 wins this year (which is not looking likely) we would climb out of the hole we’ve been in since 1923.
Out of curiosity I looked at our team stats for 1995. Back then we were 13th in BA, 10th in the leage in OBP with .326 (even worse than our .330 so far this year), 9th in runs, but 2nd in HRs. Great starting pitching plus great relief pitching plus 3 run homers won us a championship. This year we’re 4th in runs scored and 5th in home rooms but 2nd to last in ERA and WHIP. So while it would be great if we got more production from 2nd and 1st and fewer strikeouts from everybody, the real problem is coming from the mound. Shelving Reitsma and Thomson should help a lot.
Trade
Giles to Anaheim
Shields to Atlanta
With the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim California United States Planet Earth shipping Kennedy to Toronto for whatever they need/want.
last I checked, Ryan Freel and his .378 OBP is rotting on the bench in Cincy. Replacement for Giles??
Also, Freel bats, get this…..leadoff…………and he also has…..SPEED!
Jeff K,
It’s hard to argue with the team that lost 106 games as being the worst ever, although I will leave it to the stathead geek owner of this site to make sound nominations. My personal preference would be the mid 70s. Those teams did have Niekro, but not Aaron, not Torre, who was with St. Louis, not Cepeda, who was stoned, and not Alou. They DID have the might Vic Correll and the deathless Larvell Blanks. And my personal fave, Biff Pocoroba. The 75 team lost 94 games and hit .244 as a team. The 77 team lost 101 and had a team ERA of 4.85. But what I remember most about those teams was the bumbling in the field. Darrell Evans (sorry, Mac) had 36 errors in one season at third.
I have a feeling there are going to be more BoSox fans at tonights game than Braves fans. This is going to be more embarrassing than usual.
JC, are we really comparing Frenchy’s linear numbers to Brian Jordans ?? Yes, I agree that his linears are not good, not good at all, the point I was making was that a) he’s 22 years old and going to get better, and to have some patience, and b) he’s far from being the top problem on this team
Having him hitting seventh in Atlanta is going to help him develop more than hitting cleanup at Richmond, that’s all I was saying.
Marc, I have been wondering why no deals have been made and could not agree more with GMs NOT wanting to help the Braves. I think every GM out there is a little jealous of how much credit JS gets, especially with his book coming out, and nobody will ever go on the record, but I have to believe that this plays a role. Also his reputation of “always getting the better end of the deal” doesn’t help much either.
I think they only reason why the Padres will talk to us is that they are still happy that they pawned off Reggie Sanders and his .200 BA, Wally Joyner and his ‘roids and Quilvio Veras and his vastly declining skills for Bret Boone and Ryan Klesko. I didn’t even realize that Veras didn’t even play after he was done with the Braves at the ripe age of 30.
As for trading Giles and Sosa/Thomson/whatever else piece of crap SP for Nathan, I’m all for it.
JS said that we need to “fix a couple of flat tires here and there” which is what I believe we need to do. There’s no shot at the division this year, but there’s nothing wrong with the Wild Card and we’re “only” 7 1/2 out of that and there are NO dominant teams ahead of us for that race. I’ll still take my chances in a short series with the Mets, all we have to do is make it there.
Well said JJ, at this point our best bet is to concentrate on getting that wildcard slot and from there we can hope for the best and expect the worst.
People also keep mentioning Scot Shields but I highly doubt the Angels would trade him, but this article talks about a frustrated reliever for the Angels that I think we could get and could be a valuable 7/8th inning guy at least:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-angrep16jun16,1,6594198.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports
If JS thinks all we need to do is fix a few flat tires, well then this season is headed for 70-92.
Bledsoe, those are awesome anecdotes. I can’t say I recall the ’75 or ’77 teams (me being 4- and 6-years old respectively) but it sounds like they are in contention.
I agree with JS that all the team needs to do is fix a few flat tires. The problem is that they’re driving an 18-wheeler.
hey guys, sorry if this has been asked and answered but whatever happened to Kelly Johnson? wasn’t he being touted as a possible answer to our lead off issues?
Tommy John surgery, should be ready for next spring training.
OK thanks Mac, I don’t recall hearing that.
Through all of this, one thing struck me, if we are going to be a playoff team this year, we are going to be going in as an awfully hot team. Not that hopes are high right now, but history is littered with stories as great. cheers everyone.
All I can say is that, in 1975, I turned on a Braves-Big Red Machine game in the middle; announcer said, end of the fourth, Reds 23 Braves 5.
I vote for the 70s teams collectively as the worst. These guys weren’t good Triple A players.