ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Orioles at Braves
See if you can wrap your mind around this… The Braves blew a 3-0 lead in the sixth, yet came back to win. They didn’t even have a blown save! Seems unlikely, I know.
Chuck James had a shutout through five, then ran into what I was afraid of — homers. Two of them, back-to-back, a two-run shot for Conine and a solo homer for Patterson. James other than that pitched pretty well, five strikeouts and only two walks, and continued to have ridiculous fly ball/ground ball ratios (11 to 2). If he can keep them in the park that’s not such a bad thing — as mentioned, the outfield is a lot stronger defensively than the infield, and fly ball pitchers (like tomorrow’s starter for the Orioles) have done pretty well for the Andruw-era Braves.
The Braves took the lead in the first, Renteria doubling home Marcus. In the second, LaRoche hit a solo shot, and they pushed it to 3-0 in the fifth with Chipper doubling in Renteria with two out. After James lost the lead, the Braves loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with one out, but Diaz (pinch-hitting) struck out. Marcus came through though, singling in two runs.
Paronto and Ray pitched scoreless innings and Sosa walked the leadoff man but got a double play to end the game. I don’t think this restores any sort of confidence… The hitters struck out nine times, but they did draw five walks, so I guess that’s okay. I guess.
The Braves complete a month that the late eighties version of the franchise wouldn’t sign for. July beckons. Can’t get much worse.
Can’t get much worse, eh? I’ll take that bet.
Let’s say … lots of injuries and selling off our favorite players. That might be worse. How about Chipper to the Dodgers and Smoltz to the Tigers this month. Also, we lose McCann and Hudson for the season and Francoeur K’s 35 times.
There, I’ve set the bar pretty low.
This is just the optimist in me speaking, but right now the Braves are 11-21 in one-run games. This is (obviously) primarily the Bullpen’s fault, but the law of averages has it not lasting forever. Last year at about this time, the Nationals hadso obscene .750 winning percentage in 1-run games, then lost almost all of them in the second half, so I don’ t see why that’s not possible right now.
In the late innings of the game, Francouer was being selective at the plate. They were still weak at bats, but he was watching the pitches. And he took them, and allowed the count to rise. Assuming he is able to continue this and couple it with his ability to turn on the ball, he may amount to something yet.
LaRoche was certainly a bright spot today. He hustled on the bunt play, and seemed competent at the plate – Then again, the only time he doesn’t seem competent is when it’s a clutch at-bat. Adam is the king of the inning ending K or GIDP.
Chuck James was brilliant for 5 innings, but the only issue was his pitch count – Every batter he faced had a 2-2 or 3-2 count before he got them out, so by the time the 6th inning rolled around, he was in his high 80s, and as Bobby is notorious for doing, he left a pitcher in one inning past his effectiveness.
The bullpen was even effective tonight. Obviously that’s going to be a tough spot all season, because nobody is going to be a seller at a price the Braves can afford. However, I’m in the strong minority here when I say I don’t think Paronto is all that bad. I’d take him over anybody the Braves had on their opening day bullpen (save Boyer or Chuckie), as long as (and this is a big if) Bobby doesn’t use him past his effectiveness.
Honestly, I think the best thing the Braves can do now is trade Hudson. It works both for a win-now and win-later mentality. The Braves already have too many starters with Smoltz-Hudson-Thompson-Horacio-James. Davies is due back at the end of the month, and Hampton will be back next year. That’s 7 starters (not including Cormier, which we won’t) Obviously Hudson is still somewhat of a bargain – 7 million (ish) for a top-2 pitcher, depending on your staff. Yes, that makes him hard to trade, but it also allows us to ask more for him. I’d love to try to flip him to Cincinatti for Ryan Freel and maybe a prospect/reliever or two, and then try to flip Giles West.
If nothing else, has anybody thought about putting Chipper second in the order? I read the idea somewhere, and it makes sense. He’s making contact, it’s just that his power is dissipating. A 1-2-3 of Edgar-Chipper-McCann sounds a lot more intimidating than Giles-Renty-Chipper.
Just some food for thought. Sorry if I rambled.
Wow, that was a really good post. Most of it was radical, but I think they were all pretty darn good ideas. Right on, Bill.
Huddy isn’t getting traded (at least I would be very surprised). He signed with the Braves at least in part because he wanted to stay in ATL, and the Braves have traditionally been very good to their players. I think it would be an abuse of confidence if they traded him after that.
With that said, I agree that the Braves will need to move an SP, but I think it will be Thomson. He’s an FA at the end of the year and he’s cheap. Package him with someone and we might just make a good deal out of it. Say, Thomson and an A-level projectable arm for a higher-level prospect from the Dodgers? Or something to that effect.
If Thomson’s a FA at year’s end, the Braves will get draft picks when he walks, so we have to weigh that against whatever package we’re offered. And we’re a bit light on “projectable arms” at Class A.
Myrtle Beach- Matt Harrison, Zach Schrieber, and Arthur Santos have all been called up to Mississsippi. The last two are relief prospects; Santos has pitched extremely well while Schrieber has major control issues. Myrtle Beach has no good starters left except the just-promoted Jo-Jo Reyes.
Rome- See Reyes above; without him, Rome’s got Jeffrey Lyman as a marginal starter prospect and Moises Hernandez, Stephen Russell and Devin Anderson as relievers doing well.
We just don’t have a lot of starters down there that are likely to be prizes, and A-ball relievers are dime-a-dozen.
I just got back home from a night out.
Thank G-D for the win but can someone on the planet Earth please begin to explain to me how Judy Reitsma was given Kevin Barry’s roster spot?
That’s like excusing Brandon Routh from playing the new ‘Superman’ because you struck a lat minute deal with Gilbert Gottfried.
And yes…I would have Gilbert Gottfried play Judy Reitsma.
Hopefully Reitsma got meaner in his time off. Sure, the fact that he pitches terribly is reason enough to hate him, but the thing that irks me the most is his apologetic finger-licking demeanor. He isn’t intimidating to anyone. I’d like to see him get a John Rocker attitude (with better stuff of course and fewer racist comments).
Chipper is fine batting 3rd. What makes no sense is continuing to bat Giles leadoff. For heaven’s sake, flip-flop him and Renteria at least. And unless they are seriously auditioning Thorman for a starting 1b/lf job next year, it’s time to bench him and play Diaz everyday. Oh and put Ray back as closer. Sosa is barely better than Villareal or Reitsma and should be at best a setup man and more likely a mop up guy. I have liked Franceour’s approach the last few games. I’m seeing more patience and pitch recognition. He still is vulnerable to the slider low and away but heck so is Andruw after 10 years in the bigs.
Interesting that Frenchy is taking more pitches. He went in the game last night as having seen the least pitches per AB in MLB (although, to show that this style can work, he was tied with Nomar).
Before we trade Hudson or anyone, what position should we upgrade?
I think our line-up has 3 problems right now: RF, which we can only hope that someone teaches Frenchy how to swing at pitches in the strike zone, because this organization is going to play him, so the only hope of upgrading is “coaching him up”. I am NOT impressed with that effort so far; his walk rate has dropped badly, this year.
LF-and I am really holding out hope that either KJ or a KJ platoon with Diaz can be productive, in 2007. I really don’t want to get an expensive LF and thwart them both.
The third problem? There is no superstar left in the line-up, to drive things. Our highest ranked guy in OPS right now is Andruw, at 28th in the league; Chipper is at 34. Those guys have dropped mildly from prior years, but instead of having two .900+ guys in the middle of the line-up, it leaves us with two .850. guys. It isn’t a huge drop, and certainly not enough to replace one, but it makes a big difference in the aggregate, and we certainly aren’t going to replace either one of them. But the tough part is, given their age, they are going to keep sliding slightly, leaving them not great at their position, but not the problem in your line-up.
If you want to trade Hudson and build for 2007, the question is: where can we find a great player to plug into the line-up? Hudson and LaRoche for a great hitting 1B? That probably makes the most sense, from the Braves side.
Hudson and Giles for a great 2B? I think we risk trading water on this one, as Giles (a) historically is one of the best hitting 2B; and (b) 2B is not an offensive position, so you really can’t get a great hitter at the position (only Utely would be a significant enough upgrade to make that much of a difference).
In the end, I think our best shot at improvement in 2007 is (i) ketting KJ back, and having a LF who can hit; and (ii) someone teaching Frenchy to be more selective at the plate, which I think would drive every element of his offense, and not just OBP.
BFan, the Braves have a “superstar”-level hitter in McCann, whose .927 OPS would rank 15th if he had enough PAs to qualify. But you’re right in that both OF corners need to be improved- Diaz and Frenchy may be the solution, but both (especially Frenchy) need to improve their selectivity. The offensive side of the ball is covered.
Pitching, not so much. Some of the detritus is gone, but some remains, and the rotation in particular needs a Cormier-ectomy while the bullpen needs a Reitsma purge. Any trades should be for starting pitching. I don’t see that we have enough good minor leaguers to trade for a top starting pitcher (not that any will be available), but a #3 guy should be acquired by trading off LaRoche, Giles, and/or Langerhans. (If someone makes a good offer for Frenchy, I’d listen.)
There’s no way we’ll trade for starting pitching (at least not MLB-ready SPs). But there’s no reason for us to hold on to Thomson. We’ll get a sandwich pick for him if we’re “lucky”, although I would guess a 2nd rounder was more likely. And the only way we could get either is by offering arbitration, which could easily backfire. No, I say we trade him now to a pitching-hungry team in a division race. I’ve said the Dodgers seemed like a good destination before and still think they’re the best place to send him. If we could get Broxton somehow, that would be ideal, but I doubt they’ll deal him without knowing Gagne is coming back strong. If he’s unavailable, we could aim for Scott Elbert, who’s tearing up A+ ball.
Either way, we’d be better off than offering arbitration and hoping we get a good draft pick out of him.
I just realized that the Chuck James Bandwagon has to be called the Chuck Wagon. That is all.
Can anyone think of any other starters who have suceeded despite the high FB/GB ratios like James sports? I’m getting tired of having no comeback to my stathead friends.
Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson were known as flyball pitchers but I can’t find any stats to back that up.
Pitchers this season with Ground-to-Fly ratios less than 1 include:
Chris Young, SD (7-3, 2.97)- lowest G/F ratio in the majors
Pedro Martinez, NYM (7-4, 3.45)- 4th lowest
Jason Schmidt, SF (6-3, 2.73)- 5th lowest
Curt Schilling, Bos (10-2, 3.54)- 8th lowest
I’d take one of them.
Traditionally, your classic fireballing righthander will allow a lot of fly balls, because they usually work up in the zone — high fastballs are hard to handle. The difference for James is that he doesn’t throw all that hard, though he does get a lot of strikeouts. The pitcher I’d compare him to (if he keeps it up) is Sid Fernandez, a lefthanded fly ball pitcher who struck out a lot of people despite not throwing that hard.
The only simple stat we really have to track fly balls is home runs allowed. Pitchers who have allowed 40 or more homers in a season:
There are some awfully good pitchers there — three Hall of Famers and Blyleven should be.
Any list with Eric Milton and Jose Lima is not really one you’d want to be on..
Any list with Eric Milton and Jose Lima is not really one you’d want to be on..
Bleh — you could just as easily say that if you’re on a list with Niekro, Roberts, Jenkins, Moyer, Morrs, and Blyleven at least you’re not in bad company.
Well, it would be informative to know how each of those pitchers faired in the years they allowed that many HRs. For example, Jose Lima’s 2004 ERA+ was a pathetic 74. ’86 and ’87 weren’t bad years for Blyleven, but they were below his carrer norms (which is something in favor of those who believe James can succeed), and Phil Neikro’s 1979 featured a better ERA+ and WHIP than he had for his career.
Anyhow, I guess I’m coming around on James. I was cautiously optimistic before, just hoping he could stick with the rotation, but I’m starting to believe the ceiling on his is closer to a #2 starter, although I doubt he’ll be that good consistently, if he ever does reach that peak.
Yeah, great company when your giving up 40+ homers a year..
“I’m giving up 44 homers a year,but Jamie Moyer did it too so I’m ok”…
I doubt that goes through a pitcher’s head
Ok, no one but apparently ME, ALEX R. is upset, LIVID, and venemous towards the fact that Kevin Barry lost his new roster spot to Judy Reitsma????
Seriously, no one on here is talking about this…no one appears outraged? Why is this? Are we all just bored or something?
It’s one thing to put a crappy reliever with zero abilities to make an out or a decent pitch like Reitsma IN the bullpen…but why remove Barry who came out & did a great job? How does Chelsea Paronto or Tyra Yates or Carmen Villareal get a free pass?
The main point is I can’t believe at all that Judy is on this team and that I seem like the only oerson who’s physically disgusted by this. I actually threw objects in my house and smashed something.
Well Alex..
I’m pretty miffed at the fact that Reitsma is back..AND that he took Barry’s spot instead of say Yates or Villareal..
But the way this season is going, it didn’t surprise me. So many bad things keep happening that they don’t even surprise/shock me anymore.
I’m at the point where I expect Bobby to put Judy our full-time closer again.
Somehow Retisma..and his sparkling 9+ e.r.a keeps his job. I’m not even going to try and understand this..
Davey,
Thanks for joining me on the anger train. If you are a Braves fan (as we all are on here) and care at ALL about the Braves you should be outraged with this decision. It’s despicable. The Royals and D-Rays wouldn’t even do this. The man is garbage out there. His ERA is an emergency numerical. Are ya kidding me?
(impression now of Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show”)
“Ok, follow me to camera #2…what the f–??!?!?!?!?!?!? Schuerholz, did you lose a dare, a bet? Does Reitsma have dirty pictures of you or something”
Reitsma getting to go back into the bullpen for Kevin Barry maybe the biggest mystery since, well, who shot JR?? Or who killed Laura Palmer? Or who took Mulder’s sister?
Seriously, I think veins have popped out of my head. This is utter insanity.
Mac, this should have been your next game thread:
“The John Schuerholz has officially lost his mind and sold his soul to the Devil because he gave Reitsma back his spot in the bullpen, doom & gloom, we are all SCREWED game thread.”
If John Schuerholz is the General Manager of the Braves next year, I may boycott this team–I am that upset over this insane decision. Just insanity.
Alex,
Breathe in and breathe out. Reitsma going back to the bullpen is not going to cause the world to collapse. I’m willing to give the guy one more shot. Maybe he actually was “hurt.” His ERA was 4 last year, is that really any worse than what we have out there now ?? Barry pitched three innings, let’s not act like he’s our answer to the bullpen woes. For the money Reitsma makes, they are just going to try and salvage something out of him. I’m not saying make Reitsma the closer again or anything like that, I’m just saying that I’m willing to give him one more chance, and if he continues to suck, then cut him, but since JS doesn’t ever plan on making trades to improve the bullpen, I’d say let’s see what happens and go from there.
I’m pretty miffed at the fact that Reitsma is back..AND that he took Barry’s spot instead of say Yates or Villareal..
Not sure that Villareal’s pitching as of late is deserving of a demotion, pitched well his last 2 outings, with the state of the bullpen, there are several other more deserving candidates.