Danys Baez is, probably, better than his 4.35 ERA this season. He’s not as good as his 2.86 ERA of last year, though. He’s probably something in-between — like his career 3.76 career ERA. Mind you, that’s mostly in the American League, and is 15 to 20 percent better than the league average.
Baez is a Cuban defector (the Braves now have at least three in their system, as Baez joins Yunel Escobar and Brayan Pena) and was signed to a big deal by the Indians in the 1999-2000 offseason. After a year in the minors, he was promoted to the big club early in 2001, where he pitched very well in middle relief. The Indians put him in the rotation in 2002, where he was just about league average (4.44 ERA) but was considered a disappointment because he wasn’t an ace. There were some good signs, though, including finishing seventh in the league in K/IP.
Like Chris Reitsma downstate, Baez was shifted to the bullpen even though he wasn’t a bad starter, and he’s been there since. He saved 25 games for the Indians in 2003, but was allowed to leave as a free agent (there are some contractual problems that I don’t quite understand) and signed with the Devil Rays. In 2004, he saved 30 games with a 3.57 ERA, and I think that’s about the pitcher he really is. But he seemingly made a leap forward in 2005, saving 41 games with a 2.87 ERA. It was an illusion; his other numbers (strikeouts, walks, hits, homers) were all flat. He was just lucky.
He was traded to the Dodgers, where he’s been one of several pitchers to cycle through the closer role during Gagne’s health collapse. He hasn’t pitched well, but a lot of that is luck. Not all of it; his strikeouts are down a little. But mostly, he’s suffered from hits that just happened to fall. It happens. He’s also pitched poorly in Dodger Stadium, for whatever reason (3.28 road ERA, 5.40 home) but again I think that’s just luck. He’s a decent reliever and a worthy pickup considering that the Dodgers are paying his salary. A free agent after this season, I have heard that his contract says he can’t be offered arbitration, but I don’t know that that’s true, or if it is how that works or if the Braves would garner draft picks for him.
Great quote by Pete Van Weiren today:
“Man, the Dodgers have 9 games left this season against the Giants. With Betemit joining Furcal on the left side of that Dodger infield, can you imagine Jon Miller trying to describe a run-down if Betemit and Furcal ever got involved? He’s stumble around for hours with those two names”
I still stand by “Anybody but Reitsma.”
I feel like last year is without a doubt the last of Shureholz and Cox. And I think thats why this year is so absolutely terrible. JS is making deals that look like a hear now situation instead of things that protect against the future, and he’s not exactly amazing at doing these kinds of trades.
He takes betimit our most exciting prospect right now. Maybe people aren’t like me, but he seems to be the most exciting players to season ticket holrders and those who watch religously.
The fact of the matter is things are changing for us as an orginzation. Not only is the team being sold to an entity who could careless (is that still going through), but we will be losing our head coach and gm who have helped to establish what this team is today. Think of 2009 when there will be no Pete, Skip, Don or Chip on TV; No Bobbyt Cox or John Shureholz; Fox and a few TBS national games. It’s a scary state of afairs for an orginaztion that has enjoyed the success it has.
Bottom line. I think this is it for The Way Things Were. The stadium isn’t run near as well as it has been, the team isn’t playing near as well as it could or has been.. I’ll always be a braves fan.. but the betemit trade really makes me sad, I always thought I’d be watching him play some infield postiion for us and be our next big guy along with mccann. He seemed surefire while francouer seems almost as uncertain you can get in terms of outcome..
Long post, I appologize; Just my thoughts as a lifelong braves fan. Things are changing.
Sorry let me correct something: ‘Last Year’ is really next year. I.e next year is bobby and js’s last.
Anyway you get the point.!
Later taters.
Now we finally have a respectable bullpen. Yay. Too bad our starters suck.
Ron, it’s not up yet, but I swear that tomorrow’s game thread intro was written on Friday.
Decent deal but too little too late. It’s time to open up general manager EBay–I’d list virtually the entire squad in an effort to bring in some pitching for next year (yup, this year’s a goner). There would be a few untouchables (McCann, Smoltz unless he wants to join the Tigers), but I’d listen to offers for most everyone else. Although it would take an especially tempting offer to part with some players (e.g., Andrew), I’d see what other teams would be willing to offer. Desperate times (not just losing this year but also a dim outlook for next year) require desperate measures. Unduly pessimistic? Perhaps, but how many players on the current roster are in the top half of the NL at their position? Very few.
I really dislike this trade baez is fine but Betimit was young cheap and playing well…this trade may help for the rest of the year, depending on Chipper’s health, but long run i think we regret this one
“Perhaps, but how many players on the current roster are in the top half of the NL at their position? Very few.”
Chipper, McCann, Renteria, Andruw, LaRoche (somehow), Giles (well, usually-not this year tho)….thats 67% of
I expect next game to be more of a pitching game then hitting. I like that kid Chuck james you having pitching for you, plus tommy will come out to impress. We shall see
I like this deal. Baez is decent (and cheap, depending on how much money the Dodgers pick up), and Aybar seems to be just like Betemit, with a better OBP and less power. Personally, this trade seems to be really good. We get bullpen help, even if Baez has struggled, and we get someone that looks to be just as good as Betemit.
For those concerned about Baez’s ERA, Wickman came in with a 4.18 ERA. He’s done pretty well. I like the back end of our bullpen now with Ray, Baez, and Wickman.
I also hope delgado stays out so its an even game, with chipper being out and all.
Delgado for Chipper isn’t really an even trade. (Delgado’s only been about as good as Adam LaRoche this year — Delgado has a higher OBP, LaRoche the higher BA and OBP). Beltran would be a better match.
Jorge Sosa has been DFA.
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060729&content_id=1581551&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl
It’s about time!!
Well, hey, it’s something close to value. Delgado has more of an impact then laroche.When pitchers pitch to Delgado his reputation proceeds its self, Laroche is just starting to command respect.
statistics are not always a true judgement of a player worth. But im sure you already know that. Just look at Baez. His record this year might have one think he’s not all that great, But…….. bla,bla,bla you get the idea.
Baez is really not that great.
Sosa…it’s all Roger’s fault. I haven’t seen any improvement from a Braves pitcher in comparison to last year. While we may point to HoRam, but none of his improvement matter with that Firday night performance. Forget it, Roger sucks.
There hasn’t been much improvement in Baltimore with Leo. Their ERA is actually higher, so Leo hasn’t been working much with the O’s. They actually “called up” their Triple-A pitching coach to work with the younger guys.
oh yeah, Roger pitched for the Mets…no wonder why he sucks…can the Braves stop hiring those former Mets like Pratt and Roger? They all suck.
Elizabeth, it is not unexpected that when JS seperated a successful formula, the parts will inevitably struggle seperately. It is purely my frustrating to put the fault on Roger. The fact is that I am still mad at JS for letting Leo go…or treating Leo so poorly. Adding that to the fact that JS decided to hire an external pitching coach to replace Roger rather than promoting from within…
…Seriously, there are so many mismanagement from JS during the last offseason that you wonder if what was really going through his mind…
If the Braves don’t resign Wickman and/or Baeyz or some other closer in the offseason, they might as well pull a Marlins and sell off everybody. This year has amply proven (not that there was ever any doubt but somehow JS didn’t get the memo) that you can’t be a winning club without a solid bullpen. If the team isn’t willing to spend the few measly bucks it takes to get one, they might as well not even try to be competitive.
The problem at this point is Tim Hudson. He was supposed to be the cornerstone of the Braves’ return to pitching dominance. He has absolutely killed this team. If he had pitched better, it would have helped the entire staff. And you can’t get rid of him now. If he isn’t hurt, as he says, then his performance is absolutely baffling. The Braves are on the line for a lot of money for two pitchers, one of which is one of the worst starters in the league, the other of which (Hampton) is coming off a serious arm injury. JS has been quoted as saying the expects to have a real good rotation next year, anchored by Smoltz, Hudson, and Hampton. I would say that is taking wishful thinking into the realm of fantasy. Things went right for a lot of years for the Braves; now, everything is going wrong.
Danys Baez was absolutely HORRIBLE with the Dodgers this year. Like you said, he was OK in April but then he just went off a cliff. I believe he had 7 blown saves, and he was only the closer for about one month. It got so bad that manager Grady Little could no longer trust Baez in games where the team was leading (even by a big margin) or the score was tied. His ERA is deceiving — look at his Inherited Runners Scored. If there is such a statistic as Loss Shares, he would have many.
Willy Aybar is a GREAT young player, and I suspect you will like him as much as Betemit in time. The Aybar-Betemit trade is a puzzler because these are two very well matched players.