ESPN.com – MLB – Box Score – Giants at Braves
The Francoeurophiles have now been completely routed and LaRoche is triumphant in the Battle of the Guys With French Names In the Middle of the Order. (Of course, in a week we may all change our minds.) Francoeur in fact had a good game, going 2-3 with a HBP and scoring a run, but was completely overshadowed by LaRoche, who went 4-4 with three RBI and a run scored, with all his hits going for extra bases — a triple and three doubles.
The triple was the big blow. The Braves trailed 2-1 in the fourth when LaRoche doubled in Andruw to tie the score, but in the sixth he scored McCann and Francoeur with a ball down the right field line that hung up at the fence and allowed his second career triple. (I didn’t mention the first one.) He came home on a squeeze by Langerhans for the Braves’ last run, but was obviously in scoring position all night; he doubled in the second and the eighth but was stranded each time.
Chuck James was named the player of the game by a drunken PA, but he did have a good game, going seven (equalling his longest outing so far) and allowing two runs on six hits and two walks (the Braves’ only two of the night, and guess who he walked!) and a HBP (same guy) while striking out five. He threw 107 pitches, and I guess I wish he could be just a little more efficient, but I’m quibbling.
Setup-man-by-default Paronto almost gave up a two-run homer in the eighth but Andruw pulled it back on a leaping catch. Good thing too, because Wickman finally allowed an earned run on a leadoff homer, but recovered to get the save. (Alou had run for Bonds the last time he reached [on a single this time] which was kinda dumb considering that the Giants were one hit away from Bonds’ spot representing the go-ahead run in the ninth.
The Braves had ten hits, five for extra bases (a double by Marcus leading off the first) and normally I’d want more than five runs out of that, but I won’t be greedy.
1st comment!!
They Love Us, Yeah Yeah Yeah! (Hadn’t gotten all the Beatles out of my system yet.)
Four out of the wild card, three in the loss column. The Marlins aren’t superhuman after all (losing 8-5 to StL in the 6th.) Now it gets interesting.
LaRoche – Wow!
Anyone care to drum up his numbers since the break?
As for the WC thing getting interesting, I am still a skeptic. . .until we have a pen that performs with a little more consistency. But, that may just happen with the September callups.
Laroche stepping up.
Wickman gutting up.
Davey are you watching two-a-days?
1988 Update:
Los Angeles Dodgers 94-67 (-)
Cincinnati Reds 87-74 (7.0 GB)
San Diego Padres 83-78 (11 GB)
San Francisco Giants 83-79 (11.5 GB)
Houston Astros 82-80 (12.5 GB)
Atlanta Braves 54-106 (39.5 GB)
Game for August 30, 1988:
St. Louis Cardinals: 400 010 004–9 WP: Mathews (3-4)
Atlanta Braves: 000 000 001–1 LP: Jimenez (1-6)
“LaRoche – Wow!
Anyone care to drum up his numbers since the break?”
The Associated Press recap has it:
LaRoche is on a roll since the All-Star break, batting .368 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=ApBi.TgbN8izGkdhuRBEud0R0bYF?gid=260830115
No I’m not 4-Seam…
Thanks, Dan. It seems even better than that to me.
As you can see, I was too lazy to even read the recap.
Entering the game, he was hitting .349/.425/.752 since the break. After hitting 13 homers before, he’s hit 14 since — in just about half as many at-bats.
If y’all thought “Bark in the Park” was a silly promotion. Check this one out:
link
And yes, the reason I know about it is I’ve been cajoled into going. Good thing I love her.
you’re a brave man urlhix…
I completely admit it: I was utterly wrong about Francouer, and utterly wrong about LaRoche. LaRoche has been absolutely on fire for the second half, our most dangerous offensive player, and Francouer has amazed me on a daily basis with his boneheadedness.
So let me be the first person to publicly recant. Adam, I know that you don’t want me to root for you as a fairweather fan since I was dogging you before, so let me just say this: you done good, kid. Way to go, Rochey.
Wow, Mac. And all those stats went up after this game. This has to put LaRoche among the best hitters in the 2nd half.
As far as I have seen, his performance has hardly been noticed outside of the Braves faithful.
As one of the LaRoche bashers earlier this season, I’ll remain consistent! Adam, I’m still mad because while you have nice stats (LaRoche is on a roll since the All-Star break, batting .368 with 14 homers and 38 RBIs.), that Howard kid in Philly has 40 RBIs–in August. I’m not sure that even with your medicine you could hold that guy’s jockstrap!
Mean, huh? Prove me wrong, Adam, and I’ll promise to continue not cheering you on (although I will love eating more of this here delicious crow!)!!!!!
LaRoche’s post-All Star line gave him an 1177 OPS. Only two NL players have hit better in a minimum of 25 PA- Ryan Howard (1200 OPS) and Chipper (1209 OPS). No, I didn’t know Chipper had hit that well, either. Hitting 11 HR in 96 AB helps a lot.
But with tonight’s effort, I think that now it’s higher than Chipper’s and higher than what Howard’s was, though I don’t know what he did tonight and am too lazy to check.
Also hot since the All-Star Break are Brian McCann (1010 OPS), Andruw (983 OPS), and Matt Diaz (.363 average, 943 OPS). Giles has an 848 OPS, and even Orr is at a respectable 798.
Cold? Langerhans (an odd 190/ 360/ 310 line), Aybar (584 OPS), and Pratt (596 OPS). Frenchy continues to be his superficially impressive self (253/ 291/ 452).
Say what you will about Francoeur, but he’s consistent. Steady as a rock. A big, heavy rock, which McCann drags around everywhere he goes.
LaRoche’s new Post-All-Star numbers: 368/ 439/ 797, for a 1236 OPS, give or take a point. And yes, that’s better than Chipper or Howard (1-4, 2B tonight).
So let me be the first person to publicly recant.
Put me on that list too. I was always skeptical of his rep as a slow adjuster to new level, but here we are. Suddenly he’s Will Clark.
As for the WC thing getting interesting, I am still a skeptic
Me too, but it’s getting interesting isn’t it? Three in the loss column isn’t much. Of course there are still like 20 teams between us and the Padres. 20 sucky teams, but still 20 teams.
LP: Jimenez (1-6)
I’ve always considered the Drunken German Jimenez Experiment as rock bottom of our 80s pitching woes.
Andruw Jones only gets #3 on the top 10….i think it should’ve been #1. But thats just my un-biased opinion.
in other words, our team has utterly pounded the ball after the break, and if we could do even a half-assed job of preventing runs from scoring, we’d be in the driver’s seat for the WC. *sigh*
One more thing to mention about the game:
Chuck James (who really could be 9-3 if the pen had not blown two recent leads for him) had a 10 – 6 ground out to fly out count. Quite a switch from his last couple of starts – and his career.
Boy, I hate to be that guy who only comes out from under his rock to complain, but here goes . . .
James pitched 8 innings against Tampa Bay on June 25th. Guy’s good.
I’ll try to get my stone rolling before it gathers too much moss and post again soon.
In the simplest possible terms, LaRoche is a good player. People just don’t think so because he doesn’t LOOK like it.
Oh, and reports are coming out of Boston that they are testing Jon Lester for cancer. Can it get any worse? Thoughts and prayers.
Oops. Okay, it was his longest start against a real team.
Well, it could probably get worse. Manny’s been on his best behavior this season.
What could Manny possibly do that would be worse than a 22-year-old top pitching prospect getting cancer?
I shouldn’t say that, though. Every time you say “It can’t get worse!” it invariably does. Witness Atlanta Braves June 2006. Although it’s not on the same plane.
Don’t tempt him, he’ll think of something.
Two things:
First, there was a really good article on Francoeur the other day at The Hardball Times, http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/pondering-francoeur/. Apologies if someone already mentioned it. Anyhow, anecdotally it looks like he’s seeing a few more pitches lately, and if he can just learn to wait for his pitch, I think he could become real dangerous in an Adam-Dunn-but-with-a-lower-OBP kind of way.
Second, I was at the game tonight, and I’m not sure if I’ve seen something more beautiful than Andruw’s catch. When you’re watching BBTN or any highlight reel, it’s hard to be truly amazed by the plays you see because you expect it. But seeing Andruw bring back a ball that EVERYONE in the stadium thought was gone, it really took your breath away. The whole place was going nuts well into the next at bat. I’ve seen it replayed on TV a few times now, but the picture I have in my mind totally blows it away. It might become my favorite memory of the 2006 season. Just an amazing thing to see live.
4seam, you got me think of my mock top 25. Check it out if you want. 🙂
thinking*
OMG, football starts tomorrow…i’m so excited…go hokies!!!!
I’m out, see everyone later
I’m going to the Falcons game tonight at the Dome. Anyone got any parking tips?
I will pray for Jon Lester and his family.
But, jenny, it could get a lot worse.
Lester could be a construction worker instead of a Major League Baseball player, in which case his salary and benefits (not to mention the “backing” of his company) would be greatly decreased.
Or he could be a man with a wife and kids who depend on his livelihood for theirs, or he could have been shot in the head at a gas station hold-up.
I mean, there must be literally millions of people who have it worse than Jon Lester right now, and some may even post on this board.
It strikes me as incredibly immature/foolish to make such a sweeping assertion. I know you like to drop editorials a lot, but perhaps you should think a bit more about the realities of the various situations you address before doing so.
I grew up a Red Sox fan, mostly because Lynn and Rice were rookies the year I began paying attention to baseball. Stuck with them almost all the way to their World Series win, but when it finally happened I was unable to enjoy it — now they’re tied with the Yankees for my least favorite AL team. A few reasons why:
1) Relentlessness of focus by the national media (read, ESPN) on the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. Nothing puts sports into perspective quite like a media conglomerate telling me what I’m supposed to care about.
1a) That absurd show about the stupid curse.
1b) Ben Affleck. Jimmy Fallon.
2) Interleague play. I’ve been to several Braves/Red Sox games now, and I can say without reservation that their fans are the biggest bunch of a**holes I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think it was possible to be pretentious about baseball, but they pull it off easily. Yankee fans are better company.
3) Curt Schilling. Great pitcher, but the biggest fake since Phil Mickelson. His every act and utterance during 2004 screamed, “Look at me!”
Stu,
Give Jenny a break–she is 18. I would be surprised if she were as mature as someone older. I appreciate your perspective and, yes, there are people in worse circumstances than Lester, but possibly having cancer at age 22 is pretty bad regardless of how much money you have. I mean, would you rather be struggling to make ends meet without cancer or be rich with cancer? And, I thought Jenny was saying could it get worse for the Red Sox, not could it get worse generally?
Sure, it’s bad. But you can leave it at that. You don’t have to imply that Lester (or the Red Sox, which, if that’s what she intended, is even more ludicrous) is the most unfortunate person in the history of the world.
Also…your comparison is bogus. The issue is whether you’d rather have cancer with a lot of money and health benefits or cancer with little money and health benefits. One of those options is clearly better.
Finally, I can give someone a break for being young (I’m only 24, by the way), but when someone says something foolish, they need to be called out on it, regardless of age. Besides, jenny posts enough “here’s my opinion of the world” comments on here that I’m sure she’s prepared to handle some criticism.
I very rarely say anything directly to criticize a person for a post, but I will in this instance. Stu, drop it and — I would hope — apologize for that ridiculous, insulting post. Who are you to criticize someone for (allegedly) making an “incredibly immature/foolish … sweeping assertion,” especially after making your own (“there must be literally millions of people who have it worse than Jon Lester right now”)? Asking how much worse can it get when a young person might have a life-threatening condition might be hyperbole, but it isn’t immature or foolish, much less incredibly so. Geez.
Stu,
I think you are reading more into what Jenny wrote than she meant. I don’t think she said that this is the worst possible thing that could happen in the world but that, in the small world of baseball, things keep happening to the Red Sox and they couldn’t get much worse. It seems to me she was ONLY talking about this particular context.
Jeff K, I will not apologize, because I didn’t say anything that isn’t true. If you don’t like my criticism, feel free to ignore what I say here.
I would be curious, though, to hear why you think the statement of mine that you quoted is an “incredibly immature/foolish … sweeping assertion.” You don’t think it’s true?
After this I will ignore your posts, although I would hope you would do the same for others. Asshole.
Maybe you’re right, Marc. If that’s the case, then I do apologize for overreacting. I’d be interested to hear from jenny what she meant.
Now that’s helpful, Jeff K! Much appreciated!
Frankly, I don’t see anything in Stu’s post to get all hot and bothered about. If Jenny and Stu are talking past each other, then I’m sure it will get patched up in short order.
Just to mention this, but LaRoche has had a hot second half before: in 2004, his second-half OPS was .943, and a LOT of people had him pegged for a big 2005 which, of course, never happened. So I guess what I’m saying is temper your expectations for next year a little bit. That said, both his first and second halfs have been better this year. What we’ve seen is real improvement from LaRoche, and while I don’t forsee him having a 1.000 OPS very often, I think .900 is possible, and if he hits that, we’ll be in VERY good shape offensively next year.
If we win the Wild Card (big IF, I know). LaRoche should get some consideration for MVP.
Stu, you do tend to over react sometimes, no big deal though, it jsut makes it all more interesting!
Agree completely with all of this. who knows why, but he’s better than he used to be (granted, his 3rd double of the night was a gift from Moises alou, but that’s neither here nor there). I’m glad the Braves stuck with him and didn’t listen to the howling coming from this board (which frequently included comments from yours truly 🙂 )
Smitty, you’re right. I overreact a lot. It’s a genuine character flaw. I’m glad most of you don’t respond with more overreaction.
Anyway, with that said, I’d like to retract the following:
It strikes me as incredibly immature/foolish to make such a sweeping assertion. I know you like to drop editorials a lot, but perhaps you should think a bit more about the realities of the various situations you address before doing so.
After rereading your posts, jenny (which, of course, I should have done before posting what I did), I’m confident that you meant just what Marc is saying. Thus, I apologize for misreading and then overreacting to what you said. The Red Sox do appear to be snake-bitten right now, and I sympathize with you as much as I can with someone who openly roots for a team I despise.
Um, go Braves!
We really need to take care of buisness this weekend, becasue after 4 with the Phillies, we have to play the smoking hot Mets.
My thoughts:
Yeah, I’ll admit…LaRoche did cause us some growing pains the past few years, but from the looks of things now he has grown and seasoned. Personally, I’d rather give the MVP to McCann than LaRoche but that doesn’t even matter because I can guarentee that neither will win it.
As far as next year goes, I agree with whoever said that our offense looks good next year (too lazy to scroll up). Although I wish we could steal a few more bases and I wish Frenchy used his brain a little bit more, but hey, as my old coach used to say, “There is always room for improvement.” As long as everyone stays healthy an contributes the best they can things look fine. we shouldn’t have trouble knocking in runs (although i felt like we could have scored a few more last night).
Pitching however has looked better in the past. Maybe JS will actually make a move this offseason to give us some help in the late innings. If our starters can stay healthy so that we dont’ have to go to a crappy bullpen to find ourselves some emergency starters, then we will be ok. While Hudson wasn’t outstanding in his last start, I have seen some improvement in his numbers his past 4-5 starts or so.
and as far as stu goes… c’mon man, Marc is right. Jenny wasn’t saying that Lester having cancer is armaggedon. She was just expressing that she was concerned for him. Don’t take it out of the context it was in. stu’s #35 was a smart aleck comment
I wonder if Big Papi’s heart problems have anything to do with HGH
It wasn’t smart-alecky, because I wasn’t being sarcastic or anything. It was just inappropriate because it didn’t have anything to do with what she actually said/meant. Anyway, I already apologized for it. See above.
I suspect they mostly have to do with his incredible mass.
If only someone had pointed out Adam wasn’t that bad to begin with, 😉
After continuing his recent offensive surge that has allowed him to hit .556 (15-for-27) on this homestand, LaRoche enjoyed talking more about what may prove to be the longest foul ball he’ll ever hit. With one out in the eighth inning, he opened up and drilled Armando Benitez’s inside fastball high over the upper-deck seats that are located directly above first base.
“I’m so much more excited about hitting the ball out of the stadium than I am getting four hits,” LaRoche said. “I didn’t think it was going to go. I crushed it, but I think if I didn’t swing, it was going to hit me.”
LaRoche’s ability to show so much enjoyment about a foul ball only further proves the recent mood change experienced by the Braves
And highlights his trouble focusing on the task at hand…
🙂
I’ll let it slide, since he’s carrying our offense right now. .368 since the break will allow you to make a comment like that. He’s been very focused lately….
since Oswalt just got the 5yr/73 deal. What kind of influence will that have on the likes of someone like Schmidt and Zito this offseason?
I hope Lester doesn’t have cancer, I’d rather it be the entire Red Sox fan base. Keep it up Stu.
They’re both about to get very, very rich. Imagine what Dontrelle and Zambrano are set to make in the very near future…
someone will also offer rediculous contracts to Pettitte and probably even Mulder after this year. I think Mulder is a FA, but not sure. His year is done though….
That’s just what we need. SO while we’re all patting LaRoche on the back (correctly so) and criticizing Francoeur (not so), what about our man Marcus? He’s .333/.371/.511 in August and was slightly better than than that overall in July. He’s also solid in the field and reduced his errors. I (for one) still think he’ll be traded, but it looks like he’s gotten more comfortable in the 1-spot.
Our whole team, besides the bullpen (wickman out of this discussion, deserves a pat on the back. Starting pitching has kept us in most of the games, offense is great, and the defense is solid. Everyone other than Yates, Paronto, Ray, and sometimes McBride needs a pat on the back. Yes, Marcus is doing a great job also. Its going to be interesting how much playing time our callups get if we are playing good baseball and still lurking around WC hopes.
Get out the brooms boys!
I love this…
After Atlanta’s damage had been done in the sixth, the Giants had an attempt at a rally in the eighth inning, but it was thwarted quickly, when Andruw Jones leaped at the center-field wall to rob Durham of a possible two-run homer.
The catch was just another day-at-the-office kind of snag by the Gold Glove outfielder, but it served as a type of jaw-dropping vindication for the home run Barry Bonds robbed the night before.
When Jones brought the ball back into the ballpark, Durham could be seen, hands on hips, staring at the outfielder with a quizzical disposition, almost as if he couldn’t believe what he had just seen.
“I knew he hit the ball pretty good,” Jones said. “I was just trying to get there and trying to make a play.”
Andruw is so SMOOTHE!!!!!
RE-SIGN HIM JS!!!
Bonds catch was not even close to being as good as Andruw’s. Shouldn’t even compare the two
Remember when Bonds could run and jump? He even stole bases, I think.
Playing Major League Baseball 2k5 I got into a homerun robbing contest with Barry Bonds, first I hit one to left with Giley and he robbed it, the next inning he hit one and I robbed it with Langerhans. Then a little later in the game I robbed him again with Andruw. Finally in the 8th I hit a bomb with Andruw…and he didn’t catch that one.
2K6*
Looks like David Wells is on his way to SD.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2566883&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
I think I saw that Rudy Saenz (not sure on the spelling and dont feel like researching it) is also going to San Diego. I’m surprised he didnt come to Atl w/ our offer. He would have fit in nicely with our bullpen this year.
BTW, I think Paronto now has over 70 appearances between us and Richmond this year. Talking about being over used. If Cormier is going to be our 5th starter over Villarreal, we need to make Villarreal our setup guy. Anything to get Yates and Ray out of there. Maybe Stockman will be good for us
Jason Johnson signed a minor league contract with the Reds I believe
Rangers- Victor Diaz
Mets- Mike Nickeas
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=rangersdiaz&prov=st&type=lgns
I hope that Lester is alright, but it is sobering to think that not more than a month ago the Braves were talking about trading Andruw for Lester, Crisp and Hansen. The Red Sox said no–maybe for the first time in the season I have started to believe that the baseball Gods may have not yet deserted Atlanta.
Yeah, I hope Jon Lester is ok also. I don’t care what anyone says getting cancer is one of the worst things that can happen. For someone who has a such a bright future like Lester to possible getting cancer is horrible. I know this first hand, my uncle was a great football player and was being scouted by some good colleges, when we found out he had leukemia. His dream died and I hope that sort of thing never happens to another person. My uncle’s life was taken from him way too early. Jon my prayers are with you, and good luck.
I hope Wells finds his suck form again in SD
I hope he retires when he gets there
I know what I’m about to say might not be popular, but I don’t think resigning Andruw is a good idea. Whoever signs him as a FA will be getting him going into his age-31 season. He’s going to want a multi-year deal. Given that Boras is his agent, it’s going to be an expensive deal. So you’re going to be paying probably $10 mil or more for a 35-year old CF. I just don’t know if he’ll be worth what it’s going to take to keep him.
I have to agree with Tom, we’ve all been bitching about Hampton’s contract, and while I dont think Andruw or anyone will ever get a contract like that again, I dont want to over pay for someone. Sure, I love Andruw, he’s one of my favorites, but if we are paying $10mil for someone to hit .260/25hr/80rbi 3 or 4 years from now, I dont see the value in it, no matter HOW good the defense.
I’ll go and duck now, I know whats coming! 🙂
I feel a Stu rant coming on
Tom and Lance
I’m in agreement, although I wish that we had the resources of the Yanks or BoSox so that we could afford to make the mistake of signing him to a contract that rewards him for the past.
The idea then might be to sign him to a contract to a front loaded contract (say 16 million, then 13, then 10, etc.) so that he gets a significant contract, but we don’t have a problem with his potentially decreasing performance.
The problem with this is how many players would sign a contract that decreases in value…
I love andruw – he’s been my favorite brave for the last five or six years. I doubt we should re-sign him at the price he’s likely to command 🙁
The dropoff between he and Langerhans on offense is significant, but RL is a much better defender now, a lot younger, and a lot cheaper. IMHO, we are better off using Andruw’s money elsewhere.
—
Anthony Lerew is being reborn since his demotion to AA! since he was called back up to AAA in august, here are his numbers:
2 W, 1 L, 3.52 ERA, 23 IP, 22 H, 4 HR, 7 BB, 30 SO. With Mississippi, he was 4-2 with a 2.03 ERA. The only concern is the HR. We’re rooting for you Anthony!
Whatever the future holds for Andruw, I’m glad his less than average defense was in centerfield for the Braves last night.
I’m anxious to see what Stu has to say about this, but I also have to agree that a long-term contract for Andruw could be potentially disastrous. Even though he still puts in 150+ games a season, he’s been beaten up pretty bad the past two seasons, and he’s put on a lot of weight. Those are two areas of concern. Consider the fact that he’s also lost a step in the outfield, and that just makes me very concerned.
I don’t agree with this, unless the total dollars outlayed are significantly less than they otherwise would be. If the Braves had to chcoose between 16/13/10 and 10/13/16, they should choose the latter; they could take the 6m saved in the first year and earn interest on it until the 16m was due.
I have no problem with Andruw being massively overpaid the last year of his contract so long as he brought significant value during the years preceding that – enough value to more than offset any overpayment. There’s no reason that salary paid needs to match up with actual performance on a year-by-year basis.
The dropoff between he and Langerhans on offense is significant, but RL is a much better defender now, a lot younger, and a lot cheaper. IMHO, we are better off using Andruw’s money elsewhere.
You would have to pretty wise with that money because the dropoff in value from Andurw to Langerhans (or any other in house option) is enourmous. You could make a case for letting Andruw walk if the team had a replacement ready, but they don’t now that Langerhans has turned into a pumpkin.
Considering our organizational weakness at outfielder and the fact that we are no longer players in the FA market, signing him is the only thing that makes sense to me. It’s a risk, but so is letting a HOF caliber player in his early 30s walk.
Well, if we aren’t players in the FA market, we can’t sign Andruw anyway, right? I’m assuming the going rate will be roughly 5/65 or thereabouts. Andruw is fairly similar to Carlos Lee (and a better defender), who turned down 4/48 from the Brewers in anticipation of a bigger payday.
Ryan isn’t playing well, but I think he could scrape for a .770-.800 OPS if he doesn’t get hurt and starts the whole year. As the best fielding LF in baseball, he’d likely be well above average in CF as well (whereas Andruw, last night’s excellent catch notwithstanding, is barely average). The difference between them is probably around two or three wins a year now, and that’s likely to diminish in the future. Whether that’s worth $13m plus a year, I’m just not sure.
Of course, I’m assuming that we could take $13m and spend it on something useful; maybe that’s not realistic. If that’s the case, then yes, I’d rather have Andruw then not.
Well, if we aren’t players in the FA market, we can’t sign Andruw anyway, right?
Maybe not. If he sees this as his last big payday and wants to maximize the dollar value then he’s gone. If he values staying in his comfort zone here, then we have a chance. I’m saying it would be a mistake to not try to sign him.
I will just say that we have very different opinions of Langerhans’ value. He’s a good defender but I’ve seen him make enough poor plays out there this year that it makes me think you are overstating his defensive value. And then of course there is the fact that he doesn’t hit enough. If Andruw leaves, I don’t think anyone in Atlanta’s braintrust would be comfortable handing the job to Hans.
Any word on how that Cody Johnson kid (our first round pick) is doing
He’s hitting .184 1 Hr 16 RBIs 2 SB
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Cody%20Johnson&pos=OF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=451080
Numbers aren’t too good, in fact they’re quite bad, though I understand the GCL is an extreme pitcher’s league.
Won’t KJ be ready by next season? I think Diaz has earned his spot in the everyday lineup. So with those two and Frenchy, won’t Langerhans still be our fourth outfielder.
GCL Braves stats. Note that the team OPS is .638, largely due to a SLG of .319, and the whole squad has 20 HR in 1686 AB. It’s deadball baseball down there, for some reason I don’t quite understand. He’s still hitting poorly even for that league.
Neither Johnson nor Diaz has the arm for right, especially not KJ coming off of TJ surgery. And Francoeur’s ability to play center is unproven.
HAHAHA did anyone see Jim leylands meltdown…..classic…
A-Rod just homered maybe those asswholes will cheer now.
Jets trade Jolley to bucs and acquire Sean Ryans from Cowboys
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2567673
Adjusting to wooden bats and the pitching might be part of the problem.
“You have to admit, this season feels different than the others, so maybe the Tigers will actually play to their potential. Think about it, every other time that Auburn began the season highly ranked, there were nine planets, Lance Bass was straight, and ice cream was not a suitable punishment for possession of marijuana and carrying a pistol without a license. The times are changing folks, this could be our year.”
HAHAHAHAHA!
I don’t think they should overpay AJ either, but they can’t go with Langerhans. He just doesn’t hit enough, no matter how good of a defensive player he is. The days of playing guys like Paul Blair because of the D are over. They would have to replace him with at least a better bat than Langerhans. The defense doesn’t really bother me that much because Andruw isn’t as good as he was (although, obviously, still very, very good) and the difference between a great centerfielder and a very good one isn’t likely to be that much. I don’t think AJ is a HOF player, but he is still valuable, but committing that much of the payroll to a guy going into his thirties just doesn’t make sense. But, I’m not kidding myself that he can be easily replaced.
Re: Mac’s comment about Francoeur in center. I thin Francoeur has the potential to be a disaster in center. Between his lack of plate discipline and his recklessness on the basepaths (as last night), I could see him as a classic CF bust. Even though he’s fast and athletic, there’s more to CF than that. I could see him taking bad routes all the time and being generally inconsistent, kind of like he is as a hitter. If Andruw gives a hometown discount, he’s not a bad option given what it’d take to replace him.
According to some rough calculations, the Braves will pay about $64 million to six (6!!!) players next year: Hampton, Andruw, Chipper, Smoltz, Renteria, Smoltz. My big concern is that lack of flexibility that accompanies having so much salary tied up in so few players. Thank God McCann is so young.
One other thing: Isn’t LaRoche up for arbitration this winter? This amazing second half is sure going to cost us.