Atlanta Braves : News : Atlanta Braves News
Say hi to Guy Hansen. He’ll be the guy looking over your shoulder this year.
Hansen returns to the organization as the pitching coach in Richmond. Dave Brundage will be the manager.
21 Comments
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This is a comment.
And this is a reply to a comment. 😉
Here’s something…
Liriano, out all of next year, TJ surgery next Monday
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6134476
Matsuzaka and his Miracle pitch – “Gyroball”
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/289073_gyroball18.html
poor liriano, and the poor sturgeon generals (now without their marquis player). keeping him for $3 was slightly more of a no brainer than either
a) scott kazmir at $22
b) homer bailey at $2
c) tom gorzellany at $2
d) other unsavory options
sigh. cole hamels, i’m counting on you.
My comment was swallowed whole at approximately 2 PM Eastern time. I guess it was just too cutting-edge. It was a meditation on the fact that when I saw “Guy Hansen” I read “Gus Hansen” and thought that a Danish cardsharp was our new pitching coach.
But that’s not what I’m thinking about right now. Right now, I’m thinking about the fact that Tony La Russa has a movie. I really hate him. I hope he gets severe acid reflux, or three paper cuts on his pinky, or Adrian Grenier cast to play him on an ESPN Original Entertainment version of his book. Ugh. What a jerk.
How many people would watch a movie about that guy? Honestly, besides a handful of Cardinal fans no one would really care.
Andruw wins 9th Gold Glove.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2646283
That’s really cool. God, I hope we keep that guy.
@9
We’ll find some way.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AiYpXGjbazayDoB_crBdN4c5nYcB?slug=ap-mets-martinez&prov=ap&type=lgns
Pedro hints at retirement….
Here’s a fun way to pass the time.
Try to prove Andruw DOESN’T deserve the Gold Glove.
Sam, Andruw’s range isn’t what it used to be- he made 378 putouts this year, compared to 494 in 1999 and 461 in 2001. His rate of catches is down to right around league average. His assists are also way down, to just four this season, a career low for a full season. He’s more surehanded than he used to be- just four errors in the last two years- but he’s definitely lost a couple of steps.
It’ll be at least a couple more years until the Braves have to move him out of CF, though, and I’d sure love to keep that bat.
@13
Yeah, I know, I was just doing it in jest. I was aware of all that stuff. 😉
But compared to some other centerfielders, doesn’t it seem that Andruw doesn’t care about grabbing all the lazy fly balls that could go to either him or the left or right fielders? Some CFs look like they’re trying to maximize the putouts #, but Andruw doesn’t.
I don’t suppose it will surprise anyone that I’ve been writing about Andruw recently… Anyway, Andruw is in the same position that Maddux was in the late nineties. He’d been so great that he could slip and still be the best in the league, yet all anyone could talk about is “What’s Wrong With Maddux?” Andruw’s still a great fielder. He’s not what he was in 1998, but in 1998 he had perhaps the best fielding season of any outfielder in baseball history. He doesn’t make as many plays as he might because he’s no longer covering for the Kleskos of the world.
Apropos of nothing, here’s something I came up with in research: Every pitcher with at least 100 wins and at least 100 saves:
Since you mentioned him, Maddux won his 16th Gold Glove yesterday to tie Kaat and Brooks Robinson for the record for any position.
Mac, there’s a difference between Maddux in the late ’90s and Andruw today. Maddux was still making many more plays than any other pitcher in the majors. (Even this year, Maddux had 66 chances without an error, more errorless chances than any other NL pitcher, and was part of 9 DPs while only one other NL pitcher was part of more than 4.) Andruw’s lead over the league is just about gone- he probably did deserve this GG because he had more innings in tthe field than any other NL CF other than Juan Pierre, but his rate of outmaking is way down.
If I wasn’t clear, I was speaking of Maddux the pitcher, not Maddux the fielder.
Did you know that Omar Vizquel is 156 games away from tying Luis Aparicio for most ML games played at shortstop?
Andruw is gone; no way the Braves can afford him if he really lets Boras negotiate his contract. Even if he gives a hometown discount (unlikely), I don’t think the Braves can afford him with a payroll that never increases. I hate to be pessimistic but why have Boras as an agent if you aren’t going to maximize your contract? It would be like dating a supermodel for her intellect.