I’ll take up the pitchers soon. About the hitters: What do you think? There aren’t a lot of holes, if Francoeur can develop somewhat.
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I’ll take up the pitchers soon. About the hitters: What do you think? There aren’t a lot of holes, if Francoeur can develop somewhat.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
no holes, but plenty of ???? Kelly Johnson, Scott Thorman, Matt Diaz, Langy, Chipper with injuries. Should be an interesting year
It depends injuries and if Kelly Johnson’s defense is good enough to keep him in the lineup. Prado at 2nd with Chipper on the DL could hurt. But even that is ok:
3B Aybar
2B Prado
SS Renteria
CF A.Jones
C Pimpbot
RF Francoeur
1B Thorman/Wilson
LF Langerhans or maybe Johnson/Diaz
overall I am not too worried about the hitters and the defense might have some weak points, but in the end it comes down to starting pitching (but that discussion is for later).
I think the offense should be fine, especially if Francouer can up his batting average a little. We should have a really fine bench, too, with Brayan Pena, Craig Wilson, and Matt Diaz rotating in and out of platoons. All we need is for the pitchers’ arms not to fall off.
Oh, and Children of Men was a fantastic movie. So was Pan’s Labyrinth, made at the same time, by the director’s good friend and countryman–I highly recommend both. Between Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel, which I haven’t seen, and Amores Perros, which is amazing), Mexican cinema is getting really great really quickly.
There are lots of guys who can make you pay if they get their pitch. Injuries, as always, will tell the tale.
We need Chipper to play 135-145 games. Andruw to stay in the line up. Frenchy to get on base 25-30 more times than he did last year. McCann to stay healthy and hit like he did. Hope one of the 5 guys we have as possible lead off hitters pan out (one will). Some one to take over first and left or at lease get a really prodictive platoon out of one of those possitions.
A few things:
1) In the most recent Chop Talk, Chipper notes that he’s not lifting many weights this off-season, and that his bunions are an issue. This scares me.
2) I worry about our line-up. Particularly Thorman, who is apparently not going to be platooned. I feel like we have all the pieces for a good offense and a very good team, but I’m not confident that we’ll be maximizing the value of the individual pieces. Hopefully, I’m wrong.
3) Amores Perros was indeed fabulous, AAR.
4) Vandy will upset Florida in Gainesville tonight.
Our entire team except maybe the bullpen (how weird is that to say after the last 2 years?) is full of questions. The offense could be adequate or even very good if everybody stays healthy and Thorman, Johnson, and Francoeur make progress in their development. The starting pitching could be anything from great to really, really bad aside from the always reliable Smoltz. The defense figures to at best be ok with a strong possibility of being terrible. Yet I have a feeling it will all come together somehow and the Braves will make the playoffs and maybe even get past the first round.
I’m thinking opening day goes like this:
2B Kelly Johnson
SS Edgar Renteria
3B Chipper Jones
CF Andruw Jones
C Brian McCann
RF Jeff Francoeur
LF Craig Wilson
1B Scott Thorman
P John Smoltz
Bowman has it a little different, with Francoeur in #5 spot and McCann in the #6 spot.
I think McCann will hit behind Andruw when a righty starts and Frenchy when a lefty starts. But knowing Bobby, it will probably be Craig Wilson.
Dan, I think it’ll be a little different
7th – Thorman 1B
8th – Langerhans LF
I still believe that Wilson wont play much in LF.
Thorman/Wilson 1B
Langerhans/Diaz LF
Every team has that list of ifs to contend with. On paper, I like this team a lot better than the one we had last year. I too think we have the potential to do big things this year. Hopefully last year was just a blip on the radar and we can move forward in 2007.
Name a team that doesn’t have questions………..exactly.
We’ll be fine, and in reality, we have fewer questions than last year, but again its all how you look at it. You can make questions about everything in the line-up if you wanted too.
True, Johnny…The mets are probably the favorite in the NLEast and a considered a WS contender by many, but you can’t tell me there aren’t questions and what ifs about their pitching staff.
The lineup is very solid. While there are certainly question marks that exist, the solutions almost all high-ceiling, and that failing, there are mediocre (but certain-quantity) backup plans that exist. I’m really optimistic about the lineup. I think it’s the rotation that has more uncertainty, both in performance (Hampton, Hudson, James, Davies are all very uncertain commodities going into next year) and health (Hampton, and to a lesser extent, Smoltz). Also, the “plan B”s are less attractive (Villareal, Cormier, maybe Lerew?).
Even if Chipper is out for 30+ games, Aybar won’t kill us, and between Wilson, Thorman, Diaz, and Langerhans, we should be okay at 1B and LF and have some good options offensively and defensively on the bench.
The only other thing, I suppose, is that I’m kinda disappointed Woodward is going to be our utility IF rather than TPJ. I think our OF bats + Aybar give us enough offense, and it would be nice to have a very good defender able to come in and play SS in late innings.
Either way, solid squad. I’m looking forward to next year quite a bit.
Their pitching staff is one big question mark and “what if?”. I think anyone with a fair mind has to give Atlanta the edge over New York this year. It’s science.
It’s weird that I agree that TPJ should be on the roster. Weird.
Also, Vandy will not upset Florida. Count it.
If our hitters (including Frenchy) have just their average years, we’ll be just fine offensively. Best part, if someone falters, we have a backup for most positions without a significant drop-off in offensive talent. The only exceptions I see are CF, SS, and C — and of those only McCann has a bit of an injury history.
The Hardball Times has an article about the best young catchers of 2007. He puts Mauer and McCann at “excellent potential, close to prime” and has a nice write-up about McCann. He also has Salty at “excellent potential, atleast two years from prime” and expects a “resurgence in 2007”, which he predicted. I had no idea Salty hit .338 with 5 HRs in 96 at-bats after coming back from injury. That’s encouraging.
Oh, here’s the link:
Best Young Catchers of 2007 – The Hardball Times
OK, formatting didn’t work. Here goes again:
Best Young Catchers of 2007 – The Hardball Times
I think I didn’t close the quotes on the URL. My bad.
How weird is it that the bottom 3rd of Dan’s notional lineup consists of hitter’s positions. But I agree that will be the lineup.
Lots of question marks in the lineup already posted here but there are options in case of failure. Wilson becomes fulltime 1b if Thorman sucks. Aybar goes to second if KJ can’t defend. One of Diaz, Johnson (if he fails at second) or Langerhans can play Left and contribute or Bobby rotates the hot bat through there. The only hole is Francouer. If history is a guide he’ll get 600 PA’s even if he is getting on base at the scintillating rate of 29% of the time. Shoot, I’m excited. Even if we turn out to be crappy this season I don’t think anyone can say it was for lack of trying on the part of John Schuerholz.
Fox Sports Rumor guy Ben Maller reports that the Padres offered Scott Linebrink one up for Aaron Rowand and were turned down.
Aaron Rowand is Ryan Langerhans with a press agent.
Cliff, Rosenthal says it was the other way around. Said they are going into spring with a platoon and keeping Linebrink. Will look to see what spring looks like with these guys
As a request for when pitchers are on the agenda, I’d like Mac to explore similarities/dissimilarities between Chuck James and Sid Fernandez. Both flyball & KO pitchers who did it more by angle & delivery than by pure MPH on the fastball. Except Chuck James isn’t a fat slob.
In terms of the lineup, what concerns me most is the vast number of unproductive outs Francouer and Wilson could deliver at what I hope is at the bottom of the lineup. And I wonder how rusty KJ’s bat may be, especially early in the season (though he was doing pretty great with the bat in Richmond before he shut down.)
Pretty interesting – lots of question marks among hitters and pitchers that could surprise or disappoint, and if things break the Braves’ way it could be a pretty nice season, except defensively.
I’ve made the Sid Fernandez comparison before, though James hasn’t quite reached that level of strikeout performance. Hopefully he’ll be healthier.
I like our lineup just fine. As has been pointed out several hundred times, the lineup was not the problem last year. The Braves finished second in runs scored and we know how much Chipper played. Sure losing last year’s production from LaRoche, Giles & Betemit will hurt, but surely not enough to drop out of the top half of the NL. For me, it doesn’t matter who’s playing left field if Hampton, Davies, etc get hurt in the rotation or if some combination of Soriano/Gonzalez/Devine/Boyer etc get hurt in the bullpen. This year, it’s all about the pitching.
Fantasy Player to avoid…
http://www.rotoauthority.com/2007/01/one_player_to_a.html
This looks like the kind of lineup that could put up a lot of swings and misses against a dominating pitcher, but one that will mash mediocre pitching.
thats strange, we usually make the mediocre to avg starting pitchers look like CY Young
Don’t know what kind of roto stats people care about anymore (I haven’t done fantasy ball since the strike season), but I’ll take Wang on my team anytime.
Also, I agree with most that our lineup should be good & our bullpen could be spectacular.
My worries: I go back to the starters, who were sub-par overall last year—lotsa ifs there. My gut tells me Smoltz & James should be fine (let’s hope our ‘pen can help shave some innings off Smoltz’s total this year). Hudson? Where to start? He’s a #3 guy now. Hampton? Who the hell knows? Davies? Sorry, no confidence there.
And I tend to agree with Mac & some others who say that we have a suck-ass defensive infield. That is never good. And KJ ain’t gonna help that.
Best case scenario: We’re the ’06 Mets. Productive lineup, killer bullpen, a bench that contributes, starting pitchers just good enough.
We’ll be picked 3rd or 4th, but we can finish 1st or 2nd. If the tumblers fall into place, 90 wins is a very real possibility.
ububba, I disagree with your best case scenario. Its feasible that our starters could be spectacular. If Smoltz and James do what they did last year, Hampton picks up where he left off before Tommy Johns surgery (and its well documented that many pitchers actually get better after Tommy Johns), Hudson returns to Oakland form (remember most of his troubles came after the 6th last year and now we have a bullpen that enables Bobby to have a short leash), and Davies develops then we will have the best staff in the league. I know all of that is not likely to happen although some of it might, but I’m just saying that is the best case scenario for our starters. If all of that happens we will win the World Series.
reaganman,
As your handle implies, you’re rather optimistic.
Agreeing with Ububba here, our infield defense will be so bad this year we will yearn for Rafael Belliard and Mark Lemke again. Any pitcher of ours who is not a strike out machine is in for a very long year.
Also, Craig Wilson sucks. He adds no real value to this team except as a PH, he cant really field so what is his use, can not go far with guys like him an an NL roster, at least not on a team with so many question marks.
If all your regular spots were solid he adds value, but with 2B in the air, LF kind of weak, no true leadoff hitter it is tough to carry a guy like him who is not really dimensional.
feeling pessimistic today I guess.
I’m split on the rotation. Smoltzie is a known commodity, James should build on last year. Hampton, who is a sinker thrower, could be screwed. If his control isnt right on, he’s gonna get nailed. If his control is on, the infield might let him down. Hudson? who knows, I’m done trying to figure him out, a real Jekyl and Hyde case. Davies? I can think of 50 other guys I would rather have on the mound than him……
So, it might be a case of good pitching and bad defense, which would probably be a wash. Bad pitching and bad defense? Hello 80’s vintage Braves….
from atlanta braves.com:
If the Braves are in need of replacing any of their projected starters, Oscar Villarreal and Lance Cormier appear to be the top options. Villarreal went 1-0 with a 3.50 ERA in four spot starts toward the end of last season and Cormier was 2-1 with a 3.25 ERA in the five starts he made for Atlanta in September.
I didnt realize those two’s numbers were as good as they were as starters…..
Lineup – against Righty. Lineup – against Lefty
K. Johnson -2b Aybar-2b
Renteria-ss Renteria-ss
C.jones-3b C.Jones-3b
A.Jones-cf a.Jones-cf
McCann-c francour-rf
Francour-rf mcCann-c
Thorman-1b C.Wilson-lf
Langerhauns-lf Thorman-1b
Possibilty of Diaz in both lineups if Langy struggles and thorman struggles ..
Starters – Smoltz,Hudson,Hampton,James ,Davies??
Villareal or Cormier if davies struggles.
Pen- Wickman, Soriano,Gonzalez,Yates,McBride,Villareal
They were both inconsistent, but yeah, it is bizzare that their stats look that good.
Bonds contract rejected….
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6425292
check out what his contract gives him, last paragraph
Chipper’s health…Chipper’s health…Chipper’s health…Chipper’s health…that’s my only concern for the offense…
Vandy led by 11 @ UF at half.
With 14:00 left in the game now, Florida leads by 6, we’ve had 3 technicals and one ejection so far in the second half.
Five technicals.. good Lord.
Keep in mind that Villareal never went more than 5 innings in a start, and while Cormier did have three quality starts out of five, but the other two stunk (5 R in 4.2 IP against Washington, 6 R in 2 innings against Florida).
Note to Saban: Don’t use ethnic slurs when referencing natives of Louisiana. They hate you enough already.
What is this “Let’s Take a Break”? We pay good money to make sure you cover it all. Oops, actually we don’t! I would like to say again how much I appreciate the great job you do Mac. I can’t imagine a pay site anywhere providing better information! Thanks!
Be quiet td. He might start charging. Shhh…. 🙂
Hey, if you want to make a contribution, go ahead.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16911090/ Saban article
http://www.onepeat.com/dirtysaban.mp3 **audio – note, bad language**
and subsequent audio of it – aye yay aye..
Ed Orgeron was also unavailable for comment.
–Great work with the site Mac, I really enjoy it
Where’s the contribution thing at?
I don’t have a contribution box here. It’s on the top righthand corner on warliberal.
I’ll see what I can do. Being in college, even $5 is a lot right now. That’s like 4 cans of Spaghettios, ya know…
Oh, and uhhh.. nice upset Stu. Your team couldn’t put us away.
Hey Rob,
At least all our players can read.
And when you say “us,” are you referring to Clearwater Christian? I don’t recall scheduling you guys.