Ladies and Gentlemen… The Dyin’ Hawaiian, the Volcanic Disruption, the Possessor of the Pictures, the Unclutchest Pitcher of All… Tyler Kali Yates!
Yates’ overall stats (50 IP, 46 K, 31 BB, 6 HR, 396 ERA) aren’t actually that bad, but his utter failure is demonstrated best by the splits, I think. He allowed six home runs in 217 plate appearances against; four of the six came in 81 PA in one-run or tied games. The more distance there was between the teams the better he pitched; when the game was five or more runs, he allowed a miniscule .129/.229/.161 line, but within one run it was .300/.410/.600. In short, his stats are as good as they are — and they’re not great — because he did well in blowouts.
Yates has good stuff, but was useless, and likely to grow more so. He was actually quite lucky, a .273 batting average on balls in play, which he won’t be able to maintain, and his ERA will skyrocket. Does he have a psychological block? Was it bad luck? Is he, in fact, a deep-cover Mets operative? Whatever he is, he’s out of options. Hopefully the Braves will say goodbye this spring, but I’m not too optimistic.
Good article in the WSJ this weekend about teams like the Seattle Mariners struggling due to changes in laws of how far businesses can go to swoon would-be customers. Because of the new restrictions, teams like the Mariners have had to tear out up to 80% of their luxury suites, and other have had to reduce cost of luxury boxes or include incentives to try and set the hook.
Happy fat Tuesday
And a happy Wickman Day to you, sir!
sansho,
HAHAHAHA…..that’s great.
From ESPN,
Atlanta Braves: Mike Gonzalez made it through an entire season without blowing a lead. Not one.
Twenty-four chances. Twenty-four saves.
Now, after being traded to the Atlanta Braves, one of baseball’s most effective closers is facing the possibility of a less-glamorous role. He might be the one who comes into the game an inning or two earlier, leaving the glory of those final three outs to someone else.
“Obviously, the numbers don’t lie. They obviously know I can close. That’s not the question,” the left-hander said Monday. “But if they ask me to go out there and be a setup man, then I’m going to go out there and be the best setup man they’ve got.”
Oh and if anyone is an ESPN insider, Buster Olney has a story on Brian McCann…
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2770944&name=olney_buster&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d2770944%26name%3dolney_buster
#5 – I think I like Gonzalez
I have to admit that Yates pitched a lot better than I would have thought. I think he might qualify for the first Braves’ McDowell success story: I suppose the question is can he get any better?
Bobby seems to like him and I think that no matter how well Moylan (or others) pitch, Yates will have to pitch his way out of the bullpen….
CSG,
Yeah me too, I love his team first attitude.
“Chilled monkey brains.”
I think Yates pitched better than I would have, though not much
Relative pitcher rankings:
10: Mariano Rivera
8: Bob Wickman
6: Chad Paronto
4: Kali
1: Smitty
-7: Reitsma & Kolb
That seems about right Mac. I think you should let me do a write up of me. LOL!!!
Bobby likes it when I can keep my 71 MPH fastball down and away from hitters. He also likes it when I can hit the catcher’s mit.
Um tom shivari, um tom shivari, um tom shivari, um tom shivari…
KALI MA!! KALI MAAAAAA!!!!
When are we staring the Braves Journal League?
Probably later this week.
Yay 😀
Yates personally ruined two of the games I went to see at the Ted last year, blowing leads for Smoltz (who didn’t) and Chuckie. In the Chuckie game, I think we had a 3-1 lead in the 6th inning. James had thrown a lot of pitches and did not make it through the inning. That’s the one where Yates walked 3 straight. For some reason Bobby left him in and when the inning was over, it was 9-3.
All of the wirte-ups on our ineffective pen from last year has me thinking that the blown saves do not tell the whole story. Any idea how many comebacks our pen blew last year? I seem to remember a lot of games where starters would give up a few early and then settle down. The Braves bats go to work and bring the game to a one run lead by the 6th or 7th…and then, bullpen time. The leads were back up to 4 or 5 runs again.
That pen cost us a lot more than 29 games last year.
Count me in Mac for the braves journal league……….i’m taking Kali with the first pick, so everyone else can back off! haha.
I think JS is Kali’s big fan in the organization; I recall last season he was talking about Yates and McBride as the cornerstones of the bullpen going forward. I don’t think he really believed that, but he’s higher on Yates than on Paronto or Villarreal, which made no sense to me.
The league will be announced Thursday morning. There are 19 spots available, first-come, first-served. I haven’t decided yet if we’re going to have a random draft order or to do it by order of joining like last year.
Parish, dont those still count as blown saves?? I dont think a blown save only counts for the 9th inning
lets hope Hampton returns strong and he’ll allow us to trade him before 08. His salary will go along way….
$7 mil for Hudson’s increase
$3 mil for Andruw to stay = $16.5 salary still might not be enough
$2 mil for Smoltz to stay = $10 mil per year for 2 years
$2 mil for Arb purposes and whatever else. Hopefully all pitchers will be ready to go. Potential lineup
Smoltz, Hudson, James, Davies, Harrison
More Andruw talk—he’s in great shape, doesn’t want to be traded, yet remains interested in the notion of market value, lotsa money out there, the very idea of Gregor Blanco, etc.
What to do?
http://www.ajc.com//blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/braves/entries/2007/02/20/fit_andruw_seek.html
Jones, who has 92 homers and 257 RBIs over the past two seasons, will make $13.5 million this year in the final year of his contract. He’s eligible for free agency next winter if the Braves don’t sign him before then.
I know that triple crown numbers aren’t the be-all, end-all, but that’s pretty durn impressive, isn’t it?
Everyone has lost weight I guess. Fox Sports says Andruw Jones lost twenty poungs, the Associated Press said Smoltz was “noticably slimer” and David O’Brien said Wickman lost weight.
Also what is with this image of Lillibridge?
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=452121
*Pounds
That picture of Lillibridge is some of the crappiest photo-shopping I have ever seen. Also, he looks EXACTLY like a kid I grew up with, when he was about 13 years old. That is weird.
I propose that all un-clutch hitters or pitchers be referred to as “botch.”
Kali Botch! Kali Botch! Kali Booooooootchhhhhhhhh!
csg – They don’t count as blown saves if we never take the lead.
Our relievers often gave 3-spots, or so, late in the game when we trailed by slim margins. Our awesome offense was often able to overcome 1 or 2 runs in the late innings, but not the 5 or 6 run cushions after our relievers consistently allowed the bad guys to pad the lead.
Count me in as someone who would love to see Smitty write a write-up about himself. I really want to see that.
Yeah, Lillibridge looks like he’s 12. And the hat photoshopping is criminal. They gotta get this kid for a photo op.
I would love to do the fantasy league deal, but I’ve never done it before, so I don’t know how the scoring and rules work, and I’ll be in China for 3 weeks in July. That may be disasterous for my team.
Parish is dead right about the relievers. I reviewed some of last season’s games for this series, and it comes up in my game posts over and over — the Braves are tied or down one and a reliever comes in, gives up two runs, and game over. Actually, it happened in the Division Series in 2005, too — Reitsma, Foster, and Brower combined to give up five runs in the eighth in the first game, turning a 5-3 game into 10-3; the Braves scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to make it 10-5. Reitsma, Foster, Devine, and Brower combined to allow four runs in the seventh in game 3 to make a 3-2 game 7-2; the Braves scored a run in the top of the eighth to make it 7-3. The bullpen “lost” game four, but they also cost the team any chance in the other two losses.
I too would like to see me write a faux write up about me in the bull pen.
And ya know what Smitty, I’m gonna take it a step further. I think you should atleast be a non-roster invitee to Spring Training so you can have a shot at that last bullpen spot. You have just as good a shot as other people. Free Smitty!
Yup, those extra runs seemed to come in clumps, not just as the tack-on variety.
I remember going to Game 1 of that ’05 ALDS with some very old friends from Columbus, who became very drunk. (Seeing them, I remembered why I didn’t drink Jagermeister anymore.) One of them returned from the bathroom & he was on his cell phone, telling a friend back in the Fountain City, “We’re down by a couple, but I think we’re gonna come back.”
I nudged him, pointed at the scoreboard & offered this buzzkill: “Dude, it’s 10-3. We need a touchdown.”
Smitty
Last year I did nothing of note that cost the Braves wins or helped win any games (unless you count wearing my lucky Braves hat.) I finished the season what Skip Caray would say were ideal stats for a reliever (0-0 0.00 ERA 0 blown saves in 0 save chances.)
I often could come in and dominate hitters with my 73 MPH heater or change pace with a 34 MPH curve ball (it is really more of a “lob†or “ephis†pitch, I call it the “Wholers.â€) However, my main function on the team was making sure I took up a roster spot so guys like Brian Jordan, Keith Lockhart, or Dan Kolb couldn’t have one. I took that temptation away from ole Johnny boy.
The highlight of last season for me was when I tripped over Chris Reitsma’s Danny Kolb bobble-head and broke it. He then began beating the crap out of me to the point he hurt his hand and had to go on the DL, basically and mercifully ending his season. I didn’t get a ton of credit for that. However, John Smotlz did send me a spiral ham at Christmas this year.
I was invited to work out with the team this spring and try to make a run at one of the spots left in the pen. I think I have a good shot going against guys like, Tyler Yates (sucks), Phil Stockman (who Bobby hates), and Tug McGraw (who has been dead for a few years now). It will probably come down to me or Tug. Wish me luck!
Free Phil Stockman!
Ha! I love it. Mac, put it on the main site!
Dan,
Lillibridge doesn’t look like he could get on a ride at Six Flags and that hat is crazy, it must be a part or the “new look” braves