As everyone’s probably aware by now, the Braves released Craig Wilson, calling up Brayan Pena who will… I don’t know. See if he can wear a groove on the bench with his butt, I guess. Saltalamacchia will back up both McCann and Thorman. Chris Woodward is also considered a candidate for PT at first base, for no readily apparent reason.
Wilson’s shoulder never did heal right and I expect it will turn out to be the reason that he’s been so hopeless. On the other hand, he’s 30 years old and never was a star, and wouldn’t be the first guy to wipe out at that age, or the last.
These poll thingies are neat.
“The Andruw bashing is getting a little out of control. Yes, he’s been terrible but so have a lot of people.”
Nearly fifty strikeouts. Only one more homerun than the leadoff hitter. .220 batting average. More clutch outs than anyone on the team.
I’d shut up about Andruw Jones if Bobby Cox would just stop batting him fourth.
Also, did anyone notice how much Joe Simpson and Chip Caray shilled for Mark Redman to come back today? What was that?
I heard that the Braves may send Brayan Pena to Richmond and bring up Redman. If they do, fine, whatever. But if takes Lerew’s start, than I’ll be mad. Lerew did better in only one start than anything Redman has done in all his starts. And with Smoltz a go for Saturday, I can see no where else to put him in the Red Sox series.
I thought Bobby said that nobody would lose their job due to injury; & look at Pena. He shouldn’t get demoted just because he got hurt. I think he’s getting hosed.
I’m impressed that JS got rid of Wilson so quickly in contrast to, say, Brian Jordan or Todd Pratt in recent years.
Where’s the Thorman/Salty option in the poll?
I think that’s the status quo.
Partial silver lining: Phillies lost.
I never considered a platoon there a possibility. Frankly, if they do platoon that’s silly, because Jarrod hits better from the left side. “Status quo” is now off the table, because that was Thorman/Wilson. Anyway, I’ve changed the poll.
“Brayan Pena, who had been on the disabled list since suffering a concussion on May 1, was activated from the disabled list before Thursday’s game. But there’s a chance he will be sent to the Minors by the time Friday arrives.
Not knowing what to expect out of Anthony Lerew, who is scheduled to start Friday’s game in Boston, and John Smoltz, who will take his dislocated right pinky to the mound on Saturday afternoon, the Braves need some insurance.
Thus they may take Pena off their 25-man roster to make room for Mark Redman, who threw five scoreless innings for Richmond on Sunday. It was the first time he’d pitched since having an ingrown toenail removed earlier this month.”
I get the feeling Bobby Cox believes that the ingrown toenail really was the only reason Redman was pitching poorly.
I’m more worried about Andruw than in past years when he’s gone cold. In my estimation, he’s swinging harder than he ever has before, to the point of losing his balance multiple times per game. I’ve never seen that before.
His swing is longer than it has ever been, too. He’s already clocked three catchers with his follow-through, and that’s just while I’ve been watching. It’s a problem.
And yes, Joe Simpson sounds like a platitude machine when he talks about Andruw going the other way. Andruw’s hit charts in past years show very few hits to RF. But they also show a fair number of hits to CF, and he’s now not even trying to hit the ball up the middle. Just because he might get 75% of his hits to LF, that doesn’t mean we have to sign off on him trying to pull the ball down the line 95% of the time, as it seems now.
He may very well end up with his typical numbers, but that doesn’t mean there’s not an obvious problem now. He’s always had his bad habits — they now look worse to me than they ever did before. If he doesn’t moderate his approach, I don’t see any way he gets to his usual numbers, because I’ve never in 35 years of watching baseball seen anyone succeed to that extent with this approach. He’s lucky to have three guys getting on base 40% of the time in front of him, that’s for sure.
I’ve never heard of an ingrown toenail lasting three and a half years.
the announcers today said that Bobby was very outspoken about who is DH would be for the interleague games. Bobby apparently said that Diaz would be used as his DH, so I guess Salty will just be used as a pinch hitter if needed
Why not just let Lerew hit? He supposedly very good at that.
Diaz, Woodward and Orr are probably Bobby’s great upcoming DHs.
Calling for up to 2 inches of rain tomorrow in Bostonia.
If the game is washed out, will Lerew be skipped or will he throw Saturday?
It’s all over, people. All over! The season is in the toilet and there is absolutely no hope. We have no chance at beating the Bo-Sox. None! I hate baseball. How the hell do we lose to the Nats?! What is going on! Where am I?!?! I have the vague idea in the back of my subconscious of a team named the Braves and they actually won a baseball game. Is that a dream? Is there any truth to it. The Braves are dead. The Braves remain dead! 08 can’t get here fast enough!
stapler, step outside and get some air.
Bummer. BTW someone asked if we are on the hook for Wilson’s salary. Yes. If someone picks him up then we are on the hook for his salary less whatever the other team signs him up for, usually the minimum.
I thought that this was a good signing but he obviously couldnt generate any bat speed with the injury. Sometimes you win a gamble and sometimes you don’t.
I don’t agree with keeping Salty up. He needs at bats and some time to develop. The Braves are putting a lot of stock in a very small sample set of success. This may end up retarding his growth as a player.
You have forgotten one potential platoon partner for Thorman. Diaz. The Braves can ride the Willie Harris train until the inevitable regression to mean and platoon Diaz with Thorman. But I’d do that only if Thor crashes to earth.
In April the team rode a hot streak from the 3 first batters in the lineup and McCann and Francouer. And although the perception was that Andruw was in a slump his April numbers were terrific OBP/SLG/AVG
.402 .534 .261 Right now only Chipper Harris and Renteria are hitting at all. The hitters will heat up again but I am concerned about the Smoltz and Hudson and pray for rain starting staff that we have now. I guess that once the hitters start getting hot again we might score enough runs for Davies, James and whomever to get us to the 6th but I’m not sure if we can score 8 runs a game.
The pitching matchups for the Boston series:
Lerew vs. Hansack
Smoltz vs. Matsuzaka
Hudson vs. Gabbard
Pretty favorable. Of course, when Smoltz and Hudson are both pitching in a series, they usually are. Who knows what to expect tomorrow night.
Looking ahead to the Mets series, it looks like it’ll be James, Lerew (or perish the thought Redman) and Smoltz.
The lows always seem much lower than the highs. Woodward at 1B? Redman to pitch against the best hitting team in baseball? WTF?
Would it be wrong if we took up a collection to have someone pull a Gilooly on Redman? I mean, I know it’s illegal, but would it be wrong?
Hard to believe that this was only the second series lost by the Braves this year. By my count, they’ve won 9, lost 2, and split 3. Before this last series, we had won 5 series in a row.
If we win the next two against the Sox and Mets, our long Nationals nightmare will just seem like a bad dream.
It’s official: Brayan Pena to AAA, Mark Redman up and Anthony Lerew still starting tomorrow. I feel like Pena got a raw deal.
What is with the recent urge of Bobby’s to get more playing time for Woodward? It started about 2-3 weeks ago and hasn’t stopped. What did he see that makes him want to see more?
“Looking ahead to the Mets series, it looks like it’ll be James, Lerew (or perish the thought Redman) and Smoltz.”
I forgot about the off-day. I guess the Braves can skip Davies or whoever and get Smoltz in that Mets’ series, which is nice.
It should be Smoltz/Glavine again next Thursday.
We have rain scheduled in the Northeast this weekend, so if there’s rain in Boston, they’ll do their best to play a DH on Saturday or Sunday. The BoSox don’t have the Monday off—they play in the Bronx.
Pena didn’t get a raw deal. Cox won’t keep all the pitchers (will it be 13?), but he wants an insurance policy in case Smoltz can’t go. He also won’t need as many PH’s because of the DH. Someone will go down after the BoSox series. I’m just hoping that Redman is released. Pena will probably be back by Tuesday.
If the Braves are going to keep Salty I don’t know if Pena is the best option or not. Since we have several players who can play several postions, the best thing to do would be to bring up our number one hitter in the minor leagues. If you want to go for power, it may be Brandon Jones, for average, it’s probably Escobar. I don’t think it will happen, but it would make sense.
It doesn’t matter who is pitching if the Braves continue to hit like they did in Washington.
Mac, I think that strictly speaking it would be wrong. It would be an excellent baseball decision, however.
I wonder if they will try to package Pena and a pitcher to a club for another starter or middle reliever? Pena’s days with the Braves were always numbered, his injury has only excelerated this.
That said, it is kind of foolish to have Salty up if he isn’t gonna play.
Mac,
i’m in for $10
Don’t look now, but I see the Devil Rays becoming a successful franchise.
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2873400&name=Neyer_Rob&CMP=ILC-INHEAD
Read some of the comments on the page, and it seems like the D-Rays are on the move. Their record shows it.
http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/team/depth_chart/index.jsp?c_id=tb
BJ Upton playing starting at second, third, and short according to MLB.com depth chart.
He’s that talented Wryn…
I hate the Mets…
I see us releasing Redman, but only after Cormier is back and fully healthy. We have no pitching depth and as much as I hate to say this Redman probably wont be released any time soon.
what could pena fetch us? he seems to be a “johnny estrada”ish catcher with good speed.
I just don’t see Cormier starting more than a couple of games, with his health issues he’s destined for the pen.
Redman will probably get wheeled out for a couple more starts before they figure out what they’re gonna do with him.
Ryan, look at what Johnny Estrada fetched in trade…if we could get arms like that for Pena…yell yeah, trade his chubby ass….
Poor Pena, the is the second time an injury has screwed him.
I agree with Saltalamacchia staying in Atlanta. We need help NOW, not next year. Give him at-bats!
Has anybody else seen this in the AJC from Liberty CEO?
“I’m going to leave that to [Braves CEO] Terry [McGuirk[, but I would be surprised [if it doesn’t go up]. The goal is to have a successful franchise, and winning franchises are successful franchises, and there probably is some correlation between payroll and success. Not an absolute correlation, but certainly some correlation. We’ll look to Terry and [Braves general manager] John [Schuerholz] to come in with what they think is needed. . . . There will probably be a budget outlined, and within that budget Terry will have flexibility to increase payroll.”
I don’t want to be a Negative Nancy, but it’s going to pour and be in the 40s in Boston all day today. The “100% Chance of Rain” Kind.
I’d bank on a DH tomorrow.
Payroll up? YAY!!!!!!!!!!
Hearing that is like in Rocky II when Adrian said, “I want you to do something for me Rocky.” Rocky leans in. “Win. Rocky. Win.”
da dada da dadadadum…
Why does everyone always bring up Brandon Jones as the nest outfield prospect in the organization to come up? I live in the Jackson area and get to see the M-Braves a pretty good bit. (At least once a week.) I think he’s a solid player but he’s more of a defensive guy it seems to me. The guy with tons of power is Matt Esquivel. He’s leading the team with 11 homers, 41 RBI’s, 31 runs, and 21 walks right now.
The pitcher I really like out of this group so far is JoJo “The Bean” Reyes. Of course Harrison and Dan Smith look good as well.
As far as I could tell, the guy from Liberty was basically saying that the allocation of the overall operating budget for the Braves (including minor league contracts, park upkeep, scouting fees, draftee signing bonuses, etc.) would be up to McGuirk, and if he wanted to put more money towards the payroll of the pro club, that was up to him. But the size of that budget (which is the issue that really matters) has to be approved by the Liberty Media board. And he didn’t really give any indication of which direction that was going in.
My guess is that the Braves will pretty much just have to keep a “black” balance sheet. In other words, they’ll be able to spend whatever revenue they generate. And with the TV rights already locked up in long-term deals, I’m not sure how much this number will actually go up.
So call me skeptical on the “payroll increase” front.
Esquivel’s problem is that he’s too old for his level, has been in the organization for years, and is seen as a head case. My prediction still stands — he will find himself in another organization and have a Geronimo Berroa-type career, five years of high-level play before age washes him out.
The Braves are lucky to avoid Schilling, Wakefield and Beckett this weekend, though they always seem to have trouble with young pitchers they haven’t seen before. I don’t know anything about Hansack or Gabbard. (When Jeremy posted the matchups, I thought Gabbard was some kind of a nickname for Schilling).
And the Red Sox are lucky they get Lerew.
Hansack threw a five-inning (rain-shortened) no-hitter for the last game of the 2006 season and Gabbard filled in serviceably when Boston’s entire rotation went down starting in August. They’re AAAA pitchers, essentially, kept around only for circumstances like this. I think they’ll both be solidly mediocre and it will depend on the Braves’ hitting coming around.
I also will be shocked if there’s a game tonight, or on time tomorrow. The Boston forecast is for pouring rain pretty much straight through.
Screw the negativity. Screw the Chris Woodward man-crush Bobby has. I’m going to try to stay positive.
Salty to pitch and bat 6th
Not disagreeing with you Mac but Esquivel is essentially just one year older than Jones. I’m just wondering why everyone thinks Jones is such a better prospect. (Jones DOB 12/10/83 Esquivel DOB 12/17/82)
I do agree with the head case part though. The local paper had a story about him a couple of weeks ago about getting suspended for the end of last year because of personal problems. It then had some postive things to say about how he came back dedicated this year.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070510/SPORTS09/705100347/1254/SPORTS
I hope that if payroll does indeed go up, the Braves don’t just throw it all down the Andruw Jones’ drain.
No reason to panic for losing one series, even to a bad team. Sometimes, it’s not who you play, it’s when you play them–a al the Royals sweeping the Yankees a couple of years ago. But it’s not clear yet how good the Braves really are. They clearly can’t hit with the Mets and while they are probably stronger at the top end of the rotation–at least until and if Pedro comes back close to form–the back end is very problematic. At this point, I think Davies has more upside than Chuck James, who I think long-term is a 3 or 4. He has really only had one or two solid starts. Davies strikes me as someone who is actually pitching better than his results, while James is pitching worse.
I agree that Davies has the higher upside, but we sure don’t get too many glimpses of what he’s capable of, so consider me skeptical as to whether he’ll ever come close to his potential.
As for James, I’ve long believed that 1) he’s already reached his full potential, and 2) that equates to nothing better than a 4th starter in a good rotation.
As for Lerew, I have a feeling he’ll shock everyone and be very good against the BoSox, whether it’s tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
I like James a lot more than Davies. But they are probably both number four starters at best. I think James may have a little more upside.
Esquivel looks like he might have some potential, but his K-rate is already 20% in AA as a 24 yearold. The rest of his numbers look fine, but I think you’re looking at a guy who would have a BA around .240 at the ML level right now, and his (admitadly impressive) walk rate and power aren’t going to compensate for that.
With that said, I do think he could be a competent ML player if used in a platoon role. His vs. LHP splits this year are fantastic. I wasn’t able to find any career splits, but if they’re at all the same as his 2007 numbers, he just might find himself in the role Craig Wilson was supposed to fill this year.
So, my firefox exploded and I lost all my bookmarks. Question is:
Do any of you guys know the URL to that website where they just make up funny ass chat room conversations between baseball people? I wanna say it was called the dugout or something, but I can’t find it.
Haha. Nevermind. I’m an ass, I found it.
And I’m really bummed the Craig Wilson thing didn’t work out. I had super high hopes for him.
Joshtothemaxx,
What is the link to the website you described on post #56?
Thanks–Jorgbacca for the write up on Esquivel, who has been one of the few bright spots for Braves’ position players in the minors in 2007. I remember at one point Sickels thought he had the chance to be a “masher”. If he has a good year in 2007, he might be able to play in the big leagues when he is 25–which was about the age that Ryan Howard appeared.
Of course, that assumes that he will continue to do well on and off the field. More likely, he will get to the big leagues in some sort of part time platoon capacity.
Sure, it would be nice if he had a higher ceiling, but I am always happy when the farm system produces useful players because they do have value….
Also, it is nice to see someone make it, becaues the vast majority don’t….
http://dugout.progressiveboink.com/
Pretty damn hilarious site.