From NBCsports.com, Fantasy Fix.
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Nice interview, Mac. Congrats.
That’s really awesome Mac. Was it showed on the TV or is it just a web thingy?
What the next step on your plan to dominate the world?
Just on the web. TV — or even MSNBC — isn’t quite ready for my presence just yet. There was a little bit on the end that got cut. Basically, I speculated that if the Harris/Diaz platoon were broken up it would be because Diaz was moved to first to replace Thorman, and said Andruw wouldn’t accept a trade unless it came with a big money contract up front.
Well I just got back from a week and a half in Destin and I guess I didnt miss a whole lot. After watching 0 games, but just noticing that it seemed like we lost every game, we should be thrilled to only be 2.5 games behind the Mets. I dont understand how you can be in Florida and not be able to pick up any of the MArl/Braves games. Last nights games hopefully will get us going on the right track
Anyways, I just bought a new computer and its running very slow. Is there anything I can do to help speed it up?
Uninstall Vista and install XP, csg. That’s why I ended up doing. The best thing that ever happened to this very young computer.
I hear ya about not being able to catch the Braves/Marlins in Florida. I kept getting Tampa Bay games even though you would think Marlins/Braves would receive more attention regionally.
Great interview Mac…
Nice interview…oh, and Tiffany is quite hot.
great job mac! i was hoping they’d give you the opportunity to address our bench players (woodward and orr) and their un-clutchness.
Mac…your picture is very Bob Wickman-esque. Excellent interview.
Ready for the big time.
Nice going, Mac.
There’s a great interview with Salty on AJC…
Q. You’ve taken a lot of ground balls at first base the last couple of years. Was it good to finally get in there to play the position recently in the game at Chicago, to get the yips out of the way early?
A. Yeah, I think that’s exactly what it was [Saltalamacchia briefly bobbled the first grounder hit to him as a first baseman and made a throwing error on the second ball hit to him]. I don’t know what the plans are; I just know I’m going to keep taking ground balls and do whatever they tell me to do. I feel comfortable over there.
Q. The Braves already have a young catcher [McCann]. You’ve said before you don’t care what position you play, as long as you’re in the majors. Is that still the case?
A. Yeah. I don’t care what position they put me in. I just want to be here and help the team out as much as I can.
Q. And you’d prefer to stay in this organization?
A. Yeah, I’d love to stay a Brave. I have no control over that, which [stinks]. But whatever’s going to help my career and make them happy.
http://www.ajc.com/braves/content/sports/braves/stories/2007/06/11/0612saltyqna.html
Rob, I know what you mean. I saw three Devil Ray games, but I couldnt get any of the Braves games. I was furious. The get TBS, but nothing was being televised by them. Espn kept showing some stupid poker tourney followed by strongest man competitions. I hate ESPN more and more everyday.
Was it difficult to get rid of Vista and install XP? How much did that cost you? Vista is garbage, I shouldve bought a MAC
Nice work, Mac….represented us well!
so what is the difference between FSN and SS?
there is a FOX Sports South and SportsSouth, SS is the former Turner South
that’s what i thought, but the mlb site still lists SS.
For added confusion, FSN used to be called SportSouth before it became Fox Sports Net South. And both have the same announcers.
And nice job, Mac! Do I even have to ask if you got Tiffany Simons’ number? She is smokin…
at least we cant lose today
What’s up with the poll on Thorman? Did I miss something?
Nice interview Mac!
Macathon!… Nice
There have been some complaints that Thorman gets all pissy every time he pops up, which is a lot.
And thanks, all.
Today is day off. I’m a scatterbrained person…these days.
You leap to fame? I’m taking it all for granted. Yes, you look like kinda Wickman. I first saw you since I’ve visited here. That’s nice interview though I scared at your pic. Hahahaha.
Sweet interview, Mac. Keep it up!
dogers are making a come back
And they take the lead over the Mets in the bottom of the 6th. Score’s 4-3.
should have stuck with LA…spelling made easy
5-3 LA braves!
According to SI.com, we had the 2nd best draft…
2. Atlanta Braves
The Braves rarely waver from their draft-day philosophy, and 2007 proved no exception: Five of their first nine selections were Georgia natives. This trend started with athletic slugger Jason Heyward, whom the Braves did not believe would be on the board at 14. Some scouts believe Heyward had the draft’s highest offensive ceiling. Atlanta then juggled closers and infielders, making great selections in Texas A&M shortstop Brandon Hicks and South Carolina second baseman Travis Jones, both toolsy talents with pronounced bodies of work.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/06/11/draft.follow/index.html
Mac–Congratulations!! Nice interview. I really enjoyed listening to you this morning….it was a great way to get the day started…
Two games back.
VICTORY!!
Jay10–Thanks for the link and quote froms Sports Illustrated. The picks I can’t quite figure out are the ones beween Gearrin and Travis Jones. Dixon is such a risk that he ought to have been available in later rounds; I don’t understand the appeal of Fisher (especially after Hicks). None of this would matter, but I wish we could have gotten some starting pitching a bit earlier….
Two games…who’d a thunk it?
Another question: Can we get the good Davies tomorrow?
The way this season has unfolded it would not surprise me to see the `good Davies’ tomorrow and a strong road trip–only to fall apart later at home when we play Washington.
Unfortunately,I think that we have to watch out for the Phillies as well….
Tiffany is HOT!
Can someone explain to me why the Mets and Dodgers play 10 times?
Great interview Mac, you did us all proud…
I know this has been discussed before, but here is something from our lying freinds at MLBtraderumors, however, they did cite John Heyman at cnnsi.com:
We kind of figured Reds slugger Adam Dunn might be available, given his $10.5MM salary and the Reds’ 25-39 record. Today, Jon Heyman at SI.com confirmed that Dunn is “already out there as available,” according to his “league sources.” Heyman does not mention that Dunn’s $13MM option for 2008 voids if he’s traded.
Also, looking at ESPN.COM, they did a list of the top 100 players in the league as of today. In that list, we have only 4
#30 Edgar Renteria
#39 Kelly Johnson
#55 John Smoltz
#91 Chipper Jones
I was kind of suprised at the #1, Maggilo Ordonez….
Mac please excuse me if I missed your head shot completely. For some reason I found the analysis coming from the young lady to be so compelling that I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. But your analysis was good too 🙂
Baseball Reference is the best thing since the discovery of oil. Looking at splits it seems like the whole starting eight save Edgar went into a May funk. Yet were still in contention. Strange beast this National League.
@38, the list includes more than those four players.
#97 Rafael Soriano
#85 Andruw Jones
#79 Jeff Francoeur
#77 Tim Hudson
Is that list a joke? Kelly Johnson at #39?!? How did they compile this list?
my bad Hate King, I missed that…I think its because I couldnt understand Smoltzie being listed behind the KJ and Renty. I understand Chipper at 91 because of injuries, depending on what criteria they used to compile that list, but Smoltz being a lesser player than all those Braves listed before him? bah!
If Thorman gets mad when he pops up, he will probably have a heart attack by the end of July and Salty will have to play first
I assume the Mets and Dodgers play 10 times for the same reason the Braves and Cubs play 9 times, to make the schedule come out even, you have to play one other team out of division more times.
The way Thor is struggling shouldn’t Bobby be considering Diaz or Salty at 1b now? 2 months body of work was about all that Jordan and Mondesi got.
I stopped looking at the ESPN list when I saw that Orr was ranked ahead of Diaz. Andruw ahead of McCann doesn’t help the cred much either. IMHO
Jordan and Mondesi were on the tail end of their careers; Thorman is not (at least theoretically). And Thor has a history of adapting slowly to new leagues and then performing well, if not spectacularly. I’m guessing that’s why he’s on a longer leash. Certainly, it seems time to begin platooning him again to increase production a bit. There, the problem probably has to do with carrying 13 pitchers which doesn’t allow for carrying too many platoon partners, especially when you carry 2 back up middle infielders who suck.
Chipper at first and Escobar stays at 3rd? Don’t shoot me just ruminating.
Andruw ahead of Francoeur seems silly, though their stats are basically even this year.
McCann not in the top 100 is ridiculous–he has to be one of the top 2-3 catchers in the NL.
Thats how I felt about it Frank, its just ESPN’s way of giving the Braves, and its fans the finger once again….now if they’d only use that finger on Joe Morgan….
Who cares what ESPN says?
Did anyone see the AJC article about Andruw being replaced by Torri Hunter? Never mind all the race stuff, I just don’t see why they would pay to get Hunter if they wouldn’t pay to keep Andruw.
dans,
How Terrence Moore is even a sports wirtter is beyond me.
If Hunter were to become a Brave (which won’t happen), we’d have a Kelly and a Torii. Interesting thought…
Chipper is not moving to first.
Why does McCann get platooned now, instead of Thorman?
Andruw’s agent, who works for Andruw eventhough Andruw thinks he works for his agent, will make it impossible for the Braves to re-sign him. Whereas Hunter should be in a cheaper range, more like 12-15 million per depending on who else comes in for him, while Andruw’s agent will be demanding 18-20 million per, while making Andruw sound like he is as valuable offensively as Manny. If Carlos Lee can get 100 mil, theres no doubt that Andruw can, and the Braves aren’t comitting that to him.
ESPN’s opinions and rankings hardly carry any weight to the informed sports fan these days anyway, so I won’t be upset with any slight that they make against the Braves.
Ignore the ESPN rankings. The “method” is a ridiculous hodge-podge of categories thrown together in an ill advised mess. For example, Orr’s rating is because pinch hitters are measured based on games played and not plate appearances so the formula assumes he plays a lot. Here is how the method was calculated:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2897967
Over at BTF, one poster accurately described the method as: “This is the equivalent of wanting to cook something for dinner but instead of using a specific recipe that you know or researched, taking random amounts of everything in your fridge and sticking it in a food processor. And then, telling people that your Ketchup Cheesecake Roastbeef Jello Smoothie is fine cuisine.”
I agree Thorman should be platooned or, better yet, be given a return visit to Richmond.
I’m not sure, however, that it’s correct to say McCann is being platooned. Catchers typically get every 5th game or so off because of the demands of the position (though Cox might be basing these on whether the pitcher is LH or RH). I think Salty’s also gotten a game or two because of McCann’s of ankly injury.
What about DOB hinting that Griffey might be coming? Move Diaz to first and put Griffey in left. Won’t happen, but might be fun
http://www.ajc.com/braves
What are the chances of Francouer moving to center and acquiring a less expensive right fielder?
Another question: Can we get the good Davies tomorrow?
Here’s Davies last six starts:
5/11 7 IP,1 R, Win
5/16 4.2 IP,6 R, Loss
5/22 8 IP,1 R, Win
5/27 4.1 IP,8 R, Loss
6/1 7 IP, 1 R, Win
6/6 5 IP, 5 R, Loss
So it would appear we should get a look at the good Davies today.
This is the pattern of a pitcher who’s arm can’t quite handle starting every fifth day. He has a good start, goes deep into a game, but throws a lot of pitches and doesn’t recover in time for his next start. So he gets shelled his next start, but gets pulled before he throws too many pitches and bounces back his next time out.
I hope that Davies theory holds true tonight.
If the weather holds up, I’m heading to The Bronx later for what will hopefully be a pretty good matchup: Brandon Webb vs. Chien-Ming Wang.
I love the pitchers’ duels. Those DH-fueled, 3-1/2-hour AL games make me nuts.
Hey, you might see a record for 4-3 putouts!
ESPN is a joke. Their rankings are irrelevant.
Andruw’s agent, who works for Andruw eventhough Andruw thinks he works for his agent, will make it impossible for the Braves to re-sign him.
What do you base this off of? I’m not say you are incorrect but wonder what gives you this impression. We do know that Andruw went around his agent (and surely against what would have surely been the agent’s advice) in signing his last big deal.
Robert, Andruw announced that he would not be doing that again.
Well sure, and nor should he. That’s the reason you have an agent in the first place.
Still, Andruw’s proven he’s his own man in the past, I doubt that Andruw thinks he “works for his agent”.
And for the record, I estimate the chances of Andruw being in a Braves uni next year at 0%. But it won’t be because of his mean old agent, it will be because of the cheap old Braves.
What if Grifffey could play first? That would cut down on those troublesome hamstring injuries and give us a reason to sit thorman’s canadian bacon @$$ on the bench (besides, of course, his sub .200 average).
Who cares what ESPN says?
Bingo.
I could be wrong–wouldn’t be the first time 🙂 — but I rate Griffey playing for the Braves this year as less likely than Andruw playing for the Braves next year.
Its generally a good idea to completely ignore anything written by Terrence Moore. In fact, Ignore Moore is fun to say and good advice. This is the guy that long ago planted the seed that Bobby and the Braves were sytematically weeding african american players out of the organization. During Sheffield’s time in Atlanta, Moore routinely wrote about him like he was Lou Gherig. I havent read today’s article, remember Ignore Moore, but I’d imagine its largely motivated by his continued efforts to see the Braves acquire players based upon their racial make-up.
I like Tori Hunter, its not a terrible idea, but the motivation behind the column are more of the same rubbish.
Who is the most credible source of information in baseball? Peter Gammons?
It’s a columnist’s job to stick his neck out, have a stance and get people to talk about his column. Looks like Moore succeeded.
yep, but his stories still suck.
Boomer, I like DOB’s ajc blogs as a prime source of Braves information besides bravesjournal, of course.
beedee,
Don’t like ’em? Don’t read ’em.
There’s an entire universe of “popular dialogue” (in sports and other endeavors)
that I regularly avoid.
I would prefer keep Francoeur in right, but I guess we can move him to center. However, regardless of what we do, we need to sign or trade for a legitimate, everyday, productive outfielder over the offseason. No prospects, no having Harris and Diaz in the same outfield. Somebody who is an everyday outfielder and has been for at least a year or two.
There tends to be a tendency on here to immediately discount any player like this as not good enough or unnecessarily expensive. But we will need one. Torii Hunter falls into that category, so he would be acceptable, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be him. Mike Cameron does also, but it doesn’t have to be him, either. But we have to get somebody like that, otherwise we will have a gaping chasm in our lineup.
On a side note, I’m convinced Terence Moore is just trying to get people stirred up most of the time, because he’s not talented enough to succeed any other way. That was actually a fairly well-written article for him. He actually made a fairly well-reasoned point (which he then ruined by injecting race into it) about the Braves preferring players who don’t rock the boat.
He’s written some articles where I was convinced that I could find better writing in a high-school student newspaper, with no reasoning and no logical points whatsoever. He wrote a column last week lamenting the Falcons not moving up to get Calvin Johnson without once stopping to tell us why they should have traded all their picks for a receiver when neither of their QBs inspire much confidence as far as ball delivery goes, and why this was so important that they needed to leave all their other needs unfulfilled just so that they could get him. The reasoning was basically, “Calvin Johnson is a local kid. Everyone loves Calvin Johnson. Therefore the Falcons should have drafted him. This would have changed their draft grade from a B+ to an A despite the fact that half the picks that made it a B+ to begin with would have had to be traded away to get him.” Brilliant.
ububba,
i guess i’m holding out hope that one day there will be some nugget that makes it all worth while. it obvious that he is reporting stories that he feels are important and believes in, which is great. for what ever reason they just don’t appeal to me, especially those that rely on hind site. but good or bad, i read anything i can on my braves.
how bout them LA braves taking one from the mets!
Who is the most credible source of information in baseball? Peter Gammons?
Clearly not. None of his scoops or hunches are ever right.
DOB is definitely worth reading most of the time (for the scoop part, anyway…not necessarily for the talent evaluation). He has good sources.
Re: Peter Gammons
There was a time (the 1980s) when his Boston Globe column was a must-read. He had access at a time when there were fewer outlets and his dot-dot-dot column offered up juicy tidbits.
But over time, I tended to lean in the direction of the oft-repeated Skip Caray line over the years: “Gammons? That guy’s never right!”
I’m impressed. It’s like you’re an authority or something.
In a relatively narrow field, and limited to those who will work for free, I guess I am.
In a job interview last year (for the job I’m now holding), my interviewer asked me if I could think of any blogger or pundit whose opinion I trusted implicitly.
I thought a minute, then finally answered. “Mac Thomason.”
And you still got the job? Remarkable.
Robert,
When Andruw signed that 6yr/$90 million deal, Boras did not want him to, so he and his father went around Borass, and signed the deal. If Andruw wants to stay he can fire his agent and agree to a deal that suits the Braves. He can also tell his agent that he wants to stay with the Braves, and for him to just get a deal done with the Braves and no-one else. Now, while that would be a terribly stupid thing for him to do, it is an avenue he can explore.
Andruw and his agent, are looking for a deal similar or better to Soriano’s deal that was signed last year. The Braves while not being able to make that kind of offer, are still not cheap when you consider they have a top ten payroll. The thing is that this offer does not fit in their payroll structure, which they haven’t been told that they can add to.
Another issue is that Andruw will be looking for seven years, as this is his last big contract, and JS is not dumb enough to give a seven year deal someone whose skill set is already in decline. Let’s enjoy this last season of Andruw and then move on.