I am going to actually get to see a game. Woo Hooo! Thanks WGN. A curse upon the guys that run TBS.
The picture of Francouer has him swinging and probably missing a high pitch. Appropriate.
We should probably call him Jeff Keith Franclock or something because it is just as mysterious to me how this guy continues to play as it did when Keith, I’ve got pictures of everyone, Lockhart got so much time on the field.
Does anyone here see this massive nose dive in performance as an abberation or a new level of play? I know that he pretty much was just below average to average last season but the fall off this year to worst full time position player. Just wow.
Will Francoeur have options next year? If he’s still on the team, it would be a nice concept for him to at least have to try to earn his way onto the ML club.
Mac, You’re over there in Alabama somewhere, right? What is the weather like right now? Do you think we’ll get the game in? I just checked weather.com and it looks pretty nasty headed our way.
I really just posted this video to show how Vanilla Fudge were ahead of their time. Take a look at their bass player. This was 1967, and from 1973 to 1977 every man in America looked like that.
Isn’t it the perfect metaphor for Bobby Cox’s managing that he is sitting Francoeur vs tough righthanders… and Jeff has a higher OPS vs righties this year (.647 vs .601 against lefties)?
oh, the video was about fashion? i think there were a lot of guys in NYC that looked like that back then. how about being musically ahead of their time? they sucked long before the current crop of bands made it fashionable to suck……………. “know what would be cool guys?? we’ll absolutely butcher a Supremes song. we’ll make millions”.
You guys see where ESPN.com is making a headline story out of Sheffield getting placed on waivers? It seems kinda disingenuous. He’s a 39 year old DH who’s making $10M and is hitting .223 or something. Of course he’s gonna be placed on waivers. Those are the kinda guys waiver-wire deals are established for, sort of. This probably has nothing to do with him complaining about DHing. Sometimes ESPN is just shady in their quest for hits. Not cool, ESPN…
Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo spoke about the Adam Dunn trade today:
“He was going to be moved no matter what. I don’t know if he told (the media) but he made it was no secret to us that he was looking for $100 to $120 million contract. I don’t think this franchise is going to give out that kind of contract.”
Who am I kidding, he might just get it. But there are a limited number of teams who could even offer that, and I don’t see any of them doing it. I’d take Nady over Dunn, but I may be in the minority.
Dunn is hitting in the .220’s, strikes out 150+ per year, plays poor and declining left field defense and he thinks someone is going to give him 100-120 million? After all the lack of trade interest he has drawn for the past two years?
I like his chances. Power and patience win ballgames and he’s got loads of both. The stuff you mention (#26) is not ideal but doesn’t keep him from being a very valuable player.
I like Dunn, but he has old player skills — actually, the oldest player skills I’ve ever seen — and thus is a very bad bet for more than about three years. Same for Burrell, for that matter.
Well, it’s the difference between having someone who isn’t worth it making $18 million in 2013 and someone you can’t even play making $18 million in 2013.
I’d take Nady over Dunn. And I tend to like high-OBP, high power, yet low BA kinda players. I’m cool with being in the minority on this one. Dunn’s just not that good. He walks, and he hits the ball hard sometimes, but that’s really about it. Pass.
@20, Rob, I agree. My understanding is that most teams put most players on waivers because you can always pull them back if they get claimed. Singling out Sheffield like it’s some punishment or reaction to his admittedly idiotic statements is silly.
Right. You stick your guys on waivers, you see which ones pass through, and that establishes your market for the rest of the trading season. And of course, if he’s a real doozy (like a $14M crappy DH at this point like Sheffield), then if someone claims him, you can let them go. Win-win (or win-win-win for you Office fans). ESPN sees the controversy, knows exactly what they’re doing, and makes something out of nothing. They know good and well most fans don’t know how the waiver-wire trading season works, and that Sheffield would have been placed on waivers regardless of what he said.
Speaking of teams placing waiver claims and getting screwed, didn’t that happen once with like Randy Myers or something? That was before my time.
Hey, I’m no Thom Brennaman. He doesn’t think Dunn is a good player at all. I’m just saying he’s not worth the deal he’s wanting. Now, I would also argue that he’s not as good as some of you guys make him out to be, but that still doesn’t make me Brantley or Brennaman. Besides, what does Jeff Brantley know anyway? How to out-do Billy Ray Cyrus for best mullet?
Rob, the Padres claimed Randy Myers to block him from joining the Braves. Ended up the Padres had to take on Myers’ expensive contract (and it has two or three years left as well) just to be the team’s setup man, and he never pitched well during his time with the Padres as well.
I’d be hesitant to give him all that money, sure, but you said you’d rather have Nady than Dunn, and I thought you meant without taking salary into account. Which would be crazy.
That last Chinese gymnast was no older than 13. No way.
Anyway, I take Dunn over Burrell. You know exactly what Dunn will give you, for a few more years anyway. It’s a question of when his serious decline starts. But Burrell is already going to be 32 next season, and while he is generally productive-to-very productive, there are extended periods when he is just awful. Dunn, however, will probably command more money for just this very reason.
Put me in the camp that is deeply skeptical of signing Dunn, Burrell, or Nady. I’m more into building through youth, not postponing–and subsequently, extending–the team’s decline. The Braves absolutely should not be dishing out $20 million a year. If they were to do that, why not make a play for Teixeira?
I wouldn’t want Dunn even in the short term, but not because he doesn’t help win games — plainly, he does. But he’s the archetype of the player who helps while making the game a fundamentally less enjoyable experience. He’s great at the things that matter most — power and patience. He’s lousy at everything that makes baseball an alluring game to watch, especially this year. He’s lost, or given up on, the most fundamental athletic action — he doesn’t run. Fourteen doubles and one stolen base. So he lugs his butt down to first base a whole lot. So he’s strong as an ox. As someone who wants not only to win, but to be able to enjoy watching, may I quote Clarence Thomas: “Whoop dee damn doo.”
I’m gonna say something patently un-American, but Michael Phelps — eh. Start playing a team sport involving a ball of some kind, kid, and I’ll watch you. Until then, you’re just gonna have to be the greatest athlete of my lifetime I never watched.
Michael Phelps is freakin’ insane. I saw him for the first time in the 200M medley and, wow, what an athlete. I think he is playing a sport involving a ball. He’s got two, dominating all those other guys.
In other news, that Ryan Lochte dude has one ridiculously tiny head. It’s just… weird. And his traps are scary…
I’ll be much more excited for the World Baseball Classic or the greatest sporting event on the planet, the World Cup, when it comes to international competition.
Give me team sports over individual sports any day.
In two weeks, no one will care about any of this for four years, and rightly so. Track is the only thing I partially enjoy because I love speed, but I’d still rather see it applied than distilled to its most basic form, personally.
Other folks feel differently and that’s cool too. The Olympics just don’t do it for me.
58
A sign of the times. Sigh. Guilty until proven innocent. So far I’ve missed the Olympics. I do hope to get to see the U.S. Women’s softball team play. Dominant.
On Dunn. Dang and I thought a .901 OPS was good. I wouldn’t give him 120 mil but he is a pretty good offensive ball player.
Count me among the Phelps lovers. Generally, the Olympics don’t really do it for me, either, but for whatever reason, I’ve really gotten into the Phelps quest. I’ve seen every race, and if you aren’t interested, it’s probably because you aren’t paying attention.
Also, the relays constitute a team sport, and if you didn’t see the 4X400 freestyle relay the other night, you missed what I consider to be one of the best sporting events I’ve ever witnessed. Allow me to commend to you the tale of a 6’5″ (!), trash-talking (!!) Frenchman who gets absolutely PWNDED by a 32-year-old American in his final Olympics in the last 50 meters or so of the race. I was screaming loudly and high-fiving my wife after that finish, and I otherwise don’t know/care anything about swimming.
My opinion only: the Braves need more than a stop-gap corner outfielder. Frankly, I don’t see any Braves minor league outfielders that can fill the need for a power bat plus adequate defense. No potential free agents excite me. Ergo, I fear it will be necessary to trade for a quality outfield bat, quality being defined as healthy, still in or approaching his prime, and under team control for a few more years.
What is worse, I don’t see what the Braves have to offer without stripping next year’s rotation that could exact such a stud in trade.
Judo is my Olympic sport of choice but I never get to see it since I live here in the USA. Second most popular sport world-wide (after soccer) and we get zero coverage. No balls in this sport but there is plenty of throwing.
Anybody here go to Skip’s memorial today?
You know what I like about that add being discussed in the previous thread? Francoeur is swinging but the ball is nowhere in the picture.
http://sabernomics.com/sabernomics/jeffy_ad2.jpg
@2–good call
Off base @2. JF is clearly swinging at Alfonso’s face
And missing.
Was the term “mean-spirited weasels”?
I am going to actually get to see a game. Woo Hooo! Thanks WGN. A curse upon the guys that run TBS.
The picture of Francouer has him swinging and probably missing a high pitch. Appropriate.
We should probably call him Jeff Keith Franclock or something because it is just as mysterious to me how this guy continues to play as it did when Keith, I’ve got pictures of everyone, Lockhart got so much time on the field.
Does anyone here see this massive nose dive in performance as an abberation or a new level of play? I know that he pretty much was just below average to average last season but the fall off this year to worst full time position player. Just wow.
Will Francoeur have options next year? If he’s still on the team, it would be a nice concept for him to at least have to try to earn his way onto the ML club.
Mac, You’re over there in Alabama somewhere, right? What is the weather like right now? Do you think we’ll get the game in? I just checked weather.com and it looks pretty nasty headed our way.
It’s been raining all day in Tuscaloosa, and the weather forecast to the left says rain tonight and rain tomorrow in Atlanta.
Francoeur is batting .187/.224/.279 during a gibbous moon.
Which blog should I go to in order to complain about Tony Kornhiser on MNF?
Sansho, did you make that up?
TD, Frenchy should still have one option left since he used one when he was called up in 2005 and another when he was sent down this year. (I think.)
Coop, I think we settled on Badass Weasels.
The only other outfielders possibly worse this season are Willy Taveras, Michael Bourn and Andruw Jones.
And none of them have as many at-bats. None are with even 50 at-bats of how many Francoeur has sucked up. Andruw Jones only has about half himself.
great………….we get the Cubs and Vanilla Fudge on the same day. both of them make me want reach for a bottle of cheap wine and a handfull of seconals.
I really just posted this video to show how Vanilla Fudge were ahead of their time. Take a look at their bass player. This was 1967, and from 1973 to 1977 every man in America looked like that.
That Francoeur ad is even more hilarious now. DOB says Francoeur is not in tonight’s lineup:
http://tinyurl.com/54u2aj
Isn’t it the perfect metaphor for Bobby Cox’s managing that he is sitting Francoeur vs tough righthanders… and Jeff has a higher OPS vs righties this year (.647 vs .601 against lefties)?
oh, the video was about fashion? i think there were a lot of guys in NYC that looked like that back then. how about being musically ahead of their time? they sucked long before the current crop of bands made it fashionable to suck……………. “know what would be cool guys?? we’ll absolutely butcher a Supremes song. we’ll make millions”.
You guys see where ESPN.com is making a headline story out of Sheffield getting placed on waivers? It seems kinda disingenuous. He’s a 39 year old DH who’s making $10M and is hitting .223 or something. Of course he’s gonna be placed on waivers. Those are the kinda guys waiver-wire deals are established for, sort of. This probably has nothing to do with him complaining about DHing. Sometimes ESPN is just shady in their quest for hits. Not cool, ESPN…
#17, it’s okay. Jeff said he planned on asking for a rest tomorrow anyway.
By David O’Brien
August 12, 2008 6:55 PM | Link to this
Game’s rained out. Split DH tomorrow at 1:10 and 7:15 p.m.
Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo spoke about the Adam Dunn trade today:
“He was going to be moved no matter what. I don’t know if he told (the media) but he made it was no secret to us that he was looking for $100 to $120 million contract. I don’t think this franchise is going to give out that kind of contract.”
Adam Dunn lives on planet Earth, right?
Who am I kidding, he might just get it. But there are a limited number of teams who could even offer that, and I don’t see any of them doing it. I’d take Nady over Dunn, but I may be in the minority.
You’re in the minority.
Dunn is hitting in the .220’s, strikes out 150+ per year, plays poor and declining left field defense and he thinks someone is going to give him 100-120 million? After all the lack of trade interest he has drawn for the past two years?
Yeah, okay….
I like his chances. Power and patience win ballgames and he’s got loads of both. The stuff you mention (#26) is not ideal but doesn’t keep him from being a very valuable player.
I like Dunn, but he has old player skills — actually, the oldest player skills I’ve ever seen — and thus is a very bad bet for more than about three years. Same for Burrell, for that matter.
At these prices everybody’s a bad bet for more than three years. Somebody will still pay.
Well, it’s the difference between having someone who isn’t worth it making $18 million in 2013 and someone you can’t even play making $18 million in 2013.
I’d take Nady over Dunn. And I tend to like high-OBP, high power, yet low BA kinda players. I’m cool with being in the minority on this one. Dunn’s just not that good. He walks, and he hits the ball hard sometimes, but that’s really about it. Pass.
@20, Rob, I agree. My understanding is that most teams put most players on waivers because you can always pull them back if they get claimed. Singling out Sheffield like it’s some punishment or reaction to his admittedly idiotic statements is silly.
I’m just going to pretend I didn’t read #s 24 and 31.
Right. You stick your guys on waivers, you see which ones pass through, and that establishes your market for the rest of the trading season. And of course, if he’s a real doozy (like a $14M crappy DH at this point like Sheffield), then if someone claims him, you can let them go. Win-win (or win-win-win for you Office fans). ESPN sees the controversy, knows exactly what they’re doing, and makes something out of nothing. They know good and well most fans don’t know how the waiver-wire trading season works, and that Sheffield would have been placed on waivers regardless of what he said.
Speaking of teams placing waiver claims and getting screwed, didn’t that happen once with like Randy Myers or something? That was before my time.
#33 – me too. I didn’t know that Thom Brennaman and Jeff Brantley posted here.
Haha, come on Stu. Would you give him the deal he’s wanting? He’s an albatross in 3 years. You know that.
Hey, I’m no Thom Brennaman. He doesn’t think Dunn is a good player at all. I’m just saying he’s not worth the deal he’s wanting. Now, I would also argue that he’s not as good as some of you guys make him out to be, but that still doesn’t make me Brantley or Brennaman. Besides, what does Jeff Brantley know anyway? How to out-do Billy Ray Cyrus for best mullet?
Burrell? Dunn? Nady?
Pass, pass, and pass.
Oh yeah, Jeffrey sucks like ESPN.
Rob, the Padres claimed Randy Myers to block him from joining the Braves. Ended up the Padres had to take on Myers’ expensive contract (and it has two or three years left as well) just to be the team’s setup man, and he never pitched well during his time with the Padres as well.
he never pitched well during his time with the Padres as well.
That’s an understatement. He never pitched again after the ’98 season they claimed him.
I’d be hesitant to give him all that money, sure, but you said you’d rather have Nady than Dunn, and I thought you meant without taking salary into account. Which would be crazy.
That last Chinese gymnast was no older than 13. No way.
Anyway, I take Dunn over Burrell. You know exactly what Dunn will give you, for a few more years anyway. It’s a question of when his serious decline starts. But Burrell is already going to be 32 next season, and while he is generally productive-to-very productive, there are extended periods when he is just awful. Dunn, however, will probably command more money for just this very reason.
Put me in the camp that is deeply skeptical of signing Dunn, Burrell, or Nady. I’m more into building through youth, not postponing–and subsequently, extending–the team’s decline. The Braves absolutely should not be dishing out $20 million a year. If they were to do that, why not make a play for Teixeira?
Burrell > Dunn > Nady > Raul Ibanez > A 5 year old tee ball player ≥ 2008 Jeff Francoeur
When he was in AA, I saw Adam Dunn hit a 500+ home run.
I think this Phelps guy is a solid swimmer
Smitty, I bet Jeffrey can do that as well.
I think we are cheating at swimming.
#41 – I also made my statement with regards to salary. I’m not on crazy pills.
Aha, the old “delenda est” is back. let’s hope it doesn’t fail us
I wouldn’t want Dunn even in the short term, but not because he doesn’t help win games — plainly, he does. But he’s the archetype of the player who helps while making the game a fundamentally less enjoyable experience. He’s great at the things that matter most — power and patience. He’s lousy at everything that makes baseball an alluring game to watch, especially this year. He’s lost, or given up on, the most fundamental athletic action — he doesn’t run. Fourteen doubles and one stolen base. So he lugs his butt down to first base a whole lot. So he’s strong as an ox. As someone who wants not only to win, but to be able to enjoy watching, may I quote Clarence Thomas: “Whoop dee damn doo.”
I’m gonna say something patently un-American, but Michael Phelps — eh. Start playing a team sport involving a ball of some kind, kid, and I’ll watch you. Until then, you’re just gonna have to be the greatest athlete of my lifetime I never watched.
AAR,
I gotta say that I only care about individual events as far as the Olympics go.
Not that I care much about those, either.
Ryan Langerhans hit his 1st HR of the year today… off of Johan Santana. Dont ever let anyone tell you something is impossible.
Michael Phelps is freakin’ insane. I saw him for the first time in the 200M medley and, wow, what an athlete. I think he is playing a sport involving a ball. He’s got two, dominating all those other guys.
In other news, that Ryan Lochte dude has one ridiculously tiny head. It’s just… weird. And his traps are scary…
The Olympics from start to finish is a political event….
That said, I would prefer to see Phelps and other great swimmers than the extensive coverage of Olympic ping pong—which, of course, does have a ball.
I’ll be much more excited for the World Baseball Classic or the greatest sporting event on the planet, the World Cup, when it comes to international competition.
Give me team sports over individual sports any day.
In two weeks, no one will care about any of this for four years, and rightly so. Track is the only thing I partially enjoy because I love speed, but I’d still rather see it applied than distilled to its most basic form, personally.
Other folks feel differently and that’s cool too. The Olympics just don’t do it for me.
Stephen, it’s too bad you view the Olympics that way.
No matter you like an event or not, all athletes do put their lives and effort into it, and they deserve more applause than Jeffrey ever deserves.
I have a hard time believing in somebody like Phelps until 10 years have passed and he hasn’t turned out to have used ‘roids.
58
A sign of the times. Sigh. Guilty until proven innocent. So far I’ve missed the Olympics. I do hope to get to see the U.S. Women’s softball team play. Dominant.
On Dunn. Dang and I thought a .901 OPS was good. I wouldn’t give him 120 mil but he is a pretty good offensive ball player.
Count me among the Phelps lovers. Generally, the Olympics don’t really do it for me, either, but for whatever reason, I’ve really gotten into the Phelps quest. I’ve seen every race, and if you aren’t interested, it’s probably because you aren’t paying attention.
Also, the relays constitute a team sport, and if you didn’t see the 4X400 freestyle relay the other night, you missed what I consider to be one of the best sporting events I’ve ever witnessed. Allow me to commend to you the tale of a 6’5″ (!), trash-talking (!!) Frenchman who gets absolutely PWNDED by a 32-year-old American in his final Olympics in the last 50 meters or so of the race. I was screaming loudly and high-fiving my wife after that finish, and I otherwise don’t know/care anything about swimming.
My opinion only: the Braves need more than a stop-gap corner outfielder. Frankly, I don’t see any Braves minor league outfielders that can fill the need for a power bat plus adequate defense. No potential free agents excite me. Ergo, I fear it will be necessary to trade for a quality outfield bat, quality being defined as healthy, still in or approaching his prime, and under team control for a few more years.
What is worse, I don’t see what the Braves have to offer without stripping next year’s rotation that could exact such a stud in trade.
Game thread is up.
Judo is my Olympic sport of choice but I never get to see it since I live here in the USA. Second most popular sport world-wide (after soccer) and we get zero coverage. No balls in this sport but there is plenty of throwing.