Stu’s Vanderbilt Preview is now up. The Braves remain beneath contempt.
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Stu’s Vanderbilt Preview is now up. The Braves remain beneath contempt.
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Concerning the Braves Journal fantasy baseball league, how did Tina Tina’s Codpiece manage to get Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols, and Brandon Webb in a 20 team league? He’s got an unbelievable lead in the league right now. I bet he wins.
Has anyone read the sabernomics.com piece on the Braves? The writer recommends a firesale: KJ, Kotchman and Infante should all be traded. He also mentions trading Chipper which does not make sense at all (as a 10 & 5).
The writer, JC, who also frequents this site, is pretty clear in noting that Chipper would have to approve any trade. He also notes that he has a source who claims that Chipper would be open to being dealt to a contender if the Braves are going to commit to rebuilding.
I think it makes sense to at least consider a fire sale. Most of the Braves’ prospects are in the lower minors, so I think it makes sense to build for 2010 or 2011 rather than try to spend our way into short term mediocrity in 2009.
If you have a firesale, you are building for 2011 or 2012. I think Mac’s head would explode before he made it through another 3-4 years of the Braves playing like this year.
How many teams other than the Florida Marlins, the mlb owned version of the Natspos and the previous owners of the Diamondbacks have actually done a fire sale?
The Braves’ franchise is above doing a fire sale.
we talk about a firesale, but that really only means possibly trading Chipper, Yunel, Kotchman, Frenchy and KJ. I wouldnt care if any of those guys were gone. I would like to see Chipper play out his career in Atl, but if we can get the right package then yes I would make that move. The rest are FA’s (Smoltz, Glavine, Kotsay, Hampton) and the others (Norton, Gotay, Tavarez, other garbage) can get released.
This team needs to be dismantled in order to make strides forward. I can handle a terrible 09 in order to have a chance to be really good in 2010. I cant handle trading away pieces of a great 2011-2015 team in order to watch more mediocrity next year and after.
Keep Gonzo, Moylan, Boyer, McCann, Jurrjens, Yunel, and/or KJ and trade off the rest. We’ll be better for it later
I am against a total firesale. That’s really only necessary for small market, low payroll teams like the Marlins or As. If Wren can improve the team by trading some current players this winter, then by all means do it. But trading everybody would be dumb especially when the Braves have a lot of money available to add quality players in free agency.
we need 3 starters, 2 outfielders, bench players, more relievers….with only $30-35 mil to play with, good luck Wren
Edit: we also need the same production from Chipper, McCann, Jurrjens, and Campillo. we also need improvement from Yunel, KJ, Kotchman, and Francoeur
The only teams that Chipper would logically want to go to alreay have a third baseman, with the exception of Milwaukee and possibly the Dodgers. The Brewers can’t afford him and the Dodgers may go ahead and re-sign Casey Blake at a much better price.
My list of untouchables keeps getting reduced. I’m down to Yesco, Jurrjens, and McCann. If Chip wants to play for contender then we should explore trading him. Contender sure isn’t going to describe us next year, and he doesn’t have many left.
#10 – I’m sure the Angels would make room for him. Figgins can play just about anywhere.
Im sure most of the AL teams wouldnt mind having him as a DH and you know his price is great. Im sure the return for us would be also.
Im blaming our struggles on Mike Hampton, here’s why
on July 26th before the game started we were 49-53. Mike Hampton then makes his 1st start in 3 years and of course we lose, Since then we are 7-18 and now have a record of 56-71. All of this since Hampton’s return. thanks Mike (im not really blaming him, but why not?)
“He also notes that he has a source who claims that Chipper would be open to being dealt to a contender if the Braves are going to commit to rebuilding.”
So, Chipper is basically saying that he would allow the Braves to trade him to a contending team if the Braves are committed to rebuilding their team into a contender? That comment doesn’t make sense. Why would Chipper give a rat’s a$$ what the Braves did if the Braves decided that they no longer wanted him on their team?
13 not to mention that Hudson went down with a major injury after Hampton touched his elbow when he came out of that game. It’s kind of like the Midas Touch in reverse.
The ’93 Padres did a fire sale by just about any definition — trading away Fred McGriff and Gary Sheffield at the deadline.
7 – I love Boyer but he’s not worth keeping if Bobby is going to ruin him. Bobby clearly does not value relievers and is willing to trot out a reconstructed arm night in and night out. If Boyer keeps this pace up the rest of this year and next his arm will almost certainly break down.
#17, good point. Maybe we should trade Bobby too.
Stu, while of course I have little use for Vandy, that’s a really well-written, thoughtful preview. One question, though — is Vandy’s proportion of redshirted athletes higher than other programs, or does basically every university redshirt everybody these days?
It’s certainly (much) higher than other programs in the SEC and is actually a key aspect of Coach Johnson’s plan. Johnson took a lot of heat early in his tenure for red-shirting kids who could otherwise have been useful, which resulted in poorer records than might have been possible; his belief, though, was that it was better for the long-run, and I think that’s been proven true for VU in most cases.
Generally speaking, we’re not recruiting the same level of athlete as most, if not all, of the other schools in the conference, so the red-shirting ensures that our guys get an extra year of weight, strength, and football learnin’. In some cases, of course, the caliber of athlete we get just isn’t as able to step in and play SEC football right away like the Percy Harvins of the world.
And thanks for the feedback. It’s long and it’s about Vanderbilt, so I don’t expect many to read it.
Oregron at Ole Miss didn’t redshirt anyone for whatever reason. Wasted our starting running backs freshman year for six carries and special teams duty. Gave him a total of nine carries in two years for the guy he was obviously planning on starting his junior year.
He wasted numerous offensive player’s freshman year for kickoff duties for whatever reason despite having backup linebackers and receivers, DBs, etc.
Oh, I read it, Stu, and I actually saw that ’82 Vandy team play.
They beat Tennessee & Florida that year & gave us a pretty good game in Athens. It was close, like 20-13 or so, but I remember Terry Hogue getting a late INT & we cashed in to win by a couple TDs in the end.
I like how you marked down @ Miami as a win.
That’s Miami U, not U of Miami, I believe.
#21 – Pete Carroll rarely redshirts non-QBs unless they are hurt, so he might have picked it up here.
I agree it’s annoying. PC burned Stafon Johnson’s (now the starting HB) freshman year for 3 carries and 17 yards.
Ray Perkins burned a year of Mike Shula’s eligibility for like six plays. Shula did the same for any number of players, but then Saban isn’t sorry to see them go…
My Alabama preview should be up tomorrow. Saban, BTW, is apparently dividing his freshmen between those who will be redshirted and those who will play a lot. He might start four first-year players on defense.
To recap:
Yes, Yunel!
Dammit, Hampton.
I’m with CSG. This is all Hampton’s fault.
KJ has no jump on the ball & limited range, as evidenced tonight, as evidenced by that 14 hopper (by Murphy) that he didn’t get to last night.
How has Prado looked at first?
I know this is old news now, but Bolt’s 200 was one of the most breathtaking things I’ve ever seen. It was right up there with…Michael Johnson’s 200 in 1996.
The 100 is the “marquee” sprint event, but to me it doesn’t compare to the 200. Watching the fastest sprinters in the world come out of the turn never fails to amaze me. And seeing Bolt leave everyone else in the dust got me right out of my chair.
(end digression)
Digress away – it’s not like the Braves are providing much worth discussing.
Note slightly rewritten from the boxscore: ATLANTA’S GREG NORTON WAS SCRATCHED FROM THE STARTING LINEUP BECAUSE HE IS A STIFF.
And nobody is around to comment on the Braves brittle not-as-old-as-he-seems pitcher matching up well against the Mets brittle not-as-old-as-he-seems pitcher and we just took a LEAD and scored some RUNS.
I cant believe Ohman is pitching again.
Cox needs to be committed.
@34, now you know why no one’s commenting.
ohhh now it’ll be the race to see who’s overworked bullpen can screw up more… I think we’ll win that race.
not covering first… sheesh.
That’s Our Prado!
35 — the Braves obviously have no intention of re-signing him, so their attitude is, “Why not?” Then the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets overpay for a guy whose arm will be like Cream of Wheat by Memorial Day next year. But hey, he’s their problem at that point, so keep sending him out there.
That was not Prado’s fault. Ohman was late getting to the bag. By the way KJ sucks.
Bunting, ladies and gentlemen!
Followed by a walk & a single…
I hate you Infante.
Another one-run road loss.
The list of players I never again want to see in a Braves uniform after this season continues to grow.
Tonight’s target is Omar Infante. Get lost and never come back.
Good grief.
And they called that a hit.
That’s 27 in a row now.
Have to give them credit, that was a new way to lose.
what happened
I’ve been a little out of the loop, but is there any reason why Nunez should’ve been pitching to Delgado there? Where was Gonzalez?
This team is at the seventh level of suck.
90 losses (requiring a 17-17 finish to avoid it) is a certainty. 95 (12-22 to avoid) is a likelihood. The question is whether this team can win seven of the next 34 games and avoid 100.
*sigh*
Gonzalez is the closer, he can’t come in to pitch in a tie game!
I still can’t believe that was called a hit.
47 — Infante botched a fly ball to left so badly that he made Ryan Klesko’s defense look like Andruw Jones’ by comparison.
We’d have had David Wright doubled off second to end the inning if he’d caught it too.
Recap is up.
Blame who you want, everyone. I blame KJ.
32-29 and about to pull within 3 1/2 games of first before his drop. 24-43 and pathetic since. For that alone, best to give all parties a fresh start. Trade him … along with Infante, Prado, Francoeur, etc.
If that’s the reason we’ve been so poor then we were obviously never mentally strong enough in the first place.
Good try though.
@14
this is an easy one.
Chipper isn’t agreeing to be traded only on the condition that the Braves commit to rebuilding. You’re right, he wouldn’t give a crap.
What he’s allegedly saying is that if the Braves commit to rebuilding, he’d agree to a trade which would spare him the final years of his career on a crummy team in favor of spending them with a chance to win another world series. In other words, he’d want out.
Trade Cox.Fire Cox. Send him to Burma. He has been overrated for years. I mean, a manager should be able to put a team on the field that will play hard everyday.And with some intelligence. What happened when the bleeping Phillies kept taking cheap shots at our one truly good baseball player?(I don’t count Chipper because he only plays 60% of the time)– What Happened??? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. McCann gets elbows,knees and forearms from two different Philly baserunners in the span of three innings and the rest of the so-called team takes a dive. What a bunch of whimps, whiners and accomplished losers. What happens when the Braves need a baserunner or just one more run in late innings? You know what happens. Frenchy and all the other dumb butts swing for the fence. Keep Mac, Prado, J.J. and Blanco. Everyone else, especially sissie boy Kellie Johnson– goes. Make sure McDowell can never return to Atlanta unless accompanied by his momma. Fire Wren and put Mike Ditka in charge of Spring Training.Pay Francoer to stay home and practice speeches in the mirror.