Five Questions: Mac Thomason on the 2009 Atlanta Braves – Chop-n-Change
AAR and I did a “Five Questions” and it’s up now.
Five Questions: Mac Thomason on the 2009 Atlanta Braves – Chop-n-Change
AAR and I did a “Five Questions” and it’s up now.
Has anyone ever been entertained by a Wisconsin Badgers sporting event? Their basketball team in particular depresses me.
http://tinyurl.com/cmqzyn
The AJC says Anderson or Prado could be traded. Trading Anderson at least keeps a low-OBP guy away from the leadoff spot and probably lets Schafer play.
I was thoroughly entertained the 2 times Georgia played Wisconsin in bowl games.
In the first one, UGA made Ron Dayne look like Taylor Dayne.
Good news-it appears Eric O’Flaherty pitched his way off the team today in spectacular fashion.
not a good day for the loogys. o’flaherty and logan 2 innings pitched, 11 earned runs.
Touché, New York.
Xavier 60, the Badgers of Clinical Depression 49. Typical. Thank you, Xavier.
Your comments about Wisco are spot on, Mac, and really hit home with me. It’s criminal how boring their brand of basketball/football is. It’s just nice to see someone out there willing to speak out against the attrocities that have been going on for years in Madison.
Wow, Mac is the man. I’ve been reading these 5 question deals on C-and-C, and Mac is such much more knowledgeable than the rest. Thanks Mac!
I think Francoeur will rebound and put up numbers similar to 2007. That being said, I don’t believe that’s good enough given the state of the outfield and our lack of power in general (I think Diaz will also be closer to 2007 form which is good enough for me.) Here’s hoping Mac’s birthday wish (although he won’t admit it) for Francoeur to be traded comes true.
Reason number 987 why you shouldn’t gamble, I had Mizzou -3 and just about had a heart attack the last 30 seconds of that game. Oh well, I’ll take the W.
@11
way, way too close
That Marquette coach is annoying. Glad they lost.
During the Big East tourney at MSG, Marquette was up 30 on St. John’s with about 8 minutes to go in the game—he had his starters in, was pressing & was ranting and raving about every call.
I know he had the big stage in New York that day, but he didn’t make any friends with that performance.
Ethan, thought it was smooth sailing after the first half. Why you keep pressing when you’re up 10 and the other team keeps scoring because of the press is beyond me.
I enjoyed it today when he started whining about the officials calling his guy for stepping in bounds and blowing the game. Yeah, it’s the officials’ fault.
So, if you’re Japan tonight, do you pitch Darvish a couple of innings in relief or do you save him for the championship game ?
I’ve been watching a lot of Wisconsin sporting events for six years and I actually agree. And I say that as a fan. If I wasn’t, I’d find the Badgers miserable. But I’ll also give Bo Ryan credit for producing solid teams despite not having the top flight talent that other programs receive. As for the football team… whatever.
Mac, appreciated the insights in the interview. I agree with most, except for writing off the Marlins. That’s a solid staff that–provided Miller develops a bit–will surprise NL East fans who expect it to be a three-horse race. I also think that the Mets addressed their primary problem, for once, and I actually (and depressingly) think three times will be the charm.
I did think he had a legitimate gripe at the end of the game with that non-call on the three. It wouldn’t have mattered either way, but the kid got absolutely mauled on that shot. Not to endorse his actions or anything, he did seem like a jerk…
Anyone else watching USA vs. Japan? I know a lot of people have a lot of legitimate gripes with the format (I like AAR’s November idea) but this is a fun game.
Apparently Andruw is going to stay with the Rangers as a 5th outfielder and RH DH platoon.
Surely his fielding hasn’t declined so much that they have 3 guys better than him for when they want him in the lineup?
Like Adam M, I’m in grad school at Wisc. I can’t claim I’m a badger… just don’t have the same ties like you do to your undergrad school. I agree that Bo Ryan does a good job of winning with little… but, it’s boring. Football? Even more so. It’s hard to win without a competent qb or any pass plays in the book.
Wisc did better than my other alma maters though… BYU was (as expected) tentative and soft. And UVa was terrible this year.
@14
Sometimes it seems stupid to me as well; however, if they played back in a “prevent” and were tentative and got smoked there’d be the same criticisms.
In any case, Marquette does have some bruisers, and McNeal is a stud.
Coach “Buzz” is a tool though. The icing on the cake was having a shitfit to get the 1.1 seconds on the clock after the miss on the three.
I was about to develop appreciation for Wright’s defense before that boot brought me back down to Earth.
I enjoyed the gold glove talk leading up to it as well
Well, Wright made a good play right before it. Almost looked as good as Chipper Jones out there.
Oswalt is just getting shelled now. And defense is really costing the U.S.
Yeah its getting ugly. This is one and done now right?
Ethan, I don’t think not pressing necessarily equals prevent. You’ve got a team that’s struggled to score in the half court, and you don’t force them at least a couple of times to score in the half court. I’m not saying completely abandon it, but when it’s not working, it’s okay to cut back on it.
Well, that’s the defense they play all the time, and they’re not as good playing halfcourt.
Wright missed 2 hanging sliders in that sequence, but he got screwed on that called strike 3.
@27
You’re right and it wasn’t very effective the second half, but that style of play has been the reason for most of their success this year. The aggressive mindset is how they operate. I just don’t know the net gain you get from backing off…all things considered.
I wish McCann would catch with his right arm safely behind his back.
Wisconsin plays good ice-hockey
Ethan & Mac, maybe you’re right, it just seemed that the press was really playing into Marquette’s hands the second half, they seemed to get all of their baskets off the press or transition, not many when they were forced to walk the ball up and run their offense.
I’m all for pressing, in fact, that style is what I would do if I was a coach at any level except pro. It just seems that a coach like Pitino will press all game against a team who struggles with it and pull back the reins against a team who shows they can handle it. I agree that it’s a fine line when talking about remaining aggressive.
I guess the best baseball is played in Asia, ha.
#31 – I have always been very bothered by the fact that McCann does not keep his right arm behind his back when he catches. I just don’t understand why the coaches don’t correct this.
Fantastic 10-pitch walk by McCann in the 8th inning of the WBC with the US down.
He’s so good.
I still really enjoy watching Mark DeRosa.
Yeah, two Braves guys coming through in a real way.
Longoria really needs to not strike out here…
I definitely wanted to get Mac on Chop-n-Change. I thought the interview turned out great. If you’re amenable, Mac, I may have some more questions for you later in the year.
I did a similar 5 Questions-type interview for Marlins blogger Alex Carver.
Davey Johnson owes the USA an apology for being an idiot
You suck, Jeter.
Yunel would have made that play.
this crap about not hurting peoples feelings is a joke. Rollins is soo much better defensively
There is no question that Yunel would have.
Man, I like Yunel Escobar. I’m getting so excited about watching him again.
I’m looking forward to seeing our infield eat up a lot of GBs from Derek Lowe.
Yunel might be better than Derek Jeter overall now.
And that’s why the Braves hate Adam Dunn.
That’s why Dunn shouldn’t have been playing RF in the first place. Davey Johnson should have put DeRo out there and stick Dunn at first. That’s said in hindsight, mind you, but I would have said the same thing before he totally went to hell out there.
Is Steve Phillips going to be on Sunday Night Baseball this season?
I would agree with that.
Wait, former Brave property Jung Bong is going to pitch the championship game of this thing ?
He’s apparently their ace.
@39
Davey Johnson also owes the Dodgers, O’s and Reds one too.
Korea made the final? Well, the matchup advantages:
Korea: Searing national hatred of Japan.
Japan: Everything else.
Jeter should have moved to second base.
I am still not 100% confident in KJ’s defensive ability.
Davey Johnson sucks. They should have asked Bobby Valentine to manage. He knows how to handle the Japanese team.
…and Adam Dunn sucks. I am glad he is with the Nationals now. He belongs there.
Jung Bong shut out the Japanese in Tokyo.
Billy jay, that sentence just blew my mind. How is that possible ?
I don’t know, but I was there. It happened. The Koreans won that game 1-0, but an odd double play kept the Koreans from blowing it open.
For some reason, the Koreans know how to handle the Japanese team. Maybe there are too much pressure on the Japaneses because they are supposed to be more superior in their own opinion.
I believe Japan’s wa will allow them to bring home the championship.
so Davey,
let Jeter play short in a huge game over Rollins
left Oswalt out there to rot until the game was out of hand (had to make sure he got his work in)
puts Dunn in RF, Derosa at 1st
left Oswalt out there too long
brought in Longoria at a huge time to face a righty with a huge run sitting at third, even though the guy has only been taking cuts in a grapefruit league
then subbed Victorino for Granderson
terrible managing last night
I was disappointed in the U.S. effort last night, but I am not sure I blame Davey Johnson for leaving Oswalt out there. He had allowed only one hit through three and his defense cost him a few base runners and a couple of runs. He probably pulled Oswalt one batter too late, but that only cost the team one run.
Overall, it seemed like the U.S’s pitching staff was not as impressive as its lineup. Who were we missing?
Lidge, Papelbon, Nathan, Wood, Devine, Fuentes….
they would’ve been huge upgrades
was JP Howell on the team?
Parish, I’m shocked that you of all people would have to ask, but we were clearly missing David Price.
Lincecum.
Just wanted to say that I was in Orlando over the weekend and saw Jeff Francouer silencing his critics. And watching Jason Heyward crush a ball over the right center field fence.
its time that people quit veiwing Jeter as an elite SS, he’s not anymore
I want everyone to know that I drafted Jeff Francoeur yesterday. I stand by my decision. Good day.
I wonder how Wren feels about our Loogy situation after the past few days
#68 – it all depends on what round
It was a late “round” in an auction league. I got him for $2. If he rebounds, he’s a steal. AAR, Stu, Dix, Latnam, mraver, and some others are in the league. I was shamed by them.
Actually, Rob, you have a really strong team, except for that gigantic sucking chest wound in right field.
My hitting will struggle (I pretty much have no power; over-drafted for speed), but my pitchers should deal. I honestly think your team is better than mine. Your offense is stacked, and your pitching, with a couple breaks, could be better than mine too.
BTW, Alex, I might call you later about getting one of your OF bats for some pitching, if they’re available. Think about it.
Never mind.
Never mind, Stu?
When I looked at your team earlier, the CF slot was blank, so I made a joke about how your CF might be more valuable than Francoeur, but then I checked again and saw that you juggled your roster, so the joke was no longer funny. Alex Rios is clearly more valuable than Francoeur.
Rob, I’m always open. My phone # and email are on the email threads that have been going around.
Alex Rios is clearly more valuable than Francoeur.
In other news, water is clearly wet, bears clearly poop in the woods, and Pope Benedict is clearly older than Brent Lillibridge.
Well, if we lose enough of these WBCs, I’m confident that eventually USA Baseball will do what USA Basketball did and stop screwing around. I’m afraid we still have a few more blown tournaments before that happens, though. In the meantime, we’ll have to deal with flaccid management from incompetents like Davey Johnson and Buck Martinez, who are more worried about placating the clubs than actually winning the damn thing.
I’ll give anyone here 3:1 that Schilling’s “retirement” doesn’t last all season…
I just drafted Charlie Morton, so I’m one to talk.
Joe Girardi has said that if the season were to start tomorrow, Nady would be his starting right fielder.
If the Ganderson signing prevents us making a deal for Swisher…
I sincerely hope Nady is his starting right fielder. I just drafted him.
I know what you’re thinking, NickC. Why is it, that when a man kills another man on the field of battle, it’s called heroic, yet if he does it because he acquired Garret Anderson instead of Nick Swisher, it’s called murder?
Mac – you may be okay as long as you didn’t draft Emilano Fruto.
79 – AAR, item 3 of other news made me laugh.
Stu, I certainly thought of David Price, but that list of relievers not in the Classic is impressive, too.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your American Champion Philadelphia Phillies! (U.S. Champion Philadelphia Phillies if you prefer)
World Champion to be decided tonight starting in about 30 minutes. Once is an accident, two is a trend.
Excuse time in 3..2..1..
@88, I’m not wholly serious, but the litany of excuses from American baseball fans annoys me.
About anything can happen in one game, but the same can be said less forcefully about one series. I once saw a Royals team that had lost 16 of 17 or so sweep a red hot Oakland A’s team that had won 23 of 25 or something. I was in Vegas at the time and remember it..er.. vividly *pfft*#%&*!
Anyway, it should be a great final tonight between blood rivals. Good TV.
I’m diggin’ it on a Monday night.
Masterful bunt by Ichiro.
Who knew Jerry Royster was managing in the KBL?
Yu Darvish is just plain nasty. I think he would get twice the posting fee that Dice K got if he came over next year.
Pitching to Ichiro with a base open in the 10th with 2 outs is baffling
That’s why you don’t pitch to Ichiro with the base open in the 10th. Evidently, I’m the only one watching this.
Greetings from Miami Beach…
No, I’m watching, too.
When Ichiro came to the plate, I turned to my girlfriend & said, “I can’t believe they’re gonna pitch to him. Right now, he’s the last guy I’d want to see if I’m Korea.”
ububba, I really enjoy watching these teams play because they are so different than US baseball (bringing the infield/outfield in much more often, etc), but pitching to Ichiro is just plain dumb, and quite frankly, they should know better. This isn’t some guy they don’t have a scouting report on.
In any event, it’s much better than watching Devils hockey.
Wow. That was awesome.
And, yeah, why would anyone pitch to Ichiro there?
Tonight was an entertaining game, but I’ll take Devils hockey every time over this.
Believe me, I was watching Brodeur get the goalie record last week, not the US-Puerto Rico game.
What’s hockey?
Hockey is what some of us watch between baseball seasons. The best thing on a basketball floor is judo mats from door to door.
Oh, I hate basketball. It made me sad when they came up with the WNBA. Just when I thought basketball was gone from my TV, there was more (except there was no dunking).
The only sports I’ve followed over the last ten years are baseball, motorcycle racing, and football.
I’ve got two spots left in a ESPN.com league. Scoring is head-to-head points, with auction draft this Sunday (3/29) at 8 pm. Shoot me an email if you’re interested to – mrfyde – at – yahoo.com.
These last few week of ST just seem to be dragging by for me (though I think part of that must be that we got rid of cable so I can’t even see WBC games on ESPN or anything)…
Sometimes sports are better when you aren’t rooting for a team. The Braves-Marlins exhibition game I saw on Friday was actually one of the more entertaining games I have seen in a long time, notwithdstanding that it didn’t count for anything. I didn’t care that much if the Braves won or not, but sitting in the warm sun watching a bunch of young guys that really were busting their ass and actually playing very well was really a lot of fun. It was much better than many regular season (or playoff games) that I’ve seen. (For the record, Heyward’s at bats were as follows: (1) base hit up the middle; (2) line drive to left for an out; (3) walk after fouling off several pitches; (4) rocket over right centerfield fence. Plus, several good plays in right. I think Frenchy is just keeping RF warm for a year or two.
And, then Saturday, was a New York moment. First, there were lots of Mets fans in attendence–I was sitting next to three and one kept making an ear-piercing whistle every time a Met came up. In the seventh innning of a spring training game, behind by five runs, the Mets scored a run and their fans started chanting “Let’s Go Mets.” Then the runner on first got thrown out stealing, the inning ended, the Braves broke the game open and that was that. Near the end of the game, I was in the restroom and a Yankee fan and a Met fan started ragging on each other: Mets choke, Jeter’s overrated, etc. It seemed good natured in a way, but I’m sure both had been drinking and I got the feeling that it wouldn’t have taken much for them to go after each other.
BoSox-Yanks “conversations” tend to be much worse. Now that Sox fans are enjoying a 5-year run of “superiority,” they never let an opportunity go by. Just youtube “yanks, red sox fans” & there’s plenty of digitized stupidity for your viewing pleasure.
But Met fans usually don’t have the good sense to shut up around Yankee fans—because they can never win that argument.
Spring training is always a good hang. Never did it in Orlando, though. West Palm was my spot.
anyone want to join a Fantasy league? email me at dojst@yahoo.com or the commish at abernethyj@gmail.com
we’re a few people short
@104,
Yeah, however much Jeter might actually BE overrated, he still has four rings. It’s hard to see how a Mets fan can win that argument.
The stadium in Orlando is part of Disney’s Wide World of Sports and whatever you might think of Disney, it’s a beautiful facility.
@103 or anyone else who’s seen live Spring Training this year: How’s Heyward look in the field? I just haven’t been able to get enough of a look to see if he’s an elite RFer defensively. I’d guess his athleticism translates well out there though.
just saw this…
David O’Brien
March 24th, 2009
4:06 pm
Hanson faced the Triple-A Gwinnett team today, or at least those who are in minor league camp (not those in major league camp).
He was a man among boys, relatively speaking: Five innings, no hits, one walk, eight strikeouts. Threw 75 pitches, including first-pitch strikes to 15 of 21 batters. “He was literally unhittable, facing those guys,” Bobby Cox said.
I’m really starting to wonder how long the Braves will be able to keep Tommy in AAA. Not that I think he’s ready to dominate at the ML level necessarily, I just think his breaking stuff is just way better than what most minor leaguers can deal with. Obviously some of it will come down to how Glavine, Kawakami, etc. are doing, but I think Glavine in particular might end up having a lot less rope than he thought he was going to have coming in.
Not sure if anyone saw this. Joe Sheehan commented on the Braves outfield competition (?). This excerpt is from just this side of the Baseball Prospectus subscriber wall.
[The WBC] may be impacting one team’s roster decisions in a way that hurts both the team and the player. While Gregor Blanco was helping Venezuela into the WBC semifinals…he was losing ground in the Braves’ outfield. Despite being the best of the three players involved, despite having the longest track record of success in Atlanta, and despite the team’s need for his exact skill set, Blanco is behind Josh Anderson for the center-field job, and behind silly signee Garret Anderson in left.
Just to provide a framework for the discussion, here are the PECOTA weighted-mean projections for the three:
AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB CS EqA Def
Blanco .264/.361/.346 11 5 .259 -3 CF
J. Anderson .274/.319/.354 33 9 .244 -8 CF
G. Anderson .279/.326/.432 4 1 .261 -2 LF
I’ll go on the record as thinking very little of that defensive projection for Josh Anderson. UZR loves him, Plus/Minus loves him, and observers love him. He’s better than that, and by enough to change the symbol in front of that “8”.
Eh…sorry about the stats, but you get the idea.
I dont see how the Braves can afford to put Glavine on the roster. He’s not hitting 80mph with his fastball and we dont need a 5th starter throwing BP. Pay him that $1 mil guaranteed and stay away from paying him the incentives. Put Campillo there if you dont think Hanson is ready. But I’d go ahead and pencil him in there. You could put him in the 4th slot and put Kawakami in the 5th spot to give him extra rest if needed
Gadfly,
Heyward looked very good to me on a difficult day with the wind blowing. I’m not competent to comment on his ability to get a jump, etc., but he made a couple of nice catches and looked pretty comfortable out there.
CSG,
As for Glavine, he looked ok on Saturday but he was facing rookies and scrubs. But, Moyer does pretty well without a fastball so I wouldn’t count Glavine out.
BTW, Lowe pitched on Friday and had two bad innings, where he couldn’t get the ball down and they hammered him. But in the three innings he got the ball down, he was dominant; there were some ground balls so weak, I probably could have made the play.
Keep in mind that not much is expected of any 5th starter…
and also it’s not good to put young pitchers in that spot because they don’t get as much work and a chance to develop.
Hanson needs time at Gwinnett.
I don’t think Glavine is going to make the roster coming out of camp, and I think that’s what csg is talking about. We should be able to carry 8 relievers for a while and put Glavine on the roster later when we need him. I think, anyway. It would help us to coddle Soriano and Moylan as much as possible the first three weeks.
Parish, I know you just copy and pasted that, but do you think it’s that clear Blanco is the best for the job? His on-base is better than Anderson’s, but his arm is terrible and he slugged .309 last year. Anderson has at least shown more power than that. I’m also a little skeptical that Blanco can keep his walk rate up if his slugging stays the same…
I think it’s becoming clear Glavine’s not going to be on the Opening Day roster, but on the DL. The Braves could carry an extra reliever or outfielder until his scheduled start on like April 19.
I think that he was referring to whether or not the Braves would keep Glavine on the roster if/when he sucks over Hanson (or Campillo). Actually, if that problem arises, I think Reyes would be the next option until the summer.
New post is up.
Which kind of begs the question, why did we put the Opening Day incentive in the contract in the first place?
By the way, Otis Nixon’s wikipedia page says he played for the US cricket team. There’s no way that’s true, right? I did a cursory google search and there didn’t seem to be anything but people repeating wikipedia’s claim.
But if he did, we need to find pictures immediately.