As much as we complain about having no power, did you guys realize we have one more home run as a team than the Mets do (20-19)? (of course combined we’ve got 39 compared to the Rangers who have 49… or the Phils who have 35)…
I voted “Maybe” on the poll because I don’t think Ganderson is an asshole, I just think he sucks.
Dusty
on May 7, 2009 at 9:08 am
Nice line about Kelly at Razzball.
“Kelly Johnson – DNP. He’s in Cox’s doghouse pretty good this time. Maybe dressing up as Gene Larkin for last Halloween wasn’t the best idea.”
bfan
on May 7, 2009 at 9:10 am
as unappealing as Garret Anderson’s actions have been, I really think this shows a lack of strong leadership at the management/front office level. I don’t care what the union contract says Anderson can do or refuse to do; veterans do this minor league rehab all of the time, and there should have been some consequence for his actions. Leaving Brandon Jones on the roster a few extra days while we were doubly sure that GA was MLB ready would have been a good idea for starters. GA is 1-8 with 1 single since coming off the DL. Now many would say that is his current, functioning level of skill, but it sure doesn’t scream “ready to go”.
Ron E.
on May 7, 2009 at 9:16 am
I don’t really care whether Anderson went on a rehab assignment or not. What I care about is he sucks and looks like he’s bored and barely trying at the plate. I’d give him 2 weeks playing full time to prove otherwise then it’s time for plan B whatever that is.
Marc Schneider
on May 7, 2009 at 9:21 am
To Another Alex (AAR):
This is totally off the subject but, Alex, I have noticed that the box scores in the Washington Post no longer include number of pitches for the pitchers or RBI totals for the hitters. Is this to save newsprint? If so, I realize newspapers are having economic problems, but this seems pretty extreme.
Dusty
on May 7, 2009 at 9:36 am
To me, this is our biggest problem this year:
Vs. Starting Pitchers .289/.371/.455
Vs. Relief Pitchers .204/.306/.297
EXTREME HIBERNATION MODE
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 9:37 am
#2 – we do have one more HR than the mets, but they have 7 more triples than us. I didnt even care to see how many more SB’s they had
stupup74
on May 7, 2009 at 9:38 am
8
Thats not hibernation mode……..that is total system crash, blue screen of death stuff.
Just looked this up. List of players with more strikeouts on the season than Jordan Schafer.
1) Chris Davis, Rangers 43.
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 10:16 am
per Dob, no Chipper – he’s just getting the day off
Infante
Esco
Anderson
Kotch
Frenchy
KJ
Ross
Schafer
JJ
Ethan
on May 7, 2009 at 10:16 am
Joe Pos has a new blog post up about how Bill James will be played by a cartoon in the upcoming Soderberg “Moneyball” movie.
However, here’s the money quote about future cartoon characters that cartoon Bill will interact with:
“Say, for instance, you have the not-evil-but-certainly-misguided Professor Francoeur* roaming the countryside with his .307 on-base percentage and using his anti-walk machine to remove on-base percentage from every scoreboard in America.”
Has any reporter yet asked Francoeur to comment on his quote? If so, I haven’t seen his response. I can’t believe he’s been allowed to fly under the radar like this (well, I guess I should know better). It was an incredibly stupid statement, but no one has nailed him on it.
@9 csg, but we’ve got more doubles/triples combined than they do… basically we’re not that different offensively on average (though they’ve got more speed it hasn’t translated into a ton more runs). We also have the same team ERA…
That said, when I see a line-up with Beltran, Delgado, and Wright up next, I’m worried about the ball leaving the yard. And Chipper, Maybe McCann, XXXX isn’t all that worrisome.
c. shorter
on May 7, 2009 at 10:33 am
16 — Hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
Marc Schneider
on May 7, 2009 at 10:40 am
@17,
Frankly, I think it was a joke, just as I believe his quote last year about having a good year except for 80 games was an attempt at sarcasm. I don’t know whether Frenchy is actually smart enough to have an ironic sense of humor, but if these quotes aren’t intended as humor . . .
But I would rather give him the benefit of the doubt here until proven otherwise.
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 10:48 am
Charles, I totally agree with you. I think over the course of the season, we’ll start seeing how much better they are offensively compared to us, but we’ll see our pitching become a lot better.
I still think we’ll have a very good opportunity to add a good bat sometime this season, before or around the deadline. We have too much SP not to be able to. Hudson, Vasquez, Lowe, Jurrjens, Hanson, Kawakami, Joseph potentially, Morton, Medlen, and others. Thats of course, if we can stay in the race that long
From Yahoo sports: “CF Jordan Schafer’s batting average has taken a nosedive while his strikeouts have increased. 3B Chipper Jones detected some trouble spots with Schafer’s swing, and is working on that with the rookie.”
(Yes, I am unfortunate enough to have to start Jordan Schafer on my Fantasy team.)
sdp
on May 7, 2009 at 10:57 am
What an asshole Manny Ramirez is. Frank McCourt isn’t going to be happy at all.
Anderson signing was questionable and seems bust-esque so far… Ross signing seemed foolish but has turned out to be working out pretty well at this point.
“I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”
gotta watch what you put in your body dude, doesn’t matter if a doctor prescribes it.
David
on May 7, 2009 at 11:49 am
@40, yeah, as I wrote that I was like “wait a minute, SC sucks anyway”.
Sorry guys… “seemed foolish” was easier to type than “seemed like it was possibly overpaying for a backup catcher in a down market when we had marginal internal options that might have worked out for the day off every week McCann would need”…
and while I was typing that Kotchman homered?!?!
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 11:56 am
I dont think we have marginal backup catchers
stupup74
on May 7, 2009 at 11:56 am
Looks like Kotchman got ahold of whatever Manny was having.
25 per season, 1/3 of that is 8.33 mil, so around $800K it’s going to cost Boras (if it works that way… not sure the agent cut comes out of final salary or contracted salary).
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Charles, the whole sentiment is false. It seemed like a good move at the time, and it seems even better now.
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Man, 1-2 with a single and a fly-out—will Jordan ever strike out again?
Weldon
on May 7, 2009 at 12:14 pm
If this goes to extras, he could pick up another golden sombrero.
Stu;
I always thought of Ross signing as a “passable move if you’ve got the resources to spend 1.5M on a backup catcher, which I’m not sure we do”. I don’t think signing a career .225 avg .313 obp guy to two years for 3M is a “good” move per se, defensible maybe as it filled a hole for relatively little money. But when only 5 other teams have backup catchers making a million or more, and you’re as bad off as we were, it is questionable if spending your limited resources on that hole is the wisest use of said resources. There is a reason MOST teams have a marginal guy just up from the minors in that role (and while Sammons doesn’t look like he’ll stick in the majors he could have been a passable option for McCann’s off day… and for a million less). As many have pointed out, put the Anderson/Ross/Glavine money together and we could’ve probably patched the every day Anderson hole a bit better.
I never hated or loved the Ross signing…
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I’ve been getting reoccuring feelings that we shouldn’t have traded Josh Anderson (though I still think we got a good return on a player that we were otherwise likely to have to release.) These feelings subsided today when I reacquainted myself with his Spring Training stats… with the Braves in March everyone’s favorite Anderson had a .283 OBP and only 2 steals!
He’s played well for Detroit, but we can’t assume he’d be doing the same batting leadoff on an everyday basis. I was always of the opinion that we should’ve started Jordan in AAA just to humble him a little bit further, but his struggles were bound to come sometime, and I’d just as soon get them over with in April-May, if possible, instead of in the heat of summer competition.
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 12:39 pm
David,
So true. Some folks have been complaining about Kotchman, though.
Charles,
As sansho so thoroughly demonstrated, Ross is likely the best back-up catcher in baseball, so it makes sense that he’d be one of only a few making what he does. Also, our best player is our starting catcher, so it makes sense to have a legit back-up so that he can be adequately rested.
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 12:39 pm
@17: Fly under the radar? No one has nailed him for it? I really don’t see how you can find this comment “incredibly stupid.” It is a gross oversimplification, as I’ve said before, but ultimately its true.
I also agree with Marc Schneider that it was likely said tongue-in-cheek. Of course Jeff would like to get on base more often, any player would, but he sees run production as more important to his team… and obviously with this team he’s right.
Jeff K
on May 7, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Darn, that’s one of those situations where you’d hope that Schafer would pad his strikeout totals.
Hmm, sounds like a performance enhancing drug to me.
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 12:49 pm
@66: There’s an argument to be made that we didn’t need to spend that kind of money on a backup catcher. However, we did NEED to add another ML ready catcher to the organization. JC Boscan just isn’t going to cut it in a situation, like we’ve been in for the last two weeks, where McCann is on the DL. When it comes down to it we’re likely only paying Ross a million more than we would’ve had to pay whoever we would’ve signed… I’d say Ross has earned that extra million just from his play over the last two weeks, and if McCann is down for any other extended period of time over this season or next we’ll be very glad to have David around.
As for Ross-Glavine-Garret’s money, assuming we signed a different catcher at the ML minimum, and possibly another starting pitcher, this trio adds up to roughly $4-5 million, which really isn’t enough to have put us in the running for any reasonable free agent outfielder upgrades this past season.
Jeff K
on May 7, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Ouch. But okay with two out nobody on. Make them hit the ball.
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Well if someone’s got to score, I’d just assume it be Hanley… finally producing for my Fantasy Team… even if it comes at the expense of another member of my team. So can we assume Bobby pinch-hits for Jair to lead off the 7th? (Guess not.)
Also, for anyone that is dying for a chance to call me an idiot, my Braves leanings inspired me to sit Carlos Beltran a couple days ago, and Jorge Cantu yesterday… damn loyalties!
Stu, good point on not wanting to take the overall offensive hit by having one of your best players replaced with total crap (though if those resources had been used to bring in somebody with a bit more power in the outfield it might have been no net offensive difference, obviously that’s a calculation that would be tough for the front office to make early in the off season so I don’t fault them for that exactly).
I don’t think I caught Sansho’s ‘thorough demonstration’ of how Ross is likely the best back-up catcher in baseball. Obviously there’s going to be a line where you’re either a very good back-up catcher, or a not-so-great every day catcher.
Like I said, it wasn’t the worst move in the world, but in a limited resource environment it looked like a possible overpayment for a limited time player. I think (taking into account the need to not skew your offense to crap when McCann is out) the odds were that it was a decent deal, with little chance for huge downside (we aren’t paying him 3M per) or huge upside. Right now it seems that the upside is winning.
Also… maybe JJ shouldn’t pitch to Hanley next time.
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Obviously there’s going to be a line where you’re either a very good back-up catcher, or a not-so-great every day catcher.
Well, as we’re seeing, Ross can pass for a solid everyday player. He can take a walk, he can hit for power, and he’s elite, defensively; this is what sansho demonstrated, and this is why, from the outset, it looked like a good signing.
And $1.4M just isn’t a ton of money, even in this environment.
joesteve
on May 7, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@24 “From Yahoo sports: “CF Jordan Schafer’s batting average has taken a nosedive while his strikeouts have increased. 3B Chipper Jones detected some trouble spots with Schafer’s swing, and is working on that with the rookie.”
So is Chipper getting paid to be the “assistant to the hitting coach”? If not, why not? If so, then what are we paying TP to do besides sit in the dugout and look bored.
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Garret Anderson’s OPS is closer to Jair Jurrjens’ than to Jordan Schafer’s.
So… Does Ross get a shot at every day somewhere in 2011? will he be too old by then?
Didn’t Brayan Pena get DFA’d recently? Don’t I recall he was better than Sammons? could we get him back on a minor league deal… as the backup to our backup?
@79… I think he’s being the team captain and trying to help his team(mates) win.
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 1:14 pm
and he’s also seeing that TP hasnt helped anyone and wants to see the kid improve
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Charles, Pena wasnt claimed by anyone so therefore the Royals sent him to AAA. We’d have to trade for him now
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 1:19 pm
@81: That’s what surprised me the most about the Ross deal. I can’t figure why HE would sign it. He’ll be almost 34 by the end of the deal, and I doubt he’ll get enough playing time in Atlanta to do anything more than earn a chance to compete for a starting role somewhere (which he probably could’ve done in a few places this year.) Then again, he was 14 and presumably in Georgia when the Braves division streak began, so perhaps he’s one of those guys that really wanted to play for Bobby, or maybe set himself up for a role in the organization.
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 1:20 pm
@84: I know there’s a Jairo Cuevas joke to be made somewhere there…
KJ hitting where he belongs, 6-7th in the order. Frenchy is an idiot
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Jeff was just trying to prove his point that getting on base isn’t as important as driving in runs. (Was it really that bad? I’m watching MLB Gameday, and the pitch looked like one of those that the catcher could’ve made a great play on and really hung him out to dry… am I overly optimistic?)
Meanwhile, there must be something drastically wrong with my internet connection… it’s telling me that Kelly Johnson stole a base!?! Did we trade him to the Marlins before the game, or something?
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Does Jurrjens pitch the 8th?
csg
on May 7, 2009 at 1:28 pm
#93 – Id let him start the 8th, if anyone reaches Id go to the pen
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 1:29 pm
@93: No! At least not if my Fantasy Team has anything to say about it… looks like Soriano time to me.
Nope, it’s Soriano. For the third day in a row, I believe.
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I agree with getting JJ out of there, but our top relievers’ arms are going to fall off.
Stephen in the UAE
on May 7, 2009 at 1:30 pm
No–probably not….Frenchy just keeps getting better….
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Ninety-first!
Why are we the only team in baseball that can’t get Ross Gload out?
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 1:35 pm
@97: This is only his third outing on back to back days (as Mac pointed out its his second straight, and his first back to back to back outings of the season.) But he’s only pitched 13 innings so far, that isn’t really an unreasonable workload, assuming he’s healthy.
Moylan is warming in the pen so it looks like we’ll save Gonzalez. Good decision I think.
Stu
on May 7, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Whew.
Gonzalez used 4 bench players that inning.
Gadfly
on May 7, 2009 at 1:46 pm
@106: You think Moylan was warming for the 9th, or in case Soriano needed relief in the 8th? I’m guessing the latter, I think if Bobby was going to save Gonzalez he would’ve gone with Moylan in the 8th and Soriano in the 9th… but we’ll see.
The thing that bothers me the most about Bobby’s use of the bullpen is how often he gets guys, especially Moylan, warming up, and doesn’t bring them into the game. I was okay with trying to bring Peter back this early from his surgery, but I thought we should’ve worked out a regiment to keep him from throwing back to back days early in the season. He’s now thrown two days in a row, and clearly he’s our only real option to close tomorrow’s game if we need it. Couldn’t we have gotten Bennett up for an emergency in the 8th instead?
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
Great poll! Nice and timely….
As much as we complain about having no power, did you guys realize we have one more home run as a team than the Mets do (20-19)? (of course combined we’ve got 39 compared to the Rangers who have 49… or the Phils who have 35)…
I voted “Maybe” on the poll because I don’t think Ganderson is an asshole, I just think he sucks.
Nice line about Kelly at Razzball.
“Kelly Johnson – DNP. He’s in Cox’s doghouse pretty good this time. Maybe dressing up as Gene Larkin for last Halloween wasn’t the best idea.”
as unappealing as Garret Anderson’s actions have been, I really think this shows a lack of strong leadership at the management/front office level. I don’t care what the union contract says Anderson can do or refuse to do; veterans do this minor league rehab all of the time, and there should have been some consequence for his actions. Leaving Brandon Jones on the roster a few extra days while we were doubly sure that GA was MLB ready would have been a good idea for starters. GA is 1-8 with 1 single since coming off the DL. Now many would say that is his current, functioning level of skill, but it sure doesn’t scream “ready to go”.
I don’t really care whether Anderson went on a rehab assignment or not. What I care about is he sucks and looks like he’s bored and barely trying at the plate. I’d give him 2 weeks playing full time to prove otherwise then it’s time for plan B whatever that is.
To Another Alex (AAR):
This is totally off the subject but, Alex, I have noticed that the box scores in the Washington Post no longer include number of pitches for the pitchers or RBI totals for the hitters. Is this to save newsprint? If so, I realize newspapers are having economic problems, but this seems pretty extreme.
To me, this is our biggest problem this year:
Vs. Starting Pitchers .289/.371/.455
Vs. Relief Pitchers .204/.306/.297
EXTREME HIBERNATION MODE
#2 – we do have one more HR than the mets, but they have 7 more triples than us. I didnt even care to see how many more SB’s they had
8
Thats not hibernation mode……..that is total system crash, blue screen of death stuff.
No matter his results, Garret Anderson is always going to look the same. He looked bored when he got his World Series-winning hit in 2002.
OPS+ by inning:
1st-127
2nd-114
3rd-105
4th-133
5th-99
6th-54
7th-93
8th-76
9th-43!!
10th-244
Thanks for the vid, Mac. Hug?
Just looked this up. List of players with more strikeouts on the season than Jordan Schafer.
1) Chris Davis, Rangers 43.
per Dob, no Chipper – he’s just getting the day off
Infante
Esco
Anderson
Kotch
Frenchy
KJ
Ross
Schafer
JJ
Joe Pos has a new blog post up about how Bill James will be played by a cartoon in the upcoming Soderberg “Moneyball” movie.
However, here’s the money quote about future cartoon characters that cartoon Bill will interact with:
“Say, for instance, you have the not-evil-but-certainly-misguided Professor Francoeur* roaming the countryside with his .307 on-base percentage and using his anti-walk machine to remove on-base percentage from every scoreboard in America.”
Awesome. The whole exchange is great too.
Has any reporter yet asked Francoeur to comment on his quote? If so, I haven’t seen his response. I can’t believe he’s been allowed to fly under the radar like this (well, I guess I should know better). It was an incredibly stupid statement, but no one has nailed him on it.
@9 csg, but we’ve got more doubles/triples combined than they do… basically we’re not that different offensively on average (though they’ve got more speed it hasn’t translated into a ton more runs). We also have the same team ERA…
That said, when I see a line-up with Beltran, Delgado, and Wright up next, I’m worried about the ball leaving the yard. And Chipper, Maybe McCann, XXXX isn’t all that worrisome.
16 — Hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
@17,
Frankly, I think it was a joke, just as I believe his quote last year about having a good year except for 80 games was an attempt at sarcasm. I don’t know whether Frenchy is actually smart enough to have an ironic sense of humor, but if these quotes aren’t intended as humor . . .
But I would rather give him the benefit of the doubt here until proven otherwise.
Charles, I totally agree with you. I think over the course of the season, we’ll start seeing how much better they are offensively compared to us, but we’ll see our pitching become a lot better.
I still think we’ll have a very good opportunity to add a good bat sometime this season, before or around the deadline. We have too much SP not to be able to. Hudson, Vasquez, Lowe, Jurrjens, Hanson, Kawakami, Joseph potentially, Morton, Medlen, and others. Thats of course, if we can stay in the race that long
Breaking news: MANNY RAMIREZ suspended 50 games for testing positive for PED’s.
Here’s a source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907
From Yahoo sports: “CF Jordan Schafer’s batting average has taken a nosedive while his strikeouts have increased. 3B Chipper Jones detected some trouble spots with Schafer’s swing, and is working on that with the rookie.”
(Yes, I am unfortunate enough to have to start Jordan Schafer on my Fantasy team.)
What an asshole Manny Ramirez is. Frank McCourt isn’t going to be happy at all.
Wow Manny… wow.
edit: Another source: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090507&content_id=4603850&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
on the front page of mlb.com
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, how does Boras leverage this one this offseason. What a dick
Here’s the original story the LA Times wrote:
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-manny-ramirez8-2009may08,0,6324894.story
Of course Boras didn’t comment.
There goes my fantasy season…
And mine.
Thank goodness for that caught stealing.
Fart, I remember going to see Manny play in Charlotte when he was called up.
Can David Ross hit 25 home runs? If so, can he be turned into a first baseman?
Anderson signing was questionable and seems bust-esque so far… Ross signing seemed foolish but has turned out to be working out pretty well at this point.
Ross signing seemed foolish
False.
@34
Agreed, apart from the “seemed foolish” part. That was just a Braves Journal meme.
Ross signing was needed and was a good deal then and its a steal of a deal now
wow. Manny. crazy.
great, Sportcenter will be unwatchable for the next month.
So, nothing is changing at Sportscenter?
Manny:
“I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”
gotta watch what you put in your body dude, doesn’t matter if a doctor prescribes it.
@40, yeah, as I wrote that I was like “wait a minute, SC sucks anyway”.
Manny news bumping ARod news or Favre news doesn’t exactly alter the universe of SportsCenter, though, does it?
What’s 10% of 1/3 of Manny’s salary? Oooh, sucks for Boras!
Power surge????
Kotchman goes deep before June. Nice.
OUR FIRST BASEMAN HAS POWER!!!!!
There you go Casey.
He loses 1/3 of it, I think. Not 1/10.
Boras loses 10% of the 1/3 lost by Manny.
Oh sorry, misread it.
Sorry guys… “seemed foolish” was easier to type than “seemed like it was possibly overpaying for a backup catcher in a down market when we had marginal internal options that might have worked out for the day off every week McCann would need”…
and while I was typing that Kotchman homered?!?!
I dont think we have marginal backup catchers
Looks like Kotchman got ahold of whatever Manny was having.
25 per season, 1/3 of that is 8.33 mil, so around $800K it’s going to cost Boras (if it works that way… not sure the agent cut comes out of final salary or contracted salary).
Charles, the whole sentiment is false. It seemed like a good move at the time, and it seems even better now.
Man, 1-2 with a single and a fly-out—will Jordan ever strike out again?
If this goes to extras, he could pick up another golden sombrero.
Casey’s having himself a game.
Is he fast enough for a triple?
Keep scoring, boys. Shock me.
Our first baseman plays Gold-Glove defense and currently sports an OPS of .844. I’ll take it.
@61 Me too. It’s the outfield that keeps me pissed off.
Frenchy still knows how to finish an inning….
Agreed. If they could just find a legit power guy for the outfield somewhere.
Casey Kotchman has never been our problem. Our outfield is attrocious.
Stu;
I always thought of Ross signing as a “passable move if you’ve got the resources to spend 1.5M on a backup catcher, which I’m not sure we do”. I don’t think signing a career .225 avg .313 obp guy to two years for 3M is a “good” move per se, defensible maybe as it filled a hole for relatively little money. But when only 5 other teams have backup catchers making a million or more, and you’re as bad off as we were, it is questionable if spending your limited resources on that hole is the wisest use of said resources. There is a reason MOST teams have a marginal guy just up from the minors in that role (and while Sammons doesn’t look like he’ll stick in the majors he could have been a passable option for McCann’s off day… and for a million less). As many have pointed out, put the Anderson/Ross/Glavine money together and we could’ve probably patched the every day Anderson hole a bit better.
I never hated or loved the Ross signing…
I’ve been getting reoccuring feelings that we shouldn’t have traded Josh Anderson (though I still think we got a good return on a player that we were otherwise likely to have to release.) These feelings subsided today when I reacquainted myself with his Spring Training stats… with the Braves in March everyone’s favorite Anderson had a .283 OBP and only 2 steals!
He’s played well for Detroit, but we can’t assume he’d be doing the same batting leadoff on an everyday basis. I was always of the opinion that we should’ve started Jordan in AAA just to humble him a little bit further, but his struggles were bound to come sometime, and I’d just as soon get them over with in April-May, if possible, instead of in the heat of summer competition.
David,
So true. Some folks have been complaining about Kotchman, though.
Charles,
As sansho so thoroughly demonstrated, Ross is likely the best back-up catcher in baseball, so it makes sense that he’d be one of only a few making what he does. Also, our best player is our starting catcher, so it makes sense to have a legit back-up so that he can be adequately rested.
@17: Fly under the radar? No one has nailed him for it? I really don’t see how you can find this comment “incredibly stupid.” It is a gross oversimplification, as I’ve said before, but ultimately its true.
I also agree with Marc Schneider that it was likely said tongue-in-cheek. Of course Jeff would like to get on base more often, any player would, but he sees run production as more important to his team… and obviously with this team he’s right.
Darn, that’s one of those situations where you’d hope that Schafer would pad his strikeout totals.
Two Four Six Eight!
This is how we hibernate!
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-ramirezsuspension050709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
It was a “sexual enhancer”. Haha.
Hmm, sounds like a performance enhancing drug to me.
@66: There’s an argument to be made that we didn’t need to spend that kind of money on a backup catcher. However, we did NEED to add another ML ready catcher to the organization. JC Boscan just isn’t going to cut it in a situation, like we’ve been in for the last two weeks, where McCann is on the DL. When it comes down to it we’re likely only paying Ross a million more than we would’ve had to pay whoever we would’ve signed… I’d say Ross has earned that extra million just from his play over the last two weeks, and if McCann is down for any other extended period of time over this season or next we’ll be very glad to have David around.
As for Ross-Glavine-Garret’s money, assuming we signed a different catcher at the ML minimum, and possibly another starting pitcher, this trio adds up to roughly $4-5 million, which really isn’t enough to have put us in the running for any reasonable free agent outfielder upgrades this past season.
Ouch. But okay with two out nobody on. Make them hit the ball.
Well if someone’s got to score, I’d just assume it be Hanley… finally producing for my Fantasy Team… even if it comes at the expense of another member of my team. So can we assume Bobby pinch-hits for Jair to lead off the 7th? (Guess not.)
Also, for anyone that is dying for a chance to call me an idiot, my Braves leanings inspired me to sit Carlos Beltran a couple days ago, and Jorge Cantu yesterday… damn loyalties!
Stu, good point on not wanting to take the overall offensive hit by having one of your best players replaced with total crap (though if those resources had been used to bring in somebody with a bit more power in the outfield it might have been no net offensive difference, obviously that’s a calculation that would be tough for the front office to make early in the off season so I don’t fault them for that exactly).
I don’t think I caught Sansho’s ‘thorough demonstration’ of how Ross is likely the best back-up catcher in baseball. Obviously there’s going to be a line where you’re either a very good back-up catcher, or a not-so-great every day catcher.
Like I said, it wasn’t the worst move in the world, but in a limited resource environment it looked like a possible overpayment for a limited time player. I think (taking into account the need to not skew your offense to crap when McCann is out) the odds were that it was a decent deal, with little chance for huge downside (we aren’t paying him 3M per) or huge upside. Right now it seems that the upside is winning.
Also… maybe JJ shouldn’t pitch to Hanley next time.
Obviously there’s going to be a line where you’re either a very good back-up catcher, or a not-so-great every day catcher.
Well, as we’re seeing, Ross can pass for a solid everyday player. He can take a walk, he can hit for power, and he’s elite, defensively; this is what sansho demonstrated, and this is why, from the outset, it looked like a good signing.
And $1.4M just isn’t a ton of money, even in this environment.
@24 “From Yahoo sports: “CF Jordan Schafer’s batting average has taken a nosedive while his strikeouts have increased. 3B Chipper Jones detected some trouble spots with Schafer’s swing, and is working on that with the rookie.”
So is Chipper getting paid to be the “assistant to the hitting coach”? If not, why not? If so, then what are we paying TP to do besides sit in the dugout and look bored.
Garret Anderson’s OPS is closer to Jair Jurrjens’ than to Jordan Schafer’s.
So… Does Ross get a shot at every day somewhere in 2011? will he be too old by then?
Didn’t Brayan Pena get DFA’d recently? Don’t I recall he was better than Sammons? could we get him back on a minor league deal… as the backup to our backup?
@79… I think he’s being the team captain and trying to help his team(mates) win.
and he’s also seeing that TP hasnt helped anyone and wants to see the kid improve
Charles, Pena wasnt claimed by anyone so therefore the Royals sent him to AAA. We’d have to trade for him now
@81: That’s what surprised me the most about the Ross deal. I can’t figure why HE would sign it. He’ll be almost 34 by the end of the deal, and I doubt he’ll get enough playing time in Atlanta to do anything more than earn a chance to compete for a starting role somewhere (which he probably could’ve done in a few places this year.) Then again, he was 14 and presumably in Georgia when the Braves division streak began, so perhaps he’s one of those guys that really wanted to play for Bobby, or maybe set himself up for a role in the organization.
@84: I know there’s a Jairo Cuevas joke to be made somewhere there…
Is Francouer doing bong hits between innings?
Wow, that was bad. Francoeur caught off the bag.
Way to go, Frenchy. Nice one.
There’s a Yunel.
KJ hitting where he belongs, 6-7th in the order. Frenchy is an idiot
Jeff was just trying to prove his point that getting on base isn’t as important as driving in runs. (Was it really that bad? I’m watching MLB Gameday, and the pitch looked like one of those that the catcher could’ve made a great play on and really hung him out to dry… am I overly optimistic?)
Meanwhile, there must be something drastically wrong with my internet connection… it’s telling me that Kelly Johnson stole a base!?! Did we trade him to the Marlins before the game, or something?
Does Jurrjens pitch the 8th?
#93 – Id let him start the 8th, if anyone reaches Id go to the pen
@93: No! At least not if my Fantasy Team has anything to say about it… looks like Soriano time to me.
Nope, it’s Soriano. For the third day in a row, I believe.
I agree with getting JJ out of there, but our top relievers’ arms are going to fall off.
No–probably not….Frenchy just keeps getting better….
Ninety-first!
Why are we the only team in baseball that can’t get Ross Gload out?
@97: This is only his third outing on back to back days (as Mac pointed out its his second straight, and his first back to back to back outings of the season.) But he’s only pitched 13 innings so far, that isn’t really an unreasonable workload, assuming he’s healthy.
CS isn’t on the scoreboard. Who cares?
That seems like an odd pinch hitter choice in this situation… guess if you have a PR to spare, it worked.
I’m scared.
Well, I imagine Soriano and Gonzalez will be unavailable for tomorrow night’s game.
#104 – shouldnt matter, Hamels will pitch a no hitter and only throwing 40 pitches
im scared also
30 pitches there from Soriano, Im guessing he’ll need a night off
Moylan is warming in the pen so it looks like we’ll save Gonzalez. Good decision I think.
Whew.
Gonzalez used 4 bench players that inning.
@106: You think Moylan was warming for the 9th, or in case Soriano needed relief in the 8th? I’m guessing the latter, I think if Bobby was going to save Gonzalez he would’ve gone with Moylan in the 8th and Soriano in the 9th… but we’ll see.
Wow, I guess Chipper REALLY needed a day off…
How did Schafer get to second without an error being charged?
How did Schafer get thrown out? He’s sposta be fast.
Marc S, I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that one…
Gameday says throwing error on the catcher, Mac.
#108, turns out you’re right.
Gameday has Baker charged with a throwing error.
Too bad–but the Braves were right to send Schafer…Gonzo looks good….
was that Snitker’s fault? was it real close or a bad call?
hey, Anderson caught one. HEY A WINNING STREAK
another great outing from JJ, good games from Kotch, KJ, Schafer, and Ross too
WINNING STREAK!
The thing that bothers me the most about Bobby’s use of the bullpen is how often he gets guys, especially Moylan, warming up, and doesn’t bring them into the game. I was okay with trying to bring Peter back this early from his surgery, but I thought we should’ve worked out a regiment to keep him from throwing back to back days early in the season. He’s now thrown two days in a row, and clearly he’s our only real option to close tomorrow’s game if we need it. Couldn’t we have gotten Bennett up for an emergency in the 8th instead?
But hey, a win’s a win!!! GO JAIR!!! GO BRAVES!!!
Yippee, a win.
Yes, the most modest of winning streaks.
Sweep!!
Florida must really suck to lose 2 straight to the Braves and to give up 12 hits to a lineup lacking both Chipper and McCann.
Up, the recap is.