An interesting player. Hernandez can hit, for average at any rate, and his walk rate has been decent through his career. It took him a while to get going; for the first four years of his career, he looked like organizational fodder, hitting in the low to mid .200s. But in his third try at Myrtle Beach, something clicked, and in seventeen games he hit .313, earning a promotion to Mississippi. There, he continued to rake, hitting singles and for the first time showing a little power with seven homers. Last year, he started in Mississippi and then moved up, hitting .287 between the two levels, with seven homers again. He played well in spring training with the big club, though there really wasn’t a place for him once it became clear Martin Prado wouldn’t be traded. So he went to AAA, where he has pretty much beaten the International League to a pulp, hitting .355/.427/.464. He hasn’t hit a homer yet, but has twelve doubles, so will fit right in to this nineteenth century offense we have going.
Hernandez, if he could really play shortstop, would be a real asset and a real prospect; he would probably, in fact, have been traded by this point. There are, however, severe doubts about his ability to play shortstop. His range factors in the upper minors look pretty decent to me, though I don’t know a whole lot about the context. His arm is reportedly pretty bad; last year, he played more second base than short… A terrible baserunner, career 62 SB/49 CS.
Diory Hernandez Minor League Statistics & History – Baseball-Reference.com
So far this year, he’s played shortstop exclusively (not very well according to the numbers, he already has 9 errors), but has played all around the infield throughout his career. I think he hasn’t really been hyped as a prospect because he’s been groomed as a utility-type player.
I posted this at the end of the last thread; Diaz should be playing more…
Diaz vs. RHP:
46 PA, .262/326/500
vs. LHP
36 PA, .323/421/419
Francoeur vs. RHP
108 PA, .194/229/291
vs. LHP
51 PA, .347/352/490
ACHE has a backward platoon split…
vs. RHP
51 PA, .213/259/255
vs. LHP
25 PA, .333/360/458
Thanks, Dodgers.
Hernandez has a decent bat and would have made it the majors earlier if it were not for injuries. He projects as a decent middle infield reserve player. Nothing to get excited about, but for those of us who enjoy following the farm its nice to see a player work his way to the Show….
Hernandez will be fine. Too bad for Infante though. What a nice addition to our club he has been.
I think Diory will be another Prado, which is not a bad thing really.
I just found out we have more homers than the Mets. How can that be possible?
Jo-Jo should start today, plunk the first two batters, then immediately get placed on the DL or bus to AAA.
“…so will fit right in to this nineteenth century offense we have going.”
That’s just perfect.
I can’t believe it…Frenchy is leading the team in RBI?! That just tells me how many more runs we could have scored if we have a league average outfielder replacing him.
Honestly, the guy can’t hit for average, can’t hit for power, can’t draw any walk, can’t steal any base…to his credit, he has cut his strikeout significantly this year. That’s probably his only hope…hoping his “contacting skill” will eventually translate to something good.
@6 That sounds like a plan!
I just watch the replay, that opposite field homer by Yunel was actually quite impressive.
Jo Jo pulls a John Thomson.
I’m normally very anti retaliation and the Braves just aren’t that type of team anyway with that kind of personality – which can be a bad thing.
However, three hit batters and they put one of our guys on the shelf for 6 months. At some point, you have to send a message that we’re not just going to take that crap.
None of us know for sure whether the Rockies are just a really careless team or going after the Braves, but you have to respond.
The problem is tonight is Kris Medlen’s first major league start and I am anxious to see this kid pitch. If he throws behind the head of the first Rockies hitter, they’ll JOHN LACKEY him and he won’t really get to make his debut.
re: Francouer
I am solidly on board (and yes, he finally was productive yesterday but doesn’t excuse his continued daily non factor hitting) with replacing Francouer, but that unfortunately isn’t something we can turn around and do quickly.
There are a few ways to improve this team, right now, while we work out the Francouer situation in terms of trading for another outfield bat.
(and I like Stu’s suggestion of Jermaine Dye).
The pitching staff, while having a mostly solid season, has some rather blatant holes that could be corrected – TODAY.
Let me start with Kenshin Kawakami. This MAY in fact go down as arguably the worst F.A. signing we’ve made in years. Factoring in the length of his contract, we’re stuck with this complete stiff.
I can’t even be that critical of Wren here because A) we needed another quality starter and B) Kawakami’s Japanese numbers were terrific – and if your numbers are strong in Japan, that has generally translated well to the states.
Assuming Medlen looks as good in Atlanta as he has in Gwinnett, that puts us at 4 high quality starters (with Lowe, Vazquez and Jurrgjens) and we could have a SICK 5-man rotation if we would finally remove Kawakami and put him into the bullpen in place of Buddy Carlyle.
That solves two problems. It gets Kawakami out of the rotation (wheer he’s the obvious problem child) and because we’re stuck with his weighty contract, we still have a Major League role of long relief, and we also dump the rotting carcass of Buddy Carlyle, who just flat out stinks.
And who does Hanson have to kill to get a shot? They keep “waiting” on Glavine’s return, and even if he does come back, who really thinks Glavine can be that effective at this point? Plus, even if Glavine is a competent, healthy starter, just watch them choose MONEY over QUALITY and even if Medlen goes out in his next few starts and mows down opposing offenses, you know they’ll send him down and keep Kawakami – therebye weaking us at 2 rotation spots with Kawakami and ancient Glavine.
The Braves have a chance to win the NL East. We’re not a great team and have offensive and bullpen issues. However, if we went with Medlen and Hanson along with Vazquez, Jurrgjens and Lowe, we’d have a 5-man rotation that no one in the National League could match, and it would greatly neutralize our other issues.
I’m not too optimistic about KK but I think he needs a bit more time before being able to declare him the worst FA signing in years.
Re Diory’s baserunning–I low success rate on steals probably means he’s not a good basestealer which isn’t exactly the same thing as being a good baserunner. It might also mean he has idiot managers who keep giving him the steal sign.
We absolutely need to knock down their first batter. The Rockies need to be sent a message, control your pitchers or pay a consequence. Cox never retaliates and it pisses me off.
Tough talk, dumb idea. If the situation was reversed, and we found out Cox and McDowell gathered all the pitchers for a meeting to say, “Gosh, guys, y’all should really do more to make sure you don’t throw inside — we’re hurting them, and some people think they’re the good guys”, you bloodsporters would be frothing at the mouth. The pitch that hit Infante was a few inches inside — it had just as much chance of hitting the bat. There are two dozen pitches in every game that are that far inside, including those thrown by Braves pitchers. But we caught a bad break, and now we’re supposed to walk around with our chests puffed out. Bah. Go play football.
From the Bowman Blog:
‘The Braves will attempt to find teams that might be interested in acquiring Jeff Francoeur. But given the fact that he’d hit .260 with a .693 OPS in his past 329 games entering Wednesday, he definitely isn’t going to draw the same kind of attention as Kelly Johnson, who becomes less expendable without Infante’s presence.’
Dare we hope?
Bowman: “Infante’s injury is a crushing blow”
Now, it sucks, but it’s not a “crushing blow.” I can think of a “crushing blow” but I would dare not type it. I’m superstitious.
I think we should institute the Furcal rule here – I’ll believe Frenchy’s leaving when there are pictures of him wearing another jersey.
17–Anyone else wonder if it’s misinformation put out by the FO to light a fire under Jeffy’s a$$. But, just for discussion, what teams might match up?
Diory’s fine but I’d rather call up B. Jones and have a platoon in RF (doesn’t Jeffy have ok splits against LHP?). Doing so would run the risk of having Prado as a SS sub for one game (just as Infante’s injury means Jeffy or Diaz would be a CF fill in if Schafer got hurt). If an Esco injury would force him to miss a game then the team could send Jones back down and call up Diory.
I actually expect to see very little of Diory while he’s up, barring an injury to Escobar or Chipper. Prado will spell Kelly at second. I assume Diory’s never played OF does anyone know?
sdp, we all know what that is. There is no need to say it out loud as you said!
#17–No, we dare not hope….Frenchy is with us for the forseeable future…
If this guy plays well, maybe we can turn him for a bat.
The only thing is, will Bobby play him?
so has Peavy been traded to the White Sox? If so you can expect them to hold on to Dye
mlbtr
Nothing like trading ol’ Jeffy at the peak of his value. Who would give up anything for him at this point, when you will very likely get him for little/nothing later by waiver or non-tender? I can’t think of how ATL could have done this any worse.
here’s the link for the Peavy deal
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
It’s waiting on Peavy’s approval, and we all know how that goes.
Yeah, doesn’t look like Dye will be traded for a while, if at all. And it also looks like Towers might be getting his hands on Flowers after all.
I know he wasn’t a beloved Met, but with him being a recent player you’d think metsblog would at least mention that Schoeneweis’s wife was found dead yesterday.
but this sentence from the Peanut blog indicates that KJ is the real trade bait
‘But now, it appears that they’ll simply have to hope that Johnson shows the skills that other organizations covet while batting away from that leadoff spot that has proven so cruel to him over the past few seasons.’
So on the one hand KJ is less expendable because of Infante’s injury on the other he is the best trade bait. I’m confused.
Cerrone mentioned Schoeneweis at the end of the Mets-Dodgers post-game article on MetsBlog.
http://www.metsblog.com/2009/05/21/post-game-dodgers-2-mets-1/
Johnny, I think Peanuts just stating that the Braves are needing KJ to produce and also that it will be from further down in the order, not the leadoff spot
#31, Infante will be back in a month or two. Considering how Kelly has hit this year, replacing him with Prado full time might even be an upgrade (not defensively of course). If the Braves can turn Kelly into the power hitting outfield bat they are missing, then they’ll do it and hope Diory Hernandez can be a good enough backup until Infante returns. I don’t even need to explain why Kelly is better trade bait than Francoeur.
If these DOB/Bowman/AJC rumblings have any truth, it would seem that Mr. Wren isn’t content to sit still. Fact is, he can’t.
We’ve had a good couple days, but, honestly, how long will it take us to score our next 20 runs? Who knows? We don’t play such a generous team every night.
The Infante injury can’t help the dealmaking process, though. We just need to see KJ stay warm for awhile.
Although I’ll miss the Medlen start tonight—I’ll be at Yankee Stadium—I’m pretty excited about it. There’s always something enticing about a hotshot prospect’s first MLB start.
So, the Braves don’t covet the skills that Johnson offers?
And Johnson has a .770 OPS in the leadoff spot for his career, compared to his overall .788. How cruel!
So on the one hand KJ is less expendable because of Infante’s injury on the other he is the best trade bait. I’m confused.
It makes perfect sense. In reality, the best trade bait would be McCann, followed by Hansen, Medlen, Chipper, etc. But those are guys that would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace.
Of the guys that the Braves would be willing to trade, KJ is at the top of the list. He’s demonstrated the ability to perform at the MLB level. Although he’s streaky, his stat line does go up and down, unlike Jeffy’s. He’s put up relatively similar numbers over the course of his career – in that regard, he’s similar to Andruw – up and down during the year, but fairly consistent year-to-year.
But with Infante out, trading KJ would weaken the major league club significantly. While you could make Prado the everyday 2B, it’s questionable whether he could handle the job. (As primary evidence that the Braves don’t like Prado’s 2B defense, notice how little he’s played there so far this year, even with KJ’s struggles.) And playing Prado every day, with Infante out, makes the bench – already less than strong thanks to an overly-large pitching staff and an overly-sucky outfield – a really sad bunch.
So, KJ is the best trade bait, but also now not someone the Braves would be likely to trade. Honestly, I’m not unhappy with that state. I don’t think that the Braves are a trade away from contention. I’d rather see the Braves trade Anderson (or release him) and Diaz, and bring up some of the youngsters to play OF.
Does anyone know what happened to Mrs. Scheonweiss? That’s awful.
Did Matt Diaz insult Bobby’s daughter? Shoot his dog? On a team begging for offense, we leave our best hitting, decent defending outfielder on the bench? I’m in Bizzaro World.
Vandy looked good last night, Stu.
I think this buzz coming out of the people that cover the Braves, finally using stats such as on-base and OPS as they relate to Frenchie, is very interesting. The first step in curing a problem is recognizing that you have a problem, and maybe the Braves are there now.
BTW-someone either here or in the AJC mentioned something about Francoeur’s productive night last night. God lord, he it a single in 3 official at-bats. The fact that he continues to bat behind people who get on-base and that he can thus produce some RBI when he has his occasional hit just isn’t that big of a deal. Until he starts to drive the ball with authority for extra-base hits, he is just the shell of that player who came up in 2005. I just wish I could figure out where that guy went. Who hits 29 HR in their 1st full season, doesn’t get injured, and never tops 15 HR’s in a season, after that?
I’ve got to think that bringing up Medlen at this time is a showcase for a possible trade. We know that we’ll keep Hanson, but with the contracts of our other pitchers, it seems unlikely that Medlen will be in the starting rotation next year. If Medlen does well, a trade package of KJ and Medlen should land us a very big return. At the same time, it looks like putting Prado in full-time at 2B won’t be a big downgrade.
Yeah what up with every lower seed winning in the SEC tournament yesterday?
am i wrong or do the names in the Peavy deal look no where close to what we offered?
On a related note: Prado leads the team in OPS at .972. At this point last year I would have never believed that Prado could lead the team in OPS for even one day.
I do not know who is in the peavy-White Sox deal offer, but baseball economics are worse today than when we offered, meaning his fixed and very high salary looks worse right now.
Robert mentioned it on the last post, but you’re either throwing at a guy or you’re not. And if you’re not, you don’t really worry about hitting him. I never did.
However, if your guys are getting consistently hit, there’s pressure to retaliate. None of my manager’s ever said anything, but you know.
I only hit a guy on purpose once. It was when I was playing for an AAU team (which are pretty intense). One of our guys got hit early, and after our best player hit a homer, he got hit in his next at bat. Did the pitcher do it on purpose? I don’t know. But at that point it didn’t matter.
Their best hitter was their catcher and next inning I beaned him in the a$$. However, again, Robert’s right in that its a completely different mindset. I was kinda of scared actually that I’d end up hurting him.
With regard to the Braves and MLB in general, I’m not sure where the tipping point is, but if it were me, and I got the first two outs, I’d hit Helton today
“I just wish I could figure out where that guy went. Who hits 29 HR in their 1st full season, doesn’t get injured, and never tops 15 HR’s in a season, after that?”
A guy using performance enhancements?
If I’m Peavy-no way do I accept the trade. Best pitcher’s park to possibly the worst? His ERA would go up about 1.50 on average I’d guess.
Plus, if the trade went down, there’s no way we’d get Dye, who I really want.
Thanks for pointing that out sdp. Cerrone seems to keep up on that sort of thing and I was surprised I didn’t find it when I went looking. Can’t imagine that scenario. From what I read on yahoo the 14 year old daughter found her mom on the floor unresponsive (daughter was mom’s from previous marriage if I recall the article correctly). Not sure what happened to her at only 39.
Who backs up center field while Infante is out?
The Braves used 26 different pitchers in 2005, the last year they made the playoffs. Tim Hudson is the only one still with the organization.
How far has Jeff fallen?
The author of that quote is Bill Shanks. I almost fell out of my chair when I read it.
Teahen’s OBP is 100 points higher than Frenchy’s. We shouldn’t be too surprised. Unless some poor GM is one of the 15 people who voted that Frenchy doesn’t suck, we’re not going to get much.
You need to be familiar with the relationship between Shanks, Moneyball, and Francoeur to appreciate the gravity of that quote.
I don’t really think KJ is expendable because despite their current level of success I am not convinced that Prado or Infante are everyday players. Still the only reason that I can figure that Kelly isn’t a Cardinal now is that St. Louis wanted one of our young pitchers in the package.
The most tradeable assets we have are Hanson Medlen Morton. We have always leveraged potential for performance so it will be interesting these next few weeks before the trade deadline.
That DOB and Peanunt are out there parroting the organization about Stenchy is good news for frustrated fans. But hopefully they will be creative and not give too much away for a corner OF bat.
edit: WOW. the Shanks quote is something. But JC does Shanks really have that insider source that he always intimates he has? I always thought he was a bullshitter.
The incredible thing is that Anderson (our cleanup hitter – ACHE) now has a higher BA than Francoeur, but a lower OPS.
I would do Frenchy and Reyes for Teahen tomorrow. Not that Teahen is great but it’s kind of an addition by subtraction thing.
@55,
I’m not sure it matters whether or not Shanks really has inside information. If he is so far down on Francouer, you would have to assume that at least some in the organization are as well. It sure sounds like the Braves are losing patience with Jeffy.
How about Medlen and Francoeur for Nick Markakis of the Orioles? The O’s are desperate for starting pitchers, and just about everything else for that matter. This at least gives them a potential 2nd or 3rd starter and a throw in outfielder in Francoeur. Considering it’s the O’s, Medlen could be their ace by mid-season. We could also include Reyes as an added bonus.
@59,
Are you kidding? Even Peter Angelos wouldn’t be stupid enough to give up Markakis for Francoeur and a prospect. Well, maybe he would be stupid enough.
We could also resign and kick in Chuck James.
Sorry td, O’s wouldn’t do that in a million years. I’m not sure they do it even if you put in Hanson instead of Medlen. Markakis is the cornerstone they want to build on.
O’ well. It looks reasonable on paper if Medlen turns out to be a solid starter. Unfortunately the O’s have nothing else to build on.
I don’t even think they’d do it for Medlin and Hanson.
They just signed Markakis to a 6 year extension and the cat is raking.
I just traded him for Dye and Lackey in my fantasy league and am having second thoughts…
Also, Markakis is Greek. No way Angelos would let him go.
hank,
Any VU fan coulda told you we’d beat LSU last night. It’s a Dr. Jekyll week.
Is Vandy going to do it again tonight, Stu?
Unfortunately, the Orioles have three pitching prospects on the cusp who are better than (or at least as good as) Kris Medlen:
Chris Tillman
Brian Matusz
Jake Arrieta
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2009/267135.html
They won’t be trading Nick Markakis or Adam Jones any time soon, though Felix Pie (.613 ops) is probably available in the way that Frenchy should be available.
I expect we will, Weldon, but I’m less confident than I was before last night’s game. And I’ve been wrong about this team a few times this season.
I can only laugh at the Frenchy/Jo Jo offers, seriously, could there be a package with any more negative value??
Not to cry over spilled milk, but I just checked and Josh Anderson is batting .300 with an OPS of .747 and 8 SBs. Of our 3 starting OFers, Schafer leads them with a .660 OPS. What a horrible move to sign Garrett Anderson! Btw, you guys have convinced me – the Braves getting Markakis is a pipe dream – oh well.
Game thread!
I think if we had someone pitching tonight who had been here the whole series and was a regular member of our team, Helton would probably get one thrown at him, or at least in his general direction (I remember when Ramirez threw a ball five feet behind Erstad the day after he ran over Johnny Estrada and everyone acted all proud that Horacio had “stood up for his teammate” by throwing a ball closer to the Angels’ on-deck hitter than to Erstad.) But with Medlen pitching tonight, I really don’t think we’re gonna see anything unless we have more people get hit tonight. Medlen isn’t gonna want to get thrown out of his Major League debut and the team isn’t goint to ask that of him.
I’ve never been really sure how much value we can get for KJ. I’ve generally thought that what we would get for him probably wasn’t worth the chance of him blossoming the year after he left. If we could package him with someone else and get something worthwhile, I’d be OK with that, but we really can’t do that right now with Infante hurt. He should be back before the trade deadline, though. I’m still not sure I trust Prado with the everyday 2B job.