Gregor Blanco Statistics and History – Baseball-Reference.com.
He is what he is, a player with some real strengths that are outweighed by real, and major, weaknesses. Blanco can do basically three things: he walks, he runs the bases, and he catches the ball. However, the walks are washed out by Blanco’s high strikeout rate, which prevents him from hitting for a high enough average to have a really strong on-base percentage, and his complete lack of power makes him unusable as an everyday player. Because he throws poorly, the Braves are somewhat reluctant to use him in center, even though it’s really not that big of a deal. Therefore, he’s basically limited to pinch-running and being a defensive replacement in left field, which is exactly the role he played last night in his 2010 debut, running for Hinske and stealing second base, then staying in the game in Hinske’s place in left.
Blanco played most of the time in 2008, splitting time between left and center and more than adequately displaying his gifts (a .366 OBP and 13 stolen bases) and flaws (a .251 BA and .309 SLG, only one homer). Last season was a complete disaster, as he hit only .186 in 48 major league PA and a minor league career-low .228 in Gwinnett. This season, he’s hit .294 (which would be a career high) and posted a .392 OBP, though the slugging percentage is still only .375. He’s also eight for nine in stolen bases.
Blanco’s basically a fifth outfielder, which hasn’t worked too well in recent seasons as the Braves have carried only four outfielders. However, the move of Hinske to left suddenly means that Melky’s the fourth outfielder, which makes Blanco fifth. He’s well suited to the role. As the Braves middle-of-the-order hitters (Chipper, McCann, Glaus, and Hinske) are all painfully slow, there’s a good opportunity for him to serve as a pinch-runner. A use like last night, running late in the game for Hinske (or for Glaus with Hinske moving to first) could add a few runs around the edges for a team that often seems to lose a lot of runs due to poor tactical performance. He can also bunt, if Bobby’s determined to use his limited number of bench players that way.
Keytar player for The Blanco Stripes.
I hate Bobby’s bullpen management most of the time, but I will say last night the problem was not bringing in Chavez. The problem was bringing in Chavez for the second inning. I have no problem using Chavez down one run in the 7th, but after that was done, Moylan should have been brought in to pitch the 8th, and give the team a better shot to win it in the 9th. Most certainly after Chavez struggled in the 8th, Moylan should have been brought in instead of ‘The Lisp.’
Don’t Bring Firearms, Knives or iPads To Yankee Stadium – The Consumerist.
U.S. World Cup team announced today.
I think we should sign Smoltz and get him ready to join the pen in a month. Forget about Chavez and Resop, get another 40yr old RH down there
Sickels on Cody Johnson today:
Anybody know what’s going on with our Salcedo?
Blanco was a legitimately useful player for us in 2008. Unfortunately for us, we were so bad that year that he ended up being pretty much an everyday player.
5 — I agree.
7,
He’s playing in the DSL for one month starting in three days then he’s coming to the states on July 1. I don’t know which affiliate he’ll be headed to once he’s here, my guess is Rome or Danville.
Insane quote from the Steinbrenner book: “Torre came under heavy media criticism for… waiting too long to get hot-hitting rookie Melky Cabrera’s youthful energy into the lineup.”
All these pitchers and there is still room for a pinch runner.
Assuming the Toronto organization possesses a realistic outlook (considering they’re competing with New York, Boston and Tampa Bay), can anyone offer a guess as to who they might want in return for Vernon Wells? I believe he would be a nice fit (right-handed power bat) with the Braves.
They’ll take a package of duct tape if someone will relieve them of his ridiculous contract.
@12 Dude – do you have any idea what Vernon Wells is owed?
10:$12.5M,11:$23M, 12:$21M, 13:$21M, 14:$21M
Any word on the starting lineup for tonight?
Looks like 1 Martin 2 Heyward 3 Chipper 4 Glaus 5 McCann 6 Escobar 7 Melky 8 Nate 9 Hanson according to Gameday.
Prado
Heyward
Chipper
Glaus
McCann
Esco
Melkey
McClouth
Hanson
I am a huge Bobby supporter, but anymore bullpen tomfoolery like last night, and I am jumping the fence.
Any word on when this game may start?
Prado is a very good hitter, but I wish he were a little more selective. He just hacked his way out of a walk.
It just started.
Doug Eddings hates Atlanta.
I thought, if anything, he was squeezing Robertson.
Hanley is pretty good.
I don’t think Hanson has hit McCann’s target once, so far.
Ah the wildness and the weird pitch selection. You knew it was coming.
Good Lord, a 3-1 breaking ball after digging a 2-0 hole with breaking balls. McCann frustrates the hell out of me when he’s calling Hanson.
This is ugly.
What’s going on with Tommy?
Get ahead 0-2 by being aggressive, then start nibbling and let the hitter back into the at bat. We see this every time out and it drives me crazy. And of course it drives Tommy pitch count up. A guy with Tommy stuff does not need to nibble.
Other than that last batter, it looked like he couldn’t throw strikes, period.
Chip: “No disrespect to Melky Cabrera…”
Why the hell not?
I wish Bobby would play Infante in LF instead of Melky against lefties.
McLouth sucks.
What the hell is wrong with Hanson.
This is one bad stretch for him.
I think Hanson’s having problems with his release point.
Heyward stole Hanson’s moxie.
McLouth’s contract situation: 11:$6.5M, 12:$10.65M club option ($1.25M buyout)
That helps.
A curveball with the pitcher squaring around. Awesome.
What is the problem here, Brian?
What a terrible throw.
All-star.
That works.
It’s pretty hard for a catcher to have 5 errors before the end of May.
Chip is such an idiot.
That foul pop-up would have never happened if Chipper was still alive.
GASP! Brian just violated the unwritten rules of baseball that Bob Brenly made up!
I miss Yunel. Surprisingly, he has 16 walks to 12 Ks.
The offense is still hibernating.
Yunel’s BABIP is .196.
In the words of Buzz Bissinger, these Marlins announcers are complete douche juices.
Trivia guess: Renteria.
What was the question? I missed it.
Hanson has settled down well. It would be nice if the offense started to hit.
Is it an unwritten-unwritten-rule that you CAN break up a no-hitter with a bunt when there is a shift on?
Nice AB, Tommy.
The question was who the Marlins’ all-time hit leader against the Braves is. They apparently aren’t going to ever give the answer, though.
It takes our pitcher to get a runner home from 3rd with less than 2 out. Well done!
I’ll guess Conine.
Worst hitter on the team, possibly the worst in the league, and he does something our other actual hitters can’t do half the time.
If Chip calls Hanson ‘Big Red’ one more time…
My guess would have been Conine also. Maybe Commando Cody.
Walking the pitcher to lead off is not a good idea.
Wow, all four of those pitches to Robertson were strikes according to the MLB game tracker.
Gametracker was wrong.
Gametracker was definitely wrong. Weird game for Hanson, he either can’t find the plate for batters like the pitcher or he’s throwing mostly strikes. Of course that last strike was right accross the heart of the plate.
This may work out, but after walking 5 batters, an intentional walk to load the bases makes no sense to me.
Look, for how much we’re paying Snitker, he shouldn’t be moonlighting as the Marlins’ third base coach as well.
What a terrible decision by the Marlins third base coach. The runner was a step shy of third when Melky got to the ball.
Melky has actually been one of our best players tonight, how sad is that?
Wow! Getting out of that with only one run was a miracle.
Wow. It’s tough to watch Chipper right now.
I hate it when we make guys like Nate Robertson look like Tom Glavine.
Well…theoretically, that extra $14 million could really be useful next offseason.
You could tattoo a map of the USA on Joe West’s neck. Also, his ejection move sucks.
There’s Melky with that youthful energy again.
This Ford commercial tickles me. It’s not often that a major corporation touts their involvement in car theft.
I’ll live with 6IP and 2RA on a bad night.
I would pinch-hit Ross here.
so who do we have more faith in now, Yunel or Chipper. Unfortunately, Im about ready to see Infante over one of them
deep fly ball, deep fly ball
Is Bobby allowed to bring up a lefty in this situation?
thatll work, cmon Prado
If we don’t score here, we’re going to lose.
So glad Norton is no longer on this team.
this has the same feel as last night
Is this one of the guys we sent to Oakland in the Hudson deal?
Yup. Turns out Dan Meyer’s middle name is “Livingston”. Since Jonathan Livingston Seagull is Schuerholz’s favorite book, I’m surprised he traded Meyer.
Meyer was
Great job, Martin. Come on, Bad Henry County. (If I were Fredi, I would walk Heyward to get to Chipper.)
good job Martin
In the future, everyone on the Marlins will be named Sanchez.
hey Chipper, your turn
Okay, bases loaded, two out, Zombie Chipper at the plate. Again. Well, the only thing ZC can do anymore is walk.
Watch out Jason, you don’t want to anger Chip.
Sanches. That’s an odd spelling.
ill take a walk chip
best we could hope for
GOOD EYE CHIPPERY!
Well, you can tell Fredi’s a Bobby disciple.
Thanks, Marlins!
Troy, buddy, that was positively Francoeurian. How do you swing at the first pitch when the guy just walked in a run?
this is where Ross ended our chances last night, hope Glaus can return the favor
GLAUS!
Glaus with the 2 out RBIZZZZZ.
Nice work, Troy.
And let’s win this damn game.
TROY!
Hey, runs!
wow, 2 out magic
Seriously, did Bobby and Fredi get together before the series and agree to mismanage their bullpens?
why does Ross run for McCann??
how about Glaus slide there!
Don’t give this game to Chavez…
Snitkered… but the Marlins botched the play.
Don’t worry, now that we’re up five, it’s Moylan Time!
good job by Melky telling Glaus where to slide also
Wow, frustrating game turns into a bit of an ass-whipping.
Let’s hold ’em & get a drink on Ocean Drive.
That inning felt good.
maybe this will wake up both Yunel and Melky a bit
Yeh….Glaus was dead there, but Coglan’s off line change up to the plate bailed him out.
melky has been useful today, couple of hits, scored the first run, threw a guy out at home
And Tommy will be in line for the W. Good rebound game.
Cox is getting his regulars a lot of rest. It’s May for crying out loud.
I don’t have a problem with taking some guys out with a 5 run lead here. That’s not to say I cared much for the Sunday lineup against the Pirates. But it’s a long season.
Hinske for Glaus made a lot of sense, as Glaus was limping around, plus as I never tire of pointing out Hinske is a better first baseman than Glaus, plus plus Hinske’s spot is due up second in the inning. Ross for McCann is also a good idea, just getting three innings off will help Brian’s knees.
Glaus still looked out at the plate to me. But hey, I’ll take it.
McLouth has a BABIP of .247 and a LD percentage of 14.9 that’s not terribly low.
Phillies getting shut out by the Mets again tonight.
Damn you Moylan! We’re trying to overwork you then you go and get out of the inning in 6 pitches. Pitch the next inning too!
Phillies have only scored in 1 of their last 35 innings, according to Joe. I dont care to look it up
So after watching the bullpen management of the last two nights I have to wonder if Bobby has accepted a job with the Marlins organization that begins next year….
Oh wow…did Don just get in a dig at Chip?
mr.swings, what did Sutton say?
I know we’ve beaten this to death, but if I was sitting next to Chip I would have to say, “I’m sorry, could you please be quiet? I’m trying to enjoy the game.” My six-year-old daughter provides more interesting commentary. I’m not exaggerating. I’m pretty much to the point where I have to mute the game while he’s talking. How does Fox tolerate this?
Boy, it’s a good thing that the back of the bullpen is rested today, huh?
JC, obviously nobody at Fox listens to Braves games.
The fill in guy (I actually like him but I can’t think of his name…Mike something) asked Don what he thinks about some people’s theory that a closer shouldn’t be used in a non save situation because he won’t have his adrenaline working, etc. Don said that those guys that say that are more interested in being quoted in the papers than anything else and then something about not knowing a jock strap from a (some other thing(I was laughing really hard at this point so I missed the last bit)).
I miss Boog.
Eddings is the only guy in MLB who’s calling the effing rulebook strikezone and Chip is criticizing him for it.
134, Me too.
Bowman…
While looking at potential ways to improve their rotation, the Braves are also keeping close tabs on Mike Minor, who has notched 47 strikeouts and issued 10 walks while working 29 innings in his past five starts for Double-A Mississippi.
With just 13 career professional starts under his belt, Minor may need a little more development at the Minor League level. But the 22-year-old left-hander, who was the seventh overall selection in last year’s First-Year Player Draft, has led some members of the Braves’ organization to believe he is close to being Major League-ready…..
He also said that Resop could be promoted very soon to replace Kenshin or Medlen. Medlen may be too valuable out of the pen
Sciambi took a promotion. This is the same organization that tried to hide it’s association with Skip and Pete by sticking them on the radio after umpteen years and then hired Chip after one of the most derided announcing performances in sports history. Why would a quality guy like Boog want to be associated with that?
If we had an absolute genius of a manager that understands high leverage situations I might buy that Medlen could be more useful out of the pen. Since that isn’t the case, it’s going to be a tough sell that I guy will be more valuable pitching 1 inning than he would pitching 5 or 6.
how many more games like this from Yunel before we can deal him?
I realize that. I was just saying, I miss Boog. He was everything that Chip is not. He really enhanced Joe’s better half, while Chip often brings out the worst in Joe.
They had better not replace Medlen with Resop in the rotation.
Recapped.