Do you realize that this could be the very last series that Jeffy plays in Atlanta? I mean, even if anyone wants him to play for them next year, it would probably be the Royals.
Do you realize that this could be the very last series that Jeffy plays in Atlanta? I mean, even if anyone wants him to play for them next year, it would probably be the Royals.
From the last –
Coco Crisp was a 25 year old defensive whiz CF coming off a 117OPS+/4.6 WAR season when that trade was made.
1. Infante 2B, 2. Heyward RF, 3. Prado 3B, 4. Lee 1B, 5. McCann C, 6. Diaz LF, 7. Gonzalez SS, 8. Cabrera CF, 9. Jurrjens P
jc’d from last: the giants already spoke out about their reasoning for signing ross had more to do with blocking him from contenders.
mlbtr also views him as a non-tender candidate.
#1 – Id take him in CF right now
Re: the Freeman talk –
I’ve got to say, if Freeman turns out to be even a league average or slightly above league average 1B, it will be refreshing to have a dynamic young player at that position after some of the bozos and stiffs we have had manning that position the last few years. Sure, LaRoche was solid at times, but he came with a few quirks that made him hard to watch.
I anticipate big things from Freeman and look forward to seeing him get some playing time in September.
Peanut tweets that the Braves are recalling KK and are optioning the Lisp to Gwinnett. Must want a fresh long reliever.
Lisp does a yeoman’s job to keep the Braves in it yesterday and today he gets sent down. Sigh.
Looking at the stats, I just noticed something I found interesting: Heyward and McCann are having almost identical seasons.
Heyward: .272/.385/.464 109 Hits, 67 BBs, 24 Doubles, 15 HRs
McCann: .278/.385/.475 106 Hits, 60 BBs, 21 Doubles, 18 HRs
The only significant difference is strikeouts, with Heyward recording about 30 more in only about 20 more ABs.
Obviously their different positions color the comparison, but that’s a hell of a rookie year to produce at the same level offensively as one of the team’s best and most consistent hitters over the last few seasons.
@5, Fall flu season is right around the corner. We need KK in case somebody takes ill, remember?
@7, and having an injured hand for a good bit of the season to boot.
#6 – Im hoping neither need to be used, unless, Lowe is injured. Which may not be a bad thing.
I take that back. Id rather see the Lisp or KK over Lowe or Farnsworth
Would love to see the rookie help carry us through September.
It’s almost Labor Day & we’re playing meaningful baseball. Feels good.
Hopefully Farnsnotsoworth gets dfa’ed this week.
Maybe they’re showcasing KK’s bench-sitting ability so that the M’s will make a last-minute play for him.
Or maybe they want to make sure he can be on the post-season roster. For some reason.
Heyward’s August power stats are very promising that he is fully healthy or made the next adjustment ot how he is being pitched.
A nice look at David Ross.
Lisp needs a few off days after 4 innings. Can he come back 9/1? sending Minor down % skipping start good idea. What is his limit on innings?
@7: McCann for Rookie of the Year!
@16,
I think he has to be off the team for 10 days unless someone gets hurt, even with call ups.
The final authority on McCann’s home run trot:
http://tinyurl.com/29vw9ob
Thanks 19. Someone told me that HR trots average 360 feet. Less for LH
#16 – Braves said they wouldnt limit Minor’s innings. Looks like he’s in the rotation from here on out
I don’t wish injuries on people, but Derek Lowe needing Tommy John would be nothing short of … amazing.
This may be blasphemy, but I wrote a piece on Yahoo about the P word.
@19
ya know what’s funny about that site? adam rosales has ran the bases faster on a regular homerun than some did on an inside the parker.
#23
Playoffs.
Yeah, I said it.
You’d rather have Kawakami on the post-season roster than Martinez.
There may not be 5 Starting Pitchers on post season roster
Courtesy of Fangraphs, here’s something for Figgins fans. It’d take much more than merely dumping KK before I’d take on Figgins and his $25m+ tab.
INF Chone Figgins
2009 WAR: 6.1
2010 WAR: 0.2
The most dramatic decrease of all, Figgins has gone from one of the best third basemen in baseball last year to one of the worst second basemen this year. In his first year in Seattle, Figgins has hit a measly .248/.336/.292 despite a modest .306 BABIP; after a .358 wOBA with the Angels last season, Figgins is at .298 this year, well below league average. Despite moving to second base, the positional advantage hasn’t mitigated enough to put Figgins where he should be. After a UZR/150 of 17.9 at third base in 2009, Chone is at -13.8 at second this season. Simply put, Jack Z can’t be pleased.
I doubt that any of the Figgins fans were unaware of any of that.
Maybe we’ll trade for Colby Rasmus this offseason.
So apparently TLR doesn’t like Colby Rasmus. TLR jokes aside, Braves 2011 CF?!?!?!?
30,
Damn, beat me to it.
We probably saw the same Aaron Gleeman tweet. :)
@28
so, he saved 31 runs at 3b last year and all of a sudden he’s went knoblauch on us? i’ve basically come to a conclusion that defensive stats piss me off. with as much as they fluxuate, how can they be trusted?
The Mariners completely mishandled Figgins, who should have been left at third, but they decided they had a third baseman already. They didn’t.
Still bitter that the Braves didn’t draft Rasmus, but noooooooooooooo, they wanted Joey Devine.
Just think of the Chipisms we’d have to endure if Devine actually was a part of the team anymore.
DowneasterJC @ 36,
That is Divinely fisted. Or, that is fisted off the divine arm of Devine.
Meet ‘ rel=”nofollow”>Frenchicuno.
23- Playoffs? Don’t talk about- playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?
#36
Chipisms are nothing compared to the poisonous phenomenon that is Yankee radio announcer John Sterling, America’s most prolific ear rapist.
You don’t need a TV announcer to know what’s going on—a good director will suffice. Radio is rather different.
So is AAR the whipping boy if we don’t make the playoffs?
J/k Great write up
@41, he has to be. Yunel’s gone, and we need somebody.
Well, there’s always time for a Ralph Branca moment… but let’s not go there.
Here’s to a 4-game lead with 3 to play.
It’s all Bob Wickman’s fault. Or Mark Teixeira’s.
I blame Kolb
I’ve enjoyed this past year of looking at Mets lineups and going “Ye Gods, that’s scary.”
If we walk Braves-killer-in-training Angel Pagan and David Wright each time they’re up, how many runs would you expect the Mets to score?
Good article, AAR. It must take a lot of courage to write for the trog horde over at yahoo.
Basketball always suited Sterling better when he was here — having constant action to describe helped keep him from his worst impulses. And I never tired of hearing “Dominique est magnifique!”
Thanks, Weldon. Suffice it to say, there are a whole lot of readers over there.
46- This strikeout of Wright is thus a very good sign.
See, that’s the thing I never understood.
NYC is supposed to be cosmopolitan and avant garde and cool, right? Yet they hire John Sterling who would sound hokey if he was doing the Lexington Legends games.
“Thu-uhuuhuhuhuh Yankees win!” What the hell is that? Sounds like a storyline off of Seinfeld yet the most storied franchise in baseball, the landed gentry, nay, the blueblooded royalty of baseball is announced by
John Sterling.
At least he’s more listenable than Hawk Harrelson. I literally want to go Elvis everytime MLB Channel replays his homerun calls.
Easy answer: George Steinbrenner, who wanted a cheerleader, not a legit broadcaster.
When he had legit TV broadcasters like Tony Kubek and Jim Kaat, he essentially drove them to quitting. The shenanigans that went on (even before YES network) would make your head spin.
Nice start, guys.
Good 2 strike swing right there. Get the run in.
Omar being Omar.
AAG being AAG.
Derek Lowe refuses to confirm elbow soreness.
Ugh, terrible. My intelligence feels insulted by the organizational mouths that tried to tell us AAG is just as good as Yunel, defensively.
“We should have taken him out back and shot him when we had the chance.”
Yeah, AAG really should have had that one.
You can’t blame AAG for not fielding that hop.
It’s going to suck going into the stretch run knowing that you can’t be sure which Hanson and Jurrjens is going to show up every fifth day.
Jair has been spending too much time with Hanson.
Sometimes it’s hard to see from TV if a ball changes trajectory because of a funny hop. As far as it missed his glove I’m inclined to grant that the ball jumped unusually high on him. I don’t think he’s so bad to miss a straight ground ball that far without it taking a bad hop.
I’m more concerned about JJ’s lack of control.
If AAG does his job, then the inning would have ended without a run. Jurrjens got the groundball he needed.
Also, if the organization actually believes Gonzalez is as good as Escobar in the field, then that does not bode well for the future. Of course, I don’t believe they actually do believe that. I mean, I can’t.
melky’s back to his old tricks. his .690 ops in august just got a little worse. there was that one game though…
As usual, the pitcher’s spot is more dangerous than AAGMELK.
YES!!!!!!
SUCK IT METS!
Crushed.
JASON!!! I like these two-out rallies.
mac, that’s not fair. melky is much worse than aag.
i would give heyward a big ATTA BOY if i were at turner.
J-Hey!
Touchdown!
Barrled up.
JHEY!!!!
That fan that messed up Davis on that play, fan of the game!
As I mentioned earlier, Heywards HR stroke has been coming back this month.
you guys are being a little rough on AAG with that grounder. The ball took a pretty nasty hop.
Let’s see if Jurrjens can hold a lead…
JASON HEYWARD WITH A BOMB!!!
Atlanta Braves’ Jason Heyward tops National League Rookie of the Year candidates list – ESPN.
It would be nice if he threw strikes.
Goddamn, JJ.
JJ needs to find his command or Bobby may need that quick hook again
Nice.
thats a little more like it JJ
heyward really crushed that 2-out rally last inning, really shut it down.
If anyone is “watching” on gameday or the like it seems that mlb.tv is free tonight.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?affiliateId=mlbMENUMLBTV&tcid=nav_mlb_video
JJ with 5 Ks—Wright twice, Davis twice & Jeffy.
Let’s pour it on here.
why do we try that with Francoeur? he can hit one pitch and thats a fastball. He’ll swing at anything
I think JJ just took my previously stated concerns and wiped his arse with them.
Jeffy sucks.
@85 It’s on ESPN where I am.
Tomas – I am getting prompted for a UID and password
Francoeur sucks.
Lee learning to take advantage of their Jeffy problem.
Derrek Lee would rather be lucky, or hitting it toward Frenchy, than good.
LOL Failcoeur
Canizares 1-1 with a homer and a walk so far tonight for Gwinnett. I really wonder why he hasn’t gotten a shot at the DH (if his defense really is that bad — as in worse than Glaus on crutches) for some random AL team when you see some of the stiffs being trotted out for some clubs.
Take a bite, Mr. Wright…
ESPN announcer talking about “little ball.” You mean like Heyward’s shot going a “little” over 400 feet?
LOL F4ancOOOr
Awesome BMac!
Dang
91 —
Yeah, it seems they fixed whatever was the issue. I read it elsewhere and just checked the Braves game and it was working fine then. Sorry, Spike.
#96 – Kansas City should try it
I’m going to venture a guess that “never” is the answer to the Trivia Question.
The Mets have a collection of Braves’ rejects now, I just realized. Francoeur, Hessman, L. Hernandez, Blanco, Acosta, and Dessens.
#103 – I agree
question for those who didnt see it – When was the last time the Braves won 46 or more of their 1st 64 home games?
Gotta love getting into that pen early on game 1 of 4.
actually 1898 – Boston Beaneaters were 50-14
Wow, the Mets pulled Misch early (3 IP, 59 pitches). He wasn’t looking very effective – but still, surprising.
You have to wonder about going into the bullpen that early when you aren’t really in any must-win situation. Something like that could come back and hurt.
I’m all for it of course. Especially if the Braves can hit the bullpen guys.
JJ’s fastball is at 89
Get the bullpen up…I don’t trust JJ at all.
102- Looking at the stats, the Mariners (584 OPS from DHs) and Angels (656) should be thinking about Canizares, too.
Jerry Manuel looks like such a douche.
JJ’s been playing with fire. Good thing it’s the Mets.
Wright & Davis have a combined 10 LOB tonight.
FWIW, JJ’s at 88 pitches thru 5.
He’s in line for the win!
JJ struggling with the command tonight, but at least he hasn’t gone full Lowe.
Wright & Davis have a combined 10 LOB tonight
A fact that will be mentioned prominently re Wright in tomorrows papers, should the Braves win.
“Everybody knows you NEVER go full Lowe.”
Lowe needs to be added to the dictionary somehow
I don’t get it… Manuel bought the same glasses as Joe maddon… why does his team still suck?
Jason hits those liners too hard sometimes.
the PRADO!!
Luke Scott would be a nice addition for a LF platoon with Diaz
Scott Diamond for Gwinnett tonight
7IP 0H 0ER 0BB 6K
Why the hell is Jurrjens still pitching, anyway?
well Heyward made that look very difficult….shouldve been able to make that play
that was ugly.
Go get him Bobby
Jurrjens hasn’t had great stuff tonight–or at least control–but with better defense he should still have a shutout. Dammit.
TAKE HIM OUT.
Well Josh Thole isn’t supposed to hit balls that far. Besides, if there’s one guy we should want to be extra cautious, it’s Heyward.
JJ nibbling again…
5BB’s and we’re in the 6th with no outs….its a 2 run game…and Bobby cant come with the hook
JJ has been so umimpressive lately. Please take him out.
atta boy JJ
There is no justification whatsoever for criticizing Heyward on that play. None.
I think the reason that some of JJ’s fastballs are slower than others is because some are 2-seamers (the slower ones that tend to sink a little) and others are 4-seamers.
6 walks. Wow.
bring in EOF to face Carter
Nolan Reimold broke up Diamond’s no-hitter leading off the 8th.
#135 – that should be the case, but i dont think he’s hit 92 all night. JJ can top out at 95-96 or at least he has before.
6 BBs and 8 Ks. That’s a lot of pitches.
Outside of a few stretches, Jair was awful. 6 walks against this lineup is pathetic.
139 — The radar gun has read 93 a few times, I remember Francoeur whiffing on a 93 MPH 4 seamer up in the zone.
I don’t think he or the Mets hitters had any idea where the ball was going.
is this Carter’s 1st AB vs a LH’r?
#142 – gotcha
nicely done EOF
I was half expecting AAG to screw that up.
Another chance for Heyward, against a righty if they leave him in
Frenchy was supposed to have an arm once, wasn’t he?
Have a night, kid.
someone’s throwing Coke bottles at Frenchy….now the crowd is booing him for gesturing towards them
LOL someone throwing a coke bottle at Jeffy
i dont care if it’s francoeur or not, that is classless and i hope the person guitly gets his/her ass kicked out.
153, I think they go ahead and arrest you these days.
the PRADO!!!
I love JHEY!! – btw, he’s very lucky he didnt just break his right hand. It got stuck behind him with that head first slide
Acosta sucks.
If Heyward weren’t on our team, this just wouldn’t have been fair.
I’m sorry but did anyone else heart stop seeing Heyward go in head first?
Heyward scored from first. On a single.
Wow – nice slide.
Wow, Heyward.
Very nice slide.
Heyward has the wingspan of an albatross.
That was spectacular by Heyward.
top 4 guys in the order
9 for 15…6R 8RBI
What a bone-headed call by Snitker. I mean, Heyward is amazing, but we don’t need to risk a play at the plate with a 4-run lead.
165 — I thought the same thing.
Did Snitker wave him in? I get the feeling that Heyward is just aggressive on the bases on his own accord.
Jason Heyward has raised his BA 23 points over the past ten days.
@167
Snitker was waving. It was a “You better hurry up” wave.
scott diamond pitched a 2 hit shutout for gwinnett and is back to being the prospect he should be.
OUT MACHINE!
Replay showed Stinker in full Jimy Williams windmill mode.
I didn’t see Snitker at all in the picture (not claiming he didn’t windmill Heyward on), but Jason has run through a stop sign to score at least once.
MCCANN!
That ball landed in Rome.
That was enormo.
LOL Mets
177- Honestly, that ought to be their official name. “After this series, the LolMets will go to Wrigley to play the RoflCubs…”
Ah.. Farnsworth. Good thing McCann hit that homer last inning to take the lead to six.
Of course, it’s not really a comedy without Oliver Perez.
12 million dollar mop up guy.
why does Fanrsworth throw 92-93 fastballs when he can hit 98?
EJ does a good Vince Dooley impression.
I think Bob Davidson wants to go home.
Mets 1 for 14 with RISP tonight.
Houston taking care of St Louis tonight
Anyone know the last time we saw a first pitch swing from J-Hey?
Castillo vs. Farnsworth there was classic knife to a gun fight. Not that Farnsworth was anything special.
187- More like a spork to a pie fight.
heyward could easil be 5 for 5 tonight. what a night for the kid.
Ike Davis is laughable on defense.
183- More evidence that Davidson wants to call it a night.
That does seem to be the case.
I dont like injuries, but I really have mixed emotions about Lowe testing his elbow tomorrow. A full year of insurance $$ cant hurt
I just tuned in. For obvious reasons, I hate this f’in team.
The players who have 20 year old seasons like Heyward fall into three categories:
1) Turn of the century players.
2) Ones who have freak accidents that permanently damage their eyesight after almost four incredible seasons.
3) All Time Greats.
A-Rod and Griffey are the only two in my baseball memory who have been so good so young.
Wagner vs. Frenchy.
Not even fair. Except for that one time.
Joey, I’m assuming that #2 is a reference to Tony Conigliaro. Every so often, I take a look at Tony C’s stats, which he put up during the height of the raised-mound pitcher era in the late ’60s, and am absolutely stunned; he was pretty damn near the best hitter in the league starting when he was about 19 years old.
Anybody remember that dude in his prime? Just how good was he?
sweet way to end this one
LOL Jeffy
An appropriate end to a wonderful evening. Now Go Dodgers!
cmon Dodgers
Muck those Fets.
dodgers on the board first
Dodgers lead by 1.
Go Dodgers!
That felt dirty
Recapped.