“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. ” – Ancient proverb
“Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising.” – Cyril Connolly
Melky Cabrera, it is said, is a talented player. What does that mean? Apparently, that he has a certain amount of physical ability which would allow him to hit the ball hard and run around the bases fast. That he doesn’t do these things, and in fact observation indicates that he is a slow, fat guy who has about as much business playing center field as he does piloting the space shuttle doesn’t seem to make those who have labeled him “talented” to reassess their opinion. Instead, they wonder why such a “talented” player isn’t putting up big numbers.
If it seems like we just went through this, it’s because it’s exactly the story of Jeff Francoeur, 2007-2009. I wrote about that, once or twice, you might recall. Eventually, I grew frustrated with the “talent” crowd, because 1) Francoeur had completely failed to apply his athletic ability towards becoming a useful professional baseball player by, for example, figuring out what pitches to swing at, and 2) said talent was not particularly evident, as what was appearing on my television set, every night, without fail, was a guy with a slow bat and slow legs and poor agility.
Even if you consider “talent” and “athletic ability” to be the same thing, which in a baseball context is debatable, Francoeur’s athletic ability had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer be considered “talented”. It had become time to begin using the past tense, as in “Jeff Francoeur was talented”. Or, now, “Melky Cabrera was talented”. Because it’s just not there anymore. Melky can not run, he can not field, he can not swing the bat hard. He can barely bend over. Saying that he’s talented is like saying that Willie Mays is talented. Exactly alike, as because it was once true but is no more, and is going to stay that way.
Even if you grant that Melky is or was talented, it takes more than talent to be successful at the top levels of professional sports. Look at someone like Andy Roddick, for example, who is seemingly “talented” but can’t really beat anyone when it matters. Talent has to be related to discipline and focus and the ability to adapt and learn and that’s even more true in baseball. Heyward seems to have this and melky (and Francouer) do not.
By the way, the Padres scored what turned out to be the winning run last night when the Rockies’ pitcher failed to cover first base on a ground ball (apparently thinking that Helton was going to second to start a DP, but why wasn’t the pitcher covering anyway to take the throw back?). It loaded the bases and the next guy hit a sac fly to put the Pads up 7-4 and they won 7-6. I know you can’t assume that everything would have gone the same way in the 9th if it had been 6-4 but it was still a crucial run in a critical game. I love seeing the Rockies blow it like that. But if I’m the Rockies, that pitcher is on the next train home. That’s another instance of where, without focus, talent is meaningless. That’s also why the Braves tired of Yunel Escobar.
Lee gets the day off
Infante 4 Heyward 9 Prado 5 Glaus 3 Diaz 7 Gonzalez 6 Cabrera 8 Ross 2 Minor 1
@1
Just checking…would that be 2003 US Open Singles Champion Andy Roddick?
Sorry, if I’m overly sensitive about my favorite tennis player. I guess this comes from hearing my favorite baseball team only “won one.”
More Brooklyn Decker pictures, please.
If I were a Braves fan on the West Coast, I might try to get today off.
In West Coast time:
9:00 – Braves / Nats
12:00 – Pads / Rox
4:00 – Phils / Fins
7:00 – LA / SF
Nice day. See every playoff contender live.
@2
I know this comes up a lot on getaway days, but that is not the lineup of a playoff team. Of course, I suppose you could say that about the Padres, and I imagine that if I was a Padres fan I would say that, but none of that changes the fact that that lineup sucks.
Speaking of talent, anyway.
@3,
Sorry Kevin. To be honest, I forgot that Andy had won in 2003. He should have beaten Federer at Wimbledon. Comparing Roddick to Melky is probably not an apt comparison. 🙂
@6 Thanks, Marc.
Stickin’ up for my guy.
Your point was well presented, anyway, and appreciated the Padres-Rockies info.
Anyone for tennis?
No One for Melky anymore
Hooray for wild card.
9 AM start time? That’s a productivity drain.
I know this comes up a lot on getaway days, but that is not the lineup of a playoff team.
I think Bobby can be forgiven for not running the same bunch out as last night. I’m glad to see Melky in there against a lefty and that we are not just punting the eighth spot with one of the lefties.
Talent? How about
Potential? Jeff Francouer’s was
Limitless, I’m told.
I’m never glad to see Melky out there. Frankly, I’d rather see Infante in the outfield with Conrad at 3B and Melky’s fat ass on the bench.
I’m not smart enough to prove a correlation here, but we sure were doing better when Conrad and Hinske were getting consistent at-bats.
It’s not Andy Roddick falut that his prime came at the same time two of the best to ever play the game were in their prime.
Andy Roddick is the best male tennis player in America.
I think Bobby is giving McCann, Lee and McLouth two days off here because next week is huge and will probably decide our playoff hopes.
The rankings don’t reflect this yet, but I’d take Sam Querrey over Roddick or any other American at the moment.
I think Lee on the bench improves our chances of winning. His glove has been sharp, but the bat limp.
My e-mail sig has a quote from Steven King’s book Duma Key: “Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won’t carry a quitter.”
if you don’t learn from hitting coaches, or go for the Bob Wickman physique you have essentially quit as a ballplayer.
Nate has had plenty of days off, no reason not to start him over Melky
@4 I am a west coast braves fan. Unfortunately today is going to be the busiest day of my week. Oh well, I’ll at least listen in on the internet radio.
Side note: Will someone please tell me how long the melk-man has left on his contract? Is he even a free agent? How can the braves toss his dead weight over board next year?
#18 – non tender him, it would be very easy and it should be done
Of course, our starter today also is an interesting case of the word “talent.” Most people believe that Mike Minor will be able to retire major league hitters consistently, but he’s not quite there yet because he needs to learn what he can and cannot do with his pitches against an MLB lineup. He will have “talent,” but he’s not there yet.
So we send him out there against lesser lineups in the minors, and thus against Washington, to learn what to do.
I’m confused about what’s going on with the Heisman trophy. Can someone enlighten me? None of the articles really specify why Bush is giving it up other than “improper benefits.”
“they wonder why such a “talented” player isn’t putting up big numbers”
…that’s gotta be the best sentence I’ve read all day.
He murdered his ex-wife. Ha ha, no, that’s not grounds for forfeiting the trophy.
Allegedly
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Agggghhh. I try to say something nice about Minor, and this happens.
Time to go to lunch. Unreal
Tim Hudson’s wall has now hit JJ and Minor in the face….shut this kid down
28- If we do that, then who pitches? Someone has to start games for us, you know.
We suck.
Four man rotation?
So I guess they’ll be having all the past Heisman winners pass lie-detector tests certifying they never took anything the NCAA might consider impure?
Slippery slope. Was looking forward to the Heisman Committee elegantly shutting the haters out. Now I’ll never know.
Far be it from me to defend an alum of the University of Spoiled Children, but the hypocrisy levels are rising faster than Jimmy Johnson’s, uh, hilarity factor.
And Vince Young just needs to shut up and prove he’s not crazy.
Melky did the right thing in that plate appearance: nothing. Just let Lannan miss the plate.
#29 – does it matter at this point? this is his 3rd straight starts getting hammered and he’s said that his arm is feeling tired.
leadoff double and nothing…fail
I never thought I’d be thankful to be at work.
@32
Vince Young didn’t do anything wrong regarding the Heisman. He said he’d gladly accept it if offered.
We can get four.
38,
Doubtful. Lannan is left-handed after all.
How sad is it that Troy Glaus, who was demoted for being worthless, is hitting cleanup in a September pennant race?
If the Phillies really want to shut the Braves down next week they should just let Jamie Moyer throw nine innings of rehab pitches for all three games. He’d probably get a perfect game and a couple of no-hitters out of it.
Awesome. That’s a new way to lose a hit.
Edit: I find Yahoo’s way of describing that play inadequate: “M. Prado singled to first, J. Heyward out at second”
Jayson is not only a great player, he’s as honest as Abe Lincoln. Sign him to a 10 year extension, tonight!
41,
No perfecto for Moyer – Heyward would coax a walk or two. No hitter – without a doubt.
The baseball gods have
turned their backs on the Bravos.
They demand haikus.
#40—-I agree that Troy has struggled, and is clearly not the player he was even in May, but that said, I believe I’d rather trot him out there everyday than D.Lee.
#40 – not as sad as Bobby continuing to fill out lineup cards with Melky in them. Or the Braves continuing to lose series against Washington at home
If it were not 1
PM, I would be half in
the bag right now, bleggggggh.
That’s three boys.
18 consecutive innings against the Nationals pitching staff without scoring a run.
Ugh.
I think we’ve checked out of this season, mentally.
We seem to forget how many outs there are a lot lately. That seems like a symptom of a bigger problem.
Wow, they didn’t know there were 3 outs? That’s embarassing.
Since we don’t use Matty D. much, could he hit every other batter in the line-up today?
Maybe something here…
Edit: Screw you new guy. Nice f’ing patience.
Melky is going to prove haters wrong here.
Melky will come through.
Better than nothing I guess…
56, 57- You were right after a fashion.
Melky got a cheap rbi, that should keep him in the lineup for three more days.
Getting ready to fly back to the UAE and I just put on the game and was about to say “and the band played on”–but we scored!!
I just opened my first beer. I’m not much of a drinker, but I don’t have to work tonight, and it’s hard watching this. Shit, I’m out of Keystone Light.
@51
Obviously the only thing to do is to send them all to Toronto and receive worse players in return.
Did anyone catch Joe Morgan saying that when the Braves acquired Melky they were expecting a .300 avg and 30 HR power? He’s such a unique player because he can play all three outfield positions and bat from both sides of the plate, but he doesn’t do any of those things at even an average level, except for possibly right field, we only saw him out there when Heyward was hurt, but I think he made some of his best plays out there.
64- When was this? I’m sure I would have heard about Morgan being arrested for the massive amounts of drugs required for him to make that statement.
Yeah, I heard him say it. Joe can be pretty wacky sometimes.
#64, #65 He actually said this Sunday night against the Cards. He said that the Braves expected him to be a .300 hitter who could hit up to 30 hrs. Obviously, Joe is senile.
Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
Chipping away
Two bases on that? Way to get greedy.
A hit with RISP! Will wonders never cease.
going 3-4 at home vs Stl and Was is a great way to end your playoff hopes
End playoff hopes? No matter what happens today, the team’s still in line for a playoff spot. If the Giants lose, then they haven’t even lost any ground.
I didn’t know Moylan could move like that!
The problem is the team always need to win at home to get some sort of cushion because they play so badly on the road. I wouldn’t feel so bad about it if their road record wasn’t so poor. Maybe it will reverse this time but you can’t feel good about going to NY and, especially, Philadelphia if you are coming off a bad homestand. And you can’t keep counting on the teams behind you losing.
Getting to the playoffs is one thing. This team, the one playing like it is today (and like it has the past few weeks even), will not go far in the playoffs barring extreme bursts of luck. I’ll take a lucky playoff series win any day of the week, but it’s not something you can hang your hat on.
At the very best, this team could beat someone like the Giants or the Padres. They could not beat a Yankees or Rays.
Of course, the time has passed for upgrading the team so that it can compete. It has to make do with what it has, and what it has has to start playing better if there’s any hope for succeeding past the regular season.
Great at bat right there. At least he didn’t kill anybody with the bat.
Gonzalez < Escobar
I know I'm gonna get crap for that, but down the stretch you gotta admit it's true.
Ho Hum, Melky’s on base again.
Great reverse jinx by Mac today.
A Gon has had his head in his ass all game.
Mac should post tomorrow on how Derrek Lee was never really elite and will never again even be the pretty good player he once was.
Then he’ll get on base at least three times.
Not Ross’ best day.
@81, Why stop there? Rip this whole team.
I miss Chipper way more than I thought I would.
Well, at least Diaz and Prado are hitting.
I’m not giving up on this season (or this game) by any means. But, a rational fan had to see this coming. Pre-ASB the Braves were playing well, but also won quite a few “lucky” games. For a good stretch there, every bounce and call went their way.
At the same time the Phillies were banged up, but were only going to get healthier.
Then the moves came. Oswalt has been a great deal for the Phills (at least short term) and nobody the braves acquired has done very much at all.
But who knows, baseball is a weird game and still far too many of them left to count anything out.
Go Braves!
The Braves have done an excellent job of spreading out their hits so far today – 11 baserunners through 6 innings and only 2 runs! …wait, so that’s not the goal? You want to score runs efficiently? Ohhhh… never mind then.
“Ski” should play more.
Wait, that wasn’t scored an error? Seriously?
Does Bobby get a bonus for each sacrifice bunt? Because that sure as hell won’t improve our chances of, you know, winning.
I’m online, but it sounds like a textbook Prado to me. If you misplay it so badly you don’t even touch it, they call it a hit.
Yeah, you don’t even avoid the force play when the guy’s already on second.
Maybe he just wanted Omar to get the PA without it hurting his average so he can get the batting title.
Maybe they couldn’t decide which guy to put the error on, since like three guys could have caught that ball.
They should allow the scoring E-Sun.
Play for one here. It isn’t a bad move.
Another leadoff double wasted; the story of the season.
Good thing the guy competing for the batting title bunted.
Infante leads the league in batting average. There’s a reasonable shot he drives Hinske in.
Instead, we get nothing.
Smitty, I cannot agree with that. Not down by two, and for damn sure not with a .340 hitter giving the other team an out.
Why in the name of God would a potential batting champion lay down a bunt with no outs and a runner on second in a two run game?
4 hits, 4 runs vs. 9 hits, 2 runs
Then, on the screen appears a “THANKS BOBBY!” sign. I do not know if the director is trying to be funny.
I guess that was redundant and didn’t need to be posted…
We’re going to purposely make outs all the way to the playoffs!
PLAYOFFS!? PLAYOFFS!?
I really don’t think Bobby called for that bunt. It looked like he was bunting for a hit. Give the guy a break.
I’m watching. He was definitely bunting for a hit.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said recently I had some hope… I’m pretty sure I don’t have much of it left now.
That was nice hustle, Agony.
Can I officially hate AG now?
Awful.
Wow, I mean I can’t even describe how much I hate having that guy on this team.
Agony is having an Escobarian day, pouting and all.
I’m pretty sure AAG argued balls and strikes earlier. Maybe we can file a protest that he was not ejected from the game, hurting our chances at winning.
Jorge Sosa vs Roy Halladay tonight. I wonder how that will turn out.
I care more about Bilingsley/Cain, which is a great matchup. Go Dodgers.
Craig Kimbrel is going to be outstanding if his control stays, well, under control.
Melky sucks.
If I read the Braves Journal correctly, I’d say the level of hate towards Braves are in this order.
1, Melky—–not even close. I for one would rather have Francouer out there.
2, Derrick Lee—–Has done nothing, and is standing in the way of Freddie.
3, Agony—–His rare heroics just don’t mesh with his week or two of suckitude.
4, Farnsworthless—-Possibly has more to do with blowing that game in Houston a few years ago, than current disabilities.
5, Lowe——The money issue is the big problem most Braves fans have with D. Lowe, to me he at least gives you a 50-50 chance.
6, Ankiel—–In Rick’s defense I don’t think people really hate him, they just realize he’s not very good.
7, Glaus—–His sojourn to the minors actually helped his likability, at least it seems like Troy wants to win.
8, Snitker—–An idiot.
9, TP—–An idiot with no discernable ability to coach hitting.
10, Bobby—–Well, the manager always has his detractors, and yeah he’s making up the line-up, but I just can’t bring myself to criticize the man.
Notably absent from the list: McClouth, who in the last two weeks has actually resembled a major leaguer.
Well, that was pathetic.
Great. Just f***ing great. One bad pitch by Minor, and these guys barely even tried after that. They accepted defeat in a way they never would have a month ago. What is with these guys?!?
And not even surprising….
@117 that’s pretty spot on!
Is it possible to still go to the playoffs after losing a series to the pirates and then one to the nationals? Isn’t there some kind of detroit lions theory out there very similar to this situation?
Atlanta (AP) – The Fulton County Medical Examiner officially pronounced the Braves’ hope of winning the World Series dead today at 3:04 PM EDT. While their hope of reaching the playoffs are still alive, an informed source was quoted as saying, “Things are looking grim for that as well.”
Hey Mac – just saw a mention that Mikhail Torrance “collapsed in Florida”. Hope the kid is alright – always liked his game.
Hopefully fatigue is the culprit here. I’m not ready to write the team off until I see them this weekend.
Recapped.
@119,
I understand you are frustrated but how do you know they “barely even tried?” How do you know they they “accepted defeat.”
IMO, the team played over its head for most of the year and the combination of limited talent and the natural reversion to the mean has caught up with them. This is a lineup that all year was barely adequate–they were doing it with mirrors. A team with no power or speed. September is bad for teams like that. All along, success for the team was predicated on (1) Chipper bouncing back; (2) Glaus providing some pop at first; (3) shortstop (Escobar)providing punch; (4) McLouth doing well in CF; (5) Heyward contributing; and (4) deep starting pitching.
Several of these things did happen–the pitching and bullpen were strong most of the year, and Heyward has obviously been a contributor. Many of these things did not happen, yet the Braves were in first place most of the year. Without Chipper and a functioning first baseman, this was maybe an 85-88 win team.
They might still slip into the playoffs but, right now, they aren’t a playoff team. My deeper concern is will the Braves be better next year? Unless they make a lot of moves, they will still have holes in LF, CF, 3B (even if Chipper comes back, will he be any good), 1B (Freeman will be young and he is no Jason Heyward as a prospect), and, arguably, SS. I think there is also a big question mark about JJ after the way he has pitched in recent weeks. Heyward should be better and I assume Wren will make some moves during the offseason, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of immediate help on the way.