Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – July 29, 2012 – ESPN.
Hi there! I’m feeling a little stronger, so I felt up to a drop-in to do a recap. I’m not back full-time yet, but I’m hoping to work my way in. I’m at home, and largely confined to bed rest, but my brain is more or less recovered, at least.
The Braves finished off their sweep of the Phillies with a game that was close for most of the way, but which became comfortable with a contribution from the Phillies’ bullpen. They took an early lead, getting two runs in the first off of Roy Halladay. With two out, Jason Heyward hit a laser that just cleared the right field fence, though it was hit so hard it might have gone through had it collided. Chipper Jones singled, Freddie Freeman walked, and Chipper scored on an Uggla double. David Ross reached on a strikeout, but Freeman didn’t advance, and Paul Janish fouled out, leaving two men on.
In the third, Chipper made it 3-0 with a solo homer. But Shane “Burn-In-Hell” Victorino homered leading off the fourth to cut it to 3-1, and in the sixth the roof, if it didn’t cave in, was definitely starting to leak. Burn-In-Hell singled leading off, and with two out stole second. He scored on a Carlos Ruiz single, then Fredi relieved Hudson (at 94 pitches) for the Struggling Jonny Venters. Venters allowed a single and gave way to the Surprisingly Effective Chad Durbin. Ross had a passed ball allowing the runners to move to second and third, but the batter grounded out, and the Braves’ lead was preserved at 3-2. The Phillies didn’t really threaten again.
In the seventh, Tyler Pastornicky, of all people, got a rally started to more or less put the game away. He singled, and went to second on a bunt (argh) by Michael Bourn. Martin Prado singled to center, but not in a position to score Pastornicky. He did score on a Heyward grounder to the pitcher that was scored an error, making it 4-2. The runners advanced on a Chipper groundout, and Freeman got the insurance runs with a flare to left field. The Braves loaded the bases on walks, but Janish fouled out again to end the threat.
Eric O’Flaherty pitched the eighth, 1-2-3. Cristhian Martinez got the ninth, and allowed a one-out single, but it was followed by a double play. Good to be back. Goodbye, Phillies.
Great recap Mac – and it’s even better that you’re feeling stronger. Hope you’re back to full speed in no time. At least the way the Braves have played since the All Star break shouldn’t have made you feel worse.
One thing I would like to say about Fredi. As a whole I think his bullpen management has been the best I’ve seen from Atlanta in several years. Let’s hope it continues down the stretch.
Braves bounce back and Mac does too. May I say “DOOMED” for luck.
K-Rod and John Axford just allowed the Nats to tie the game. Did Davey Johnson make a deal with the devil?
A banner day indeed!
I get the “sports hate” for Victorino. But prior to this year I sure would love to have had him on the Braves.
Good to have you back Mac.
Re: last thread
Marc, Hawaiian is not a race, you simpleton. If you don’t understand personal hatred towards baseball players that thrash the home team, or exaggeration of hatred for the sake of being funny, then you should develop a sense of humor and become a bigger braves fan.
Welcome back, Mac.
So good to hear from you, Mac!
Your return is the only thing I can imagine better than two straight sweeps of the Phillies. Welcome back, Mac.
John Axford- gack
Wow, Montreal has tied it again. WTF, Brewers?
Great to see your recap, Mac.
John Axford,
The ugly facial hair only works if you’re good.
Signed,
The World
11-10 Natspos. The way they win, at times, reminds me of September 2011, shudder the thought.
Good to see you back, Mac
The Brewers’ lack of bullpen explains a lot of it. Remember, they let the Phillies back in to win a couple of games last week.
Ted, Hawaiian is an ethnicity. Please don’t engage in personal attacks.
Good to hear from you, Mac.
Nats are a lot like the Phillies were the last several seasons. Teams let them storm back at the end to take the win.
We still have a lot more games against the Nationals. We don’t need other teams to do our dirty work.
Rafael Betancourt anyone?
Too expensive, right? I bet we’re the team in the mix for Matt Reynolds.
Betancourt (the reliever–not the ss), I say “yes”.
Wren plays poker better than we mortals
Great to have you back, Mac! Glad the Braves gave you a great game to ease back into things.
Good to see you back, Mac.
Where did Oakland come from? Just noticed that they’ve taken moved up to the top AL Wild Card spot.
only 9 games over. Partly too much parity in AL
Cespedes has been the real deal thus far. Josh Reddick has been out of his mind. And they pitch.
Or as I like to call him (Josh Reddick, I mean): “Mini-Jason Werth”
Jannish is our new Belliard, no bat but good glove. I say bye bye Jack Wilson.
Apparently Boston called the Rangers and Braves trying to dump Beckett on us because he’d waive is 10/5 rights to be traded to either team. He’s under contract for 17m each of the next 2 years. They’d have to send a ton of money for us to bite.
Yuck. Please say no to Josh Beckett. 32 year-old pitchers with fading peripherals and a lack of work ethic scare me.
All that aside, I’m sure we’ll see him in the rotation if Boston eats 25 million of that contract.
25 more years of that TV contract!!!
@33
I vote we call the TV contract the “Chip Caray has to eat, deal”
Alex, thanks for pinch hitting, you did a great job. Mac, welcome back.
Ted,
There is probably no point in having a dialogue with you, but ask yourself if it would be appropriate to call Ichiro a Jap, or Ike Davis a Jewish waste of skin. These aren’t races either. If you think it is, then you need more help than I can give you.
You’re recaps are in midseason form, Mac!
Still into my Josh Beckett fantasy from Friday.
Here’s my question on Josh: Is he the same person that he was when he won those World Series games?
We can look at stats and see he pitches differently. And we know that his contract doesn’t fit into any form of Liberty Media’s finances for the team.
But something about him reminds me of Chipper. Maybe it’s the guns, hunting, and NRA. I think those two guys could partner up and lead a clubhouse deep into the postseason.
Of course, fingers were pointed at Josh about Boston’s historic collapse last September. Wouldn’t want anything like that to happen around here.
Again.
But if he is the same guy, can find that mojo again, I’d take him and Huddy against anyone the Montreal could throw at us.
Welcome back, Mac!
Btw, does anyone agree with me that the IPad would be better if it were larger?
It seems to be a bit of a t’aint to me. T’aint a computer and t’aint a phone. (I know that’s kinda the idea, still …)
Was using it in a presentation to Fernbank the other day and, I dunno, it just seemed small.
————-
Oh, and the Thousand Year Phillie Reich ended prematurely on July 29, 2012 in Atlanta, GA.
Fill that stadium now, losers.
Beckett definitely isnt who he was with the Marlins, but a move out of Boston would probably be beneficial. He has some health concerns, but so do Dempster and Johnson. Id rather give up a piece like Delgado for someone under team control. Frank would need for Boston to eat about $10mil of the remaining $37 owed to him though.
Glad to hear from you, Mac!
The wife and I are making a trip to Atlanta in August (including Hajj to Turner Field). Can anybody recommend an area of town to get a hotel? Don’t know much about the city and would like a place that’s easy to get in/out of.
@40
Bukhead is nice. The Weston downtown is great. The city can be easy to get around in. It is hard to find parking and MARTA is okay, so keep that in mind.
I like how we are calling the Nats “Montreal>”
The Montreal Natspos
Mike, how long will you be in town for? Will you be renting a car?
Beyond that, would you like a walkable neighborhood with some restaurants and bars? Would she want some good places to shop? Or are you more looking for something safe, affordable, and convenient?
41- Agreed. They can slap a new logo and coat of paint on the franchise, but they shouldn’t be allowed to forget about their past, and the way they screwed over the people of Montreal and their former fans.
I called Victorino a “Hawaiian waste of skin” only to tell him apart from all the other hatable players the Phillies have (Chutley, Hamels, etc.). It certainly was not intended as a slur against Hawaiians.
Try the North Highland Inn near Virginia-Highlands. It’s a bit funky, but it’s close to Manuel’s and other restaurants/shopping. Wouldn’t take you long to get to the stadium from there.
@41,
How about the way the Braves screwed over their fans in Milwaukee? The old saying about not throwing stones applies here.
Good Lord! On the Hawaiian thing, lighten up!
Tonight the Braves break the Monday curse and beat the Marlins.
@42 – Driving in for a long weekend, so free parking would be nice. Stuff within walking distances would be cool, but I’m also a cheap s.o.b. so boutique hotels might be out of my range. I know we’re going to the ballpark (my choice) and the aquarium (wife’s choice). Shopping not a priority.
Wouldn’t mind a day of outdoor activity if there’s any good hiking or parks in the area?
There is a decent hotel across from Turner, with a pretty good restaurant in it –
http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/atlanta/atlca/hoteldetail
The immediate neighborhood is iffy, but pretty close to East Atlanta Village and Cabbagetown for fun bar/restaurant options. you’d need a car or cab/subway it (train doesn’t go to the ballpark area), but that’s going to be true of most places.
There is a pretty cool hotel near Little 5 points, which is a very popular bar/shop destination for urban types
http://www.thehighlandinn.com/
Buckhead or Midtown would be the most walkabale neighborhoods to stay in, but probably the priciest.
And the ballpark hotel is very close to world of coke and the aquarium.
Stone Mtn park offers a fun hike and there are other activities there. It’s about 15m away, and has a laser light show in the evening. Can get very yee-haw ish, but it’s fun.
The Georgia Aquarium is a great attraction. Highly recommended.
Also, if you go to Stone Mountain, don’t ride the train.
Seconded on Stone Mountain. Good ol fashioned fun.
Mike, the Cherokee Trail at Stone Mountain is by far the best hike in the Atlanta area. Five miles, periodically exerting but nothing that would knock you out for the rest of the day. Or you could walk straight to the top and back in about an hour.
Sweetwater State Park is about the same distance away as Stone Mountain, but west on I20 instead of east on 78. There are several trails that follow rocky shoals in Sweetwater Creek, and there are some cool ruins of an old mill building along the way. It’s less gimmicky and crowded than Stone Mountain, but also, to be fair, less spectacular and specific to the area.
So happy top see you In action again Mac!!!!
Neyer says Chipper should stick around for another season –
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/7/30/3200876/chipper-jones-retiring-best-last-seasons-braves
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions, guys. Sounds like lots of good stuff.
One last question: buying ballgame tickets. Am I best off buying at the gate or going the stub-hub route? We’ll be there the weekend of the civil rights game. Since it’s not the NLDS I can’t be certain the game won’t sell out, right? (I kid, I kid. …kind of)
Walkup is the cheapest option – no handling fees. School starts next Monday for Atlanta and many surrounding districts. Should be plenty of seats. I think you’ll be fine. And for me, there is something old school fun about going to the ticket window on the day of a game. You can get skyline tickets for a buck 2.5 hours before game time (as far as I know this is still true)) and watch over the outfield rail or in the bar.
@58 – went to The Ted for the first time since I was a kid for game 4 of the 2010 LDS, which turned out to be Bobby’s last game, and I was amazed at the number of empty seats. it was just a nosebleed section or two that was empty, nothing like a rainy Tuesday noon game or anything, but still, I was a little embarrassed we couldn’t even pack the place for Bobby’s Last Stand. Still the most fun sporting event I’ve ever been to, though, and even despite the heartbreak. Will always love McCann for that homer, and say what you will about Lowe, but the dude fought his brains out, and kept us in it on short rest. Sorry for rambling – point is, you’ll probably be fine either way.
Re 36:
Why is it pointless to have a dialogue with me? Victorino’s nickname is the Flyin’ Hawaiian. Is that racist or xenophobic? Maybe I’m insensitive, or I’ve been conditioned by ESPN to accept it, but it doesn’t sound offensive to me. The Flyin’ Jap? The Flyin’ Jew? Those sound a little hateful, you’re right. Jap is a poor parallel since it’s derogatory on its own. I just think your initial comment sounded thin-skinned. I don’t have a strong opinion about the oppression of Hawaiians, and I don’t care to develop one on this baseaball website, so I’m sorry to have facilitated a racial debate, and will gladly bow out and cede victory to you at this very moment.
P.S. Can we please start calling Janish “The Flying Dutchman?”
@57
I’ve begun to wonder about that myself. I mean, you can’t just go on forever — eventually everybody turns into Willie Mays with the Mets, or Griffey needing to be woken up in the clubhouse. But Chipper is playing at such a high level still….
@60, considering you opened the “dialogue” by calling the man a humorless simpleton who isn’t much of a Braves fan, I’d say he’s got a point.
I’d like to think he meant the dialogue itself is pointless, as the topic is uncompelling. That’s certainly how I feel about it.
Re 62:
Those points are also up for debate, but I think the “dialogue” is actually about racism and the false assumption of racism. Again, I acknowledge my missteps, and retract my barbs.
@63, I heartily concur – the proposition “Is the term Hawaiian waste of skin racist, or good natured internet hyperbole?” isn’t really one I care to debate, given that either condition is distasteful to me.
On another note, are we going to make a deal? The clock is ticking
I kinda hope no deal.
I look forward to lustily booing that Cubs pitcher I wanted but apparently doesn’t want me.
Unless we can get Shields for Pastornicky, just stand pat.
Is Josh Johnson available? Nah, that’s the blonde in the convertible. Never gonna happen and probably not a good thing if it did.
I kinda hope no deal.
I look forward to lustily booing that Cubs pitcher I wanted but apparently doesn’t want me.
Unless we can get Shields for Pastornicky, just stand pat.
Is Josh Johnson available? Nah, that’s the blonde in the convertible. Never gonna happen and probably not a good thing if it did.
@66: No news from your barber? The gal who just gave me a Brazilian seems to think that Cliff Lee would be a good fit.
Went to Sawx/Yanks last night & I gotta say it was the least-contentious Bos/NYY game (among the fans) that I’ve attended since the early ’90s.
I guess that’s what happens when the Sawx come into the game 50-51, and offering their high-priced talent to just about everybody. Maybe, at this point, Sawx fans actually hate their team more than Yankee fans do.
Pretty good game, IMO, but not much vibe. A real rarity.
I am reading tweets from Giants fans complaining about their 130 mil payroll and now I hate them too.
Last Monday win was in August 2011. 0-16 since then
71 — Now?
While it’s drag that it’s benefitting the Yanks, it really couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of guys than Valentine and the Sox front office.
I’m still concerned about Chipper getting through this year without missing another month.
Correction: We should call Janish “the Flailing Dutchman.”
Ted,
When you called me a simpleton, that sends a message to me that you’ve made up your mind about the issue. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it but I would imagine that Hawaiians (i.e., Polynesians) might be offended by calling someone a “Hawaiian waste of skin.”
@76
Post of The Day!
@57 – thanks for the link. I love Chipper Jones but I want him to retire in style.
@74 – I concur. My dislike of the Sox is probably not their fault though. ESPN et al just seem to hype the crap out of the team to the point of nausea for the rest of us.
I think we’ve made our pitching transaction. Medlen for Jurjjens.
1:09pm: The Nationals have positioned themselves as the perfect fallback option for the Cubs on Dempster, reports ESPN’s Jayson Stark. It’s unknown whether Dempster would approve a trade to the Nats.
BS. They are just trying to drive the price up on the Braves/Dodgers
Well, Dempster would make for pretty good Strasburg insurance. Would they shut Strasburg down until a little before the playoffs in that case?
Justhank, I admire your ability to engage in a rigorous cost-benefit analysis of the baseball equivalent of a blonde in the convertible.
But… Lord have mercy. I never thought I’d be old enough or mature enough to see a blonde in a convertible — or even her baseball equivalent — and tell her, “Thanks, but I simply don’t think that our time together would be worth the consequences.”
I suppose there are men and women on here who are significantly more mature than I am.
*sigh* oh you boys.
You sayin’ that you’d say no if Brandon Beachy knocked on your front door, Bethany?
@84 Well I’ve only ever said no, so… Yes.
How many times has Brandon Beachy prepositioned you??
LOL, propositioned you.
Prepositioning, getting ready in bed?
Hahahaha, same number of times I’ve ever been propositioned.
88—Not just in; also on, around, and under.
Don’t forget “through.”
See what you’ve started, Alex?
justhank – Vacation reference or American Grafitti?
Not sure but I read it as Johnson is unobtainable.
@86 – Pretty funny typo there.
My barber says we are going to call in on Dempster and lower our offer, one more time.
Then we will load up the pen with a couple of studs, get a RH OF bench bat and win the whole thing.
American Grafitti, actually.
Just afraid we’d have to give up a bunch for Johnson and he’d need surgery as soon as the ink was dry. (But we’re nearing college football season and as a Kentucky fan I’m probably sinking into a pessimistic mood overall.)
Hell, I’d probably say yes if Beachy came a-knockin’ at my front door.
2:41pm: Dodgers pitching prospects Zach Lee, Allen Webster, and Chris Reed are all off the table in Dempster talks, tweets Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus.
The Cubs have no leverage at this point.
JJ for Dempster and Johnson. Get it done Wren!
Very slow day being one day away from the deadline.
I never had a blonde or a convertible so this does not seem relevant.
I’m concerned expectations for Medlen are too high.
@76: I believe Janish is the “Blank Czech”
#101 – To be a serviceable 5th starter? All he’s doing is replacing JJ which is an immediate upgrade.
#101: “Pitch better than JJ” is too high?
@103 – Yeah, better than JJ is a low bar to miss, but I just get the impression that we’re expecting more than that here. Enough to quit looking for a replacement for Beachy, for example.
So why is no one talking about the Uggla in the room?
You simply cannot let this continue. Wonder if the Jays would send us Kelly Johnson and we could platoon them?
@106 – I think if the Braves were struggling to hit and their pitching (1-5) was decent, Uggla would be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Right now our hitting is carrying Uggla, but if he doesn’t kick it into gear by the end of the year, a lot of us will be screaming for his head.
Uggla’s suck goes beyond the handedness of the opposing pitcher.
There’s nothing to do about Uggla except hope he turns it around. We’re stuck with him for three more years.
/shudders
Yep
Hey,Uggla’s an all star.
So why the long socks tonight? I missed the opening of the game
Digging all the high socks today by the Bravos.
Gah, I thought that was gone.
Thought Chipper had that one.
@114 Me too
TOMMY SHAPE UP
The Tommy Hanson show is aging me.
Going to be tough for Tommy to walk his own tight rope tonight, being that it is Monday and all
#109
That’s about it. Just gotta hope Uggla has another late-season hot streak in him.
With his 210/347/364 slash line, Uggla’s walking more, striking out more & (obviously) hitting less, especially for power.
Between 2006-11, he averaged 66 XBHs. This year, he only has 28 with 2+ months to play.
Coming into this year, Uggla walked once every 9.52 PA & struck out once every 4.41 PA. This year, he’s walking once every 6.43 PA & striking out once every 3.55 PA.
Upside? Average NL OBP is 318 & Uggla’s at 347. That’s about it. At this rate, he’ll be Mark Bellhorn in no time.
I swear, Tommy, if you walk the pitcher… whew.
Maybe he should shave the beard
He needs to find a new profession.
And Tommy gets out of it, even though he got squeezed on “ball 3.”
It’s not easy when Tommy pitches, but so far I can’t complain about the results.
I’m told this is not frustrating to watch.
Two innings, two hits, two walks, two Ks, two total bases. He’s just having fun out there, guys.
The Braves’ last Monday win was on August 22, 2011 against the Cubs. The losing pitcher in that game? Dempster.
Tommy’s real strength on display right now…his hitting ability
I’m going to go out on a limb and say I could have a better AB that Hanson.
At least we cleared both the pitchers in the lineup.
Don’t forget your glove, Uggs. Good play.
Tommy looks like JJ out there lately.
Tommy Hanson, trolling the Marlins. And us.
Man, this soft-tossing/no-command Hanson is tough to watch.
Holy wow
JASON!!
That went a LONG way
And Chippa!!!! Looking good in the socks.
Loving the knee-high Monday look even though it looks very odd on a couple of guys.
With all the complaining here about Hanson, one not watching the game but reading the comments on this site would think he was giving up a ton of runs. Certainly not zero.
Glad to have you back, Mac.
It’s only a matter of time, Dan.
Or so it so often seems with Tommy. No one puts it on a tee like Tommy Hanson, but (defying all logic, physics, perhaps God) he often turns in a quality start.
I’ve given up trying to figure him out. Just hope Fredi knows better than to start him in a one-game playoff.
I thought that I would never see
Tom Hanson get them 1-2-3;
Without more strikes and fewer balls,
I won’t see the playoffs at all.
You know, Hanson’s start was the only game the Braves won in the 2010 NLDS.
seems like tommy doesn’t throw his fastball enough
Don Sutton is less than enthused about Heyward’s HR being known as a mammo yickety, which pleases Jim Powell.
Got any tidbits about the Industrial Revolution, Dan?
This is a different Tommy Hanson.
According to Chip, that was Hanson’s 2nd 1-2-3 inning in his last 16. 1st in his last 14IP
Janish is one fire!
Brian, more limericks. Please.
Yay!
Let me guess: we should supply Michael with the entirety of the funds.
#146 – I really think he needs to throw his change up more. He’s throwing like 40% sliders this year.
@154 The whole sum of the currency.
Bonifacio with the Hanson triple there. AKA the “single.”
There once was a redhead from Tulsa
Who had been a great pitch propuls-a
Now he can’t throw, hit, or field,
And his stolen base yield
Gives every good Braves fan an ulc-ah
The Marlins have, as of right now, hitters with batting averages of .180, .170, and .151 in the lineup- and none of those are the pitcher. Now, it’s a little clearer how Hanson gets away with it.
Dangit.
And of course, he promptly stopped getting away with it.
OH MY GOSH HE GOT HIM
We’re lucky Martin got that trap or that would have been an inside the park homer.
Got him there, though. Way to go!
Houdini just got exposed
Man, Chipper is on the ball tonight.
I’m sorry Chipper!
Dang, how did that not go out?
Did Heyward have any chance to score on that?
#168
Don didn’t really give a great description there, did he?
Uggla coming up:
http://tinyurl.com/cxylqh4
Seemed like Jason held up for a bit, so he didn’t have a shot. It came off the wall very hard, so not really a good chance.
YES!!!!!!! Dan and some luck!
Duggla!
Struggla!
DAN!! Hopefully this is the Dan of last July and August.
Z v. Francisco. I love baseball.
And Juan adds it on!
Haha.
Taking out Hanson was a ballsy move, and it’s paying off- if the bullpen can hold them.
Francisco!
Fredi can roll the dice.
Janish is such a good defender. Great turn there.
@158
Funny stuff. Post of the day!
Way to go Freddie!
Aww. Yes, we all noticed how clever the limerick was.
@183 It was indeed, sansho, I can tell you’re proud of it 😛
@158 But he knows how to win.
You know, you work hard on something…I don’t ask much.
Medlen looks like an angry lesbian from the local trailer park.
@189 Not that’s there is anything wrong with that.
Hopefully Braves Journal can poor-mouth Hanson to a 20-win season.
That’s some serious meta, sansho1. Well done, sir.
@191 He feeds off of my hatred.
Great catch by Janish.
C-mart has found his groove. Screw the wild card, let’s win this thing!
@193, our whole household has tried the same with Uggla, but so far it’s just not been enough.
though I preferred post 183, post 158 was also well executed.
Man, the ribs on my new fake green egg came out great.
This is probably sacrilege around here, but I would say that Janish’s defense is equal to that of Simmons at shortstop. I think the upgrade over Pastornicky and the collective excitement of his unexpected early success has elevated the perception of Simmons’s defensive ability.
Janish is certainly a whiz.
Well he accumulated 1.8 b-ref dWar in 33 games, so it’s a sacrilege other places too
Avilan’s stuff isn’t really fooling anybody. Those two outs have been shots…
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22364337&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_22364337&v=3
Minor going 8 Saturday has helped bull pen
good thing that fish are bad
No drama, boys.
So I guess they’ll wear the pant legs up on Mondays from now on? I could dig that.
Even better with the cream alternate jersey.
Austin Kearns, one of a long list of good no trades
Wow, I forgot it was Monday.
Reed Johnson traded to an unknown team.
Well, I guess it isn’t the Pirates, Dodgers, Tigers, Indians or Giants…maybe it is us
Delgado for Reed Johnson!
Woah, so we got Johnson and Maholm.
Sansho, great work. If Dan can give us anything the rest of the way we’ll be awfully good.
Maholm? Would rather have Medlen in the rotation.
What will Maholm do now that he can’t face the Braves?
#softtossingleftieskillthebraves
why does this organization hate Kris Medlen?
Apparently no Delgado, Minor, Teheran, nor Gilmartin according to Crasnick.
As long as we didn’t give up much then this seems fine. Johnson can certainly help.
Could Maholm be going to the pen?
Not sure I like this at all.
oh – if 219 is correct, I will hold my opinion.
So who goes off the bench when Simmons gets back?
Take your pick, Spike.
It wouldn’t be vizcaino would it?
Maybe , you know, we just got ’em both–for nothing and no one.
Jaye Chapman is one. AAA reliever.
Obviously, very curious to see the price for this pair.
But, with Reed Johnson we have an LLM (legit lefty masher). Really nice upgrade. Gives us more Chipper flexibility & a scary bench bat.
And say what you want about Maholm, but he’s gotta be less ulcer-inducing than JJ these days. Plus, we seem to be getting him at the right time.
His last 5 starts: 5-0, 1.02 ERA, 44 IP, 31 H, 32 K, 9 BB, 1 HR
Hudson, Hanson, Sheets, Minor, Maholm… still not exactly the ’71 Orioles, but I have no problem keeping Medlen in the pen now.
Looks like none of the pitchers are in our top 8 or so pitching prospects. Job well done, especially if we get cash from the Cubs for the salary difference.
I think our bench is a man down anyway, with an extra pitcher being carried.
It is arosys per k ros
It is arodys per k ros
I was assuming that Vizcaino wasn’t involved. Looks like the beat writers, etc. just made an error of omission when confirming who wasn’t in it, because he’s higher tier than half the guys mentioned. Not so great now.
We lost Vizcaino.
Ross, TP, Roadrunner, Hinkse & George Constanza plus 8 starters give us 13 position players and 12 pitchers.
Of course Theo was going to fleece Wren.
Rosenthal says Vizcaino is going…
Forgot about Constanza. He’s obviously going down for Reed Johnson.
This move helps us rest some guys down the stretch, but there’s no way this is going to make a huge difference in the standings. Still waiting for something bigger to happen…
Saw this scroll across the feed on an investment show: “Buy now on any company that manufactures panty de-wadders: The Atlanta Braves just traded a prospect who may or may not return to form after he had a ligament transplant.”
Vizcaino has tremendous upside but has a history of injuries. Cubs are assuming a lot of risk.
@242 I agree…no guarantee Vizcaino even returns to what he was, and the upside is a bit dicey now I would think
I still like the trade. Everything I’ve heard about Vizcaino is that he is destined to be a reliever. A good one, but still a reliever. Major league starting pitching is much more valuable. This is much better than giving up Delgado and Minor, since they are much more proven.
You have to give to get. Maholm is an upgrade over Jurrjens, comes back next year for only 6.5m and lets you keep Medlen in the pen.
Reed Johnson is Matt Diaz, but still good. Has an .838 career OPS vs. lefties, and .923 this season. And he’s not completely useless against righties either. Plus, he’s a capable CF, so Bourn can get a day off, and we don’t have to bring Constanza up constantly.
Reed Johnson is Matt Diaz four years ago.
I like the deal because it addressed 3 needs…the bench with Johnson, the rotation with Maholm and the relief corp by leaving Medlen down there. If Venters continues to show flashes of 2011, we can make games 6 innings long again
Who trades for a pitcher recovering from UCL reconstruction surgery?
Someone who only wants to pay Reed/Maholm for one.
I like the trade too. Vizcaino doesn’t look like he’s going to have a starter’s arsenal and Chapman isn’t worth much. And in return we got a solid middle of the rotation starter and a good 4th outfielder.
The Cubs.
OMG, we have TWO lefties in the rotation!!!!!!! When was the last time we have that?
I am neutral to the deal. So I guess it’s still considered as job well done by Frank Wren. We didn’t get any superstar, but we are getting the helps we need.
New thread.
Since Vizcaino ended last year on the 25 man roster, is his pre-arbitration service clock running?
OTOH, trading damaged goods is not going to maximize your return. The TJ surgery happened, though, so maybe Vizcaino was never going to regain the value he had last year.
Maholm and Johnson may have moderate impact during the regular season if things go well, but I don’t see them improving us much in the playoffs. Maholm does have a team option, so that gives us a chance at a secondary return if we don’t need him for the rotation. More of a division championship streak move than a World Series Champion move.