Andrelton Simmons standing on a baseball field with a glove on his hand is a web gem waiting to happen, and this winter Braves Journal is going to determine which of his gems is the best of his best—his Jadeite. To see the previous posts in the series, click here.
Round 3: The Video Game vs. Shortstop…or Left Fielder?
The Video Game
Editor’s pitch: The video is worth a thousand words of commentary, so just watch it again. Okay, now watch it one more time. Can a mere mortal even bend like that? He’s covering the bag, bends against his momentum to catch the ball, and then flips back to tag the base. The baserunner was already running and was nearly on top of him…and he got the out. This play defies the laws of physics and it made his pitcher laugh in disbelief. The cherry on top is he tried to turn the double play and was disgusted with himself that he couldn’t. Unbelievable.
Last round: The Video Game easily beat Who Needs Feet? 24-13.
Shortstop…or Left Fielder?
Editor’s Pitch: No one saw this coming. All eyes were on Justin Upton, wondering if he would get to the ball in time, since the left fielder is really the only person who has a chance at that ball. The only problem is, Simmons does not think like the rest of the world, and he seems to be out to prove he could man the entire left side of a baseball field without any assistance if he needed to. He not only ran at full speed with his back to the infield toward a fence, he dove toward that same fence to make the catch without thought to personal safety. As if the effort itself wasn’t incredible enough, he actually made the catch and hung on for the out. That just doesn’t happen.
Last Round: Shortstop…or Left Fielder squeaked by The Jeter, 26-25.
Thank you, ‘Rissa. I can’t choose both, can I?
Did Andruw sign with anyone yet?
I hope not, he’d be a lovely (and affordable) gift for a team that lost some fan-favorites.
Why not sign Andruw at this point? He can’t play center but people would buy tickets to watch him try
Article on the possible reasons for the increase of TJ surgeries:
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/110746424/fleisig-fatigue-key-factor-in-tommy-john-injuries
Sorry for the double post, but here’s a nice NYT article on GM Hart:
EY Jr. is getting a lot of inexplicable love from Fredi and the coaches so far. He might turn out to be this year’s top whipping boy.
There will be a lot of whipping boys on a 75 win team
That’s why I said *top* whipping boy. This guy is going to get a lot of PA leading off and will make a lot of outs.
What is going on with Toscano? I haven’t heard him mentioned much so far. Is left field likely his only position?
@mwhitey27: Favorite Greg Maddux Stat: He faced 20,421 batters during his career only 310 saw a 3-0 count. 177 of those were intentional walks”#getahead
9 – visa issues I think
BJ Upton to miss 2 months with foot injury? This really sucks–I wanted to see BJ get lots of reps under Seitzer in a low-stress environment. There goes that idea. Maybe the silver lining is we get more reps for our bevy of replacement-level outfield talent.
#12
Maybe the gods are doing us a favor.
@12
Which could actually be an upgrade over what Melvin would’ve given us.
Maybe the injury can help BJ long term. Maybe he will quit focusing on mechanics so much. Wishful thinking but why not
@15 Wishful thinking is all we’ve got. I’m still imagining BJ, pride fully broken, abandoning his quest for power and turning into an Otis Nixon type slap hitter. I want to see a .270/.330/.320 line with 35 steals and less than 2 homers.
P.S.: I’m musing about the justaposition of Otis Nixon, one of the best value free agent signings in Braves history, and BJ Upton, by far the worst free agent signing in Braves history. Both centerfielders, one lauched a storied GM’s career, while the other ended a GM’s career.
About half of Otis Nixon’s 16+ WAR was earned during his 3 year Braves career. Something like -10% of BJ Upton’s career WAR will have been earned as a Brave.
So if we are getting league average out of one of our guys, do we put Mel back in once he is healed?
We win the 1991 World Series if Otis Nixon wasn’t a coke head.
@18
He is going to get a ton of ABs in the minors on his way back. IF he isn’t hitting and someone has taken over the CF role, I bet we release him.
Otis Nixon scored the go-ahead run in Game 3 of the 1999 NLDS, still one of the best Braves games I’ve ever seen.
Also Exhibit A in how dimwitted it is to only use your best reliever when you’ve got a lead with three outs left. For the Braves in this game, Rocker got the win and Millwood got the save. Maddux even pitched in relief. Cox used his staff like the world would end if the Braves didn’t pull it out.
For the Astros, Billy Wagner didn’t throw a single pitch. In a game that went 12 innings.
@21 Was that the Walt Weiss game?
I thought Bobby used the pen pretty well at time. If his closer had went to him and said, “I have two innings or more in me today,” Bobby would have run him out there in the playoffs.
Of course there was the time he brought Charlie Liebrant in against the Twins.
My general theory will be that anyone who plays CF while BJ is out will be the whipping boy, unless they play well. If they play well, Bethancourt will be the whipping boy until BJ or Markakis play poorly.
Melvin is Melvin. He will be whipped until such time as he is traded or produces something equivalent to his contract. Bethancourt and Markakis will be whipped for who they are not.
It will be Chris Johnson.
@25 – Winner. Case closed.
In my opinion, it’s not fair for a boy to be whipped unless his contract suggests he should be producing. In other words, Chris Johnson and Markakis are prime candidates in Melvin’s absence, and then far less likely would be Freddie Freeman, in the case he gets frustrated with being pitched around and starts flailing.
@19, Didn’t Lonnie Smith hit 3 homers in the WS starting in place of Nixon? Is it a foregone conclusion that Nixon would’ve performed better? Damn I hate being reminded of the 1991 World Series.
#27
Yeah, he hit a solo homer in each of the 3 home wins. But oh, that last act…
For some reason I’m pulling for Cunningham to be the CF.
@28, OK, so it prolly doesn’t go to game 7 without Lonnie. And nobody would remember him “holding up” if Gant doesn’t K with the bases loaded and Bream doesn’t do exactly what everyone in the world knew he would do on the next AB.
Lonnie was a great player:
http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000NFRAI.sjf_0/s/750/750/Smith-Harper-Gm4-91-WS.jpg
@29
I was initially rooting for Todd to win the CF job, but that was before I saw Eury Perez’s minor league resume. I can go either way with these guys. They have similar minor league track records that feature nice, steady, but not eye-popping numbers. I’d be fine with both of them making the roster, but I think we all know deep down that Fredi has already slotted EYJ onto the 25 man roster.
@22- Yes.
EYJ could win the 2B job at this point. Perez seems like the logical choice in CF. Cunningham could end up on the roster if Markakis isn’t ready for opening day.
Eury Perez. He’s hit .310 at AAA with a .354 OBP, 63 steals and an 80% success rate over 193 games at that level, played at ages 22-24, being 3-5 years younger than league average in that span. Washington is all “meh” because Washington has options in their MLB outfield.
Imagine he’d been in our system over that period and he weren’t out of options. We’d all be figuring him into our future if he weren’t someone else’s castoff. Wow our minor leagues have sucked these last few years. But yeah, it’s hard to imagine he’d give us less than BJ Upton in CF if he got the PT.
Puff piece on Uggla, who can apparently see the baseball now.
@33
Hell I could win the 2B job at this point. First fake game isn’t til Wednesday!
@28 Well, after all these years, Lonnie is hardly the only one to blame for the Braves not winning more WS.
I’m expecting us to win the Grapefruit League title this spring. With all the position battles going on, I think we’ll be playing to win. Of course spring training means absolutely NOTHING!
35—That bad boy features the line, “Uggla’s former Atlanta teammate, Marquis Grissom…”
Um.
New thread.