Five games ago, the Atlanta Braves were at .500, having split the first 84 games of the season. Today the Braves got shellacked 11-3 and go into the All-Stars break riding a five game losing streak.
Charlie Blackmon killed us all series long. Today he went three for five, scored a run and drove in four. Blackmon put the Rockies ahead for good in the bottom of the sixth, singling in two runs. This was not the pivotal at bat in the game, however. That came after the Braves had knotted the score at three in the top of the frame.
With one out and the bases loaded, the Braves chose to let Alex Wood hit for himself; and our doom was sealed. Whether the Braves could have taken the lead, we’ll never know. What we do know is that Alex gave up the go-ahead single to Blackmon, and David Carpenter gave up a pair of two run home runs to Troy Tulowitzki and Drew Stubbs, Tulo’s in relief of Wood in the sixth and Stubbs’ in the seventh.
Game. Set. Match.
I would like to see the Braves move Jonny Gomes for the proverbial bucket of warm spit. I like Gomes. He’s done. Joey Terdoslavich can play the field as well and hit as well. He may not provide the intangible non-quantifiable veteran leadership Gomes does, but that doesn’t seem to be working too well lately anyway.
I’d like to move Nick Markakis. I like Markakis. Get a B prospect and play Eury Perez and Joey T in the corners. I love Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe. Sell them. Ditto for Jim Johnson and A. J. Pierzynski. Get something that might help us next year or the year after.
Trade, release or sacrifice Chris Johnson. Give him away. Replace Fredi with an empty sack.
Go Braves.
Writing about this now, coop!
Due to terrible traffic on I-70 I missed the first 2/3 of this game. It was 3-3 when I walked through the gates, 5-3 by the time I reached the concourse, and the first baseball play I saw was Tulo’s 3 run homer. I guess this one’s my bad.
Would someone really trade for Nick markakis? If he had 1 year left, he could be a good get, but three more years? That’s a lot to take on in salary.
I think Jim Johnson is our best piece. Maybin is good too but I don’t think we’ll move him. KJ and AJP seem like C prospect returns. Gomes I don’t think can help a team anymore.
Uribe is immensely valuable–hope someone else thinks so.
MLB TRADE RUMORS RE 2016 VESTING OPTIONS:
•Jonny Gomes: If Gomes receives 325 PA, his $3MM option for 2016 will become guaranteed. He’s just over halfway there with 166 plate appearances, so this one may come right down to the wire.
EDIT: I would not mind the Braves making Gomes a Play-The-Game-The-Right-Way coach/cheerleader. I would mind if Jonny gets 166 more plate appearances.
Interesting to read that our plan was to package JJ and Grilli together
@1: Nice article on Tomahawk Take by Ryan Cothran. Hope someone in Braves hierarchy is on the job.
Boy am I glad I had something to do this weekend.
Yes, good article by ryan c here:
http://tomahawktake.com/2015/07/13/atlanta-braves-a-team-of-trial-and-error/
I have also enjoyed watching these bad news braves, except for the last 5 games and that stretch out west where we blew 4-5 good sized leads in a week or so.
I agree that it makes some sense to trade Maybin because we may have a lucky half season sample here, and he has been given to injury. It also makes some sense to keep him because of his contract and the fact we have nobody to play in the OF for next year. If we can get 2 of somebody’s top-10 prospects as you say, ryan–assuming it’s a team with a decent top-10–I say it’s time to move him. It would make me sad, because of all that stuff Maybin has gushed about playing in Atlanta and working with Seitzer. He’s tough not to like.
I agree with most of Ryan’s take as well.
Not Perazza in CF though. I want him in AAA all the way till September then get a cup of coffee in the majors at 2nd and short.
Maybin, only if you can rob somebody, we need OF and have zip in the minors who look MLB ready.
[Braves] *fart*
@9
Peraza in CF is a stretch, especially considering there hasn’t been many reports on how good or bad he looks out there.
And thanks, guys! Sorry for the “layout”. Just jumping through the hoops.
In a sick way I’m ok with this 5 game skid, as it virtually eliminates any chance of the front office thinking we have a shot at competing and becoming buyers at the deadline.
What’s our potential rotation for 2016?
Miller
Teheran
Wood
Wisler
Banuelos
Move Folty and Perez to the pen?
@12 DWonder, I am somehow with you on that one.
I’m actively rooting for losses so that the Braves finish with a bottom-10 record and are able to sign David Price without sacrificing next year’s first-round pick.
I would be totally on board with that.
Yep.
Of everything that happened this offseason, it’s the Markakis signing that still makes no sense to me. His presence means nothing to a rebuilding team.
It’s inexplicable, really. I mean, there were a few threads on here that got into the “why,” but I still don’t get it. Does the team not have a team-controlled guy with a decent glove and homerless bat to stick out there?
Pretty sure if we trade Jim Johnson we will have no problem finishing bottom 10. We are bottom 10 right now and will have lost our 2 best relievers with nobody to take their places. Shelby Miller could finish with a sub-2.00 ERA and 7-8 wins.
@20
Kind of a John Tudor 1984-ish year. Led the league in ERA and went 5-12, or thereabouts.
I’m not on board with trading Miller (or Teheran, for that matter) unless I’m just blown away by the offer, which would have to include a Major League level player which would help the team in 2016-17 to a similar degree as Miller or Teheran. We could contend next year and the stated plan is to contend in 2017. Miller and Teheran would definitely be an important part of those teams. At some point, you have to start building back a Major League caliber team and you don’t do that by trading relatively cost-controlled Major League talent for prospects every chance you get.
Other than that, I could part with any of the people mentioned at this point, though I’m not overly excited to see Maybin go. If he was traded, though, I could be OK with it depending on the return.
12 and 15 are my thoughts as well. Although it’s past time to start dealing pitching for bats, it can’t be young pitching for veteran bats, which is what being around 500 at the break might have encouraged. Grilli getting hurt really cuts both ways.
I can’t see us getting good prospects for guys that we picked up off the scrap heap. Maybin is currently the best outfielder in our entire organization. But we can’t just blindly trade the young pitching until we have a better feel for who’s a keeper and who isn’t.
At this point they need to shut down Freeman, finish last, and draft their rears off next summer. 1.5 more years of terrible baseball, and then we’ll see the plan start to take shape.
@21, that’s like Cliff Lee’s absurd 2012 season, when he started 30 games, threw 211 innings, had a 3.16 ERA, led the league in K/BB and BB/9, and went 6-9.
(The Phillie bullpen that year had a 3.94 ERA with 19 blown saves and a save percentage of 68.9%. By comparison, the 2015 Braves pen already has a 4.04 ERA with 15 blown saves and a save percentage of 66.7%.)
Or Nolan Ryan in 1987:
34 Starts, 8-16, 2.76 ERA, 211 IP, 154 H, 270 K, 142 ERA+
Mallex Smith’s first 80 ABs at AAA are a pretty clear warning about the risk of trading Maybin, IMO.
And I see no reason for the Braves to consider trading Jose Peraza or moving him off 2B before next year’s all-star break. Best case scenario is at next year’s deadline we trade a solid player (Jace) for a couple good prospects and turn 2B over to a potential all-star in 2017.
Edit: Worst-case scenario is that Jace gets no better with the bat (not at all unlikely, IMO) and Peraza’s ceiling turns out to be basically Peterson (better on the bases, but drawing fewer walks).
@26, Nolan Ryan was a great pitcher who just didn’t “know how to win”
New thread.