PAIN..Braves 0, ‘Backs 3. All you need to know.

 

 

Seneca 32 BC

Remember that pain has this most excellent quality. If prolonged it cannot be severe, and if severe it cannot be prolonged.

Really? Call us.

Editor’s note: Once again adding lines to make the post long enough to access comments.

You can click the title of the post to get to the comments, but it doesn’t really look like a hyperlink, so I can see why it’s being missed.

Saw the second Sicario movie last night. Pretty good.

 

79 thoughts on “PAIN..Braves 0, ‘Backs 3. All you need to know.”

  1. Rob, my point is that rash judgements in the heat of the moment are rash. Freeman was the best option to face Descalso last night. Relief is flaky by its very nature.

  2. Re: Acuna – it’s obvious that he’s a tremendous physical talent and it’s also obvious that he’s not yet playing up to his potential. Some of his current deficiencies (primarily, defense) look like they are the result of lack of effort/focus/maturity, which is part and parcel of playing super-young players.

    The sky’s the limit for Ronald. Time will tell how long it’ll take him to turn into the player we know he can/should be.

  3. (Post deleted because my conspiracy theory acrostic meme failed to post correctly…)

  5. Alright, I put a lot of effort into this — I had to open Word as well as Paint — so you all had better appreciate the TRUTH BOMB I’m about to drop:

  6. I may be the eternal optimist but I never believed there would be a big swoon. I still think there’s too much actual talent on this team to not break out of it, but every team goes through this at some point.

    We absolutely need a big bat. The HRs have disappeared. We need help in the bullpen. Maybe the rotation too, but I think we have enough talent in the prospects to cover that. Fried needs to be back in the rotation as soon as he’s ready and needs to be given a real chance – several starts in a row. I wouldn’t mind inserting Gohara as a sixth starter. Too many lefties, though.

    Why not bring up Riley and let Camargo platoon with Inciarte? Let Acuna cover CF and Camargo cover LF when Inciarte’s not in? Or call up Reed too and let him be the OF platoon and rotate IFs between Camargo, Riley, Dansby, and Albies. That means Santana and Flaherty go out.

  10. @6, Just asking but if you need a big bat, bullpen help AND rotation help, then how do have too much actual talent?

    Acuna can barely play LF much less CF.

    I’m fine with getting rid of Santana and Flaherty and frankly I do not know why they are not at least having their utility guy(s) be young guys that they can evaluate in limited roles.

  11. At the all star break, here is what my barber is hearing we are looking for:

    – A starter
    -2-3 relievers
    – Platoon partner for Inciarte
    – A back up catcher
    – Any cheap bat with pop. Someone we can plug in at short or third (moving Camargo to short is a possibility)

    Of course we may send Freddie across town, because the goal is to win the Governor’s Cup

  12. Why am I occasionally prohibited from posting? I irritate my wife too, but she still lets me in the house.

    Good quote, Blazon, but how about someone getting us a win?

    Play real baseball, Braves!

    Edit: Oh. Thanks for explaining, Rob. Who would have thunk Blazon would be short of words? 😀

  13. Yeah, the title of the post is a link to the post/comments in case this happens again. When work slows down, I’m going to do a new theme and address some of the issues with the improved but imperfect theme.

    Some fans on Twitter want Mike Matheny as our manager. Lolz.

  14. Well, this is a little awkward:

    Read DOB’s tweet and McCarthy himself’s comment below.

  16. I think Acuna’s technique issues will make less of a difference in center. Not saying he’d be good, but speed/jumps are more important there.

    Also, I might have just moved everyone up a spot, but Albies and Acuna at the top works for me.

  17. https://www.myajc.com/blog/mark-bradley/braves-alex-anthopoulos-the-trade-deadline-and-big-ticket-rentals/YSl8vZzyugn0iaZbtRxGmK/

    “So we saved some money and we have that available, and now – as the byproduct of the results – attendance is up, everything is up, the organization is doing much better. I deal with (Braves chairman) Terry McGuirk when it comes to this stuff. We’ve had conversations about it. We have money beyond what we’ve saved because of how well the club has done. I’ve been given very specific instructions, and I can shop in any aisle. I can at least have a conversation. I can tell you right now in all the discussions and all the players we’ve discussed, there’s no single player that we can’t afford. Where ultimately we’d have an (in-house) discussion is if we’re looking at adding three or four big-league guys at big contracts. That’s when maybe the numbers start to add up and we’d have to evaluate it. But one or two guys right now would not be a problem at all. ”

  20. I may have told this story before. Back in the olden days, before I knew that it was just part of the deal that some of your favorite sports people like Keith Law were going to tweet about very controversial political topics, I told Keith that I didn’t like it.

    Then I told him again.

    Then I told him a few more times.

    Then he blocked me.

    Some beat writer for the Gators did the same. I then realized this was a really bad idea, so I stopped. But I’m still blocked. Those are the only two I’ve been knowingly blocked by, but I’m sure there’s more. With that said, it did cause me to broaden my horizons of prospect people, so I got that going for me… which is nice.

  21. @17

    I read that with a decidedly pessimistic attitude since AA knows it’s in his best interests to keep the fans engaged and optimistic. Can he pursue any player he’s looked at? Sure, but that statement still leaves it open for him to just not look at players with big contracts. Let’s be honest; do you really think, if Josh Donaldson were healthy, he’d be looking at Donaldson with the remaining $10M he’s owed this year? I just don’t know if I believe that, but this was also in that article:

    A report from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com held that the Braves are close to your maximum on money this year. Is that true? If so, should we take that as a sign that you might not be able to get what you think you might need in the next few weeks?

    I’ve seen those reports as well. I would say that’s not accurate right now. This is something I learned from my time in Toronto. In 2014, we were in it at the trade deadline, and we had maxed out our payroll in the offseason and really tied our hands. Going into 2015, by design we saved some money on the side in the offseason. You get to January and February and there’s deals with guys available and people were clamoring that we should jump and collect all these guys, and we withstood the temptation to do that. At the trade deadline – as much as people talk about all we added; we added Ben Revere, (David) Price and (Troy) Tulowitzki – we didn’t add to our payroll at all. We stayed within the numbers we had. So we’ve set some money aside from a big-league payroll standpoint, so we definitely have (it) for this moment.

    And of course, this matches what we were told by the beat writers at the end of last offseason. I can’t think of a better example than the imperfect example of Donaldson offhand, but a case like him where a player is worth their contract — nothing more, nothing less — do the Braves have the money to just take that contract? So instead of using the money at the end of last offseason, you basically just “sign” a player for just his contact at the trading deadline by a team just looking to dump payroll? That could be interesting.

    As for even mentioning the idea of 3-4 big contracts? No, I don’t believe that for a second, but thanks for saying it, AA.

  22. Interesting example: Cole Hamels is owed $22M this year with a $20M option with a $6M buy out for 2019. Does Hamels actually have any surplus value, or if the Braves were willing to take him at his salary plus the inevitable $6M buyout, could they just take him for a live arm similar to how Minnesota did the same with us for Garcia?

  27. @10 Chief, reading whole sentences would help. I said we have too much talent not to break out of the slump, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need more to do better than that. And most of what I suggested was back-filling with internal options so, technically, they are already part of the team.

    I don’t know if Riley’s bat is big enough to help at this point, but it’s worth a try. Acuna is currently graded out better in CF than LF albeit in an extremely small sample size. LF is a black hole for us, maybe due to the park. The only players who have graded out positively are Santana and Lane Adams. I also proposed improving the rotation from within as I’ve said before.

    So the upshot is that we have a goodly amount of internal talent that can push us forward not to mention the possibility of adding some.

    Looks like Snit is batting Albies first today and giving Ender that day off. Acuna spent a lot of time in the minors batting leadoff and he may be a more patient hitter than Ozzie. He is the one that needs any extra ABs he can get to get hot. If you look back, he did have a tendency to struggle each time he got to a new level and then broke out in a big way (also as I perused box scores, Acuna seemed to hit better the second or third time through the order). Injuries have held him back in the majors, but he should get going soon. Ozzie is currently hitting for more power than Acuna and should be the #2 hitter.

    From outside the organization, we’ve seen two years in a row how bringing in a big bat in the middle of the season can boost a team immensely. When Kemp came in 2016, the Braves had one of the best offenses in the second half and when Matt Adams subbed for an injured Freddie, the team kept its head above water until the trade deadline. Unless you believe that Camargo is the best option and bat him and his high OBP at leadoff then adding an impact bat at 3B should still be on the table.

    As far as a platoon partner for Ender, who would be best – Santana, Reed, Dustin, Culberson? They’re all on the 40-man. Are there any easy-to-obtain RH bats? Danny Valencia? Nick Castellanos? Profar? Asdrubel Cabrera? [BTW, Matt Adams has a .926 OPS for the gNats]

  28. Unfortunately today wlll be start number 19 for Julio. Is it possible for him to put together 2 good starts in a row or will the curse of the odd numbered start continue?

  33. I’m liking Paul Byrd in the booth. He just explained to Chip why hitting your best hitter second makes sense (according to the “metrics”). It’s the simple proposition that he will get 15-20 more plate appearances there. Everyone on this board is aware of that argument, but Chip acted as if he’s never heard that.

  38. “25 at bats? That’s 6-7 more hits!*”

    *if we assume the other 2-hole hitter would get zero hits

  39. Geez, a 4-pitch inning for Corbin. That is terrible. I guess he won’t have to break a sweat until he bats.

  40. Yep way da make the pitcher work there ….. Albies and Freeman swing at more 1st pitches than any 2 in MLB … come on guys .. this guy is tough .. your letting him work into the 8th and 9th by doing that …

  45. July 25, 2007: Aaron Cook threw 74 pitches in the Rockies’ 10-2 victory over the Padres.

    May 20, 2005: Carlos Silva threw 74 pitches in the Twins’ 7-1 victory over the Brewers.

  46. Unbelievable…maybe this is why our offense sucks right now. Pitchers have figured out not to groove a first pitch fastball but yet we hack away like it is bp

  48. Wow, that inning took a surprising turn. Nice! Take that, Corbin: Three outs with two pitches, baby!

  50. Things are slipping away quickly. Something has to change or we are going to get buried. But hey, at least we have lots of prospects that we have blocked at the major league level

  58. I’ve been happy with what I’ve seen so far. Having two good defense centerfielders is pretty nice, even if the better defender is not hitting well.

    Ender is still 81% owned in Yahoo fantasy leagues. I’m one of those suckers.

  59. Mike Matheny…bye bye

    You read it here first…during the third win in St Louis…said he better win the fourth or he gone.

    He gone. Hard to be humble.

  60. Teheran at 72 pitches, 4 baserunners, and 6 K’s through 6. At home. Hey, throw a couple more, Julio.

  63. Nice day’s work, Julio. I’m pleased Snit pulled him. The pen can rest for a week after this game.

  65. I think they really want this game won.

    In Spring Training, coop predicted 91 wins. Did I remember correctly tfloyd saying he predicted 94? I don’t see the comment. Was it a joke and I’m gullible?

  66. I’m on the fence. He didn’t start the inning well and they may have seen something. Outside of that, I’d say leave him in. Without the pickoff, he’d need to have been pulled for sure.

  67. What do I know… Biddle! Great decision, I guess.
    Well done, Biddle – excellent game, Julio!

  68. Biddle saves the day. Now maybe Snit will go to Biddle before Freeman to put out a fire. We might have been able to squeeze out a win in the 1st game of the series.

  69. This was a very encouraging performance by Julio. I know the odd/even thing is strange, but just for fun I did some analysis. Before today Julio pitched 51 and 1/3:innings on odd numbered starts. He’s given up 29 runs for a 5.08 ERA.

    On even numbered starts he’s pitched 48 innings and has given up 18 runs for a 3.34 ERA. Take away his 2nd game and his ERA is 2.56 in even numbered starts.

    As I said, let’s hope today’s start reverses the trend.

  71. Winkler needs an extended rest. His pitches are more erratic than I’ve ever seen. I would put him on the 10-day DL due to a tired arm.

  72. I love at least having the hope that a PH can run into a fastball.

    Yeah, Winkler could use a break. He’ll get at least 4 days off. DL’ing him would only take him out of the Washington and Miami series.

  73. @71/68
    Agreed re Biddle. At this point he is the class of the ‘middle’ pen. Winkler for 10.

    Acuna…first thing that needs to be said to him is stop chewing/slobbering gum with your mouth wide open, trying to look macho or whatever. To do that the average distance your pop ups , 3 of them, carried today is absurd…100 ft. max. Become a real hitter and then chew gum properly like some of them do. You will have earned it. Grow up.

  75. @65–Rob, this is what I posted in the predictions thread in March:

    “Look,I know the Braves’ win total is likely to be somewhere in the 70’s. But it’s March, and I’m entitled to dream big dreams (see,e.g., UMBC over UVA). In my dream, it’s 1991 all over again. The starting pitching is dominant (Folty, Newk, Gohara, Fried make dramatic leaps forward, McCarthy is this year’s Leibrandt), the defense is much improved over last year,and several hitters have career years.
    I’ll see your 91 or 92 wins, Coop and Adam R, and raise it. 94 wins!
    Or none of that could happen and they win 67.”

    I’ll let you decide whether that is serious or a joke. I think I’d prefer to say that I was predicting with my heart. If I were to predict with my head (or if I had money riding on it), my win total would certainly have been lower.

  76. 74 — I think Camargo’s defense has been excellent at third base. Our infield defense as a whole really has been very good.

  77. @76 If you look up the stats on FG most of our IF positions are in the top 10 or even top 5. FF is the third best @1B even though his stat is in the negatives. 3B is middling but I’m quite sure that’s due to Bautista/Culberson as opposed to Camargo. Camargo himself rates out pretty well. Catcher has not been as good as last year and LF is a black hole (Braves rank about 22nd or 23rd or so). Overall, the Braves are 6th or 7th in the majors but there’s a big gap between the top tier (2 or 3 teams) and the next tier.

  78. Hey Rob, Marlins take out Phightin’s with Dietrich at leadoff. Has lots of control, though, and he’s a lefty when we need righties. And he’s not much of a defender. He’d be expensive because of the control.

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