Marcell Ozuna was signed in January after free agent Josh Donaldson left for the Twins. Here’s what I wrote about the signing at that time.
The signing couldn’t have worked out better for the Braves on the offensive side, as the 29 year old Ozuna led the National League in home runs and RBI’s, and his .338 batting average was good for 3rd in the league. When reviewing players this year we need to keep in mind that we have barely a third of the normal sample size, but no one can dispute Ozuna was amazing offensively during these 60 games. In addition to his domination of the Triple Crown categories, he led the league in total bases, was 2nd in hits, and 3rd in on base percentage and slugging percentage. And if you find tenths of points of bWAR over a 60 game season significant, I’ll add that Marcell was 4th in the NL in Offensive WAR, at 2.5.
The Braves caught another break on the defensive side, when the designated hitter was added to the National League at the last minute. Ozuna showed little range and a weak arm in his limited time in the field, and ended up starting 39 games at DH.
I feel like the promoting of Freddie Freeman for MVP has overshadowed Marcell’s season, but a 1 – 1 – 3 finish in the triple crown categories historically should generate some MVP support as well.
Marcell is back on the free agent market. The arguments for and against signing him to a multi-year contract are similar to last year’s arguments for Donaldson, but Ozuna is 5 years younger. The big question is if the National League will employ the Designated Hitter in 2021 and beyond, which would simultaneously make Ozuna more attractive and more expensive.
You can read Jeremy Timmerman’s post where do the Braves go outfield-wise in 2021 for a fuller analysis of the prospective 2021 outfield.
Echoing thoughts on the World Series.
•Lots of what ifs, but that baserunning blunder that led to a Double Play in Game 7 will haunt this team for years. The Braves could’ve taken the Rays.
•MLB’s action to let Justin Turner play with COVID symptoms is inexcusable.
•Justin Turner coming out to celebrate with his team was inexcusable and that action will be more discussed in these next few weeks than the the Dodgers actually winning.
I’ve never liked the contact play, especially with 0 outs. There was 1 guy on the whole left side of the infield, and Nick hit it right at him. Game of inches, etc. etc.
Apparently Justin Turner loves the contact play…
Agreed on Turner. It is already overshadowing the team’s victory, which I’m afraid is fitting punishment. But it’s arguably even more morally egregious than the Marlins choosing to play amid a team cluster of cases early on in the season; right now, in late October, ignorance is even less of a defense.
Turner’s behavior was indefensible. His teammates, in closing ranks to defend him, are indefensible as well.
Thought experiment: The Rays win Game 6 and Turner tests positive. The approach to positives during the regular season seemed to be to postpone all games for about a week to make sure no further positives came up. Imagine a week-long postponement for Game 7.
Has anyone verified that other Dodgers were either not made aware of Turner’s positive tests or objected to being around him and still had to anyway? Because if not, then I think you need to take a step back and assess your understanding of the athlete’s temperament. They play hurt, they play sick, they play with broken bones and ligaments and concussions which has long-term impact, they played the entire season under the risk of COVID, they share nasty clothes, they share nasty women, and apparently they even piss on each other if you believe the Greg Maddux story. They’re also insane confident and probably cocky, and they’re probably not worried about COVID.
I think the opposite is true: two weeks from now, when no one has COVID, no one has myocarditis, no one has a sniffle, everybody got paid, and everybody got laid, what’s going to overshadow Turner having COVID is that Turner was in that picture with the team commemorating a forever fact that they are World Series champions, and the Rays and Braves aren’t. And let’s not forget that we had guys who ran from COVID, and these guys are World Series champions.
Also, the Atlanta Braves are better than the Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros, and the World Series was last week, IMO. My friend wanted me to go to a potential Game 7 if the Rays won Game 6. Ummm, no, I don’t want to fly to Dallas to watch the Dodgers, who beat my beloved team, beat another team that I have an interest in. The Dodgers were a freaking good team, guys. It hurt my heart to watch them have their way with 2 VERY good teams that I wanted to beat them. And they’re not getting any worse any time soon.
Rob Cope is wise occasionally.
Marcell will get paid, I believe. I hate the DH but am ready for it. I’d love to have Ozuna back.
Nice piece, Rusty. Thank you.
Good to see you on here, coop. Hope you’re doing well.
they’re probably not worried about COVID.
Undoubtedly true. Doesn’t mean that it’s defensible.
Pro athletes do a lot of bad things and have a lot of bad things done to them. Don’t make those things right.
“we had guys who ran from COVID, and these guys are World Series champions.”
Are you implying that the Dodgers are somehow more honorable or “wanted it more” than the Braves because they played a guy with an active case of COVID during the World Series?
A classy bunch, those Dodgers…
@11
Hard to fathom what he’s implying, to be honest. If the Rays come back and win that game…or probably even if Kevin Cash doesn’t pull Blake Snell like a completely braindead idiot, this is a mess of biblical proportions this morning. If this doesn’t turn into a huge superspreading event in the Dodgers clubhouse, they’ll be about as lucky as lucky can be. Rob can snort something along the lines of, Well, none of them would’ve died or probably even been hospitalized, so who cares??? all he wants. It’s complete conjecture and is completely irrelevant to why this is such a mess besides.
Also, back to the decision to lift Snell for a minute…woof! If you want a prime example of why the Rays way of handling pitchers is stupid, it’s hard to come up with a better one than that. It is, of course, possible to operate with openers and bullpen games and the like without adhering so firmly to the third time through the order maxim that you intentionally take your best chance to win the game out of play, but it does seem to be the default position of third-time-through-the-order acolytes. And it’s incredibly ridiculous.
On balance, do pitchers do worse the third time through the order? Yes. Should you remove a starting pitcher who is absolutely decimating the best lineup in baseball two times through the order so that you can give said lineup a crack at a relief corps that they’ve seen every part of for five games? Uh, no…no, you should not.
The “Deary me! We have to get him out of there! This is about to be his third time through the order and my philosophy assures me that there’s zero chance he won’t turn into a pumpkin here!” people are every bit as stupid as the “Well, I’m gonna leave my starting pitcher out there to blow the game…because after all, he said he was feeling fine” people of yesteryear. Probably even stupider, to tell you the truth. At least the latter is basing it on some form of current information, even if the pitcher is BSing him.
FYI – 25 years ago today, Tom Glavine allowed one hit over eight innings and the Braves won the World Series. Good times.
Do you think if we gave Marcell the whole damn brewery (not just the beer joint) that would do it for a new contract?
Just as I suspected: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/10/rangers-decline-option-corey-kluber.html
@11 Yep. We had guys who didn’t feel like it was financially or otherwise worth it to risk getting COVID, and their guys were all in. For 99.9% of people, COVID is not a life-threatening arrangement, and the rest becomes risk assessments. Am I willing to risk getting COVID by going to the grocery store? Yes, because I really need groceries. Am I going to risk getting COVID by going into a tight building shoulder-to-shoulder with people to listen to a terrible cover band? No, because I don’t really need to listen to a terrible cover band. And that’s why grocery stores are doing well and bars that have terrible cover bands are not, because almost 100% of people agree with what I just said.
Nick Markakis didn’t want to be play. Cool man. Go home. You’re not that committed to winning. No big deal. The risk was too great. You’ve made bank, and you have way more money than I ever will. Cool. Same with Felix Hernandez. Who knows if COVID played a role in how hard Cole Hamels worked to help his team win at the highest level. I’m hesitant to make that point since I don’t know if it did, especially to the degree that it did to Markakis and Hernandez.
Los Angeles didn’t have that. In fact, winning and the sheer emotional ecstasy of winning meant that they were — gasp — even willing to risk getting COVID to get into a picture that many of them will put on their mantles and cherish for the rest of their lives because they understand how incredibly awesome it is to win the biggest championship in your sport. That the Holy Grail of winning a championship and the enjoyment of having accomplished that incredible feat is more important than risking getting COVID.
And Georgia. Sports. Fans. Don’t get it. Boom, full circle from last week!
Jamie Newman opted out. Georgia will not win the national championship this year. Atlanta had key players missing. We didn’t win a championship. It’s a culture thing.
::ducks::
And @13
Rob can snort something along the lines of, Well, none of them would’ve died or probably even been hospitalized, so who cares??? all he wants. It’s complete conjecture and is completely irrelevant to why this is such a mess besides.
Looks like you don’t get it either. I have no less scientific knowledge of COVID than you do. I have no less knowledge of probability and odds and risk assessment than you do. But if I was a major league baseball player, and I just won the Holy Grail, I’m in that picture. Call me an idiot.
And it’s not conjecture to say the risk of Justin Turner and those around him is pretty minimal. It’s science. It’s playing politics to say otherwise. And I’m told we don’t do politics here.
The Mets, having read my catcher assessment from Monday, decided not to pick up their option on Wilson Ramos. Expect him to have an MVP season for somebody.
The Dodgers didn’t watch their best player and team leader develop a 104.5-degree fever! I’m sure that had nothing to do with it!
But if only Nick Markakis had never opted out, that would’ve signaled to the team that we were supposed to win the World Series! The real reason Austin Riley bumbled on the basepaths into that out was that he was momentarily distracted by the memory of Nick Markakis opting out of summer camp! It’s so clear to me now!
There’s a lot to take issue with in Rob’s comments, but particularly the assertion that “the risk to Justin Turner and those around him is minimal”. From a scientific standpoint that’s not a defensible statement. We know very little about the long term impacts of this disease, since it hasn’t been around for very long. That’s not politics, it’s actual science, which is a process. Additionally, none of us know the risk factors that some of those people may have. To suggest that anyone should have a cavalier attitude towards an emerging disease that we are in the early stages of understanding, but that can certainly be lethal for any given patient, is mind boggling.
But it’s also absurd to imply that the Braves didn’t win the World Series because some of their players took the risk of the disease seriously.
I’ve seen this movie folks. It doesn’t end well. Let’s have a discussion and leave politics out of it. Keeping the conversation to Turner and the disease itself is fine. I’d rather not moderate today.
Rob, we had at least 4 people on the Braves this year that made clear decisions based on COVID (and one supposition on your part.) Neck opted out and then back in. His epic lack of bat speed had nothing to do with COVID. Freddie put up MVP numbers after contracting it. Will Smith lost some time and maybe some effect due to his recovery and obviously King Felix decided the risk was not worth it. To say that Hamels might not have put as much into his rehab due to COVID is entirely your conjecture. So who exactly “ran from COVID?”
I think I understand what you are talking about, but it may not have been the best way to express it to get across your intent. (And why bring Georgia sports into this? Are you saying we don’t want to win…or don’t know how?) I tend to agree with the others (and you) that Turner was allowed to play even with knowledge of his positive test because they were willing to do whatever it took to win. Could we not say the same about the Astros and sign stealing? About players taking steroids? About owners (and Selig) ignoring steroids until they no longer could do so? I think the difference is the rightness or wrongness of that position.
They pulled Turner late in the game due to “concern” and then let him come back out to possibly infect the rest of the team. Hey…season’s over and they won. I look at that as risky behavior (but athletes are by and large risk takers.) And without talking politics, let us just say that there are certain larger gatherings that are deemed more acceptable than others. It all depends on your POV. Frankly, I’m just happy we got a baseball season (even if truncated and the Dodgers won it all.) We came damn close and that had nothing to do with our team “running from COVID.”
They were simply a more well rounded team. We were trotting out an injured Acuna, a taxed bullpen, an ineffective Neck, no longer had Duvall (who dropped off his Sept numbers), and were working with half a starting staff (and made some truly bone-headed baserunning plays.) That we got to the 7th game itself was a miracle. Sure, it sucks to get so close and know we could have been competitive with Tampa. But it’s under the bridge now.
And indeed…pulling Snell last night was a terrible decision. May well have cost them the series. But again…water under the bridge. Cash may look at that poorly in retrospect. 😉
@20
Hold on. Just hold on a second. I genuinely respect your baseball knowledge and you’re one of my favorite people on this blog. But do you genuinely think that one baserunning blunder had more of an impact on our season than our primary option against RHP in LF, one SP, and potentially another SP not being fully useful because of COVID reasons? You can’t possibly think that. Not even an actual PA, but a baserunning decision had a bigger impact than that?
@21
Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of players decided they cared more about winning baseball games and making money than avoiding COVID. I’m not interested in the moral preening so much as the statistical element. Very few players didn’t play. Many did, all survived, minimal got sick and only for short-term periods of time. If you bring me some evidence that these players hurt themselves long-term instead of turning the lack of history of COVID into the boogeyman, then I am all ears. And I’ll start doing Instacart instead of going to the grocery store while I’m at it. But until then, telling me that a few 37-year olds who had made more money than probably we all will in our lifetimes didn’t fall into a certain risk profile that didn’t prioritize winning, then buddy, you’re dreaming with your eyes open.
So who exactly “ran from COVID?”
Well, Felix Hernandez ran from COVID. That’s a fact.
Nick Markakis ran from COVID, and then came back, a shell of his former self, a 3-week hot streak notwithstanding. Was it that he was 37-years old? Probably. But 37-year olds know better than everyone that the time preparing for the season is extremely important, and instead of preparing, he ran from COVID.
I agree, it’s conjecture about Cole Hamels. I do have questions, but I don’t have answers. But to answer your question, Felix and Nick ran from COVID. Maybe Felix gets out of the first inning of Game 3. But we will never know because Felix ran from COVID.
@25 – So, I’ll grant you those 2 players. Is it still your supposition that those 2 players were the difference maker between us and the Dodgers?
ETA – And I’m not trying to bust your balls because you’re a FLA man, Rob (though reason enough to do so.) I am genuinely curious. Just seemed a bold statement.
RE: Georgia Sports
I almost regret bringing this back up during a COVID talk since I don’t necessarily want to tie the two together. And while I like to think differently and stir the pot, I didn’t keep it going during the NLCS because I didn’t want to be too much of a jerk during an exciting season and series.
But that’s all over with. My hypothesis with no ability to test it is that there is something within Georgia sports that keeps the big three — the Braves, Falcons, and Dawwwwgs — from getting over the hump. And I think it stems from an overall acceptance by its fans of just “being in the conversation”. I feel like an overwhelming amount of fans just want to be in it late in the season, and that’s good enough. Just give me that puncher’s chance, and I’m good, says the average Georgia sports fan. That’s why Mark Richt got 15 years in Athens. That’s why fans keep showing up for Braves games. That’s why Kirby’s in year 5, he’s starting a guy that looks like your mailman at quarterback, and Dawg fans are like, “Hey, maybe the USPS does produce good quarterbacks. Let’s find out.” He’s Luke Del Rio against COVID defenses, guys.
I feel like I have a unique perspective with this since I’m a Gator fan, so I often juxtapose the two mentalities of my Braves brethen and my fellow Gator fans. Gator fans are quite often accused of having expectations that are too high, and I will always come to their defense. We were the first major college football team to fire a coach before the end of year 3. Now they all do it. I got conned hard by ole Billy Muschamp, but I knew pretty early that ole Dead Fish Aisle McElwain wasn’t the guy. I vividly remembering thinking that when Will Grier transferred that it would cost McElwain his job. And it did; he couldn’t get anyone else in there, the direction of the program went south, and he was gone at an unprecedented point in the coaching cycle.
So back to the Braves. Liberty Media knows this. They know they can just keep the Hammers in the conversation late in the season, and tons of fans will keep tuning into Robbie Erlin and Tommy Milone and whatever else they throw up there. I joked that I had no idea what Robbie Erlin looked like, but that’s true. I refused to turn on the television if Robbie Erlin was pitching. That just happened to be my line in the sand. I have no ability to force this outcome, but what if Braves fans stopped cheering as fervently for the Braves until Liberty Media gave AA a payroll that would allow them to really compete with the Dodgers? That’ll never happen, so I will just continue to whine and complain and cheer for David as he fights Goliath when the Atlanta media market is big enough that it should be Goliath vs. Goliath.
Eduardo Rodriguez is just being able to walk again. He got it in July.
@26 AL, I would love to know what Felix Hernandez would have done against the Dodger lineup. I’d rather have him than not have him, and he ducked. He looked good in the original Spring Training. And I’d love to know if Kakes could have mustered something a little better than a .561 OPS in the playoffs if he showed up to work on time instead of, according to Peanut, having to be BEGGED by AA to come play. Begged, according to Peanut.
@28 I’m hesitant to respond to this because I don’t want to come off as unsympathetic and calloused. I’m really sorry for what happened to Eduardo Rodriguez. But he’s one guy. Anecdotes don’t make for good science. He represents 0.1% of the data body of professional baseball players. 99.9%, according to all available metrics, did just fine.
The Cardinals just declined a 1.25 MM option for Kolten Wong. Wow. This is going to be a crazy offseason.
@29 – Me too. He did look great, and the best example of maybe what you are talking about. A real shame. (Not so much on Neck – he clearly declined as his at bats piled up as it will do to an old player.)
@27 – I think you are talking about 2 different things. There is the team and their expectations, and then there are the fans and theirs. On the latter, and especially as it relates to the Braves, was there 1 person on this blog that championed those moves? Have we all not beat our heads into the wall about the ownership (and the GM and/or manager) about their decisions because we all want a winning franchise? I will certainly agree that Atlanta (and maybe even larger Georgia as a state) is a transitory body and there are as many Packers fans, or Steelers fans…maybe even the Patriots. That’s the NFL. The state at large (and the city itself, of which I still live in the suburbs) remains a college football town. As a Gator fan, you may not know or recall that many Dawg alumni/fans were calling for Richt’s head 5 years before he was finally let go. For a time, averaging 10 wins a year was OK assuming he would make the leap, but when he didn’t all hell broke lose. We do consider ourselves top tier (as should FLA after 3 championships between Spurrier and Meyer.) We’re not as bad as Auburn that 1 bad year means we’ll fire a good head coach (but then they have always had Bama envy.)
But I don’t know how any of that has anything to do with what the players on the field do. I cannot speak to the NFL or NBA because I don’t really watch them, but I do know that the Dawgs have been competitive with pretty much every team they have faced since Smart took over (and have been very close to Bama these last 3 years.) And the Braves have now won 3 division titles in a row with a great young core of talent, and came within a hair’s breathe of the WS this year. Freddie wanted to win. Acuna wanted to win (and played through pain.) Albies wanted to win. Fried…Soroka before he went down, Anderson, Ozuna, and on down the line. I just don’t know how any of that has to do with a “Georgia mindset” or Covid. It just wasn’t our year. Barring something catastrophic, we’ll face off against the Dodgers again next year in the NLCS and may yet take the next step.
I’ll say it this way…it is often said that we underperformed in the 90’s, only winning that 1 WS. However, out of five chances (which is/was not easy to do) we won in 1995. I’ll take that and hope for more. The Dodgers just spent 8 years trying to get theirs after 32 years since their last. Winning the World Series is not easy and getting there is (more than) half the battle. Ownership and management may be a barrier. But, in my mind, it has nothing to do with the players ability or desire nor the fans wish and mentality. (And to turn back to the original point…nothing whatsoever to do with COVID.) My humble opinion.
Did you mean $12.5MM?
@31 – It will be with all of the uncertainty. I was happy to hear that AAR was prescient about Kluber. Not a bad option for the rotation if he is healthy.
@24
I honestly don’t think Neck’s off-again-on-again decision had anything to do with his performance. I think he’s done, was probably basically done after last year, and would’ve continued to be done no matter what this season looked like. The fact that he only had to play two months of regular season probably helped him versus what we’d have seen with the standard six months, and it still didn’t matter.
Felix Hernandez certainly could’ve helped us in the regular season, and if you plug him into the Game 5 starter position, that couldn’t have hurt. Maybe A.J. Minter is pitching that sixth inning instead of Smith, who knows? I will say, though, that with how our rotation turned out in the playoffs, I really don’t think Felix Hernandez would’ve provided a whole lot extra that we didn’t get with what we had. And his presence could have messed it up somewhat if we’d decided he was our Game 2 guy instead of Anderson.
And I’m not really buying it on Cole Hamels. He was having arm issues during the original spring training, he kept having arm issues during the summer version of spring training, and he continued having arm issues when he tried to ramp it up late in the season. I don’t think you can attribute that to COVID-19.
So as far as an overall “impact on our season,” as you put it? Sure, not having Felix Hernandez back when we had one starting pitcher was bigger than a couple of baserunning decisions. As far as what is more responsible for us losing the NLCS between Felix opting out and the baserunning errors (I’m throwing the Ozuna one in here, too)? The baserunning errors were way more responsible.
I don’t even know how to contribute to this discussion without name calling because the idea that the Dodgers won and we didn’t because of their “fearlessness” around COVID and not because they have infinite money and the best player development in the sport is so on its face asinine.
You think an ancient Felix Hernandez was gonna swing the season for us? Sure thing, champ. You think Neck falling off after a good start just like he does every year has to do with him opting out? LOL
If we were the Dodgers we would have gotten Mookie to play instead of Kakes. But sure, blame it on the player’s approach to COVID.
Let me get this straight. Since the Braves came so close to winning the NLCS, they SHOULD have won it hands down. Other more dedicated teams NEVER fail to deliver in such situations, they NEVER make any baserunning mistakes, they NEVER pull their starting pitcher needlessly….
No matter that all season and through the first two playoff rounds, most of us anointed LA as the prohibitive team-to-beat because of their stacked and highly-paid roster. No matter that a double fist-full of good fortune enabled us to take a 3-1 lead in that series. My positive comments at the time aside, it was a freaking miracle we got past Game 5 against those guys.
And now that LA actually won – and armed with a post-script of the strangest late-inning defensive sub in baseball history – Rob tells us that Georgia teams’ lack of commitment and/or intestinal fortitude allowed the Dodgers to win. I haven’t heard such baseball BS since Reggie Jackson called games.
@37 Well, thank you for not calling me names. I admire your restraint.
So let me get this straight. A significant portion of these comments seem to suggest that there is an almost negligible impact to throw, in a crucial game, a 25-year old ne’er do well who’s had almost no professional success instead of a 34-year old former Cy Young winner, albeit on the downslope of his career, who shoved in Spring Training. You may not like the reason, but the reason is that the Cy Young winner decided winning wasn’t as important as avoiding COVID. And nevermind the fact that that it is indeed simply a fact — and something I supported at the time — but the sheer MENTION of it draws the ire of many, to the point where they are almost unable to hold back their worst words. I’ve made no moral observations (I’d have taken my $150M and went home too, friend), but if I simply state the facts that we had guys prioritize avoiding COVID over winning and they didn’t, then boy, them’s fightin’ words.
Yes, it was a VERY close series. We got within 9 outs of beating the mighty Dodgers. They were decidedly more talented, but we were right there. But they had all hands on deck, and some of our guys took their ball and went home. A guy had to be BEGGED to return, the same guy who currently holds the distinction of playing the most games in major league baseball without having played in a World Series, a guy that has played his entire career within 3 hours of his hometown. The dude likes comfort, and perhaps he doesn’t like winning enough to sacrifice it.
This discussion started because Ryan gave his opinion about a COVID situation. I haven’t cursed, I haven’t name-called, I haven’t supported a political candidate or position, and I certainly haven’t said that anyone here has given an “asinine” or similar viewpoint. I gave my opinion about the COVID situation and the ripple effect it’s had on the sport, and it seems that there is a disproportionate amount of malice towards those who give facts and opinions on the situation that they don’t like, and I think that’s very unfortunate.
David Price opted out.
@36
Felix Hernandez certainly could’ve helped us in the regular season, and if you plug him into the Game 5 starter position, that couldn’t have hurt. Maybe A.J. Minter is pitching that sixth inning instead of Smith, who knows? I will say, though, that with how our rotation turned out in the playoffs, I really don’t think Felix Hernandez would’ve provided a whole lot extra that we didn’t get with what we had. And his presence could have messed it up somewhat if we’d decided he was our Game 2 guy instead of Anderson.
Fair. And maybe you’re right. Maybe Felix Hernandez shows up and gives up 7 runs in two outs just like Kyle Wright. Doubt it, but I don’t know. But what I do know is that he was not there because he felt like COVID wasn’t worth the risk. And that is literally all I’m saying. And the Dodgers didn’t have any examples of that.
RE: Markakis
The series was so close I can’t help but wonder if Markakis would have been a fraction better had he actually showed up for work on time and didn’t need to be begged. We lost the last 2 games by a total of 3 runs. It’s perfectly reasonable to wonder what a less risk-averse attitude would have produced.
@40 I think we could have used Felix Hernandez more than the Dodgers could have used David Price. I don’t know which Dodgers starter David Price would have started over, but I can count a couple that Hernandez would have started over based on what we saw in Spring Training.
Plus, if the Dodgers lost the NLCS, you know that there would be fans saying Price was missed, even if it wasn’t true.
https://nypost.com/2020/10/28/bill-de-blasio-is-trying-to-kill-mets-sale-to-steve-cohen/
@40 Thank you for that tidbit.
Reminder that we all have to see each other at this bar tomorrow. Tempers are rising a bit too much for my comfort. Can’t we all just smoke some medicinal marijuana together and be done with it?
If not, I’ll start doing Ender Inciarte fake trade scenarios and I might not be able to stop.
In all seriousness, let’s keep it civil and debate the statements, not attack the person.
I just did some kid’s yoga.
Namaste.
@39 – Your facts are 2 people (maybe even 1.5) and the “malice” is questioning that supposition. And you’ve still not answered – were King Felix and Neck the difference? You made a bold statement and got called on it. Hey, it’s the internet. I still like your opinion, Rob. I’m pretty sure we all do. This one just seems…odd.
Ryan, I say this with deep respect and admiration, but…
Are you really trying to persuade me to believe that you need a pretext for Ender Inciarte fake trade scenarios?
Maybe…
AAR: OY!
I choose to take that as a kvell, not a kvetch.
@15 Cliff, I love the Jerry Clower reference. Most of this bar is probably too young:)
Man… I sure am. Who is Jerry Clower??
@50: You choose correctly, grasshopper. (You’re too young for that as well, unless you caught the reruns.)
Oh Alex…..sigh……you have missed so much. But I hope you are making up for it long after I’m gone. Jerry Clower was probably the most popular comedian in the South from the 60s into the 80s. Hilarious storyteller. Before Jeff Foxworthy he was the most well known southern comedian for a couple of decades but his style was rural storytelling rather than a stand up redneck humour routine. I have several of his records. Just Google ‘they gave Marcel the beer joint’ and watch the 4 minute YouTube video to hear one of his most famous stories and get a sense of his performing style.
Hmmmm, let me just see what is going on in the comments section today…….
Grandpa Simpson.gif
Okay, change of pace, whats been the best beer you all have had since march? Up in Northeast NJ we have had a renaissance of craft beers and it has been a 15 pound blast. Sharing new beers with my Braves buddy here has kept me sane.
One of mine, Glacier Juice, Long Lot Brewery in Chester NY.
LOL, the only rational explanation I can find for Rob trying to scapegoat a fat fifty year old Felix fucking Hernandez is that he is cousins with AA and/or is being paid to distract from the only real question that matters which is why our GM failed to fix the team’s one glaring weakness at the trade deadline.
Either that or he’s auditioning to be the guy on ESPN whose job it is to offer hot-takes that are even stupider than Steven A. Smith’s.
@57 Yeah, I’ve been an AA apologist all year. Ya caught me! 🙄
Early speculation out of Chicago is that Jon Lester, who lives in ATL in the offseason, prefers to sign with the Braves and wants a 1 year deal.
Probably the worst thread in BJ history. Wow.
@60 Says the guy who said there wouldn’t be a season and shouldn’t be a season. You know how to call ‘em. Wonder why you’re not a fan of this thread… 🤔
@56, this is a great question and I’m not sure I actually have an answer, as many IPAs as I’ve had over the last seven months. I really enjoyed the 3 Stars “No More Handshakes” collaboration with Manor Hill.
Can we please quit going after each other and let’s go make fun of the Mets for a minute?
I think it was a good thread. Got people going.
I disagree with Rob’s “urgency” mantra without getting to “how severe is COVID dah dah dah.” I believe “urgency” increases choking and increases poor impulsive decisions to an extent as to not achieve results in a positive direction. that is, the mean outcome of a process controlled by urgency is to get lower results than a process not influenced as much by urgency.
Example: Auburn. Auburn fans are urgent. They think Auburn should win the national championship every other year. So Chizik wins them a National Championship and a year later he is fired. So, then Malzahn has to put in his system. They look like they are about to fire Malzahn (who has the best record against Nick Saban of any college football head coach). Every time you change a staff you risk going down in recruiting. It is lunacy driven by urgency.
Rob, your beloved Florida was urgent to get rid of Muschamp and brought in McElwain. McElwzain destroyed what had been and should be (with bad coaches) a pretty good recuriting pipeline.
No. Ryan offered an opinion. Perfectly fine. I disagreed, and along the way, I made a very basic point that the teams that kept their players on the field had a better shot at winning than the teams who didn’t. And the same people who didn’t even think there should have been a season are in their feels.
One of the few scientific facts about this virus that we know is that if you offer your opinion about the virus, you are almost guaranteed to get an opinion back that you won’t like. Guaranteed. So maybe COVID needs to be on the list of inherently political discussions that can’t be discussed. Because I gave my opinion, and some people can’t seem to handle it without being attacking and degrading.
Well, new thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2020/10/29/braves-2020-player-review-ian-anderson/