Although the word mayhem is used frequently today, it is rarely according to its original and accurate meaning. At English Common Law, mayhem was an intentional assault resulting in the permanent loss of a bodily part (Sound close, tfloyd?). So usually when you hear the word or see it in print, it is used more to mean something akin to chaos. Last night 2 Major League Baseball Teams continued to experience a seemingly medieval scope of human injury and loss. But for the Braves it was a night complained of by the famous philosopher, Sir Richard Pryor of Peoria: “You can kick my ass, but don’t be hollering at me, too.”
Taijuan Walker started for the Mets. He was good. One hit given up to Max Fried. 3 innings pitched. Then, the dreaded tightness in the side (oblique?) caused his removal. this was after 4 projected regular Mets starters were already out with various injuries. That makes you wonder if Steve Cohen is going to have to spend more time and money fixing that medical / training catastrophe.
Well, Taijuan Walker was replaced by Sean Reid-Foley. He was probably the game’s MVP. 3 clean innings.
Max Fried was good through 6. He went out to start 7 and gave up a double. Max was having an issue with his left (throwing) hand. News out was a cramp. Jacob Webb came in and gave up a double to James McCann which brought the game’s first run. Then, after getting 2 outs with 2 walks and loading the bases, Webb covered the title theme. 94 mph fastball to the center of Kevin Pillar’s face. (keeping score, that is 3 injuries to that point in this game).
Well the Braves gave up 1 more in the 8th. Then, in the bottom half, Austin Riley hit an oppo shot to put one on the board. At the end of the night he was at OPS .819, second among Braves regulars.
If IWOTM, then it must have been OTB(arves). (plural for barf.)
BUT, BUT…
The Gwinnett Stripers are 9-3!!
In all seriousness, though, we have 4 guys in the top 14 in OPS in AAA. If that keeps up for a little while longer, then someone needs an opportunity.
I think I’m starting to turn on Dansby. Not necessarily because I think he’s irreparably broken, but just that he’s the easiest person to substitute for improvement.
@1 I don’t disagree on Dansby, but when does Freddie and Ozuna start feeling the same amount of heat? They are being paid to produce and have not been nearly good enough so far. That being said, Ozuna does lead Dansby in OPS .632 to .631. I understand Dansby has been bad, but our Heredia and Adrianza combos are crashing back to earth as well and centerfield continues to be a huge black hole. How much worse could it be to put Arcia at 3rd and Riley or Ozuna in right? I get the drop in defense but that hardly matters when we get 2 hits per game.
@ Well, we did just score 9 runs in the game previous.
Ozuna’s getting paid too much to be benched, methinks. Maybe he gets a couple more days off against RHP or something.
It’s hard for me to believe that a single substitution like benching Dansby will really turn around the team, since half the lineup is underproducing. It feels more like doing something just to do something, like firing your hitting coach or pitching coach in the middle of the season. Maybe that’s the one thing that fires everybody up — and you certainly feel like you need to do something — but it’s hard for me to see that as the puzzle piece.
Of course, with this one step forward-two steps back team, I’m not sure that there’s any one fix. We got Max Fried back, healthy and effective; Ian Anderson is looking nails, like he did last year; and Huascar Ynoa was looking like a breakout star, and then the stupid idiot goes and knocks himself out. Meanwhile, Soroka’s out for the year, and our Jekyll-and-Jekyll offense can’t cluster together a crooked number more than once a week.
A century ago, this would’ve been around the time that John McGraw would hire a circus freak to sit in the clubhouse purely for superstitious luck. I think Muggsy would’ve been onto something.
Here’s a sad song from the brand-new album the Chills released a few days ago:
@2
OPS Last 7 days….
Marcell Ozuna .836
Dansby Swanson .369
In the last week, Dansby has morphed into Pache.
@4 Has anyone officially said Soroka is out for the year or are we just assuming that his earliest return will be right before the playoffs?
In the future, if someone is willing to trade you a 1/1 that quickly, don’t take the call.
@4 I get that there’s not one move to make to fix the woes, but I don’t think the solution is to do nothing. Camargo has been playing 1B at AAA, so if he keeps crushing lefties, maybe you give him ABs vs. LHP at 1B. If he keeps crushing RHP, give him some of Ozzie’s ABs at 2B vs. RHP. Give Ozuna more days off against RHP. Platoon Ender vs. RHP and Heredia vs. LHP. Let Dansby and Arcia share ABs. Travis Demeritte in RF vs. LHP with Acuna playing CF.
At some point, they will have to do something.
@7 Yeah, we definitely should have stuck with Jose Peraza and Erick Aybar and not sold high on Shelby Miller’s second good season as of age 30. Good one.
Jose Peraza is getting playing time on a 1st place divisional team right now, while Swanson in another org would be demoted.
Swanson is not good and likely never will be. He’s 28 years old, now. He’s a slightly above average fielder but he can’t hit anything other than BP fastballs and hanging pitches that any ML hitter can hit.
Peraza career OPS is .680 Swanson’s is .710. There’s not much difference other than Swanson’s hit a few more HRs. Peraza’s career BA is much higher. Swanson’s TZR is basically neutral for his career. His range factors are a hair under league average.
@10 Your day job must be as a comedian.
Swanson’s OPS right now: .631
Peraza’s OPS right now: .563
Seems like Swanson would be starting for that 1st place team right now.
Swanson’s 6 year career so far: 6.5 bWAR
Peraza’s 7 year career so far: 0.6 bWAR
Neither player is an all-star, but one player had at least shown promise in the recent past and that’s Swanson. Dansby is good with the glove and is never going to be so bad that he subtracts WAR from your team in the way that Peraza does.
LOL at Chief trying to convince everyone that Peraza is actually better than Swanson.
Yeah…this isn’t logic. Dansby is struggling right now but still presents a good trend toward improvement. I’d bet he’s a mid-700 OPS player by year’s end. Not great, but definitely playable. Dansby is likely a 2ish WAR player/year going forward and while that’ll never bring him big $, it definitely plays as the 6th-7th best offensive player on the team, which is where he should land with the Braves.
Also, Peraza played 4 years in Cinci’s bandbox, which skews the entire argument.
Move Dansby back to the #8 hole and let him work on hitting off-speed pitches. Take some pressure off of him.
@13 Yeah, I’d imagine that Dansby is the kind of likeable player who isn’t going to cost a fortune to retain. My gut says Swanson, not Freddie, will be the Brave-4-life.
It’s fine by me as long as he continues to be that 2-3 WAR player who might put it all together one season. He plays hard.
TMITIB – The Most Inconsistent Team in Baseball. It is comedic to read the posts during game 2 or 3 and beyond of a losing streak and vice versa for a winning streak. I think we’ll eventually play consistently but we appear to be at least a few weeks away. Our hitting is the weakest link right now from a consistency standpoint.
Some obvious adjustments from Arcia:
I love Spike Lee, and I think he’s a frequently brilliant filmmaker and capable documentarian, but I have less interest in this than I had in watching “Playmakers.”
Outside of Fried, last night was bad all around… plus, FWIW, I can’t stand losing to the Mets, so…
Two brain-dead things bugged me about last night’s game:
1, in the 8th inning, Heredia failed to tag up on Sandoval’s deep fly out to RF, which was out #2.
Of course, a wild pitch put him on 3rd, but it also could’ve been run #2. Obviously, the pitch selection might’ve been different with a runner on 3rd, but you get the idea… tag up, go to 3rd, let the defense give you a run, if they might. Not huge, but annoying.
2, I’m guessing that those wack 9th-inning ABs were discussed, as they were genuinely infuriating.
In case anyone forgot, Edwin Diaz is a closer who will walk you and he will give up a big HR. So, if he wants to walk you, let him walk you. He certainly seemed like he was in the mood last night.
Acuna (weak 1-3 PO on 2-0 pitch), Freeman (BB on 4 pitches!), Ozuna (weak F9 on 1st pitch) & Albies (weak F7 on 1st pitch). There was not one called strike the whole inning – we gave a very shaky closer 3 big favors. I understand Ozuna & Albies were trying to tie the game, but isn’t it easier to sit on a fastball when you’re 2-0 or 3-1?
I suppose I’m still like my old Little League coach, a guy who could deal with the physical errors, but the mental ones? Not really…
Anyway, get ’em back tonight, fellas…
#18
I pretty much saw Jeter’s entire career up-close, so I’m going to have a different view from most. Depending on how it’s approached, that doc could actually be very interesting.
#4
Oh, hadn’t thought of The Chills in ages. Really good band.
Here’s an oldie, but goodie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtX_xc9y_4g
Front offices around the league are dialing up the Mets to find out what it would take to pry first-division starting shortstop Jose Peraza away from them.
@22 I doubt they are calling Liberty about Swanson, though.
BTW, Ryan has told you REPEATEDLY to leave me alone. But you cannot. But you’re not going to make me leave here so if that’s your goal you can stop. Grow up. Be a man. For once.
@17 – If there’s some assignable cause to believe that Arcia has made some real improvement to separate himself from Swanson, Heredia, and Adrianza offensively, then I’m definitely in favor of giving him a shot.
“Ryan, please grant me the protection to take a dump on our entire team daily with no risk of reprisal.”
Alright man, have it your way.
Rob, if you really can’t stand him, please just hit PgDn. I don’t like a lot of relentless negativity against the Braves either, but personal insults are just not cool. It’s a bright line on this blog. You’re crossing it. Please stop.
New thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2021/05/18/braves-milb-week-2-update-and-game-thread/
Well done Ryan. Much appreciated.
An other less than stunning effort by our closer (?). At least the starter showed promise. 5 hits 15 k’s. Even Acuna is in a slump.
Maybe 84 is too high.