Y’all, I went to bed before first pitch. From the thread, I can see that Huascar looked okay at first, then hit a wall, then Newk made it a laugher.
Knowing essentially nothing about the game, I will just make these observations based on little more than deep familiarity with these boys:
- Sean Newcomb sucks.Â
 - Ozzie Albies is a wonderful All-Star caliber ballplayer. What he isn’t is a leadoff hitter. He’s hitting .214/.306/.548 this year and .272/.324/.478 for his career. He is the most perfect 5- or 6-hole hitter you could wish. But Snit has gotta stop putting him at the top of the lineup just because he’s a short middle infielder. He doesn’t hit like Mark Loretta, he hits like Dave Kingman.Â
 - Huascar Ynoa, to put it charitably, is not stretched out. (To put it uncharitably, he’s not a starter.) Last year before his broken hand was the only stretch in his career when he demonstrated an ability to go more than three innings. I would love to see the team consciously focus on building his in game stamina at the ML level, but right now he has a very limited number of bullets, and he’s perilously close to Touki Touerritory.
 - The bats will be fine. Riley is for real. Olson is a pretty good guy to throw a hundred seventy million bucks at.Â
 - Number 15 notwithstanding, the pen looks in better shape than it did at this time last year.Â
 - I’m glad Freddie’s happy, and sad and seemingly unnecessary as it all was, it seems possible that we might get the rare state of affairs mentioned at the end of the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels:
What I do know is there’s no more Harry. Which means there’s no more debt. If there’s no more debt, there’s no more problem. And there’s no problem with the neighbors… because they’re all dead. And I think, if I get this right, we haven’t done anything wrong.
We’re in the clear!
Now let’s try to actually win a ballgame for a change.
Your periodic reminder that the problem with carrying 16 pitchers is that sooner or later you are going to use them.
I’m still waiting on word that Newcomb has been put on the IL since he was hit on the hand with a line drive. It probably didn’t hurt him much, but it should be justification for 30 days on the IL and a 2 week rehab, along with 2 or 3 more appearances before being released. It’s the Braves’ way.
@3 We can all hope…
Newcomb has the photos.
There is no way if I’m the Braves I sign Swanson to any sort of long term deal. I understand its early and S/S/S.
Swanson is also making bad facial hair decisions. Much prefer him clean shaven.
AAR is A-OK. Thanks, Alex.
Even Bowman is scratching his head over the use of Newk last night lmao.
Dansby is obviously not this bad, but he’s making the decision easy for the Braves…
Thanks for a great recap, AAR. Now let’s take the game tonight.
Extremely accurate and well stated.
Great movie.
Newcomb DFA per my daughter.
Full transaction:
@12: also per DOB, who additionally reports that Ynoa has been optioned to AAA and that Newcomb/Ynoa are being replaced by Touki/Dylan Lee.
Edit: or what Ryan posted @13.
Blech. (My editorial comment, not DOB’s, as I have little faith in Touki and can’t get too excited about Lee, either.)
About last night and the Dodger-blue-wearing-elephant-in-the-room: for me personally, it was the most miserable early season loss in recent memory, given the Freeman homer and (to a less awful degree) the Kimbrel save. They kicked sand right in the boys’ eyes. The whole thing made me ponder a scary scenario: What if AA got REALLY lucky with last season’s late acquisitions, bought into the hype that he’s a genius, stiffed Freddie in negotiations because he lusted after Matt Olson, but failed to take into account the importance of Freddie’s intangibles (sorry, Brian Kenny et al), and really lost something essential to the team–a loss they won’t recover from, or recover from until the Mets have run away with the division.
I know–it’s early, it’s one game, etc. But tell me the thought doesn’t send a shiver down your spine.
@14, The baseball gods may decide to collect their debt this year.
The DFA for Newk leaves us with 39 on the 40-man. God for one of the 60-day ILs, but still leaves us with 16 pitchers on a 28-man team. When Ronald comes back, a pitcher will go (Touki?). When we go down to 26, Lee and ??? will have to go. I’m not sure which other pitcher should go out. And when Yates and/or Soroka come back? Maybe Soroka should spend the second half at AAA. Maybe Brooks Wilson can go to the 60-day to create the one extra roster spot (40-man), but there’s no one left to option except Elder/Strider. I’d have to think a DFA of either Thornburg or Stephens at some point. Either of which is likely to draw interest from other teams. Maybe Yates should spend a lot of time at AAA, too.
#14
I mean, FWIW, Olsen’s hitting .452 right now…
If we’re going to entertain worst-case scenarios, we got plenty of that last year when Acuna went down.
Last year really happened and it’s there forever (assign whatever reason one prefers)… and hey, if this season doesn’t work out, that’s the way it goes… if the Mets turn into a scary-good club, so be it — but I’d tend to lose the scary part.
Last night was a bummer game, but I’d also tend to believe these Braves will have enough in them to be playing in October.
New thread.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2022/04/19/braves-make-moves-week-3-farm-preview/