Again, trying to be productive at work and following in the margins on GameCast.This is a game that if you finish one game out (of playoffs, of division, of home field), you probably don’t want to remember.
We expected good pitching on both side with Max Fried v. Corbin Burnes. Then, when the Braves break a nothing – nothing tie in a 3rd inning 4 run explosion, I felt pretty good. With 2 outs Acuna HBP’d. Next Olson singled. Then Austin Riley homered. Lo and behold Marcel crushed the beer joint with another home run Woo-EEE.
In the 4th the Brew Crew got back 2 on some kind of old rally stuff. Walk (fielder’s choice), single, single, single. No extra base hits.
Then they cut the lead to one in the 6th.
Fried turned a 4 – 3 game over to the bull pen. Strider showed off and struck out 3 batters on 11 pitches. So far, so good.
Then, James West got the Braves through the 8th. Meanwhlle, remember the bats had been in hibernation mode since inning 3.
As the 9th inning I was thinking about how Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. should truly love Curacao. Such has been the greatest beneficiary of baseball talent from the island paradise. Well, Kenley Jansen didn’t complete the mood. It shows in the box score as a BS. Yeah, that’s close. Walking Jace Peterson? Really? Then 2 outs, but then Kolten Wong hits a triple. Huh? So, funny ghost runner baseball begins.
Ghost runner Acuna scored after Olson walked and Riley hit a ground ball with Wong promptly threw away to let Acuna score. So, at least the Braves were going to put up a fight. But nothing else in that inning.
Then, how does the home half of the 10th go. Not too good. O’ Day let them get one back (the ghost runner) and Chavez was called in to stop the bleeding and get the third out.
So, the Braves again fought in the 11th. D’Arnaud scored the ghost runner with a single, but then 3 straight outs. Then, Chavez came out and threw up a home run ball to Hiura that, again, scored the ghost runner, also.
If I might be the jinx on Wednesday games, I would gladly defer to someone else. Last week I failed in my duties as I was under time crunch trying to finish work before going out of town for daughter’s master’s graduation. I was thinking about it on the way to the office, but then jumped right into work and it never occurred to me again until Ryan tagged me with an e-mail around 1:30.
Also was not able to watch.
So two blown saves in 2 innings. Well, isn’t that fun.
Looks like our bullpen is about as popular with us as guys in buffalo outfits is with one person.
Roger, I’m not sure which email address you emailed me at, and my work email had been down for the last 2 days and is back up. Can you email me at rob at robcopenhaver dot com?
@73 and 75 previous thread….
Refreshingly different to see Moylan pulled out of obscurity and praised here for what he is – a fresh voice which is all his own and owes nothing to the cliche or self promotion. You find yourself, inevitably, comparing all that with Chip, and shudder.
Now, you wonder, where does he go from here? If we don’t make him aware of our appreciation someone else will. Does he still return to Australia each winter? If so, if he had to choose only one home, which would it be?
The strident voice
leaves us with little choice
it can only, fitfully, be endured
if long term remedial training is finally assured.
I can’t speak for Payte, but my sense is he loves it here, and bless him – he’s always been himself, and he’s a joy.
https://twitter.com/charris731/status/1527133754724163584?s=21&t=VurY64VEBK_9D3BPcuXVgQ
I don’t care if he comes up and rakes immediately, I don’t like this potential move.
@6 – It appears that Demeritte is turning into what most of us expected all along. He’s batting .204 with a .532 OPS over his last 15 games/ 54 at bats. I don’t know if Harris is ready or not, but it seems the FO doesn’t see too many alternatives. Preston Tucker isn’t doing terrible at Gwinnette. Other than that, I don’t have any suggestions either.
Anyone have a take on Greyson Jenista? He is 25 and had some pretty good years up until 2018. He fell off a cliff in 2019 and the remnant of 2020, but seems to have turned things around last year at AA and this year at AAA.
ZIPS has Demeritte hitting .234/306/434 the rest of the way and worth about 1fWAR.
It’s obviously too small of a sample to know if Demeritte has been “figured out”, and this is what we can expect going forward. The reality is that you just don’t know how well he can adjust, and you’re just going to have to wait it out to find out. Demeritte doesn’t have to do much to be valuable enough to wait for Rosario to come back.
It would be helpful if the rest of the lineup was hitting, and you didn’t have to try to squeeze a little extra production out of one spot by rushing a prospect.
I just don’t know how many more games you’re going to win with Harris vs. Demeritte over the next, say, 60 games, and whether that is worth not giving Harris another 60 games and 200 PAs in AAA.
Actually Jenista had a Duvall type year last year. He had 19 homeruns but only .216 batting average in 273 at bats. He had an insane 51 walks. If he can sustain a batting average approaching .300 (like he has this year) and keep the plate discipline and power, he could be pretty darn good.
Plus, it’s not like Harris is tearing the cover off the ball. He’s doing well, especially for his age, but this doesn’t seem like a prospect that is screaming that he’s ready.
https://www.mlb.com/braves/news/prospects-ready-to-make-impact-for-each-mlb-team
Athletics: C Shea Langeliers
Oakland’s No. 2 prospect doesn’t appear to have much left to prove at the Minor League level. Langeliers, who headlined the prospect haul acquired from the Braves in exchange for Matt Olson this spring, is slashing .289/.381/.586 through 34 games at Triple-A Las Vegas. His 11 home runs are good for second most in the Pacific Coast League. Sean Murphy has the everyday catching job in Oakland locked down, but Langeliers could still force his way up here with his supreme bat if he continues this tear at the plate. — Martín Gallegos
This hurts a little considering part of the draw to Olson vs. Freeman is that it freed up money to be enjoyed starting this year, and we traded a prospect that could be ready to help us already this year. But it’s the PCL, so grain of salt with the stats, and Contreras and d’Arnaud are more than enough good catching to be worried about losing Langeliers. But could you imagine if Freddie did re-sign, the Olson trade never happened, and we have Contreras, Langeliers, and d’Arnaud all in the lineup with Contreras in the outfield and Langeliers DH’ing? That would have been wild.
And then going back to the Demeritte vs. Harris discussion, it also does not help that Olson is hitting below his career norms in a more hitter-friendly environment, and Freddie is hitting above his career norms in a less hitter-friendly environment. There’s also the worthwhile discussion of whether this team is missing Freddie’s leadership. So, in this snapshot in history, the offseason moves haven’t completely paid off yet, though I expect things to look a little better the longer Olson is in Atlanta.
@12
One more thought about that article: it lists Tucker Davidson is our prospect who is ready to make an impact. So one advantage that Atlanta has with riding our this offensive struggle is that we do have more pitching to throw at this problem than a lot of other teams do. And Scherzer just left the game due to injury last night for the Mets, so that might level the situation a little bit.
I agree that Harris needs more time at Double A. Anthopoulos hasn’t been rushing guys so I’m not too concerned about a premature call up.
Minor league players can only be accurately judged by what they do against players who have major league potential.
If their positive stats are accumulated against career minor leaguers they mean nothing. In the so called Major Leagues they face so called Major League players.
Very good must perform in a positive manner against very good, not just good, fair and poor.
Didn’t Harris just have like a 30 game on base streak at AA? I don’t want to rush him either, but what do you want him to do in an extreme pitcher’s league? I say give him a month at AAA and see where he is at.
@16 Totally fair, I’d say.
Michael Harris moving to AAA would be a good move and could signify a great deal about the team’s needs and plans. It’s painfully obvious the team is struggling because of the ball and Harris is more of a gap to gap hitter, so maybe they think his bat will play later on in the season. I like Duvall’s defense in CF, but I can’t help but think he needs to be in a corner to keep his stamina up, type 1 diabetic and all.
The Braves have been aggressive with promotions for some players, but have slow played others. I can’t figure it out but they definitely have a system established, especially for the pitching, that determines who they think will find success in the bigs. I’m not sure it’s worked yet.
My biggest complaint would be the lack of flexibility with the SP prospects. It’s painfully obvious that guys like Touki need a bullpen role, yet they keep rolling them out as SPs. Kyle Muller feels like that too. Both have 2 good pitches, just let them shove for an inning.
@18 If there’s a concern over Duvall’s fatigue levels and durability, then they should have a quicker hook with him to bring in Heredia, the superior defender anyway. It’s not like Duvall is mashing and you absolutely have to keep his bat in the lineup.
@6
Could that mean Gwinnett rather than Cobb/South Chattanooga?
I’m not sure I’d say that it’s obvious our offense is struggling because of the ball. It’s obvious that our offense is struggling and it’s obvious they’re screwing with the ball again, but plain old bad/nonexistent approach is the Occam’s razor reason for the struggles IMO. There’s some overlap, sure, but Monday night, for instance, was not because of the ball. If we’re striking out 12 times a game, the ball has nothing to do with that.
As to the point at hand, I’d prefer Harris get a bit of time at Gwinnett before throwing him into the deep end. If we’re relying on Michael Harris to turn this season around, we’re in bigger trouble than I thought.
Scherzer out for 6 to 8 weeks
Ouch.
The Braves won their arb hearing against Luke Jackson; they’ll pay him $400K less than he wanted, same as Riley.
It’s interesting that the Braves have taken multiple players to arbitration and won. Clearly they feel like they have a good handle on how to win these hearings right now. But I just can’t see how it’s worth it to scrimp a few pennies off of guys like that.
But do we know the difference was just $400k? Those were the final figures, but couldn’t they have been further apart in the negotiations?
Maybe Luke wanted $4.25M and the Braves were at $3.25M, but the final counter was $3.6M vs. $4.0M. The Braves are strictly file and trial so they don’t negotiate after the final exchange.
Anybody see this about Kelsey?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/colorado-rockies-kelsey-wingert-hit-in-head-foul-ball_n_6286cc65e4b0cda85dae40d7
@25
Good spot, thanks, mystery solved – at least for this guy.
She was always a tough cookie I guess.
But, still, why? who,maybe? Glad she’s ok.
A new post. I got tired of no-game Thursdays.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2022/05/20/streak-interrupted/