Phil Collins, Chris Sale, and the Braves face off against Jake Irvin and the gNats at 5:45 CT/6:45 ET. Yesterday, the Braves broke out the bats after looking anemic and Phil led the way to victory. Reynaldo Lopez was questioned about Phil Collins in the post-game interview and he had one thing to say:
Braves Lineup
I’m excited to see J.P. Martinez. Chances are that he’ll be a replacement level player, but the glove and speed play and he’s shown quite a bit of thump for a dude that’s only 5’9.
Sean Murphy can’t hit and can’t throw. Sure glad we traded Contreras for him.
It looks like the worst trade in franchise history, not so much because of who he is but because we traded a better, younger, cheaper catcher who was an all star for him when we totally didn’t have to. All time unforced error. Most of the people here vigorously defended it against rational critique and honestly they still do.
Worst trade in franchise history is a very high bar indeed. Len Barker for a couple of long time all stars? Mark Teixera for four prospects who all made it, some very big? Darrell Evans for Willie Montanez? Y’all may turn out to be right about this one, but it’s way too early to tell.
Agreed, Tfloyd. Last year, Murphy was a 4.9 fWAR player and Contreras was a 5.7 fWAR player. While Contreras was the better overall player, the Braves wanted a catcher that called great games. Contreras, at the moment, isn’t that.
I’m aware of the Tex trade. I don’t analyze trades based on hindsight. That’s lazy. The Murphy trade was atrocious at the time and could only be defended emotionally.
The Tex trade was bad because all four of the prospects panned out somewhat. Based on what you knew you were getting for unknowns it was kind of reasonable. What made the Tex trade bad was how delusional JS was to think we were one player away in 2007. To me, the JD Drew trade was worse because you knew you were only getting 1 season instead of 2 and the player (despite having a career year for you in hindsight) had been a disappointment, and you gave up one prospect who was better than anyone in the Tex trade.
The Murphy trade was indefensible but so many people confidently blustered “look when you can get an elite defender at a key position YOU DO IT,” as if this sort of thought-terminating heuristic trumped any deeper analysis. It’s gross.
Ok Ryan, I am always willing to have my mind changed by someone who can get into analytics and not slogans. Is there objective evidence Murphy coaxes better performances out of his pitchers than Contreras?
Offense looking feeble again tonight.
The problem with making that trade is that anyone looking over the horizon can see a robo strike zone coming and then framing becomes meaningless.
Also, I want to see this team go one time through the order without a first-pitch swing. That should be a punishment for all of the failed “ambush” attempts that also ensure a pitcher doesn’t have to work.
Jury’s still out on how good or bad that trade will be viewed. It’s June 7 in Year 2. In the end, both clubs should benefit, as long as health is maintained moving forward.
And we certainly have made many worse trades over the years, including the 2 previously mentioned.
Wainright to the Cardinals might be the worst. Also, Grissom/Justice to Cleveland for Lofton, Klesko/Boone to SD & Jermaine Dye to KC all come to mind.
Sales is looking good again. Now, gotta go get ’em, Braves…
EDIT: Wow, their CF had no idea where that flyball was… and now we have a gift run.
Grissom and Justice for one season of Lofton who didn’t even want to be here was worse. You’re right. We traded my favorite player at the time and the heart of the team. That was when JS began to unravel, and it was the start of a decade of terrible trades for him.
Of course Arcia…
Missed the game, but looking at the summary, it looks like a bunch of bad situational hitting, and a bad luck 107 mph smash by Ozuna with the bases loaded going for an out.
Like always. Half of this roster deserves to be punted
Dispatch from the stadium: this is not an exciting team to watch. The pitching is quite good, but the offense just is not particularly capable of stringing together good at-bats. There remains some bad luck on hard contact, but you just can’t pop the ball up to infielders when you get a man to third with less than two out, and they did that twice.
Obviously, the 2021 team was exquisitely frustrating too. I’m not saying the sky is falling in. But it ain’t fun watching the Nats keep beating us.