i would say that if chipper continues his season this well, i would say it moves him off the bubble and in

5/5/2008 10:54:30 AM

chipper is arguable the 2nd best switch hitter of all time. he's a hall of famer.

5/5/2008 11:35:16 AM

Mantle is obviously number 1.

Pete Rose? Eddie Murray?

5/5/2008 11:37:51 AM

Quote :

"i would say that if chipper continues his season this well, i would say it moves him off the bubble and in"

gosh, I would hope so. that'd put him at a .400+ hitter...not too many say that, and the HoF is all about numbers.

5/5/2008 2:29:30 PM

Quote :

"if Dale Murphy can't get in, anything can happen"

I love Dale Murphy as much as the next guy, but Chipper's stats dwarf Murph's. In my opinion, Chipper's a first ballot HOF-er right now.

He'll end up with roughly 450 HR, 2500 hits, 1500 RBI, a career average over .300 and a career OPS around .950. He won an MVP in 99, he could win another this year, he played in five All-Star games (which is actually a pretty low number), and for a six or seven year stretch in the middle of his career he was as good as anyone in the game.

I don't see how it's even an argument, he's a shoo-in.

5/5/2008 2:37:03 PM

All star games don't matter. Jose Reyes and David Wright will probably start more than 10 each... it's all fan voting.

Chipper is a HOFer... but he won't win MVP this year because he'll get injured.

** He was the only player that literally terrified me everytime he came up to the plate. Utley is beginning to now though...

[Edited on May 5, 2008 at 3:08 PM. Reason : x]

5/5/2008 3:07:37 PM

I wasn't comparing the two, just as a basis that sometimes the HOF is screwy
7x All Star
2x MVP
5x Golden Glove
4x Silver Slugger
and 400 HR and I want to say 1300 RBI's.
How the fuck does that not get you in?

5/5/2008 4:20:30 PM

Quote :

"All star games don't matter"

They don't matter much to me either, but they do to a lot of HOF voters.

Quote :

"How the fuck does that not get you in?"

Murph dominated for four or five years, but that's not really enough to get you in the Hall. His production plummeted after '87 -- probably from playing in every single game game during his peak years -- and he was still in his early 30s. Batting .260ish is a pretty big red flag for most voters, too.

I'm not trying to rag on you or Murphy, he's the reason I became a Braves fan, but he's not a HOF-er. He's sub-borderline at best.

[Edited on May 5, 2008 at 4:43 PM. Reason : ]

5/5/2008 4:37:18 PM

I love Murphy too, but his stats were not HOF material. He played in such a shitty hitting era where only guys like George Brett, Eddie Murray, Gary Carter, etc got in. Basically guys who had good production for nearly 20 years.

I personally think Murphy's career was hurt by playing so many games on the concrete outfields they had in NL like in Cincinnati, Montreal, Houston, etc back in the 80s. A lot 80s OFs like Murph just disappeared after a few productive years (Eric Davis, Andre Dawson, etc.)

5/5/2008 6:14:05 PM

Dale Murphy was my favorite player when I was a kid, and the first player I can distinctly remember on the Braves. He was a very good player for several years, but he's not a Hall-of-Famer. Too short of a peak to his career.

Chipper, however, is a first-ballot HOFer, particularly with another few years under his belt. A .950 career OPS is exceptional, putting him 10th among active players. However, he's 2nd among active players that have not been an OF, 1B, or DH for the majority of their careers. That definitely matters. You can't simply compare player's numbers without comparing where they played. He's also a very good defensive 3B, despite not getting as much recognition as he should there.

Also, he's not going to hit .400 this year. His BABIP (batting average on balls in play) is like .415. That means is essentially a mathematical certainty he'll cool off. If he stays healthy though, he could definitely be in the running for MVP.

reference: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/OPS_active.shtml

[Edited on May 5, 2008 at 9:02 PM. Reason : blarg]

5/5/2008 9:01:45 PM

His BABIP is extremely high, but I think you're misinterpreting how to use the stat. The difference between his average (.425) and his BABIP (.415) is extremely low, plus his average is higher than his BABIP, which means he really isn't all that lucky. I'm not saying that he'll hit .400, but his BABIP isn't saying that he won't.

5/5/2008 10:12:04 PM

True enough, good point.

It's still likely he'll cool off though. What's amazing is that he's doing all of this with little protection from Texeira, who is getting lots of pitches to hit.

5/5/2008 10:24:17 PM

is dale murphy still playing or what? or maybe he's a pitching coach or something by now?

5/6/2008 1:48:22 AM

Quote :

"is dale murphy still playing or what? or maybe he's a pitching coach or something by now?"

5/6/2008 9:51:40 AM

going to the game on wed. - friend's company has a box

5/6/2008 9:53:25 AM

Quote :

"is dale murphy still playing or what? or maybe he's a pitching coach or something by now? "

Troll post.

Hope the Braves can take advantage of a struggling Padres team this week. The Padres lineup is horrible outside of Adrian Gonzalez. Have not looked at the pitching match ups, but I hope we miss Peavy. I know Wolf is pitching tomorrow and I hate that ass clown from his Phillies days.

5/6/2008 3:49:41 PM

had badass seats tonight, 3 rows behind the dugout, got a ball from Hubbard

5/6/2008 10:55:13 PM

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_heyman/05/07/heyman.teixeira/index.html?eref=T1

Jon Heyman gives us 15:1 odds to re-sign Teixeira.

5/7/2008 2:44:25 PM

That article makes it sound like he is pretty much all but gone. Good job Braves...you trade away a ton of young talent for someone you apparently had no plans of keeping longer than 1.5 years. Brilliant!

5/7/2008 3:03:38 PM

It's a foregone conclusion to me he'll be a Yankee... Giambi is finished and they have TONS coming off the books. The Mets need him too, but they won't commit longterm a year after signing Santana. I'm sure of that...

The Braves better commit to spending or the rest of baseball is going to leave them behind in payroll. 11 teams this year are over the $100M mark.

[Edited on May 7, 2008 at 3:07 PM. Reason : x]

5/7/2008 3:07:29 PM

Vick needs to try out for the Braves. He got drafted out of HS just based on his athleticism even though he hadn't played organized baseball since Jr High. He could dominate the CF position.

5/7/2008 3:10:52 PM

Mets




hahahhahahahahahahahahahahhaha

5/7/2008 3:17:46 PM

Quote :

"11 teams this year are over the $100M mark."

Ten teams, including the Braves. And we're spending a lot more now than in the past few years.

Quote :

"Vick needs to try out for the Braves. He got drafted out of HS just based on his athleticism even though he hadn't played organized baseball since Jr High. He could dominate the CF position."

MacGyver!

[Edited on May 7, 2008 at 6:20 PM. Reason : ]

5/7/2008 6:19:27 PM

At least Teix got on base..Chip raised his avg to .429..Kotsay continues to be a valuable hitter, but neither of them will probably last...hopefully Teixeira goes on a tear when they get cold. Either way, a couple games over .500 is ok by me under the circumstances

Oh, and ^ yeah, we don't need any OF...if your stupid ass knew anything bout the braves, they have like 6 OF prospects, one of whom plays significantly right now.

[Edited on May 8, 2008 at 3:16 AM. Reason : not talking to Ernie, that Jewbag]

5/8/2008 3:13:05 AM

i don't put too much hope into this team...

much as I'd like to see them keep winning

5/8/2008 10:01:26 AM

Omar Infante leading off today

5/8/2008 1:28:17 PM

McCann and Johnson both out of the lineup (at least as far as starting)

lol since my fantasy opponent this week has both of them in right now

5/8/2008 1:40:04 PM

Colt Morton, former C at NCSU...got his first hit today against the braves...up to a stellar .071

5/8/2008 3:40:54 PM

Chipper having his first bad day hitting in a while. 0-4 right now.

5/8/2008 3:45:52 PM

walk off single for diaz. 6 in a row.

5/8/2008 4:30:32 PM

Awesome, starter Reyes out with a blister, then Carlyle comes in and leaves after colliding with a SD player.. Just what we needed with our SP situation.. Maybe it won't be serious though.

5/8/2008 5:05:30 PM

^luckily both say they shouldnt miss much time

5/8/2008 6:39:08 PM

was amusing watching cox yelling and getting kicked out last night

5/8/2008 9:08:21 PM

aww the braves lost by 1 run... i'm heartbroken

5/10/2008 12:53:08 AM

i think this is our 10th one run loss terrible

5/10/2008 2:35:14 AM

I didn't realize they did win one... so 1-10 now in those 1 run games. But hey, 1-1 in the last 2 so it's looking up

5/10/2008 2:42:03 AM

as much as love the braves and watching almost every single game, i still can't get over how bad Yunel throws his bat. It just annoys the hell out of me.

5/10/2008 7:46:08 PM

we cant beat Pittsburgh, it pisses me off

5/10/2008 10:55:42 PM

Chipper doesn't wanna go below .400 apparently.. 3-3 so far, up to .414

5/12/2008 1:48:03 PM

the two fucks in front of him need to get on

so when jair walks the entire lineup, we have some runs to counter that

infante needs to earn his lunch here

[Edited on May 12, 2008 at 2:04 PM. Reason : ]

5/12/2008 1:57:30 PM

5 walks, 5 hits, 3 errors, no runs in 6 innings? wtf?

Oh, and Teix out with back spasms, that's awesome.

[Edited on May 12, 2008 at 2:06 PM. Reason : injury]

5/12/2008 2:04:37 PM

^13 baserunners in 6 innings and 0 runs?? motherfuck, thats horrid

5/12/2008 2:09:42 PM

Yeah thanks for laying an egg for Jair today Braves!

He only allowed 3 hits and now he is going to get a loss unless the Braves actually come through with runs.

5/12/2008 2:20:20 PM

LaRoche homers.

Only good thing about that is that Doumit was on 3rd and his on my fantasy team

5/12/2008 2:54:53 PM

Hey, we beat the Pirates!

Fat Guy update: 112 AB, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .170/.277/.268

Also, am I the only person who didn't know the Rockies released Marcus Giles before the season?

5/12/2008 11:56:02 PM

I was wondering why he wasn't playing when we played the Padres last week, but I didn't know that either.

In other news, there was an unassisted triple play in the Indians/Blue Jays game today. 14th in MLB history.

5/13/2008 12:26:50 AM

Troy Tulowitzki, you had a good run. Now if we can just get someone else to throw a perfect game...

5/13/2008 12:29:50 AM

Braves are 1st in the NL in BA and 3rd in OBP yet 8th in runs scored. Terrible

5/13/2008 2:33:43 AM

Now 1-11 in one-run games. Had we won just 5 of those 11 games, we'd have the best record in baseball.

5/13/2008 10:37:11 PM

Escobar and Chipper both go deep in the first inning against the Phillies.

2-0 goin into the bottom of the first

5/14/2008 7:14:33 PM