^a whole month of suckage is not "occasional"

7/26/2007 1:26:58 AM

all right. you got me. the braves bullpen sucks balls.

what the fuck ever. really don't feel like arguing at 1:30. every bullpen has nights when they completely blow the game. no shit. its baseball. that happens

i've been happy with their performance overall. just compare this years bullpen to last years. it is very much improved.

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 1:30 AM. Reason : .]

7/26/2007 1:28:11 AM

Yep, it is improved, but it could be way better if Smoltz joined it. There is no such thing as "no room for improvement" in a bullpen. It can always get better.

^And I wouldn't say this years is VERY much improved over last years. Better? Sure, but VERY better? NO.

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 1:39 AM. Reason : m]

7/26/2007 1:37:22 AM

of course it could get better.

i just think removing smoltz as a starter and putting him in the pen isn't a justified move. the pen would be marginally better while the starting lineup would be much worse off. not a good trade-off in my mind

7/26/2007 1:39:11 AM

If they trade for Garland, who could easily replace Smoltz in the SL, then adding Smoltz to the BP would make it WAY WAY more than "marginally" better. Do you actually ever watch any games, or just look at the final score?

7/26/2007 1:56:48 AM

smoltz wouldn't make the pen WAY WAY BETTER. im sorry, you're just wrong.

add garland and leave smoltz in the starting lineup. that'd be nice. you'd have 3 solid, dependable starters.

wickman will be okay. he's had a bad stretch lately, but i dont think moving smoltz is the answer

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 2:05 AM. Reason : ,]

7/26/2007 2:02:28 AM

Is Smoltz better than Wickman?

YES

Is Smoltz way better than Wickman?

YES

So, that being said, one can only assume, moving Smoltz to the pen would make the pen way better.


And no, pitching isn't the answer. The Braves need some big time bats to push the offense.

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 3:00 AM. Reason : n]

7/26/2007 2:59:17 AM

^would it make the pen better yes, but it would be detrimental to our rotation in which only has 2 proven pitchers. take smoltz away and all you have is an inconsistent hudson, and a fastball changeup pitcher in james.... and our bats have been much better this year, just gotta find more consistency. gotta try and get salty in there as much as possible.

7/26/2007 8:10:47 AM

RoyalFlush has a boner about Smoltz going back to the pen. Smoltz helps the Braves much more as a #1 starter than he could as a closer. Plus the loss of Smoltz in the starting rotation hurts a lot more than the benefit of him replacing Wickman. Wickman is by no means a Joe Nathan or K-Rod type closer, but he gets the job done 75% of the time. If Smoltz takes his place, maybe that percentage goes up to 90%, but it is not worth losing a quality 7 inning start every 5th day.

Even if the Braves did get Garland, and the Braves would have to give up too much to get him, Garland is a big step down from Smoltz. Smoltz is a #1 starter, Garland is merely a #3 guy, maybe a #2 at best.

Either way this argument is dumb as fuck because Cox, Scherholtz and Smoltz are never going to have him back in the pen anyway.

I do hope the Braves can trade from another SP though and I hope they get some help on offense. Last night was fucking pathetic. Cox should have put McCann up there for Salt in the 9th with a runner on 3rd and one out. McCann would have put the ball in play at least.

7/26/2007 1:50:21 PM

Also

Quote :

"and our bats have been much better this year,"

Not true. The Braves were second in the league last year in runs scored. This year's offense without LaRoche and less production from McCann and Andruw is not as potent.

7/26/2007 1:54:28 PM

smoltz moving to the closer role is the worst suggestion i've ever heard

how can you possibly think that relievers are more difficult to come by than starters

i'd much rather have smoltz throwing 6-7 quality innings every five days than 3 quality innings every five days

7/26/2007 2:03:58 PM

Chipper's out tonite.. Tweaked his groin last night.




yeah but Edgar isn't hurt, Bobby is just giving him a day off.

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 7:19 PM. Reason : now they said its a groin tweak..]

7/26/2007 7:07:13 PM

renteria out too

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 7:23 PM. Reason : ^well, yeah, but he's out of the lineup is all im sayin]

7/26/2007 7:13:05 PM

chipper ain't chipper unless he's hurt.

7/26/2007 7:19:47 PM

Bobby should've done the honorable thing and brought up some no name minor league pitcher to drill Bonds in the head or better yet, take a knee out.

7/26/2007 7:27:38 PM

nah, its all good. the baseball gods aren't going to let him break the record against the braves anyway

7/26/2007 7:35:02 PM

2-0 HR Frenchy over Bonds head

7/26/2007 7:55:39 PM

"He'll remember Atlanta with a fondness"


Hahaha maybe up until he failed to throw out a gimpy Sid Bream.

7/26/2007 8:00:57 PM

fuckin' buddy carlyle

7/26/2007 8:29:43 PM

it's buddy fuckin' carlyle

7/26/2007 9:03:09 PM

Quote :

"how can you possibly think that relievers are more difficult to come by than starters "

Name all the great starting pitchers in the league, now name all the great closers. The list is going to be very lopsided.

7/26/2007 9:15:01 PM

every team has 5 starters and 1 closer

you aren't very good at math, are you?

7/26/2007 9:24:31 PM

EXACTLY

Thanks for proving my point. Because there are less closers, a truley dominant closer is hard to come by.

7/26/2007 9:28:13 PM

^

7/26/2007 9:41:10 PM

fucking shit, do we have to lose everytime the mess lose?

7/26/2007 9:45:25 PM

at least they didn't win, then we'd be staring at a 5 game hole. 4 games is gonna be tough enough, especially with our shitty rotation and even shittier closer

7/26/2007 9:53:27 PM

Still 5 in the L column... and the Mets are playing good ball right now despite the loss today.

Did you guys see Chase Utley might be out for the year? Broke his hand...

7/26/2007 9:55:37 PM

I heard only 3 - 4 weeks on that.

7/27/2007 8:28:32 AM

^^ Screws up one of my fantasy teams, but I'm glad that the Phils are losing their best all around player for a while.

Braves looked like shit again yesterday - the bats are falling asleep again like they did in June

7/27/2007 6:34:05 PM

all right fellas the mess dropped another one tonight... lets change things up and win a game when they lose.

well crap

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 10:23 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2007 10:13:44 PM

JULIO JULIO JULIO!!!

7/27/2007 11:34:36 PM

GODDAMN what a comeback.. Haven't seen the Braves come back from 7-0 since the Orioles game in 04. Big ups to Julio with 3 RBI so far. And what a HUGE play by Escobar to take 2nd while the pitcher was scratching his nuts.

7/28/2007 12:43:34 AM

Yea, that might be the play of the year if they steal this game and end up winning the division/wild card by 1 game. And it looked like the whole Arizona infield were scratching their nuts at the same time, he could've stolen that base barely jogging.

7/28/2007 12:54:54 AM

fuckin ledezma

7/28/2007 1:34:20 AM

^ what he said.

Why the fuck did we trade for that POS again?

7/28/2007 1:40:49 AM

well....it was a lose-lose trade. Mcbride for Ledezma

7/28/2007 2:05:34 AM

goddamnit

the braves better get their shit together. NOW, or they are done

7/28/2007 7:05:17 PM

personally i think they're done already

7/28/2007 7:08:34 PM

About damn time Andruw hits a homer.

7/29/2007 4:48:04 PM

Chipper already has 5 RBI and it's only the 4th.

7/29/2007 5:44:56 PM

and he's on my fantasy team too

7/29/2007 8:40:36 PM

I don't really have it in me to troll this thread. Someone make a Phillies 2007 thread.

7/29/2007 8:46:42 PM

pretty crazy that chipper had 5 rbi and only one hit

7/29/2007 8:56:12 PM

I think before the braves play again, salty will be traded

he was the only non-pitcher to get into the game today and when they had a chance to use him as a pinch hitter, Moylan was used instead.

7/29/2007 9:11:41 PM

agreed. Looks like Texeira will be a brave sooner rather than later

7/29/2007 9:16:50 PM

man, adding teixeira would be so un-brave like. i guess he'll go elsewhere after the 08 season when his contract expires, because those cheap bastards won't pay for anyone except smoltz and chipper

7/29/2007 9:57:22 PM

Well Liberty Media said they plan to spend some money, so who knows. God I miss the Turner days.

^And dont you mean it would be "so brave like" recently. trade good prospects for a great player, only to not resign him a year or two later when his contract is up.

[Edited on July 30, 2007 at 1:53 AM. Reason : h]

7/30/2007 1:51:11 AM

well i meant more adding a good player at the trading deadline, but yeah thats true too

7/30/2007 8:36:59 AM

pending medical exams, the deal is done

we also get a LH reliever in the deal too

7/30/2007 12:02:57 PM

Quote :

"trade good prospects"

it's not like we've dealt away that many great prospects

adam wainwright and jose capellan?

meh

---

the astros cut morgan ensberg (!) -- JS is retarded if he doesn't go after this guy

--

so the deal is apparently salty + andrus + 2 pitching prospects

i'm not crazy about this, we have a shitty chance of resigning the guy -- i would have been much happier with a sign and trade, obviously -- especially considering that JS doesn't like negotiating during the season

either way we're giving up some really good prospects here, especially if matt harrison is one of the pitchers

and it doesn't look like the rangers are including a reliever in the deal


[Edited on July 30, 2007 at 12:12 PM. Reason : ]

7/30/2007 12:03:02 PM