Quote :

"that's a guy that we have to be able to get a .350 - .400 from"

uhh, aside from maybe ichiro, what leadoff man bats a .350? (for a season, not 8 games)

4/12/2007 6:20:34 AM

maybe he means OBP

4/12/2007 7:57:29 AM

^^ Yeah I am sure he means OBP, but there are very few players, much less leadoff hitters, that post 400 OBP (Bonds, Giambi, Pujols, etc.). Ichiro might hit 340 each year, but he doesn't walk much so his OBP is never that great.

As long as Johnson can help us score runs, then I won't complain. Plus he is still getting his feet wet after not playing at all last year so I expect him to get better. If he hits 260 with a 330 OBP, that is about as good as we can expect. Basically equal to Giles, but at a cheaper price and less injury risk.

4/12/2007 11:58:04 AM

yes, I meant OBP.

Giles' piss poor OBP is why he was eventually out.

4/12/2007 12:59:51 PM

^ His OBP didn't help, but the decline in Giles's overall production was he true undoing as a Brave. In many significant offensive categories, Giles showed a drop for four consecutive years from 03-06 (2004 he was injured, but his per game stats were solid). In addition his SOs were way up his last two years (over 100 each season).

Obviously when he was moved to leadoff, people put more emphasis on his OBP, but Cox and Scheurholtz saw the decline in every other cat too and said "see ya".

I liked Giles as a player though (hard nosed and hustled) and thought the Braves could have at least got something in return for him. I do hope he does well with the Padres too. He has gotten off to a pretty good start this year.

[Edited on April 12, 2007 at 1:55 PM. Reason : Plus he is making $3.8 mil this year, Johnson = league min?]

4/12/2007 1:52:43 PM

John Smoltz is a legend in my book. Good luck tonight



and Hampton... wow buddy.. learn to throw with your other arm buddy or donate your salary to charity. freak thats a lot of $

4/12/2007 2:53:12 PM

looking at 8-1 tonight

4/12/2007 3:02:55 PM

braves on top of the MLB, and i'm feelin 8-1 tonight

4/12/2007 3:07:05 PM

Quote :

"Plus he is making $3.8 mil this year, Johnson = league min"

bingo

4/12/2007 4:05:10 PM

Wow, rough 8th for Smoltz, bases loaded 1 out. SIX FUCKING PITCHES STRIKES OUT TWO.


Masterful. That was truly amazing to watch. 6 absolutely disgusting pitches.

[Edited on April 12, 2007 at 9:44 PM. Reason : .]

4/12/2007 9:38:56 PM

langerhans is fuckin useless

4/12/2007 9:42:31 PM

so is the offense tonight

4/12/2007 9:45:15 PM

and mcbride is fucking useless.



I really wish they would send that guy down to the minors...

4/12/2007 9:50:47 PM

3 walks for mcbride, fat fuckin cunt

4/12/2007 9:55:29 PM

4/12/2007 10:09:34 PM

How the fuck do we lose to the god damn Nationals?

4/12/2007 10:17:29 PM

damit

4/12/2007 10:17:58 PM

by trying to check swing on the pitch of the night

4/12/2007 10:18:52 PM

the swing at that last pitch was terrible

4/12/2007 10:18:55 PM

damn, they collectively pulled a Beltran tonight

4/12/2007 10:19:16 PM

still in first!

4/12/2007 11:20:01 PM

i could not stand that game, bases loaded full count and you strike out on a fucking check swing, i could not be more mad. The nationals were trying to give the game to us and we still could not win. We can not go 0-11 when we have men on base. U have to give run suport to our main mad smoltzy

4/12/2007 11:22:18 PM

yeah hate that for smoltzie but you had to think the nats would fool around and win another one eventually

4/13/2007 1:40:45 AM

shit

4/13/2007 1:52:58 AM

The Braves lost a game to Nats - big deal. It's baseball. Overall the offense worries me a lot because there is no consistency and Andruw still looks lost up there.

4/13/2007 9:17:07 AM

We lost on offense. Smotlz pitched a perfect game, and should have gone into the 8th. Bobby might have pulled him out after a walk or two and the pitch count got over 100 - but it was a fluke that there were two hits immediately after that brought in two runs, and not a result of bad pitching.

McBride should not have been the choice though. Regardless - we stranded a lot of players out there. But the fact of the matter is when you get a kid like Scott Thorman up there -they've got to take their lumps and experience NOT getting the big hit to understand how to better approach the situation later. It was a decent at-bat, it just didn't work out.

It happens, I'm not upset. We've still got a great string of games coming up that this isn't a factor.

4/13/2007 9:30:36 AM

who know who really looks lost? ryan langerhans

4/13/2007 10:36:19 AM

who know who rearry speak engrish? Senez

4/13/2007 11:12:39 AM

Langerhans is a joke at the plate. His defense is great, but I'd rather see Diaz with his so-so defense and solid bat in the lineup each day. We have got to have some steady production in the lineup outside of McCann and the occasional homerun by someone else.

4/13/2007 1:43:05 PM

bahahaha, i totally missed the first who

4/13/2007 1:44:47 PM

4/13/2007 1:50:48 PM

I'd rather see Diaz than Langerhans also. People say Langerhans plays good defense, but I've never seen anything that would suggest that. Diaz certainly isn't lost in LF, and he's a much better hitter, IMO.

4/13/2007 2:08:56 PM

langerhans is definitely the better outfielder, that's why he's played so many games in center the past two years

but his defense is a moot point now, homeboy is batting (and slugging!) .111

.111

i don't care that he bats left-handed, he needs to be benched

4/13/2007 2:12:40 PM

I would almost be willing to let andruw go next year and get a pair of decent young outfielders.

4/13/2007 2:12:49 PM

are you suggesting we trade andruw? because that won't happen

he's a 10-5 player and no one will take him on only to lose him at the end of the season (except for an al east team perhaps)

and without trading him, of course, we don't get shit -- no more compensation draft picks

4/13/2007 2:15:40 PM

I'm pretty sure that you still get the compensation sandwich picks (p.s.- that is how the Mets got David Wright when Mike Hampton signed with COL) for Type A's.. the team that signs doesn't give up their first round pick anymore though..

You should hire someone to take out Johnny Damon. I'm sure Steinbrenner would give up Betance/Tabata and Sanchez for him.

V almost all players will decline the arbitration. Think about Gil Meche for example. He would have made like $6-7M for one year in arbitration and he got a longterm $11M/per deal on the market. Almost every player in free agency wants the longevity (unless your agent sucks balls like Molina) of a long contract and guaranteed $$$. It's almost a formality they decline it..

Oh I see.. well when you have had 6+ years of service time you can decline the arbritatrion. Both sides have to accept the ruling for the contract to be awarded (it's different than the 3-5 year players and their arbitration)

[Edited on April 13, 2007 at 2:25 PM. Reason : x]

4/13/2007 2:17:40 PM

Quote :

"Free agent compensation • Type C free agent classification is eliminated. • Teams that lose a Type B free agent will now earn a sandwich pick instead of taking selection from club that signed player. • The pool of Type A players shrinks from top 30 percent of each position to top 20 percent, while the Type B player pool will be reduced from the top 31-50 percent of players to 21-40 percent."

so only type c players were dropped

Quote :

"The top 30% at each position are labelled Type A free agents. If they are offered arbitration but decide to sign with another club then the signing club forfeits their 1st round draft pick to the player's former club. In addition, a sandwich pick is created between the first and second round for the players former club. These picks are created in the order that the deals happen."

so we are given the opportunity for arbitration? that can't be right

4/13/2007 2:21:24 PM

I just hope we are still in the race come July so that we don' have to worry about trading Andruw. If we do decide to move him, I hope we get some good young arms in return.

There are always serviceable FA OFs who the Braves can pick up for '08, but pitching is hard to find and the Braves minor league system is weak on major league ready arms (and pitching in general).



[Edited on April 13, 2007 at 2:27 PM. Reason : sd]

4/13/2007 2:25:56 PM

even if he goes FA next year, we don't have to pay is $15m or so salary... that's a huge amount of money we could pay 2 guys for.

4/13/2007 2:27:05 PM

Quote :

"There are always serviceable FA OFs who the Braves can pick up for '08"

4/13/2007 2:28:25 PM

^nooooooooooo

Quote :

"the Braves minor league system is weak on major league ready arms (and pitching in general)."

They could always bring up Joey Devine if they need to give up a grand slam.

4/13/2007 2:31:44 PM

That draft was supposed to be so deep with first round pitchers that were ML ready right away yet none have done well at all so far.

Hanson, Devine, Garza, Hochevar, Townsend..

Hopefully that will change tonight though with Pelfrey getting his first start.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Joey%2520Devine&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=457733

[Edited on April 13, 2007 at 2:39 PM. Reason : x]

4/13/2007 2:35:23 PM

is divine playin AAA ball?

4/13/2007 2:36:15 PM

^I thought he was, but apparently he's in AA Mississippi right now.

4/13/2007 2:39:21 PM

damn, that bitch was pitching v. clemmens in the playoffs a year and some ago...

4/13/2007 2:40:01 PM

yeah devine is in AA Mississippi

AA is actually the better level for developing prospects -- AAA is for 35 year old utility players

it's not like it's a linear path, though. devine will probably never pitch in AAA

4/13/2007 5:26:21 PM

Quote :

"^nooooooooooo "

What are you talking about? If there is one type of baseball player that is easy to find, it is an average OF. I know the Braves can't seem to find a good fit for LF, but that is more because they don't want to spend more than $1 million for anyone so they keep trotting Langerhans out there and mix in Diaz.

But overall there are always guys like Juan Encarnacion, Moises Alou, Dave Roberts, etc that are available as mid priced FAs that the Braves can target once Andruw is gone.

4/13/2007 6:17:18 PM

i think the noooooooooo was directed at raul mondesi

also

4/13/2007 7:06:04 PM

redman is awesome

4/13/2007 7:40:24 PM

I don't know if I can pull for the Bravos if they get rid of Andruw

4/13/2007 7:42:26 PM