He's with the Yankees, not starting over Rodriguez/Jeter, obviously.

4/11/2008 9:14:06 AM

I didn't know he went to the yanks. That sucks... to be sitting behind arod and jeter... he's a qualitly player and deserves PT.


I'd put him at 2B for us... get rid of Johnson.

4/11/2008 9:18:58 AM

Really? I'd take KJ over Betemit at second. Betemit hit about as poorly as Andruw did last year. I'd take him as a utility infielder over Prado, for real though.

I still remember when he was traded, it during a game against the Padres (?) but wasn't announced until the game was over. During the seventh or eighth, Chipper goes down with an injury at third, they show Schuerholz in box and he looks like he's about to throw up.

4/11/2008 9:25:30 AM

I thought betemit had real potential. He had a couple of tears that he had on hitting... I still think he's a quality player and hopes he makes it as a starter some day.

4/11/2008 10:01:39 AM

Over the last 2 full years he's had 613 ABs, hit .250 with 32 HRs, and 103 RBI. That's about one full season's worth of playing, so he should be able to play somewhere, unless maybe he was on the roids and that's why he's been getting worse lately. Either way I think if he was a full time player the BA would start to rise with more ABs regularly and more confidence.

4/11/2008 12:16:31 PM

Kelly Johnson >>>>> Betemit

KJ is actually a pretty good hitter. He fits in well in the lineup since he is a tough out and a good OBP guy. He strikes out bit too much for a 1 or 2 hitter but he is solid 6 or 7...

4/11/2008 2:39:03 PM

Quote :

"Kelly Johnson >>>>> Betemit KJ is actually a pretty good hitter. He fits in well in the lineup since he is a tough out and a good OBP guy. He strikes out bit too much for a 1 or 2 hitter but he is solid 6 or 7..."

Completely agree. Last year in his first full year Johnson hit .276/.375/.457. Granted, he had 117 K's, but also 79 BB. He's not an ideal leadoff hitter, but with that OBP, he's doing his job.

[Edited on April 11, 2008 at 5:31 PM. Reason : umm]

4/11/2008 5:30:55 PM

So the announcers just said Hudson decided to go with the road alternates tonight (the one's they wore on opening day). Is it standard for the starting pitcher to decide what uniforms their team is wearing?

[Edited on April 11, 2008 at 7:42 PM. Reason : hud]

4/11/2008 7:42:00 PM

yep

4/11/2008 7:44:47 PM

Who cares. Anything is better than that god aweful grey shit.

4/11/2008 9:02:04 PM

just so everyone knows, if you google the last name Escobar this photo comes up


[Edited on April 12, 2008 at 8:51 AM. Reason : .]

4/12/2008 8:51:03 AM

Quote :

"FUCKING RAIN DELAY"

4/12/2008 1:57:22 PM

Home Run

4/12/2008 2:53:18 PM

damn... offensive explosion

4/12/2008 4:18:48 PM

grrrr. fucktards. I'm gonna quit betting on the O/U on braves games. They screw me every fucking time. nice to see 'em get the bats going though.

4/12/2008 4:49:33 PM

frenchy with 2 shots and 7 ribbies

4/12/2008 6:06:35 PM

So Chipper isn't hurt.. right? Missed the game but a buddy called me, he was at the game and said Chipper left the game after scoring, said he was walking around like his leg was hurting..

4/12/2008 6:31:32 PM

Chipper aggravated his quad last night rounding third in the 9th inning. After the game it was said that if the Braves got a big lead (as they did) the plan was to pull Chipper and let him rest and get treatment on his quad.

4/12/2008 8:26:35 PM

Well this season just keeps getting better. Glavine hurt, Hampton on the DL, Soriano on the DL, Chuck James still throws like a girl, and fucking Jeff Bennett has become option #2 out of the pen behind Moylan.

6 one run losses already - WTF! Thankfully none of the other NL East teams have gotten off to a D-back's like hot start.

4/14/2008 4:27:47 PM

fucking A the braves are horrible. congrats to the marlins on shutting out their first team since july of last season

4/15/2008 9:50:58 PM

ha ha wow now Moylan is on the DL with a potentially serious injury

This is blows goats. I assume Manny Acosta is now the closer. What is fatty Wickman up to these days?

Seriously how is this Braves lineup producing jack squat on most nights? This team looks like the NC State basketball team with it's lack of effort.

4/16/2008 9:20:11 AM

How far the Braves have fallen from our glory days of the pitching envy of MLB...

4/16/2008 9:28:40 AM

I'm sure It's just homer bias, but the number of injuries to our starters and relievers over the past three or four seasons has been unbelievable. How bad is the Devine/Kotsay trading looking now?

4/16/2008 2:16:40 PM

Yeah, it would be nice to have a young guy who has promise like Devine... I mean, we really could've move Francoeur to center and Diaz could play left... I'm not too disappointed about Kotsay... he's not bad, but he's not worth devine.

That being said, we could still have Andruw.

4/16/2008 2:23:36 PM

The Devine trade was just stupid. I still don't understand why we could not have just let one of the young guys play even if he did suck. Oh well, at least Kotsay is doing okay so far, but I wish we still had Devine (grand slams and all).

Maybe the Indians will just give us Borowski like they did their other fat closer. Although you'd have to be Hellen Keller retarded to want Borowski.

4/16/2008 6:35:24 PM

^^ Diaz does play left... Coulda kept Renteria and moved Johnson to right, Francoeur to CF, and Escobar at 2B. Or if we lost Renteria, one of the young guys like Prado, Blanco, or Gotay would have to start. Either way, keeping Devine would have meant having to get somebody else or starting one of those guys.

4/16/2008 8:10:21 PM

fucking shit, as soon as i turn the game on they go down 4-1, so i change it and they get back to 4-3, so as soon as i flip it, old man gonzo hits a 2 run homer. fuck these assholes

4/16/2008 9:18:11 PM

another 1-run loss.

this team blows

4/16/2008 9:51:00 PM

We suck dick. I'm officially a Royals fan for the rest of the season.

4/17/2008 12:29:39 AM

Devine was complete trash. I can't stand you homers who are defending him. He did nothing but let this team down. Sure he played for us, but some of you are acting like he was the 2nd coming of Glavin or Smoltz. The truth is the guy blew every single chance he had to show the Braves he had what it took, and they got tired of his failures really quick. This is why he got traded for Kotsay. And you really can't say it was a bad trade. Kotsay has been pretty solid so far where Devine was just god aweful every time he took the mound. How is this even an argument? What has Devine done since the trade?? Anyone????


[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 1:49 AM. Reason : /]

4/17/2008 1:45:28 AM

as much as I like devine, great for state, loved seeing him pitch ^ agreed

4/17/2008 2:05:42 AM

Devine had (and has) all the signs of being an outstanding reliever. Yes he was rocked in his first two years, but it's a ridiculously small sample size: 11.1 innings. He was only 21/22 years old, and in 2005 he went from college to a pennant race in just three months time. He was called up too early and thrown to the wolves. The home run to Burke in game five of the 05 NLDS (which probably caused the most grief) came in the 18th inning, his second inning of work. Again, he was stretched beyond what he was expected to do. In game three he came in with two on and was made to intentionally walk the bases full; yes he gave up two runs, but he shouldn't have been in the game, he shouldn't have been on the roster; blame Schuerholz or blame injuries, but blaming Devine is just being bitter at the wrong guy.

In 07 (which accounted for nearly half of his major league innings before this year) he showed signs of turning the corner; a high walk rate, but a 1.08 ERA and a decent 1.80 WHIP. Again though, it's a small sample size. He hasn't let up a run in three appearances this year for the A's, and I can only imagine that with more time with the big club, he'll only continue to improve.

What we got in Kotsay though is a proven league-average 32-year old center fielder who's past his prime. He missed 100 games last year and hit a laughable .214/.279/.296, 1 HR 14 doubles. My grandmother could put up those numbers. This year he's mashing a Jonesian .234/.294/.383. And we're paying him $7 million.

So we traded a guy who makes a few hundred thousand more than the league minimum, is still years away from being arbitration-eligible, and has all the makings of being a top-notch closer (when we're handcuffed into tossing a bunch of shitty retreads into the pen while our starters are dropping like flies and are lucky to consistently make it to the fifth inning) for a guy who's never even made an All-Star game and who's calling card is finishing 14th in MVP voting four years ago. All the while we have at least three guys in the minors who could do what he'll do this year for pennies on the dollar.

He's the third highest paid position player behind Chipper and Teixeira; only Diaz and Teixeira have lower slugging percentages and only Francoeur (big surprise) and Teixeira have lower on-base percentages. Teixeira should eventually turn things around and Diaz has proven to be a rock-solid hitter, though he may be due for a down year.

It isn't because Devine went to State, it isn't being a homer or an apologist, it's because I've seen the guy pitch for 6+ years and I'm not jaded by a couple of (historically) shitty outings in his rookie season. He was drafted high for a reason, he was rated as the top pitching prospect in the farm system by virtually everyone for a reason, and he was snatched up by Billy Beane for a reason. He dominated in college, he dominated in the minors, and he'll eventually dominate in the big leagues. Kotsay is trash and, if by some miracle we turn things around and contend for the playoffs, I'll bet my dick and balls that he won't be on the postseason roster. I wouldn't have traded Devine's jockstrap for the guy. All things considered, I can't believe you guys think he's a more than decent option.

It's troubling to see the Wren era get off to such a foreboding start. Schuerholz hung all those banners in left field by drafting and developing great pitching and not shitting it away on trades that would make Jim Bowden balk. So far, Wren has done just that. But again, it's a small sample size. Let's hope I'm completely wrong.

I shouldn't have taken a three-hour nap this afternoon. I have to be up in four hours and I'm defending Joey Devine on the internet

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 3:23 AM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 3:07:16 AM

Quote :

"some of you are acting like he was the 2nd coming of Glavin or Smoltz."

Actually, no, I don't think anyone ever made that comparison. But let's do it:

Glavine

21: 50 IP, 2-4, 5.54 ERA, 33 BB, 20 SO
22: 195 IP, 7-17, 4.56, 63 BB, 84 SO

Smoltz

21: 64 IP, 2-7, 5.48 ERA, 33 BB, 37 SO
22: 208 IP, 12-11, 2.94, 72 BB, 168 SO

Devine

21: 5 IP, 0-1, 12.60 ERA, 5 BB, 3 SO
22: 6 IP, 0-0, 9.95 ERA, 9 BB, 10 SO

I feel dumb even trying to draw a conclusion from Devine's numbers after typing that out. But, you started it.

So Smoltz dominated in 89 but for the most part they sucked too! I guess we should have dumped these hacks for Cecil Epsy and Cory Snyder! They had every chance to prove themselves.

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 3:18 AM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 3:17:36 AM

come on now, if devine wasn't a state guy would yall be this up in arms about it?

4/17/2008 6:31:56 AM

he did let up that slam in the 18th vs. the Astros... but he was opposing the juiced up Rocket.

4/17/2008 11:11:01 AM

Quote :

"if by some miracle we turn things around and contend for the playoffs, I'll bet my dick and balls that he won't be on the postseason roster"

I mean, I wouldn't go that far. He's still a pretty solid defender and has decent speed. I don't think my junk would be on the line here

But still, with Moylan, Acosta, Soriano, Gonzalez when he gets healthy, and some specialty throwers like Ohman and Ring it didn't seem like the bullpen would be a problem. And when you have Smoltz, Hudson, Glavine, Jurrjens, and Hampton, you leave Bennett, Reyes, and James potentially in the bullpen too, so in no way did pitching seem like it was going to be a problem.

Whenever people start getting healthy again, and Teixeira will start hitting the ball well soon, the Braves will be fine. I mean, Florida's leading the division...that shit won't last.

4/17/2008 1:31:48 PM

See, though, we all thought the exact same thing before the season; that everyone would get healthy and we'd have a top-flight staff. That obviously hasn't happened and I really doubt that it will. And I can't believe you'd throw Hampton in there. You're actually counting on him to contribute something? Doesn't that hint at how drastic things have become? We need dependable pitching more than ever and we've traded away our top pitching prospect for a net loss. This doesn't bother you?

4/17/2008 1:44:13 PM

Ernie is owning this argument about Devine. Trading him for Kotsay was just a plain stupid and horrible move for the Braves. Maybe if Kotsay was a guy like Sean Casey, you know a team leader/good guy, then it would not be so bad, but Kotsay is also known to be a self centered prick. He brings no value to the team except for an okay glove.

Anyway back to this joke of a season so far. Hudson could barely hit mid-80s last night. He is probably injured too. I'm going to go ahead and predict that Jurrjens gets hit by a bus so that the entire starting rotation will have all suffered injuries before May.

God hates any team I like.

4/17/2008 5:02:03 PM

I'm a big fan of Chuck James... just saying he should be in the rotation.

4/17/2008 5:03:32 PM

^ ha ha yeah and I am a fan of Victor Zambrano. You guys should bring him back into the Mets rotation.

4/17/2008 5:08:46 PM

back to back to back homeruns

4/17/2008 8:38:27 PM

so we either lose by 1, or blow out the other team, with about a ratio of 2:1 respectively. cool

4/17/2008 9:18:46 PM

have a day Chip...and Kotsay gettin a few knocks..

Why is Smoltz out of the game? 5 IP, 3 H, 10 K... too many pitches?

4/17/2008 9:53:09 PM

We were up 8-0, no reason to leave him out there; let the pen get some work.

4/17/2008 9:56:40 PM

I didn't know we were throwin all these CG SO's that they needed to get the bullpen some work.. looks like Smoltz threw 81 pitches I think, and I guess its only his 3rd game... I guess that bullpen you hate so much without Devine can keep people from scoring when it doesn't really matter though

4/17/2008 10:00:58 PM

Despite being dominate, his shoulder was still giving him some trouble. He frequently had to step off the mound and readjust it.

4/17/2008 10:03:14 PM

pretty sure the pen got plenty of work last night

4/17/2008 10:14:15 PM

Quote :

"I guess that bullpen you hate so much without Devine can keep people from scoring when it doesn't really matter though"

Wow, what a compliment!

Smoltz has a bum shoulder and you want him pitching deep into games when we're up by eight? Fire McDowell and hire this guy!

Quote :

"pretty sure the pen got plenty of work last night "

Campillo, Bennett, and Boyer pitched last night; Ohman, Resop, Acosta, and Carlyle pitched tonight. You do realize that a bullpen is comprised of several different pitchers and isn't just some mass entity, right?

[Edited on April 17, 2008 at 10:19 PM. Reason : ]

4/17/2008 10:14:51 PM

spew logic all you want, i hate this team so far and i will find fault either deserved or not, until they consistently look like they give a shit

4/17/2008 10:21:56 PM

Well, pardon me not just being a miserable whiny cunt.

4/17/2008 10:23:39 PM