Great summary, Lindsay. The wheels have come completely off the wagon.
* Kim goes to Gwinnett to right himself, or DFA
* Find a right handed catcher who is defense first but can hit over the Mendoza line and NOT another old guy who stays on IR more than in the lineup. The best pure hitter on the team is going to wear down behind the plate.
* If Carrasco, Jose Suarez, Aaron Bummer were the very best SP's and RP's you had coming out of spring training, "standing pat" should NOT have been an option.
* Braves need to decide if they will be a fire sale at the trade deadline to get quality atheletes into spring training (specifically, two outfielders, two infielders, 10 pitchers and at LEAST one catcher or if they will use Carrasco, Perez (surprisingly good) and bring back Hoyt Wilhelm to eat up some innings until their farm can catch up and supply new blood.
I'm coming into town from family vacation in Gulf Shores tomorrow for the Fri/Sat games, and as the bad weather leaves the Milwaukee Brewers come in with Miz and Harrison on he bump in G1 and G2. A-List members might be praying for the tropical storms instead lol
JR didn’t have a great outing. No question. But the question for me is: Did he learn from this outing? Will he be better next time out? I continue to argue, that Braves fans are too focused on SP. it’s critical, it’s important, but it’s not what it used to be. In the MLB on Wednesday, the average SP ERA was 4.33 and teams used on average 4.2 pitchers. That’s 6 outs per pitcher. The winning team scored an average of 7.5 runs. (Interestingly, the Blue Jays had a 7 pitcher shutout). I excluded the Braves - Giants from the averages. To win in the MLB you need pitching depth and a good offense. Braves have an outstanding bullpen and need to figure out who can get outs beyond the current roster in the system. (Hint: it’s not Carrasco). And they need to score runs. Score early and often.
Richie was a huge disappointment: frequently behind in the count, walking lead-off hitters, and basically having really poor command of all his pitches. As you said, he will stay in the rotation because they are desperate. If he is the best SP we can find in the minor league system, we are in trouble, further evidenced by AA's DFA machine now humming at top speed.
Great summary, Lindsay. The wheels have come completely off the wagon.
* Kim goes to Gwinnett to right himself, or DFA
* Find a right handed catcher who is defense first but can hit over the Mendoza line and NOT another old guy who stays on IR more than in the lineup. The best pure hitter on the team is going to wear down behind the plate.
* If Carrasco, Jose Suarez, Aaron Bummer were the very best SP's and RP's you had coming out of spring training, "standing pat" should NOT have been an option.
* Braves need to decide if they will be a fire sale at the trade deadline to get quality atheletes into spring training (specifically, two outfielders, two infielders, 10 pitchers and at LEAST one catcher or if they will use Carrasco, Perez (surprisingly good) and bring back Hoyt Wilhelm to eat up some innings until their farm can catch up and supply new blood.
I'm coming into town from family vacation in Gulf Shores tomorrow for the Fri/Sat games, and as the bad weather leaves the Milwaukee Brewers come in with Miz and Harrison on he bump in G1 and G2. A-List members might be praying for the tropical storms instead lol
JR didn’t have a great outing. No question. But the question for me is: Did he learn from this outing? Will he be better next time out? I continue to argue, that Braves fans are too focused on SP. it’s critical, it’s important, but it’s not what it used to be. In the MLB on Wednesday, the average SP ERA was 4.33 and teams used on average 4.2 pitchers. That’s 6 outs per pitcher. The winning team scored an average of 7.5 runs. (Interestingly, the Blue Jays had a 7 pitcher shutout). I excluded the Braves - Giants from the averages. To win in the MLB you need pitching depth and a good offense. Braves have an outstanding bullpen and need to figure out who can get outs beyond the current roster in the system. (Hint: it’s not Carrasco). And they need to score runs. Score early and often.
Richie was a huge disappointment: frequently behind in the count, walking lead-off hitters, and basically having really poor command of all his pitches. As you said, he will stay in the rotation because they are desperate. If he is the best SP we can find in the minor league system, we are in trouble, further evidenced by AA's DFA machine now humming at top speed.