Management has closed the door to a successful post season when they
1. allow twice IR'd Acuna, hitting .240, to decide if he hussles (which is "no"), backs up throws, runs out ground balls, obviously pouting to be the DH (watch Drake's #'s slide) and actually PLAY right field;
2. signed a lifetime .234 hitter (.230 if you throw out the first two seasons) with no arm, no speed, can't jump outfielder who can't hit lefties for $10+MM/year;
3. brought back a $20MM/year shortstop hitting .047 (last I saw), negative defense and can't even speak the language to "platoon" with a rookie in lieu of platooning the rookie with Mateo, hitting .240, great defense, great speed vet who is a clubhouse fav. Matter of fact, just cut him.
4. Trade away longtime Brave with speed defense and .235 (against righties and lefties) last I knew making only $900,000 to get a $5.2MM/year platoon outfielder currently hitting in the .220's who can't hit righties.
5. Let go good, young GT catcher >.220 to bring back "IR" Murphy who hasn't hit over .200 in 3 years.
6. Let Hernandez go while keeping "we quit" Young (Mateo could have been that pitcher without extra salary/roster spot!).
7. Mahr may have done great against the Marlins. But we have a roster full of backend starters. Either get what you need or get nothing at all.
And the Braves are loosing money? They are not managing for Profit OR Post season
My problem with this version of the Braves is the inconsistent offensive performances. They will play two or three games with good run production (five or more) and then the next few games will be 3 or less runs against lower quality pitchers. They have to find a way to be more consistently productive. With that kind of production we could live with our current pitching staff.
Something like 5 innings. 1 hit, 3 walks 9 strikeouts, 0 runs. Another player they promoted Way to early.
He wasn't even thriving before they promoted him to Gwinett. You wonder how many prospects were harmed by over aggressive promotions. And did they recover ?
Many of us saw this series as a measuring stick, perhaps even a World Series preview. And I know we're seeing their best 3 pitchers and we didn't have our rotation lined up, except for Sale. But we have not measured up.
The nay-sayers will say, "Yeah, you beat up on the Nats and Marlins, but when you saw a real team, you came up small."
You can say we lost two close one run games. But the operative word there is LOST. And we'll have to win tomorrow to avoid the sweep.
I’m watching the Dodgers - D’Backs game. Yamamoto is pitching with a D’Backs runner on first. Freeman is playing off the bag. Yamamoto breaks his wind-up and makes a quarter-motion with his arm to throw to 1st base and doesn’t throw because Freeman is off the bag. That is a balk, IMHO. Did the umps call it? No. The call on Sale was pathetic. But… if Braves want to win the WS, they’ll have to overcome bad breaks and bad calls.
This series is a good reminder of what it will take to win in the playoffs. I hope the players are internalizing some lessons.
Management has closed the door to a successful post season when they
1. allow twice IR'd Acuna, hitting .240, to decide if he hussles (which is "no"), backs up throws, runs out ground balls, obviously pouting to be the DH (watch Drake's #'s slide) and actually PLAY right field;
2. signed a lifetime .234 hitter (.230 if you throw out the first two seasons) with no arm, no speed, can't jump outfielder who can't hit lefties for $10+MM/year;
3. brought back a $20MM/year shortstop hitting .047 (last I saw), negative defense and can't even speak the language to "platoon" with a rookie in lieu of platooning the rookie with Mateo, hitting .240, great defense, great speed vet who is a clubhouse fav. Matter of fact, just cut him.
4. Trade away longtime Brave with speed defense and .235 (against righties and lefties) last I knew making only $900,000 to get a $5.2MM/year platoon outfielder currently hitting in the .220's who can't hit righties.
5. Let go good, young GT catcher >.220 to bring back "IR" Murphy who hasn't hit over .200 in 3 years.
6. Let Hernandez go while keeping "we quit" Young (Mateo could have been that pitcher without extra salary/roster spot!).
7. Mahr may have done great against the Marlins. But we have a roster full of backend starters. Either get what you need or get nothing at all.
And the Braves are loosing money? They are not managing for Profit OR Post season
My problem with this version of the Braves is the inconsistent offensive performances. They will play two or three games with good run production (five or more) and then the next few games will be 3 or less runs against lower quality pitchers. They have to find a way to be more consistently productive. With that kind of production we could live with our current pitching staff.
Baumann had great game for Columbus.
Something like 5 innings. 1 hit, 3 walks 9 strikeouts, 0 runs. Another player they promoted Way to early.
He wasn't even thriving before they promoted him to Gwinett. You wonder how many prospects were harmed by over aggressive promotions. And did they recover ?
Many of us saw this series as a measuring stick, perhaps even a World Series preview. And I know we're seeing their best 3 pitchers and we didn't have our rotation lined up, except for Sale. But we have not measured up.
The nay-sayers will say, "Yeah, you beat up on the Nats and Marlins, but when you saw a real team, you came up small."
You can say we lost two close one run games. But the operative word there is LOST. And we'll have to win tomorrow to avoid the sweep.
Good summary and question.
I’m watching the Dodgers - D’Backs game. Yamamoto is pitching with a D’Backs runner on first. Freeman is playing off the bag. Yamamoto breaks his wind-up and makes a quarter-motion with his arm to throw to 1st base and doesn’t throw because Freeman is off the bag. That is a balk, IMHO. Did the umps call it? No. The call on Sale was pathetic. But… if Braves want to win the WS, they’ll have to overcome bad breaks and bad calls.
This series is a good reminder of what it will take to win in the playoffs. I hope the players are internalizing some lessons.