G. Anderson: New Brave “quiet, underrated”

I heard yesterday at the Atlanta Braves Charity golf tourney that a Brave hit a hole in one, i was wondering who the brave was?

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when did diaz start hitting both ways?

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DOB

here anything on a right hand bat or Will Ohman? Saw where the Pirates were takling with him. he has to be a better option than some.
Thanks

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Vs. Righties
Anderson/Schafer
Escobar
Jones
Anderson
McCann
Francouer
Johnson
Kotchman
—Pitcher—

Vs Lefties
Escobar
Prado (2nd)
Jones
Infante (cf)
McCann
Francouer
Diaz (lf)
Kotchman
—Pitcher–

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I guess when you have guys like KJ, Mac, Kotchman who all hit lefties well, G.A. being a lefty isn’t a big deal. But, Chipper is right that they’ll be flooded with late inning lefties out of the pen. Something to think about for sure. Chipper in the cleanup does make sense.

1)Anderson 2)Escobar 3)G.A. 4)Chipper 5)Francoeur 6)Mac 7)Kotch 8)KJ…
would seem right on opening day against Hamels.

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Steve from OH

February 24th, 2009
11:15 am
Let’s try this “link” thing….

Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects are up and Tommy Hanson and Jason Heyward come in at No. 4 and 5, respectively. Jordan Schafer comes in at No. 42, Gorkys Hernandez is No. 62, Freddie Freeman is No. 87, and ex-Brave Tyler Flowers came in at No. 99

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Hi DOB,

Thanks for the frequent updates. A typo..
“You have over 2,3000 hits, you know what you’re doing.”

The new pagination of the blog looks good. Would you consider reversing the order of the pages? The most recent comments first.. I usually look for the most recent news first.. and I follow all the conversations backwards in time ( I know a little weird..)..

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You guys see this article?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/2-hitters

Basic premise is that SB guys normally bat leadoff. The best defense against a SB is a fastball. So, the logic follows that you should put guys who crush fast balls in the 2 hole. Either the pitcher serves up a pitch to the batter’s liking or he throws an off speed pitch thereby increasing the likelihood of a SB. If J. Anderson wins the job in CF, this could actually be an option for the Bravos this year. The article actually mentions G. Anderson, but who do you think best fits this description of #2 hitter in or lineup?

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We are left handing with starters, but our bench is right handed. Shouldnt be a problem late in games against the lefty’s.

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Baseball America’s top prospects is out, Braves looking good with #4 and #5 (Hanson/Heyward)

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Great Blog. I say Griffey not signing was a good thing for the Braves. Like Griffey and always have, but Garret Anderson will give us a much better boost in the day-to-day lineup.

And, the Braves can put up a pretty good lineup with righthanders when needed…1) Prado, 2B; 2) Yunel, ss; 3) Chipper, 3B; 4) Norton, 1B; 5) Omar, cf); 6) Francouer, rf); 7) Diaz, lf; Ross, c. Know Braves won’t start a game like that, but they could use these guys to PH and have a place to play in the field.

Actually, the way Kelly, BMac and Garret hit lefthanders, Braves don’t need a RH pinchitter for them.

Glad you talked with Chipper and Casey about Garret. Good Stuff!

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Hey, let me ask you guys a question. If you have a guy with great speed, good defensive abilities and consistently hits around .300 and has no options left, what do you do with him? Release him or replace him with a player that has options and risk losing that player on the waiver wire? What would you do?

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Steve from OH posted it at the end of the last blog, but here’s the list of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects heading into 2009.

Hanson’s No. 4, Heyward 5, Schafer 42, Gorkys 62, Freeman 87.

Heyward’s only one of two teens in the top 10. Oh yeah and Neftali Perez is No. 10.

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For what it’s worth, here is my proposed line-up (versus right-handed pitchers): J. Anderson, Escobar, McCann, Jones, G. Anderson, Francouer, KJ, Kotchman. I really like McCann in the 3 spot after the right-handed Escobar. If a lefty is pitching, Francouer could hit 5th followed by Diaz.

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Either the pitcher serves up a pitch to the batter’s liking or he throws an off speed pitch thereby increasing the likelihood of a SB.

Yet, there is no data whatsoever to confirm that the batter hitting in a 1B-steal situation gets “better pitches to see” or that the potential base-stealer “unnerves the pitcher”, two of the favorite bromides for extolling the advantage of a speedy, base-stealing leadoff hitter. If either or both of those were true, 2 hitters would ALWAYS have a higher average or higher OBP when hitting in those steal situations versus other hitting situations. That isn’t the case, and not even close.

fangraphs makes a good point for the TYPE of hitter that might change that circumstance. As to whether it would make any difference in the usual outcomes, though, I have my doubts.

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DOB – Diaz is not a switch hitter. You were probably thinking about Norton when you wrote Diaz in that paragraph.

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**John Quest**

Yes, Chipper is a switch hitter but he hits for power on the left side. He loved having Tex behind him in the lineup for that reason. He saw good pitches and could bat left handed against righties late in games. Now, Chipper has become more of the contact hitter in this latter part of his career, but I’m sure he still likes hitting from the left side more than the right.

If someone has his career splits, I would be interested.

**Any word on Ohman?** Let’s cut this BS out and sign him already. Who cares if we have other lefties, the guy is durable and can be counted on in any situation not just for late inning matchups.

J. Anderson(until proven otherwise, then it’s Yunel)
Kelly
Larry
G.A.(could produce RBI’s without hitting HR’s)
Mac
Escky
Kotch
Frenchy
Lowe

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Steve-Re:Kotchman batting second- He has a tendency to ground to the first baseman and is slow enough afoot that I see many DP’s in our future if he hits number two in the order-negating whatever positive outcome we might achieve from the leadoff spot. Nothing wrong with having some decent hitters 6-8, though, which is what you’ll likely have with Francoeur, Kotchman and Kelly Johnson.

Since I’m of a more optimistic mindset concerning Frenchy’s return to productivity, I kind of like that bottom of the order-lots of RBI potential down there.

I’m looking at a lineup of 1.Josh Anderson 2.Yunel Escobar 3. Garret Anderson 4.Chipper 5.Mac 6.Francoeur 7.Kotchman/KJ 8.KJ/Kotchman and you could acutally just exchange Diaz for Anderson when Matt plays or switch Kelly between 3rd and 8th if preferred.

I’m thinking that’s a pretty potent offense-maybe not loaded with HR power, but one which will score many more runs that most of the Doom and Gloomers or Mets’ Trolls would have us think. Loads of doubles in those bats and quite a few triples from Yunel and Kelly.

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Steve McP-I think he meant that Matt was a right handed hitter. Go back and read it again with that in mind and I think it will make more sense, though I can see how you read it the other way.

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Daniel-Kelly is not a good fit for leadoff. He is way too patient early in the batting order and it leads to too many two strike counts. He is NOT a great two strike hitter and does much better when aggressive early in the count instead of taking those early strikes. He’s better lower in the order (number three on down).

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DOB, are you live blogging the spring training games again this year?

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Unless Garret pulls a Mondesi, I like this signing.

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Lineup

Anderson J
Escobar
Kotchman
Chipper
McCann
Anderson G
Johnson
Francouer
Lowe

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Mardi Gras party in the office today, lovin it

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Garret Anderson = Raul Mondesi all over again

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In all seriousness, if French could come on this year again, he could relieve a lot of the “All Lefty” crap in the middle of our lineup. But we won’t hold our breath, will we?

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DOB, can you update on Chuck James? I can’t remeber what happened with him. Was he released? Still rehabbing from another injury? I take it he’s out of the picture for this year?

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Line up:

vs RHP vs LHP
J. Anderson J. Anderson
Escobar Escobar
C. Jones C. Jones
McCann McCann
G. Anderson Francoeur
K. Johnson Diaz
Kotchman K. Johnson
Francoeur Kotchman

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Question for the people suggesting Chipper in the #4 hole? Why?

Put Chipper in the #3 hole and guarantee that your best hitter will hit in the 1st inning every game.

Along with the fact that Garret Anderson hits so well with runners in scoring position, I think it’s a perfect fit to put GA in the cleanup spot.

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Jon F. Don’t know if anyone else gave him a look, but the Braves released Chuck James in December. Too bad, really, I hear he was solid until the 6th…

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Anybody else SICK of SMOLTZIE WHINING I hope he starts when the Bosox come here in June & the BRAVOS TATTOO him to the showers, how bout you give back all the cash you got paid when you were on the DL whos knows how many times, just SHUTTY & go away you are history & its time to move on, & hey BLAWG DAWG THIS IS FOR YOU MORON YOU DAM DONKEY HEE HAW GO BRAVOS sweep the Mets sweep the Mets step right up & sweep the Mets LMAO CHOP CHOP BRAVES WIN BRAVES WIN BRAVES WIN THANKS SKIP

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I hope he’s not another Raul Mondesi, but I do have at least have one good Raul Mondesi memory, a game i went to in 2005 against the Cards, that rained the entire game. It was a close game, the braves tied it 2-2 in the 7th. Going into the 9th, Dan Kolb came in, and didn’t allow a single baserunner (shockingly!) facing Eckstein, Pujols, and Larry Walker. Then, leading off in the bottom of the 9th, Raul Mondesi hits a game winning homer, giving Dan Kolb a win… I know it sounds like I’m making this up, but here’s the recap… http://espnradio.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=250430115

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oK. I trust Chipper on his knowledge of baseball, but I think his focus on the left-handedness of the lineup is a little overblown. Think about it, their three best lefthanded hitters are as follows: Chipper, McCann and Garrett Anderson. Chipper, duh, is a switch hitter, so that takes care of itself. McCann over the last 3 seasons has hit lefties at a (.278 .339 .454 Avg/Obp/Slg) clip vs. (.309 .369 .539) against righties, and only strikes out every 6 at bats against lefties compared to every 8.5 at bats against righties. Not a huge disparity. He slugs better against righties, but he’s not overmatched against lefties. Plus McCann will need regular days off anyways as the catcher and those can be managed to coincide with tough lefties, and David Ross can see what he can do with them. Over the last three years Garrett has hit at a (.272 .306 .407) clip vs. (.295 .335 .464). Very similar to McCann, he slugs better vs. righties, but he’s not overmatched. And there again, he can take days off against tough lefties and let Matt Diaz do what we know he can do. Plus the other potential lefthanded hitting starters, Kelly Johnson at 2B and most likely Josh Anderson in CF, I think could benefit from splitting time with Martin Prado and Omar Infante respectively. Here are my three lineups, one for righties, one for lefties and one for tough lefties:

POS Against Righties
CF Josh Anderson
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Chipper Jones
LF G Anderson
C Brian McCann
1B C Kotchman
RF Jeff Francoeur
2B Kelly Johnson
P TBD

POS Against Lefties
2B Martin Prado
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Chipper Jones
LF G Anderson
RF Jeff Francoeur
C Brian McCann
1B C Kotchman
CF Omar Infante
P TBD

POS Against Tough Lefties
2B Martin Prado
SS Yunel Escobar
3B Chipper Jones
RF Jeff Francoeur
C Brian McCann
LF Matt Diaz
1B C Kotchman
CF Omar Infante
P TBD

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DOB,

I, too, would love to hear your take on all the verbage we are hearing from Smoltz. I am a big fan of his, but isn’t all of this talk of his a little unbecoming?

Chris from MD

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DOB, Just wanted you to know that your headline writers are at it again. There is a headline on 1A that reads Griffey Picks Braves Over Mariners. Just thought you’d want to know. TheWyzyrd

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1.J.Anderson
2.Escobar
3.KJ
4.Chipper
5.McCann
6.G.Anderson
7.Francoeur
8.Kotchman

Optimal Lineup

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DOB, Here’s a link to NPR’s website, and a preview of Neko Case’s new album, “Middle Cyclone.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100826714&ps=bb2

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Agree with Jerry on Smoltz, for what it’s worth. Apparently he can see the improvements the Braves have made and that they are a contender…and he isn’t a part of it.

Think Lew and a few others are correct on the lineup…Chipper will get opportunites to bat 4th.

Don’t believe Bobby is planning to leave Garret out of the lineup against lefties…unless, contrary to his history, he’s not hitting them.

And, for some reason, I still believe there is some chance that we’ll trade for Nady.

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Schafer (braves need to rely on this kid, the next Grady Sizemore)
Escobar
Hoss
Francoeur (Gonna have a BIG year)
McCann
G. Anderson
Johnson
Kotchman
Pitcher

-Not wanting to lose Josh Anderson the braves drop norton off of the bench

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dylanGarret Anderson = Raul Mondesi all over again

You wish! Must be a Met or Phillie fan.

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Hey when will the braves be on tv? Our do we have to wait til opening day?

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DOB- Love the blog, but I have a serious question about the print version of the AJC. I know newspapers all over the country are hurting financially, but c’mon. This morning’s sports section was 3 1/2 pages long! Granted, it’s a relatively slow season in sports, but we can’t even come up with 4 pages of sports? Convince me that there will still be a print edition of the AJC in 2010.

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Nice observation mbatl.

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and i love the braves. just dont optimistic about garret friggin anderson.

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i dont think anyone will hit into as many DP’s as Andruw did when he wasn’t striking out.

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DOB
When do the first cutts take place?

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Or maybe I should have said even Frenchy would not swing.

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DOB – You catch that KU/OU game last night? Collins had a special night… goin back and forth with 3 pointers down the stretch. Big win at OU… but without Blake Griff (who was stylin on the sideline btw).

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thewyzyrd, I agree, DOB you need to go here and see this at AJC Braves home page , look at this headline link name and when you click on it it has a story date of 2/17 ,you really picked it way back last Tue, just kidding ,you have some folks that don’t have your backside covered.
link, Griffey picks Braves over Mariners http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/02/17/braves_griffey.html?cxntlid=inform_sr&imw=Y
story, Braves map new outfield plans with Anderson
By DAVID O’BRIEN

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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what about tv any idea?

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thank god!!!!! that DWW

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David ,did I miss someting, what about the press conference?

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Hey Baseball American has the top 100 prospects list out. Braves have 2 of the top 5 !!!!!!!!!

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2009/267698.html

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“But Chipper’s point is true, the Braves are going to see a ton of lefty relievers in the late innings. And those happen to be very nasty lefties in the NL East.”

Like who?

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Atleast we don’t have to see J.C. Roidmero for the first few series against the Phils….Those can be some big innings that will come back to haunt the Phils later in the year when the race is tight and we rake whatever lefty fills in for him….

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DWW, Glavin is probably not with you!

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Hey Robert, I heard that interview as well. Really, he sounded hurt. I believe after all he has been for and to the Braves, He deserved the benefit of the doubt. Everytime he has said that he was ready to come back, he has come back. Granted, he is older now, but if you have no plans to put out more money to get a better quality player, don’t cut off your hand…

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Bobby rated No. 2? I’m not sure I’d put him at #2. top 5

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Some people here BAFFLE me…..Glavine won’t have to start until late April, not April 1,3 or 5 like the last 20+ seasons. He is getting ample time to recover and go about it wisely and carefully. He has a phenomenal chance of coming back strong…If he can post 25 starts which I don’t see there is no reason there is not an %80+ chance of that, he will be more effective then Jamie Moyer, bet on it. Glav has somethin left in the tank, it’s just in his blood. He would’ve called it quits if he didn’t think he can contribute 10+ wins and help the team. Also, this year, he has motivation to be very strong as opposed to last. Glavine would NEVER not give it %110 but I am just saying….

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Do ya’ll remember when the Braves were in Toronto and Glavine beaned Mondesi, unintentionally? That was like a year or two before the Braves got him. I remember that was the first time I ever saw Glavine ticked. Mondesi stared him down like he was some sort of bad a-. But, I read some of Sheurholz’s book where he and Cox both said he was very classy when he was in Atl.

Looks like Blanco will have to find a new # if he’s with the big boys this year. I’m excited to see Anderson with us, and actually get to see what he can do everyday.

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I, for one, think it’s a little stupid to keep saying to keep someone or put them in the starting line-up just because they are out of options. Don’t we want the best team on the field to win the most games. I think a lot of people forget Schafer has great speed too and is a much better CF’er than Anderson. We also need defense on this team and Schafer has better range and arm in CF. I f he comes out and rakes in ST then he should be our CF and not have Anderson and his options hinder this team from winning games. I also like the point of getting rid of Norton to keep Anderson coming off the bench for speed and maybe defense in LF in late innings. We had Prado to plug in at 1B if needed so what do we need Norton for? Waste of roster spot and money in my opinion.

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Archie Manning wore #18 at Ole Miss. This is a great omen!

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Not saying Glave wont be affective, but if Hanson dominates ST put Glavine in the pen and see what happens. He can always move back to the rotation.

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For those who want Hanson and Schafer on the roster opening day, you also have to remember that delaying them even just a little bit means that they’ll have an extra year before they go to arbitration, which is no small thing. The Rays did it last year with Longoria and that worked out fine for them. So it’s not just being out of options that helps Josh Anderson, who certainly hasn’t hit like a stiff when he’s been up in the major either and probably deserves to show what he can do. Yes, the Braves should also put their best team on the field ASAP, but just because our prospects look very promising does not necessarily mean they are ready. Get them a little more seasoning, delay the contract clock, call them up later as needed, everybody wins.

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I meant “all of our really good players except for Chipper” are gonna play tomorrow.

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I had Parker’s BBQ in Greenville NC last summer. I was skeptical, but the vinegar based BBQ is way way better than all the thick sweet nasty stuff here and Memphis and KC. Way better.
Garrett Anderson’s lack of power is a little disappointing, but his reliability, consistency and good attitude are very welcome here.
Bill Self played a lot of alternates against OK last night. It may have helped keep Collins and Aldrich fresh. In the Missouri game, our only conference loss, Collins and Aldrich were both exhausted in the second half. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

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better link for TV

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/schedule/broadcast.jsp?c_id=atl

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Just saw the video about Anderson on the Atlanta Braves website. Having just gone through what the Braves did with Griffey and him signing with Seattle in the end, I found it a bit amusing that in the video the very first clip was of Anderson hitting a HR against Seattle.

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Tomahawk210

Anderson has major league experience whereas Schafer doesn’t. It is better for him to start in Triple A so he can continue to face Major league pitching. There are very few big leaguers in AA, whereas AAA has quite a few pitchers going up and down between there and the majors. Schafer needs to face more big league pitching as well as quality big league pitching too. In ST, there are plenty of big leaguers but after the 5th inning, it is minor league guys trying to make an impression on the big ball club. Schafer doesn’t need to face that type of pitching. It will give us a somewhat jaded view of his production. If he tattoos those guys, makes the team(as the everyday CF) and struggles, the fans will be all over him. Let him keep tuning up. Anderson deserves the same opportunity Blanco got last year. He should’ve made the big club from the beginning but we Kotsay. If it is May or June and Anderson is struggling, then bring him up. But if Anderson is doing good, leave him down until about Mid July or even August.

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maybe the mondesi comparison is a bit of a stretch.

BUT DOB, im not sure if u follow the hawks much, is garret anderson not the braves what glenn robinson was to the hawks the year they guaranteed a playoff appearance?

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brent a.
February 24th, 2009
1:34 pm
DOB and others who know the Orlando area – what is the best beach to hit in that area?

Uh…Orlando is not on the beach..

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I think it was Ryan Zimmerman who hit the walk-off HR in the season opener last year…

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home opener

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Oh man im excited….Also, love the new paging format…I can now load pages in less than 2 hours.

You dont think Hanson’s cut will affect our chances of seeing him on ESPN Thursday do ya? That would really ruin my day.

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Nady also would cost valuable prospects…. and would be a one year rental and cost much, much more. Which would affect other decisions later in the year. Hmmm

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Hanson didnt get cut. That was Boyer

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Yeah me too bigchief. I cant wait to see the “tommy gun”

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1. J. Anderson or Schafer
2. Yunel
3. Chipper
4. G. Anderson
5. B. McCann
6. Frenchy
7. KJ
8. Kotchman
9. Pitcher

I think this lineup could win 90+ games.

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Oh, also, I am sorry, and I dont know if this happens to anyone else, but when I see the name Marek mentioned, I think of John Merrick, the elephant man, sorry, ok, back to normally scheduled rants and raves.

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All the proposed lineup talk is interesting. A lot will depend on J. Anderson making the team (or not), and if so whether he hits leadoff or #8. My two cents: Chipper should bat third. Period. Figure out how to break up the lefty batters in some way other than putting Chipper at #4. Gotta get him to bat in the first inning, and batting #3 vs. #4 would mean an extra 10-20 plate appearances over the course of the year. G. Anderson is useful, but no way do you put his ~.330 OBP at #3 when you could instead have Chipper’s .400 OBP. Also, regarding platoons: I bet Cox is unlikely to go with any straight platoons. I think LF should be close to a straight platoon, but with G. Anderson getting at least 1/3 of the starts against LHP in order to keep his hitting stroke against them. I also think it’d be a good idea to give G. Anderson (or Blanco, if he makes the roster) 10-15 starts in RF to spell Francouer vs. tough RHP. Lastly, there have been some comments that infer a platoon at 2B. Bad idea. I’m all for getting Prado his ABs, but KJ should start at least 140 times at 2B. If Prado gets 20 starts at 2band some at 3B and 1B, he’ll get his ABs. KJ had a higher OPS vs, LHP than vs, RHP last year. And even though many would say he hasn’t reached his potential, even with G. Anderson on the team, KJ is the Braves third best hitter. Give KJ some days off to keep him fresh in Sept., but overall he needs to play.

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CF Josh Anderson
SS Yunel Escobar
LF Garrett Anderson
3B Chipper Jones
C Brian McCann
1B Casey Kotchman
2B Kelly Johnson
RF Jeff Franceour
P Pitcher

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I guess it’s safe now to celebrate! I see we have a few people trying hard to pretend that Anderson is somehow Raul Mondesi. All I can say is you have been reading what DOB has written about him the past couple of days and you should hurry and do so so.

Sorry to see Morton get hurt, an oblique injury can be nasty, just ask Steve Avery. I’m glad we signed Glavine or else Morton’s injury would be much bigger news as he was probably going to be the 5th starter depending on what happened with Hanson.

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Thoughts:
1) Infante better get a lot of CF practice in spring training.
2) There’s no way Bobby will let CF Anderson hit leadoff against lefties. So, I guess Escobar or Prado will be batting leadoff some of the time.
3) The Braves will not carry 5 outfielders and G. Anderson cannot play the 100+ games we will have against RH starters. So, Diaz will be getting more at-bats than most think. And against righties.
4) The Braves are going to have a terrible record against lefties, including the minor league lefty starters that will invariably be called up. HOW CAN A MLB TEAM HAVE NO RH POWER BAT IN THE LINEUP?
5) Frank Wren is not doing a very good job.

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Yep, Anderson is so dammed “underrated” the only team that offered him anything is the team good players don’t want to play for!

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pferree – i agree with jay, if j. anderson was in the #9 spot that’s not a bad idea. I’m really not a fan of the La Russa lineup, but the guy is a genius and knows more about baseball than any of us, so there must be something to it.

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Met Medlin’s dad right after we signed him. Said JS and the Braves were a class act. Glad to see he is coming along a little faster than the projections.

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You folks worrying that GA will be another Mondesi should realize that Mondesi fell off the cliff offensively in 2004, the year before the Braves signed him. I think he was hurt much of that season, but his 2004 performance gave you every indication that he was done.

GA’s had no such dramatic drop off. He’s not the player he was five years ago, but he can still produce.

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Only time you bat a Pitcher 8th is if his name is Dontrelle Willis, Jason Marquis or Mike Hampton and your SS is Rafael Belliard or equivalent…I don’t know how LaRussa has utilized that with success…Obviously he has had a little….ha

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brent a, the closest beaches i know to orlando are approx 1 hr away in either tampa (clearwater) or daytona. my preference is tampa because ybor city is there.

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Thanks for that tidbit CaliChopper

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Brent A – Cocoa Beach is the place to go. It is a straight shot from Orlando (take SR 528, a not too expensive toll road, also known as the Beach Line.

The most beautiful beach is Playalinda Beach (Sp. for “beautiful beach”), at the Canaveral National Seashore, where the sand dunes are protected and you will see no condos, etc. – as an extra attraction, just as you round the corner to the beach on your left, you look to the right and you will see the historic Cape Canaveral launch towers that are still used for our shuttle launches.

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stop making lineups with frenchy batthing 8th. there’s no way he’s down that far with all the lefties in this lineup! bobby is all about righy/lefty matchups and you don’t put 3 or 4 lefties in a row in the lineup even vs RHP.

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Cardvol – that is the move that I was thinking, unless Blanco is let go. I do not see Balnco clearing waivers, someone will take a chance on him mor e than likely. Lerew is the option I see slipping through waivers due to his recent injury and rehab making him a risk for someone to pick up.

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Sonny Liston, I don’t know, maybe the fact that Abreu/Dunn/Jr. took almost as long tells me that the Rays management probably wishes they had held off on signing Burrell for a couple of months, you know? The hit on the economy is obviously affecting these guys. You need to keep up buddy!

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we’ll see who is a moron KC. you are a moron if you think GA plays 100 games. nobody wants him. not even the team he spent his entire career with. seems a little odd to me. he was hitting in a much better line up last year, including Vlad, Hunter and Mark T. not the same here. very bad fit for the braves. but for the sake of the braves i hope that its ME thats the moron.

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(The Hammer,February 24th, 2009, 2:11 pm)

Excellent post.

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dylan, yes he was in a better lineup last year, but look at the career numbers… over time he’s put up quality numbers year after year. they’re getting him for relatively cheap. why are you so upset by the move? it’s not a huge risk

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amen ncsoots

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Can anybody answer an American league stat question regarding G Anderson? Dave mentions above that the G-man played 59 games as DH. I’ve been looking for that stat for 2 days on MLB.com, and I can’t get it.

The closest I can come is 145 games hitting – 82 games fielding = 63 games, but of course that would include pinch hitting. Is there a separate DH stat somewhere?

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Dylan, yeah he was in that Angels lineup last year and .295, 15HR, 90RBI, which is why he’s a good fit for us. Vlad ain’t the Vlad of old, Hunter is way overrated, and Tex didn’t get there until like August. You’re doing watever you can to try to shoot down this deal, but it just doesn’t work. I agree though about them not resigning him and going after Abreu. Abreu is a little better, but they also lost Tex, so they needed a little upgrade from Garret. Plus, Abreu was obviously a little out of the price range with them signing Glavine, so Garret will have to do. You’re talking about $2.5m for an above average player…that’s almost pocket change in MLB these days.

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O’Brien, somehow you managed not to run off Anderson before the deal was actually closed! If you had attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism instead of that subpar Kansas institution you would have known that a reporter is supposed to report the news – not make the news like you did when you broke up the Griffey deal. You stink, man!

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TnBrian: Abreu is a little better, but they also lost Tex, so they needed a little upgrade from Garret.

Braves lost Tex last year, so they need a little upgrade from Garret.

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T-Moore needs to go hang out with Jim Rome, PERMANENTLY!!!

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AZBravesFan, try baseball-reference.com or thebaseballcube.com, great sites both.

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“but for the sake of the braves i hope that its ME thats the moron.” -Dylan

If that’s all it takes, we’re all set.

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Another way that Diaz could find a way to play could be if he starts at 1B occasionally for Kotchman. I am not that worried about all the lefties because our bench is so versatile. Prado and Infante can play multiple positions and on any given day against an especially tough lefty, we could have as many as 6 or 7 righties in the lineup. We could use Diaz in LF, Infante in CF, Prado at 1B and then you have Chipper at 3B and Esco at SS as well as Francoeur in RF. It may not be the best lineup but the point is we could manage because we have a really solid bench. That’s not even to mention Ross as the BUC and Norton who can play all the corners.

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Jim it hasn’t been mentioned yet, the thoughts so far are either Prado or Lerew(I think thats the right one)

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COCOA BEACH 45 MINS AWAY

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There is no way Prado gets bumped from the 40 man.

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winterville, if it’s OK with you, I’d just as soon not see any of those ST split-squad lineups during the regular season, LOL. I see one of those Infante-Prado-Diaz-Ross lineups anywhere but getaway day after a two-week trip and I’m probably gonna want a CASE of empty beer cans for throwing.

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dylan, yeah, well…

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KC, you are not mistaken, that is the most idiotic post of the year…It’s still very early though…Garret Anderson hits both RHP&LHP and is extremely clutch and a team player….He will be solid taking 70% of the playing time while Matty gets the other 30% hitting .330 while doing it. LF will be ok, barring injury, as usual.

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Scoots…In order to ensure the future use of your TV, perhaps you should invest in a cardboard cut out of Bobby Cox. Or if you like Bobby too much for that maybe just a giant Braves logo. That way you can hurl beer cans and watch tomorrow night’s game.

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yeah dude whoever you are KC has the goods on you!

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Danga, the key to TV-beercan-throwing at its best is, of course, to use only empty cans. There’s little that could make me wasteful enough to fling a can that still contains beer. That way lies madness.

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I didn’t know 8 with a parenthesis equaled a gay smiley face with sunglasses, but this is just another example of when you visit this blog, you learn something useless every day.

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LCDs are better for throwing beer cans at vs. the conventional tube tv.

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Anderson helps the lineup a lot. The outfield production last year was a joke. After Frency doesn’t make contact for a week Anderson can platoon in right field. Diaz and Infante can do left.

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DOB – So would Jo-Jo be given a chance as a lefty reliever in the pen, or would he toil in AAA when he doesn’t make the big rotation?

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brent, yeah orlando is pretty much central florida.. convenient to both coasts. its roughly an hour north east to daytona and an hour south west to tampa.. and for that matter about an hour to the east to cocoa beach.

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Peter Gammons (Hall of Famer, and rightly so) has long championed Garret Anderson. I just hope there’s still enough in the tank after 15 years of baseball at the highest level.
As for eastern NC barbecue … can’t handle the vinegar. Knew a guy who lived in Wilson who had married a young lady from Valdosta, so he had spent some time in the Empire State of the South (that’s Georgia, for you Yankees or other dense types). We were talking barbecue one day. I said that vinegar on the meat reminds me of sweat socks in the gym. He asked about “that red stuff” ya’ll put on barbecue on Georgia. My response: “You mean … barbecue sauce?”
And not ketchupy sauce but more of the mustard based variety is preferable.
Had a boss for a long time, good Statesboro raising to his background, who lived in Texas and actually converted to the Texas style of barbecue (beef) over the Eastern U.S. variety of pork. He also quit listening to the Allman Brothers after they did “Ramblin Man.” Thought it was a travesty compared to their earlier work with the late, great Duane Allman and Berry Oakley.
And you know, with all the crap music that big leaguers take the plate to, why can’t one man up and have Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” as his entrance song?

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ncscoots, Glen W — thanks for the info. They both look good.

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I asked this on the previous blog, but I think it was right around when the new one went up I don’t know that anyone saw it. Does anyone know if the intrasquad game next Monday is open to the public?

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I remember when Sting came out with “Seek and Destroy” as his entrance music, StingerSplash. Great entrance music for any occasion, including church processions.

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Here’s a vote for Cocoa Beach, brent. VERY easy to get to from Disney, good beaches and unlike the Gulf – SURF! Well, sometimes. Oh, and Roberto’s isn’t bad for Cuban food either (downtown CB). Its not Ybor City, but… Kennedy Space Center is right there too, if you’re into that.

Never knew that Dylan did “Accidentally Like a Martyr”. Think he named “Time Out of Mind” after that line in the song? What a record.

If everything falls into place, it looks like the team could produce some runs and not by the long ball. THAT could make some interesting viewing. Interested to see how Cox manages this offense.

Go Braves!

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Hey DOB, when you get a chance you need to check out the Truckers’ performance from Mountain Stage here in West Virginia this past Sunday night. Patterson had pneumonia, but still belted out a couple of songs. Cooley and Shonna picked up the slack and played a hell of an acoustic set. You can check out some of the stuff at npr.org sometime this week.

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nscoots

I agree, I don’t want to see that lineup every time a lefty is pitching but the point remains, we have good depth and it is right handed.

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Chipper Jones called teammate Jeff Francoeur “the key this season” for the Braves. Wow could he put anymore pressure on him.

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DOB, any chance the Braves get back in the Ohman bidding now that LF is taken care of and we seem to have a couple million left on the table?

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Does anyone know if Chipper got his extension yet? This has to be a priority at this point.

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Have to echo the other comments from people….why not get back in on Ohman???? And I know this has been asked constantly DOB, but who did we move on the 40-man to make room for G. Anderson????

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dude
Game is not on tv tomorrow. ESPN thursday. TV schedule is on the braves website.

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brent a. – If you like touristy areas I would go to Cocoa Beach or Daytona. But if you looking for a little more laid back area I’d go 2 hours from Orlando west to St. Petersburg Beach. Very serene and calming IMO.

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D@mn you, O’Brien, I usually don’t give two flips about your song choices… but you HAD to do Zevon, didn’t you? Thing about it is you’ve always struck me as being more of a ‘Lawyers, Guns, and Money’ kind of guy.

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Garret Anderson was a cornerstone player of the Angels franchise for 15 years. But over the winter, they didn’t work anything out to keep him there. I guess it’s time for him to start seeking out interviews to bash the Angels, as Smoltz has done with the Braves.

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dylan, I never called you a moron. I said your POST was moronic… because it was. We all say moronic things every once in a while. Nothing personal.

But dude, really… you’ve got to take a closer look at the situation before saying something like that. Now if the Braves had signed Andruw Jones to a ML contract… THAT would = Mondesi. That would be a reclamation project, bringing in a guy who appeared to have lost his ability to be productive.

The situation couldn’t be more different with Anderson. And why would I be a moron to think Anderson will play in 100 games? Does he have a recent history of missing 70 games per season? Not that I can see. Also, he will likely be used in a platoon with Matt Diaz. And that should be one helluva a productive platoon.

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“Anybody know how Frenchy has been looking in BP.” SoDak Brave

Hopefully he’s using his eyes. Having said that, it’s a valid question, isn’t it?

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*SoDak Brave*

Mark Bowman has an article up on the Braves website today talking about Frenchy’s new approach to the plate and to spring training. He’s not real specific on how he’s looked so far in ST but gives you an idea of what he’s been working on and some good quotes from Chipper.

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Maybe a question that has already been answered, but are the Bravos going to be on FM radio this year? Normally The Bull talks up broadcasting the games, but I haven’t heard anything. It’ll suck having to listen to AM after listening to games on FM for the past several years.

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Train Wreck, there is a little thing going on that has messed up the whole spring training thing… something like the Little League World Series.

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Here’s a little counterpoint to all the Garrett Anderson love flowing so freely hereabouts, from Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan (written between Griffey’s signing with Seattle and Anderson’s signing with the Braves):

The key is to not exacerbate that mistake

[not signing Dunn or Abreu] by making a bad signing. Picking up Griffey would have been marginal — Griffey’s projected WARP is a mere 1.1, exactly that of [Brandon] Jones — justified by the lower cost and the possibility that he would have value in a strict platoon. With the Hall of Famer gone, talk has turned to Garret Anderson, who is something of a last man standing in this market. Anderson is durable and little else, with his power mostly gone and his OBP a perpetual problem. He projects to a .274/.319/.440 line, with slightly below-average defense and a value of about one win over replacement. He is no better than Jones at this point, and should not be signed to replace the younger player. The differences between Griffey and Anderson are OBP and the platoon split, neither of which favor Anderson.

I don’t mean to peg the Braves as penurious overall, just to point out that they stopped spending money at exactly the point where they might have gotten the most bang for their buck. Buying a left fielder like Dunn would have helped make the significant investments in the rotation — more than a third of the payroll is tied up in the three new starters — pay off.

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Bowman says that Boyer cut his finger on an apple slicer. He wasn’t even using it, but was reaching for a can opener. He also said that Boyer will miss his scheduled day to pitch (Wed.) because of it.

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Can someone please answer this?

Why should Matt Diaz be in a platoon??

In his career he’s hit .288 against righties (.328 against lefties), including .318 against righties in 2007 and a whopping .358 in 2006!

Why did we need to add ANOTHER left handed bat? To make it easier for opposing managers to come up with a pitching plan?

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Spotts, you do realize that the numbers you gave for Diaz are all as a platoon player for the most part, don’t you?

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BoJr.
they paid 5 mill for Abreau. dont see much difference, if any between them numbers wise. (vs. GA)

You might consider over a 100 points on career OPS and 112 stolen bases vs. 12 over the last 5 years as “not much difference if any”, but I don’t.

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ease19 (4:23 pm): “Thats was…well…kinda random!…”

Nah, not so much.

A long, long time ago in a blog format far, far away, DOB promoted me to Commander of the “Gotcha Brigade”.

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Any word on the corresponding move to make room for Garret Anderson on the 40-man roster?

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spotts, I think the argument goes that Diaz picked up his healthy numbers versus righties while mostly playing against lefties, and just grabbing the occasional bat vs. RHP. And that the numbers didn’t seem to be on pace to hold up during any extended stretch as a full timer. Whether it’s pitchers learning his weaknesses when he plays more, or Matty’s mental rhythms not being as good in a full time role, I haven’t heard anyone say.

I could be wrong about that, though. Maybe somebody more knowledgable will chime in.

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David,

Any news on a corresponding move for the 40 man. Dd I just miss it?

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I’m looking at a lineup of 1.Josh Anderson 2.Yunel Escobar 3. Garret Anderson 4.Chipper 5.Mac 6.Francoeur 7.Kotchman/KJ 8.KJ/Kotchman and you could acutally just exchange Diaz for Anderson when Matt plays or switch Kelly between 3rd and 8th if preferred. LEW

why Anderson third and Chipper 4th, when Anderson has hit 4th mostly and Chipper much prefers third? Personally I wouldn’t do it and hope that they don’t. Chipper’s career numbers in the clean up spot are noticably worse than when batting third, no matter what he says about being willing. I don’t want our best hitter batting below his potential.

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whatever….thanks bub

I just hope they start putting more dirt on the right side of the plate. We’re going to need it this year

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Someone above mentioned the idea of Kotchman in the 2 hole. Interesting idea, and it does lengthen the lineup a bit. I don’t really think its necessery to have your 1st basemen hitting 8th. Also this platoon nonsense is clearly going to come to a head this year and really drive me nuts. Omar Infante in the 4 hole against leftys are we serious? The sad part is we might actually see it. I don’t think its benefical to throw out a completely differant lineup just caz your opponent is throwing a lefty out there, especially if its a weaker one. Check it out:

Escobar
Kotchman
Jones
G. Anderson
McCann
Francouer
Johnson
other Anderson
Pitcher

Not horrible

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Can someone tell me what kind of coach Coach is? Strange ideas about baseball, but he seems to have the “confidence” of a MLB GM. I don’t mean to be disrespectful. I am just asking. PTBNL

I think you’re being taken for a ride dude. I would be willing to bet that coach is not any kind of coach, certainly not a baseball one. He is constantly spouting overblown garbage in an overbearing manner.As for the GM thing, at least some of what he posts is copied from other sites and he passes it off as his own when I have seen the exact same thing even wording elsewhere. Not many GMs out there in Dakota are there? IMO, the biggest phony on the board.

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Boyer, I admire the diet plan, but two words, man: Salad Shooter.

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he was reaching for a can opener for his can of apples and caught it on an apple slicer

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bub you are so hillarious

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I missed it due to work. Is there a video clip of the press conference?

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wow here we go again with injuries…next its going to be chipper rolling off his bed and having a concussion.

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Where is Martin Prado, the best hitter of the last half o fthe season for the Braves last year, going to lay and bat?

Why not trade KJ and install Prado as the every day secomnd baseman. Thatv would provide another rightie bat as well.

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the thoughts so far are either Prado or Lerew(I think thats the right one)

really? well whoever is thinking Prado needs a brain transplant

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Apparently, Boyer cut his finger on apple slicer.

Apple slicer? Lame. This past weekend I cut the tip off of my finger using a butcher knife. Got no time for apple slicers. Luckily the doctors were able to sew it back on. I have to keep it straight, elevated, clean and dry. I’ve been fitted with both a Dirtbags and Braves foam finger. Team spirit is high in my household.

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oh yea i am serious. u should have your own blog!!!! or maybe a stand up comedy act, although you would have a hard time using those cute smileys

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dylan, I ain’t afraid of emoticons and LOL’s. 100% confident in my masculinity … sweetie.

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Bubdylan – Let me give you a hand. I’ll get Dylan to chase me around the block for a while.

Hey Dylan! – yeah you. The Braves suck. The Mets are gonna mop them up all season. Woooaah. Here he comes. See you guys later……..

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hey mets. how bout u make the playoffs. k bye

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ease19, nah, I don’t drink this early in the evening. Why, you got one?

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Dylan, my friend, Raul Mondesi was a head case who completely lost his swing, as well as his desire to play winning baseball.

“(In ‘08,) Anderson hit .337 over his final 69 games beginning July 1, posting 49 RBIs and an .871 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) in that stretch.”

Please, get a box of crayons and a clean sheet of drawing paper and draw me a picture of how you can equate the mercurial flakiness of Mondesi with the consistent professionalism of Anderson.

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Queball,

Hey, I think AinC is one of the most underrated bands, especially from the last 20 years. Love their stuff. It’s just that that beat and rhythm from their first single lends itself remarkably well to, well, other purposes, you know?

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Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan: “more than enough to offset some anticipated decline by last season’s surprises, Jorge Campillo and Jair Jurrjens.

WTF?! WHAT anticipated decline. Who’s anticipating that?? Not anyone in the Braves clubhouse.

Where is the broad dismissal of Jair Jurrjens coming from?!

Jurrjens just posted a better rookie effort than those of Tim Lincecum or Cole Hamels. And why would anyone conclude that it was fool’s gold???

Jurrjens has 4 quality pitches, including a fastball he can run up into the mid-90’s, and an excellent changeup. He has excellent command (named best control pitcher in Tigers organization a few years ago by Baseball America). And everyone raves about his intelligence, maturity, and his grasp of the art of pitching.

I’ll answer my own question. They conclude that it was fool’s gold… because they weren’t paying attention. That’s the only reasonable explanation.

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DOB, if there’s any way to configure this thing to hold more posts per page, I think most everyone here would GREATLY prefer that. This 10 pages (or more) for every blog kind of sucks.

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Now, it just makes me think, “Why were they interested in Griffey over Anderson to begin with?”

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“those second-year pitcher”…I got all French-Canadian there for a second

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Folks, the truth is Prado is a better everyday 2nd baseman than Kelly. Given the chance that is. No way the Braves trade Prado. He can play 1st, 2nd, 3rd, with SS a slim possibility. Very, very, good bat. The KJ to LF isn’t going to happen so I am not going to beat the blog up about putting Prado at 2nd. I am just saying I would have been fine with KJ out in lF and Prado at 2nd. So would a helluva lot of other people.

Again, in my opinion, I can’t see the Braves being a better team with Anderson as our everyday LF…ditto Griffey had that been the case. We have too much youthful talent not to have one of them in LF. BIG MISTAKE by Wren. I am right until proven wrong. Let the games begin.

Rock on…..somebody mentioned the group Bloodkin a while back. Saw them with teh DBT’s a few weeks ago. OK…not great….just OK but better than I expected. Didn’t see any hook.

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I’m concerned with Frenchy, This year will tell a lot as to how he projects for the rest of his career in my opinion. Right now, I compare his young career to that of Ron Kittle, the ‘83 ROY. Take a look at Kittles stats and I could see Frenchy going down that path. They are similar hitters…streaky power with a lot of K’s. I hope this chart isn’t all messed up but I am sure it will be…sorry in advance.

Yr Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR GS RBI BB IBB SO SH SF HBP GIDP AVG OBP SLG
1982 White Sox 20 29 3 7 2 0 1 0 7 3 0 12 0 0 0 0 .241 .313 .414
1983 White Sox 145 520 75 132 19 3 35 0 100 39 8 150 0 3 8 10 .254 .314 .504
1984 White Sox 139 466 67 100 15 0 32 0 74 49 5 137 0 4 6 7 .215 .295 .453
1985 White Sox 116 379 51 87 12 0 26 0 58 31 1 92 0 2 5 12 .230 .295 .467
1986 White Sox 86 296 34 63 11 0 17 0 48 28 0 87 0 6 3 10 .213 .282 .422
1986 Yankees 30 80 8 19 2 0 4 0 12 7 1 23 0 2 0 0 .238 .292 .413
1987 Yankees 59 159 21 44 5 0 12 0 28 10 1 36 0 3 1 4 .277 .318 .535
1988 Indians 75 225 31 58 8 0 18 0 43 16 1 65 0 5 8 0 .258 .323 .533
1989 White Sox 51 169 26 51 10 0 11 0 37 22 1 42 0 4 1 2 .302 .378 .556
1990 White Sox 83 277 29 68 14 0 16 0 43 24 2 77 0 1 3 3 .245 .311 .469
1990 Orioles 22 61 4 10 2 0 2 0 3 2 0 14 0 0 1 3 .164 .203 .295
1991 White Sox 17 47 7 9 0 0 2 0 7 5 0 9 0 1 2 2 .191 .291 .319
Career G AB R H 2B 3B HR GS RBI BB IBB SO SH SF HBP GIDP AVG OBP SLG
10 Years 843 2,708 356 648 100 3 176 0 460 236 20 744 0 31 38 53 .239 .306 .47

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DOB (5:29 pm) — you and me both.

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DOB

Sorry if i am rehashing a question that has already been answered, but will there be any radio coverage of the ST game tomorrow? And if so will it be network or local only. Thanks

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bubdylan jair only pitched about 12 more innings than he was supposed to, so lets hope the verducci effect bypasses him this year.

also, this evaluation IS coming from the place that labeled escobar a utility infielder, and i doubt that they would claim that thier predicitons are always right. i think that jair will have a year very similar tolast year, perhaps with a few minor set backs (missed starts). but im convinced that jurjens is going to be a good one.

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Dadgum “I am right until proven wrong”

You are? Well why aren’t you wrong until proven right? Because, currently (as in, right now) I think you are wrong. But can you prove you are right? (Let me answer that for you: No you can’t). Boom. Outta here.

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Interested Observer (6:04 pm): “Wasn’t Joe Sheehan the guy who said Escobar was no more than a utility infielder? Or am I mistaken?”

No mistake — good memory.

Joe Sheehan (February 8, 2008): <strongWinter grade: C- Trading away Renteria shows a faith in Yunel Escobar that is likely misplaced. However, the presence of Brent Lillibridge should save them. Losing Jones was inevitable, although the contract he signed may turn out to be a bargain. They have no center fielder, despite trading for two nominal ones over the winter. One move to make: Escobar is a utility infielder who happened to have a peak season for batting average. The Braves can’t get Renteria back, but they can minimize the damage by moving quickly past Escobar to Lillibrdge. The 24-year-old has good secondary skills and a plus glove at shortstop; rumors that he might be moved to center field persist, but those have more to do with the Braves’ fascination with Escobar than with Lillibridge’s skills.

We can see several howlers here.

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Chop Chop, yeah… I get the whole “sophomore slump” argument, but it doesn’t hold water. I did quite a bit of research on the so called sophomore slump for a blog piece I put together a while back, and found that as it pertains to MLB starting pitchers, it’s a myth. After all the numbers I looked at, I am 100% convinced of that.

That’s not to say that staring pitchers don’t ever struggle in their second full season, but it’s not a common enough occurrence to deserve it’s own pithy title. The majority of the time, Major League pitchers that have a strong rookie season, follow it up with an equal or better sophomore season.

To suggest that Jurrjens should be expected to take a step back simply because it’s his second full season… is an argument that doesn’t hold up to the vast majority of precedent.

Bubdylan, I know the argument about Jurrjens’ innings jump as well. I’m more comfortable with this argument than the “sophomore slump” theory… but I’m not sold on this point of view either.

Jurrjens pitched 140+ innings several times at the minor league level. And nearly EVERY pitcher in baseball has a year, usually early in their ML career, where they have to make a 40 (or more) inning jump in their workload. There is nothing at all unusual about that.

Also, given that Jurrjens is a ground-ball, pitch-to-contact pitcher… his pitcher-per-inning ratio probably isn’t as high as it is with a lot of other guys.

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KC,

Sheehan is just telling you what is most likely. His argument holds up quite well.

(Note: If Sheehan said this about a young guy on another team, you would not blink. That’s the difference here. You have something invested in Jurrjens; Sheehan doesn’t. “Cold” impartiality isn’t always the most endearing quality, but it’s not a bad quality to have when dealing with probabilities.)

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Braves will be world series champs in a couple years..Hanson,Jurrjens,Hudson,Lowe,Kawakami

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KC,

Sheehan also seems to be really infatuated with Manny Acosta as a setup man, and completely dismisses Moylan. I’m not saying it couldn’t work out that way, but Manny better cut way down on both HR and BB if he expects to have a role in the late innings. Frankly, he’d have a tough time making the 25-man over Bennett, Boyer, and Carlyle if (God forbid) I was in charge.

That’s the thing with many (not all) of these national writers. Honestly, I bet there are a couple dozen bloggers on this site that could run circles around Sheehan when it comes to knowing the Braves’ personnel.

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Andrew: Getting Casey and Marek for Tex wasn’t bad either /or/ getting Vasquez and Logan!

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TNPaul-

I don’t think anyone was saying JJ is better then Tim Lincecum, just that JJ put up better rookie numbers then Tim did; clearly, right now, Lincecum is a better pitcher…and I do think there will be some “sophomore slump” drop off with JJ (I think it is inevitable with almost everyone), but nothing to be concerned with- I think he is too good for that…

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KC Im a huge Jurrijens fan but there is one thing that may make him worse than Lincecum and Hamals and that would be his innings. He went up 40 innings last year. Im afraid he may be another Mark Prior. The biggest reason I was so happy to get Lowe and Vazquez. To take innings from Jurrijens.

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Chop Chop: “Sheehan is just telling you what is most likely. His argument holds up quite well.”

No, it doesn’t.

If Sheehan were basing his argument on the so-called Sophomore Slump, which has been disproved many times over by sabermetricians, then it’d be super easy to refute. What he is in fact basing it on is the so-called Verducci Effect, which is defined as a Major League pitcher 25 or under who has just finished a season with 30+ more IP than his prior year. Now, I’m no analyst, so I can’t argue with Tom Verducci. But what I can do is point a couple of facts.

1. The Verducci Effect isn’t airtight. Dwight Gooden, Justin Verlander and others have defied it.

2. Jurrjens wasn’t abused like many of the guys whose sophomore seasons were ruined by the Verducci Effect. He pitched 45 more innings in 2008 than in 2007. In contrast, Verducci Effect Poster boys Ian Kennedy (+61 IP), Jared Weaver (+56 IP), and Fausto Carmona (+56.1 IP) all got stretched even further.

3. As KC pointed out above, Jurrjens had pitched over 140 innings for 3 straight years in the minors (counting his 30 IP in his September 2007 call-up to the Tigers). So he’s not really like a lot of these guys, who had never pitched more than 77 (Weaver) or had only pitched 140 once (Anibal Sanchez, Carmona, Hughes, Kennedy).

Just because KC is a homer, doesn’t mean he’s not correct.

In a similar fashion, just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean I’m not out to get you.

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CaBravesfan, just to point out, there really isnt a sophemore slump. At least not with most pitchers. If you take rookie pitchers and 2nd year pitchers the 2nd year pitchers have better numbers.

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I think personally this could very well be a turnaround year overall for the team from an overall standpoint. I think GA will be fine with Braves this year. I’m going into the season cautiously optimistic.

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cvbraves,those may turn out to be good trades but not like getting a number 1 or 2 pitcher who is 22 for renteria.

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Eric from KC-

Maybe that is not the right discription- maybe it is more along the lines of other teams being more fimiliar with JJ’s stuff- but his numbers may appear not quite as good- ERA may be a little higher, walks may be a little higher, etc. but like I said- I don’t think it will be anything that will cause concern- I think JJ is just too good and his mental approach is too solid for things like that to be an issue.

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“The corresponding roster move for Garret Anderson is the Tim Hudson 60-day DL thing. DOB</strong

Good god man. I hope for your safety that that “move” is the announced move, and you’re not speculating about that move. If Hudson got pizzed before, I can’t imagine how mad he would be the one being speculated about.

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Andrew, Chipper worked withe Andruw and Frenchy all winter, and I’m going to trust him here. He knows his stuff, and he’s brutally honest. The fact that Chipper has raved about Francoeur, makes me optimistic that he’ll bounce back. But Chipper had nothing good to say about Andruw. He said that AJ’s still trying to pull everything. Translation: still hasn’t learned his lesson.

I’ll be very surprised if AJ bounces back this year.

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Blair….no, you see that when you have enough talent in LF to play the position and you bring a veteran in then it is on the club to prove they made the right move. Frankly we were fine before the move as many Braves players will attest. Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait until about all-star break to determine if Anderson was the right move. If he is batting about .260 with say 5-6 homers then I win. If he is batting close to .300 with say 10 homers then you win. Right now I am winning and it is up to Anderson to prove me wrong. My game, my rules.

Oh yeah, the same goes for Glavine. He should not be on the team. We have solid talent and plenty of it in teh #5 slot. I don’t by this BS about his experience helping the younger guys. What the hell do we pay McDowell for anyway.

Maybe I am going against the grain but I would not have signed either Glavine or Anderson. We just spent about 4 mil + on two players neither of whom will get us to where we need to be. Again my opinion but let’s check the scorecard at the break. 5 will get you 10 that Glavine is either retired or injured. Nevertheless, I will be fine if I am wrong but that’s my story and I am sticking to it. No gray area.

Rock on……

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Garret Anderson is a solid pick up. At this stage of his career, I don’t think he’s a 150 games starter. Diaz should get more than his share of playing time in LF.

If Hanson starts at Gwinnett and pitches effectively, what does a call up to Atlanta mean? Is Cox going to use him as a middle innings reliever and spot starter? Doubtful. My guess is that Glavine gets bumped in favor of Hanson. After all, Glavine’s on the way out; Hanson’s on the way up.

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Dadgum we had one of the worse pitching staffs last year and the worse outfield. How do you figure we were fine in both of those?

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Good find on that Escobar article Random. Paul Sheehan is hard to take seriously after reading that one.

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Giants lost 90 as well.

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TennesseePaul do you think you are the only one who looks at the stats. Even with Tim’s minor numbers his rookie season he still threw less innings. 188 to 177 Jair’s favor. Now its not much but if your going to give him a slight edge in innings per start than you have to do it in total innings and how do you not count wins(I dont either) but you do count winning %. Its basically the same thing. If your not getting the win then its a loss or no decision. Not like either plays on a good team.

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Eric from MO, Verlander is really irrelevant, as is the innings argument with Jurrjens.

Given that Jurrjens pitched 140+ innings several times, the whole innings argument is overblown. Again, most pitchers have to make a 40 inning jump at some point in their careers, be it at the minor league level, or the ML level. Check out thebaseallcube.com and just start looking up random starters who have lasted in the “bigs”.

I’m not saying you’re arguing that point… but I just wanted to throw that out there.

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Don’t remember who Andruw hit the homer off of, to lazy to look it up, but i heard he actually hit it to right field

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TennesseePaul, forgot to mention… it’s not at all unusual for a big strikeout pitcher to have a better H/9 ratio than a ground-ball, pitch-to-contact guy. In fact that’s normally the case. The power guy has the advantage that not as many hitters hit their way on. Ground-ball guys have the advantage of double-plays, and in Jurrjens case… a low walk total.

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so how long would we have to wait to bring hanson up to avoid or delay the super 2 status or 3 yr arbitration and what are the rules for spot starts? i know it is like 86 days but how does that equate calendar wise?

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KC: so… other than the fact that Lincecum allowed significantly more runners to score than Jurrjens

Tim allowed 70 runners to score, Jair allowed 87 (that’s total runners)
Tim allowed 65 earned runners to score, Jair allowed 77.

Chuck James had a sub 4.00 ERA in his rookie campaign. Guess it was better than Tim as well. Perhaps the advantage is based on the city name on the jersey more than anything.

You haven’t convienced me that Jair had the better rookie season. I can see that you will not waiver even when presented with Tim’s better WHIP, H/9, K/9, K/IP, IP/GS, K/BB, better second half, better winning percentage and fewer “runners allowed to score”, so I’ll just leave it at that. I disagree with you.

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Enter your comments here

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Eric: I didn’t say Tim had more innings than Jair. And I agreed, I don’t count wins, but if people are going to point to them, then I’ll join in pointing with my surgically repaired pointer finger… and since Tim came up later in the season, winning percentage is about the only “justifiable” method of juxtaposing a basically irrelavent stat for measuring a single man.

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I know nobody probably cares anymore, but is there even a slight possiblity we bring Ohman back. I mean c’mon. He can probably be had for about a million. I know middle relief is not a sure thing from year to year, but he was very good last year, and he could get both lefties and righties out.

They must have soured on his bad final month when he tired. Maybe they think Bobby Cox wore him out and it would probably carry over to this year. Just a thought. Otherwise it just doesn’t make much sense to me.

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I’m shocked at the number of folks who are willing to hit Garret Anderson high in the order

Agreed. I like his consistency, but he seems more suited to the lower end of the order these days. This team is loaded with 7-hole, doubles hitters. But as a man once said, you don’t take the field with the team you want, you take the field with the team you have… and this team includes Bobby who will most likely slide Garret in to the fourth spot… unless Francoeur really comes on strong.

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Who do we currently have that has proven anything in left field? I totally agree with bringing a veteran who can provide more certainty in the outfield. It’s pretty simple logic. Your argument stinks, sorry. Your not winning, and as far as I can tell, you’re not having an argument. I can pretty much crush your stance by pointing to the numbers. What exactly in Anderson’s career would lead you to think he would hit .260 with five homers? The theory of his acquisition is plainly stated above. It is the correct move, in light of the circumstances. You can argue with numbers, but that just means you’re in denial. Again, show me the numbers and the proof that there were better options in house? If there was, why did the Braves sign Anderson? And if they’re wrong, why aren’t you on the payroll? (Rhetorical, I know why)

I have more questions about Glavine then I do Anderson. If he provides stability on the back end, it will be a good pickup. If he gets rocked, and then bows out with an injury…we’ll know…

For the record, you’re dead wrong about Prado as well. There is no way he is better or has more upside then Kelly Johnson at second. I can play the “no gray” area thing well. If you present a boorish, extreme, and poorly articulated argument, chances are, you’ll get another one in return (except for the poor articulation).

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I think there might be some confusion on arb status, with all the posts asking that Hanson be kept on the farm for “business reasons”. Major league service is based on the number of days on the 25-man, and the number of service days in a major league season (I forget the exact number under the current agreement, 175 or so).

The idea about keeping a player off the 25-man for a certain length of time has to do with the service days credit a player receives if he is on the roster a certain number of days during the current season. Hanson, for example, could start the season in Atlanta and be sent down later for an extended period, giving the same effect as if he were in Gwinnett at the beginning of the season and called up after June 15.

And Super Two status is determined by the top 17 per cent of service time by two-year players in the year under discussion, so keeping a player on the farm until a certain date may or may not produce Super Two status. All depends on the service time of his two-year peers. Players may have appeared in more than two ML seasons and yet accumulate less than three years service time prior to an arbitration period, creating a higher threshold for Super Two status.

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Bubdylan – Don’t know if anyone answered yet but I think you’re looking for Fibonacci.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

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TennesseePaul, I was also looking at what the two pitchers did in about 150 innings of work in their rookie seasons. That was a gap of nearly a full run. But overall, 3.68 to 4.00 is a noteworthy gap. Jurrjens’ record was also substantially better than Lincecum’s rookie record.

As for Chuck James… he only made 18 starts in his rookie season. I suspect that had he started 30+, that ERA would not have held. But Chuck, being a 2 pitch pitcher really is someone that MANY people were concerned about long-term. There was a lot of optimism surrounding him, but many were concerned that hitters would make adjustments, and he wouldn’t be able to survive on 2 pitches. His case is vastly different from either Jurrjens or Lincecum.

But this is really something of a bunny trail for me. My statement that “Jurrjens had a better rookie season” was an aside. Even we just said “his rookie season was comparable to those of Lincecum and Hamels… my point would still stand.

I was using those other two as a comparison to drive home how good Jurrjens was last year. My point was that, given what he did in his rookie season… it seems foolish to dismiss him as so many seem to be doing.

And I just want to reiterate once more, because I know that a year from now someone is going to say “Yeah, KC said Jurrjens was just as good as Lincecum”… I want to be clear that I am NOT saying that!!!

Lincecum is a better pitcher than Jurrjens right now, and while not inconceivable, it is definitely unlikely that Jurrjens will ever be as good as Lincecum. But I do believe that Jurrjens has a strong chance to establish himself as a #1 starter. And if he turns out to be anything less than a solid #2 starter at the big league level… I’ll be shocked.

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ncsoots, let me be clear that in general, I think your posts are well reasoned and intelligent. But dismissing my assertion, which was based on a fair amount of research, in a fairly snide manner, just kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

And, I’m sure you’re just firing a shot back across my bow… but I believe I put a fair amount of thought into my opinions before I form them, and certainly before I voice them. I’m not one of those that fires half-ass shots at everyone. But then, you were probably talking about another blogger with two initials!

Oh, and as for my request that you save the smartass retorts… you’ll notice that I did say “please”. lol

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congrats DOB for not messing this one up. By the way, are they replacing you with Bill Shanks? Heard that from a “close friend of the family”.

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150 innings? Well lets dice it this way, the last two months of the season, August and September. “The Wall” should be hit. The scout reports are widely available… Jurrjens 56IP, 5.14 ERA. Tim 54IP, 4.17 ERA. Tim still comes out better in his rookie season.

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OK, that’s where I’ll leave it. Can’t believe I went back and did that much. Any who, I think Jair will do well this year. Well for this team. Not well enough to merrit the #1 or #2 spot on any a typical team. I’m looking foward to seeing what Kawakami can do and I hope, against all hope, that Vazquez actually does well this year. I just get this feeling of innings-eating-perez for Javy.

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Dadgum

Hey buddy….why don’t you just put a sock in it. I’m SO damn sick of you saying we shouldn’t have resigned Glavine (and now signed Anderson).

I will laugh my arse off at you when Tommy has a pretty good season and Anderson hits .280, .285 or so with 20, 25, 30 HR’s and 85, 90, 95 RBI’s or so.

another thing…..for GOD sakes…..the Braves are no longer pursuing Ohman. Shut the heck up about it already. DOB has mentioned this more than once on the last few blogs.

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Hope Andruw has Sigmund Freud helping with his swing.

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“Run-prevent baseball = fun” -Bubdylan

100% agreed

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KC, your “assertion” was that Sheehan was an idiot for saying “any anticipated decline” in Jurrjens. Now, Sheehan IS an idiot, admittedly, and probably the separated-at-birth-brother of Dayn Perry, but nevertheless…

You’ll notice that he didn’t say “Jurrjens will decline” or “Jurrjens is just a utility infielder who can throw” or the like. He implied the possibility of regression exists, and you took umbrage at his temerity in doing so, compounding the felony with the Lincecum comparison. In effect, YOUR implication was that there is very little chance that Jurrjens will step back. Some of us pointed out that, yes, it actually is possible that he might regress, whether probable or not. That’s all. If Brian McCann can hit .273 one year, Jair Jurrjens can have an off-year, too.

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Here’s another foolish stab at a lineup…hoping that Frenchy has indeed gotten back to his 2007 form:

Anderson
Escobar
Anderson
Chipper
McCann
Francoer
KJ
Kotchman
Pitcher

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Aight I’d Figured that there is too much lineup speculation, so I’m gonna take a break frmo that and Throw some Insights on looking ahead to our schedule’s First Month competition…

And Peep This…!

The Braves only play three series of the 1st month against teams that posted above .500 records in the first month. Its imperative that they don’t get buried alive in April because, we could be out of it by May seeing that they have seven series in May aginst teams with a .500 win pct. or better. June doesn’t get any better because the month of June is sick as well (2 series against the Red Sox, plus a series with the Cubs, Brew Crew, The Yanks, and the Phils as well)

Word of Mouf is that Garrett Anderson is a slow Starter offensively…Everyone knows that the braves can Ill-afford to have Anderson’s bat in Creep mode until mid June…

Thoughts…?

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For those who are putting anderson in the three hole. It makes no sense to put him there. you want a guy with at least one of power, speed or a good obp anderson has noone of these. to me the first five have to be anderson, esco, kelly, chipper, and mac.

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TnBrian, I wasn’t thrilled with either of those signings (I’m a Diaz fan – at least for a full platoon, and I had visions of Hanson breaking camp), but like you I don’t see how they can be considered horrible moves. And now that they’re here, I can see them adding stability.

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DOB, is BBQ like your favorite food. No offense, but you talk about it like it’s food from the heavens. A good BBQ place is hard to find, but a place in Nashville was the best I’ve eaten. But it’s still nothing compared to a juicy Wendy’s double bacon cheeseburger. Now that theer is some good ole white trash eatin!

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Again, on the signings Wren has made, if Frenchy,KJ and a few of their other homegrown players stink it up, well, than we the fans will have to bite the bullet and realize that they just don’t have it. At least not like the ones from the early 90’s did. So, whatever signings a GM makes is only as good as what’s already on the field and what they have coming up from the minors. I know, we all already know this but it’s easy to get wrapped up in trades and big signings that have or should’ve happend.

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I hate when people start talking about playing teams with above .500 records in MARCH! Nobody has played a game. Players have been signed, teams have made trades, and managers have been changed. You dont know who will be over .500. I recall last year ESPN was talking in March about some teams that had no chance. One of them was Tampa. How did they do? Also recall most believed Detriot was going to playoffs and possibly the World Series. How did they do? So lets not be talking about playing so many series against teams with below .500 records in MARCH!!!

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KC, others:

I’m not so much worried about the “Verducci” Effect on Jurrjens becuase he didn’t clear the 30 IP mark by too much, and because I feel his mechanics are good enough to compensate for an increase in workload. However, I am more worried about his K/9, BB/9 and K/BB, all of which were more or less exactly average in ‘08. Any regression at all doesn’t bode well in that category. Even though he is a sinkerballer, and has a very good defense behind him, we WILL get unlucky, and bad things will happen occasionally. Mark it down. If his K and BB numbers go the wrong way, then Sheehan will be closer to the truth than you.

I still feel JJ will do better than his PECOTA, but I’m certainly not going to dismiss it, because it does quite well, thank you very much.

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Steve couldnt his K and BB walk numbers go the right way and KC would be right? Could go either way. Dont really know what the arguement is, not like KC said JJ is better than Tim. He actually said he prolly will never be as good as Lincecum.

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“So, whatever signings a GM makes is only as good as what’s already on the field and what they have coming up from the minors.” -TnBrian

I’m on your side in general, but I can’t quite understand this point. I mean, if KJ and Frenchy are having great years, wouldn’t it make the team still better if the new signings were good ones? And wouldn’t it make the team not as good if the new signings were bad ones?

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I’m the American Dweam, Wick Fwair. Why don’t you come up here in the wing like a man!

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Yeah they very easily could, and I hope they do! But I’m saying that those numbers are probably what PECOTA saw, and it made it’s prediction….

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justdoit why would you spend 20 million on Lackey? 4 years ago he was good but his last 3 seasons not so much. Last year he pitched only 108 innings and the 2 seasons before that he had ERA over 3.6. Not saying he is terrible but his last 3 years havent been that good.

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Eric From Mo…

Please Don’t Listen to ESPNY 24-7…John Kruk Also mentioned that The Braves would be Facing the Indians in the 2008 World Series on the BB Tonight episode prior to the Opening ESPNY Sunday Night Game vs the Nationals. Funny how those predictions went, Since then I rarely watch anything On ESPNY anymore, I’d much rather watch the MLB Network…

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Bubdylan – No prob. I just know that Fibonacci numbers occur frequently in nature, so I thought that might have been what you were looking for… but yeah, a mach 2 fastball… cripes…

Anyway, I’ve been reading the blog religiously since the start of the offseason and I just wanted to say that I think Frank Wren has done a great job, despite all the (seeming) disappointments… I feel that in spite of (or because of) said disappointments our Braves will be at a level where they will at least compete for the division title, if not win it straight up. Every move that was made strengthened the team, and I’m especially excited about Garret Anderson. I would have loved to have seen Griffey as a Brave but at the end of the day I’m glad things turned out the way they did.

Mr. O’Brien – I’ll be at next Wednesday’s game vs. the Yankees… can I have your autograph?

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Bubdylan (11:06 pm) — Thanks, bud!

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Ric Flair just is an ultimate individual in life today.

I wish more baseball players talked like that.

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Chop Chop, didn’t Ric Flair invent the Chop across the chest move? (more of a slap than chop)

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Random and BudDylan,

I agree with you guys (and Sheehan) about Run Prevention. The braves had to add a bat and G.A. is a good add.

I think the braves can have the best of both worlds IF they can get through the year with and 11 man bullpen. (That is why signing Ohman should still be a priority, if he is still out there.) The last 2 or 3 years the braves have had to carry that 12th pitcher, thus leaving the bench one player short. The braves could really use B. Jones or especially Blanco on that bench for late inning defense. J. Anderson is not the eraser that Andruw was (even at the end) and should not be asked to cover for a possible liabiity in left. Soriano and Gonzo are power/fly ball pitchers. The braves need guys to go get it in the gaps, especially late in games

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Chop Chop, Rick Flair is one of the great entertainers of all time. He could have succeeded in Hollywood with ease, IMO. Flair was great in the ring. No doubt! But he’s the ONLY guy that when he came up to a microphone, I didn’t turn the channel. Every other guy, I thought “shut up and wrestle”. But not with Flair. The greatest figure in the history of wrestling entertainment. Hands down.

I can’t watch the stuff that’s on today. I miss the days of the Flair/Sting rivalry.

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This is what I’m expecting to see:

1 J. Anderson
2 Escobar
3 Jones
4 McCann
5 Frenchy
6 Johnson
7 Diaz / G. Anderson
8 Kotchman

I say we still go with a LF platoon. Diaz will crush lefties as always and it will give Anderson the time off that he needs. He averaged less than 90 games in the field over the last 3 seasons (rest of the time was spent at DH). Both will be valuable coming off the bench late in the game.

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Steve from OH, you think you’re ignorant? I thought PECOTA was the Padres’ Stadium…

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No Steve, NO…Jurrjen’s PECOTA does not sound too ignorant of a question. You keep doing what you do and how you want to do it. You Einstein you!

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Ric Flair can do it better than anyone alive.

DOB,

I can’t remember if it was during last season or not, but I remember you talking about Tony Schiavone (I think he was an officlal scorer at the ballpark) coming on here sometime and talking some wrestling.

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John Quest, I suppose… but no one belongs in the same category as Flair. He was god.

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But if Jurrjens fulfills your prediction of 7-20, with 5.96 ERA… I WILL be surprised

HA! That one made me laugh. It’d be like Kyle Davies was back on the team.

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Eric From Mo. No worries dude, I was basing those records/percentages on teams that posted better than .500 records for the 2008 season… Many of those teams (especially the teams in May and June) I expect to be just as strong, if not stronger…

And I’m already calling for the Marlins to be the above average team in the east that no one is talking about , Bank On It!

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