Mac and Mauer two of best — ever

Lord knows I don’t want to feed Robert’s obsession with hating on Cox but the man is right. He just is. Cox’s time has passed him by. A good manager adapts to the changes of the game instead of just doing the same things over and over. His mismanagement of the bullpen is downright criminal. Even more criminal is running Bennett out there night after night knowing he is going to get shelled. What sense does that make? I want one person to tell me what sense does that make. What manager would continue putting a guy in the lineup who has hit under .200 for the last 40 or so games when he has two better options at that position? Why would anybody in their right mind continue running a guy out to RF who has been in a “little” slump for 3 years now when there is a guy on the bench who is a top notch hitter? Why? Why? Why?

I know this. Wren doesn’t seem the sort of guy who has a lot of patience with stupidity. I would love to be a fly on the wall when he is talking with JS alone about Cox. Anybody want to bet that if he could he’d fire Cox today!

By the way Chipper Jones is going to be on Jim Rome’s radio show here in about a hour and a half.

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lunatic…anybody and i mean anybody but bennett. the guy blows up everytime he steps foot on the mound. bobby has a longer leash with bennett than he did with boyer and we all know how much he loved boyer

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“You must be a Cleveland Indians fan. Medlen and Rohrbough aren’t quality?”

Okay, so you think the Indians should want to take on a minor league lefty with an ERA over 5 as a 22 year old in High A? Should they be ecstatic about giving away their best position player not named Grady Sizemore for Medlen and Rohrbough? Don’t give me Kotchman and Johnson. They are both free agents at the end of 2011(only controllable for one more year than V-Mart). Hell, they both might not be worth their arb. numbers by seasons end. Come on, dude. Indians fan? No, not at all. Just a realistic Braves fan.

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Speaking of Schaffer, He is he gunna play again? He’s been injured since June 25

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Hopefully Jim Rome won’t be calling him Larry.

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DOB
When in a situation like last night (actually two situations) When KK gets hurt, does Bobby go to McDowell and ask who should go in? I would imagine that that is discussed prior to the game.

#2 – When Medlin lost his effectiveness, what happened then, Bobby makes the decision his own or with McDowell’s strrategy?

In other words, who made themistake last night?

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Robert(CITB)–who else would he have used in that situation? Moylan/Gonzo and possibly Soriano are all unavailable. Medlen’s out of the game. So you’ve got Bennett, O’F, and Acosta. Go get ‘em, Bobby!

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Steve from OH:

Where is your smart mouth retort to the comment about it being Cox’s decision to play Kelly & Jeff every day? Did you forget that one or even you as the ultimate Cox apologist can’t explain that one?

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kotchman johnson francouer bennett carlyle

will not be on the twenty ten roster

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Did everyone see Francoeur giggling like an idiot after his homerun last night? I’ve become so embittered toward the guy, everything he does pisses me off.

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From what I heard, Rohrbough was one of our prized prospects.

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And that’s not to say I don’t still like Rohrbough as a prospect, or Medlen, Kotchman and Johnson. But the Indians would be taking on like 6 million(Kotchman and Johnson) which would be more in 2010. Rohrbough is like 2 years away. Medlen looks like he can be pretty good, but all of that doesn’t equal to V-Mart. Not even for a year and a half of V-Mart.

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Bobby Cox Theories

Why does Bobby continue to run out Jeff Bennett when he “always” gets shelled? Maybe because his other choices are Manny Acosta, rookie Kris Medlen or loogy Eric O’Flaherty.

Why does Bobby continue to play Jeff Francoeur in right field? Because he does not have anyone else who will equal Francoeur’s production both offensively and defensively combined. Not Matt Diaz, nor Gregor Blanco or Brandon Jones.

Why does Bobby “always” make bad managing decisions? I would love for somebody impartial to grade “EVERY” move that the manager makes, and compare those to the moves of all other major league managers. Also, Bobby has never been known as the best tactician as a manager. He is more of a players manager (yeah, yeah, I know some are tired of hearing that). I don’t think his track record is as dire as some would have you believe.

Why does Bobby continue to run Kelly Johnson out there at second base? Because he doesn’t have…….wait a minute, maybe he does have a better option in Martin Prado. So, in light of that fact, maybe he does it because A) He wants Kelly to come out of the slump, and he can’t do that riding the pine. B) He wants to increase Kelly’s trade value…..nah C) Maybe he thinks the upside of Kelly Johnson is higher than that of Martin Prado or, and most likely the answer, D) He is a players’ manager.

I have always been a Bobby Cox supporter, though sometimes he frustrates me to no end also. I just don’t think calling him a moron or a donk or an idiot is helpful at all, or accurate even.

I hope I have been of some assistance.

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Why on earth would the Indians make this deal?

No reason at all, which is why it’s just as possible as most of the scenarios posted here, LOL.

Fact is, unless you have a fly on the wall of other GM offices, you have no way of knowing how other teams evaluate your organization’s players, higher or lower. The blog thinks Francoeur and Johnson are done, but, it’s likely that there are GMs who disagree after looking at their tools and past performance. Pretty much the same deal with any player the blog is ready to crucify, and even more so with toolsy prospects (every GM thinks a raw-talent prospect would do better in his organization, LOL).

Bottom line, most of the trade scenarios spewed here are highly unlikely…just not impossible.

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Bobby has not won since Mazzone has been gone. Leo deserves alot of credit for the great 14 years that Cox gets credit for.
Where you from Steve? Ohio, that explains it.

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Does anyone know what happened to Ernesto Mejia?

He put up some great numbers at Myrtle Beach last year – 47 doubles, 21 homers. He’s fallen off the grid…

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Rohrbough has had a lot of injuries during his minor league career so far. Your right though, he is highly regarded prospect with a very high ceiling. Trading for a less than one year rental makes little sense. I could see trading for DeRosa and putting him in RF and then playing Infante at 2nd when he comes back. Then, try and unload Johnson and Francoeur for a low A prospect or the DVD series of Viking Quest autographed by Johnny Drama.

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ncscoots – The blog is never wrong.

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Major props to Varodrunner, Robert, Fastasballs, N8:
As any journalism teacher would say, correct lead is ‘Bobby Cox is the biggest problem.’
Maybe he’s a sweet ol’ man personally, so what a manager who just ‘lets ‘em play’ wins some SI players’ poll. Big deal.
Bottom line is Cox is an awful game tactician. Repetitive losing moves (Bennentt this season, Kolb in others, lefty-righty roboting, et al) made time after time with always same poor conclusion. Lack of fundamentals such as baserunning-from-hell to throwing to wrong base to cut-pff throws made/not made to treating bunt skils like some Martian invader, et al. Braves lack them and overall “smarts.” This stems from Cox. Once he begins to manage mid-game after removing starter, it’s an adventure in terror. It’s like you’re listening to great grandpa at some holiday get-together talking ’bout his days with Henry Ford.
This team plays with a country-club approach by a less-than-demanding nice ol’ man. I despite control freaks like insecure paranoid Tony Larussa, but at least his teams maintain consistent MLB fundamentals. Cox is the other extreme, and while better than Larussa’s heavy-handed ways, players like any other workers slack off and take road with less obstacles.
These guys are paid enormously well for a game 99% would play for free. Their skills earn them riches, but constantly allowing and forgiving their lack of first-class effort is inexcusable. Giving ‘Hee-Haw’ aw-shucks quotes when you hand games away on a silver plater insults our intelligence. But when you have a Bobby Cox who wants to be cheer-leader and Uncle Buck first before a boss who demands better, you get thr 2009 Atlanta Bravwes.

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Robert(CITB)–as I’ve stated before their usage in the last 3 days was hardly unnecessary or unjustifiable. And do you really think he would’ve brought Gonzo or Soriano into pitch in the sixth anyway? Facts are, while Bennett sucks mightily, he was just as equal an evil as putting in Acosta was. Can you imagine if he’d used EOF? A LOOGY to face A-Rod? The blog would collapse! Besides, Bennett would likely have had to pitch the seventh or the eigth anyway, so maybe it’s better to give him a one-and-done shot with a struggling hitter than have to get three outs from the Yanks?

Leo deserves alot of credit for the great 14 years that Cox gets credit for.
Where you from Steve? Ohio, that explains it.

Nah, not even close. Leo’s Orioles teams didn’t do sh!t, and their bullpens pitched over 500 innings in both seasons he was there (that’s for you, Coach). So maybe he was missing Cox? Bad logic can be twisted both ways, dude. Ever heard of “correlation does not equal causation?”

IMO, and I’ve said this before, the manager gets too much credit when he wins and too little credit when he loses. If he had better options in that spot, he would’ve used them. His options were, at best, marginally better if at all.

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“The blog thinks Francoeur and Johnson are done, but, it’s likely that there are GMs who disagree after looking at their tools and past performance.”

One can only hope!

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Farah one beautiful lady “Angel”. She fought like hell to beat cancer…RIP… prays to family. 62 yrs old.

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Eware–he must be injured, because he hasn’t seen any action this season. Glad you brought him up, b/c I’d forgotten about him.

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A 12 man pitching staff is plenty big enough.

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The answer is not always “go get a guy from the minors” because he can’t do any worse than what we have. Well, more often than not, they are worse than what we already have, or they are not on the 40 man, and some would have us just release some guys just because they stink it up for a while.

It’s definitely a marathon, and not a sprint.

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ncscoots – The blog is never wrong.

Indeed, LOL. When fully in possession of all pertinent data, the blog simply is incapable of an incorrect parsing of that data. Can’t happen. Huh-uh, and nossir.

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Why do people keep putting Francoeur’s name in “wannabe trades” for quality players??

If the Braves had any one of thes players, would you trade them FOR Francoeur???

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Now normally the Sports Vents have some pretty dumb and irrational comments on them, but today it’s got some good ones. Some of my favorites:

If Chip Caray were half as witty as he thinks he is, he wouldn’t be half as boring as he is.

How can there be a problem with unemployment in Atlanta and Jeff Bennett still has a job?

And my favorite

Can we get Garret a Hover-round to patrol left field?

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Actually, we DO have 12 pitchers now: Lowe, Jurrjens, Vazquez, Kawakami, Hanson, Gonzo, Soriano, Moylan, Bennett, O’Flaherty, Acosta and Medlen.

Not 11. Do we want 13 now??? Our bench is pretty weak at this point, with Blanco and Hernandez riding the pine. With Prado’s hamstring and Chipper’s potential woes, it would be hard to send anybody down at this point for a 13th pitcher.

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think the Braves should work on a trade involing Campillo and Jo Jo

Or maybe one involving guys that aren’t on the DL, perhaps? Might be easier to trade healthy players…

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John Dewan on McLouth’s defense:
“Well, I thought he was the worst outfielder in baseball, but Nate McLouth won a National League Gold Glove in 2008. Nate McLouth had a -40 plus/minus in center field. That means this: —Take every ball hit in the air anywhere in the vicinity of Nate McLouth when he played center field —Replace McLouth with an average center fielder —The average center fielder would have caught 20 more of them than McLouth did, allowing a total of 40 fewer bases taken on those 20 caught balls McLouth’s -40 was the worst plus/minus figure for any center fielder in baseball last year. Not only that, it was the worst plus/minus figure for any outfielder in baseball. Not only that, it was the worst plus/minus figure for any player in baseball. Is he that bad? No, absolutely not. The fact that there are a significant number of managers and coaches that think he’s good definitely means something. There are aspects to being a good defensive outfielder that come into play other than catching balls hit in the air. They are lesser aspects, but important ones. I will get into more depth on these in The Fielding Bible—Volume II coming out in February of 2009. For example, we are planning a video review of all McLouth’s key fielding plays. But let me touch on a couple of things here. First, his throwing. While he only had two baserunner kills last year (direct throws to a base or home plate to nab a baserunner), he was the seventh best center fielder in preventing runners from taking an extra base on singles and doubles hit to centerfield. Second, his Good Plays and Defensive Misplays. The Video Scouts at Baseball Info Solutions have 27 categories of Good Plays and 55 categories of Defensive Misplays. They review every play and decide if a play fits one of those categories. It sounds somewhat subjective, but because of the strict definitions of the categories, it actually becomes quite objective. For example, here’s the definition of one of the 55 Defensive Misplays: “Defensive Misplay Number 38, Failing to Anticipate the Wall: Outfielder goes to the outfield wall, allowing a ball to bounce over his head back toward the infield, allowing a runner or runners to take bases which they might not have been able to take had the fielder turned and played the ball off the wall.” It turns out that this happened to McLouth six times last year, tied for the most in baseball with right fielder Bobby Abreu, and more often than any other center fielder (Aaron Rowand and B.J. Upton were second in CF with five). This is another weakness for McLouth. Overall, adding the six wall-difficulty plays to his other misplays, McLouth had a total of 24 defensive misplays and one error last season. That total of 25 is the ninth highest among all center fielders on the 30 teams last year. So, despite his low error total, McLouth is more prone to making poor plays in center field than the majority of other center fielders in baseball. However, his good plays more than make up for the 25 misplays and errors. He had 31 good plays, good for third place among center fielders behind Carlos Gomez of the Twins (33) and B.J. Upton of the Rays (32). This is clearly what managers and coaches who vote for the Gold Gloves were seeing. Net Plays are good plays minus defensive misplays and errors. McLouth had six more good plays than defensive misplays and errors, or six Net Plays. That was the seventh highest total in baseball among center fielders. Not bad. All in all, I no longer think of McLouth as the worst center fielder in baseball. It means something that at least some of the managers and coaches think highly of him. And we see that two areas of his defense are above average: his ability to prevent baserunners from advancing on hits and his ability to make a play above and beyond the ordinary. But we also see that, despite this low error total, he has more than his share of defensive misplays. And the most important aspect of playing outfield defense is covering ground, and McLouth struggles here big time.”

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cabravesfan

If some posters had a half brain, would it get lonely?

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There’s a Chipper Jones interview on Foxsports.com that is very interesting. He in a subtle and professional way basically says that baseball is not a lot of these guys’ top priority. He more or less says this is a country club atmostphere. When he implies there aren’t guy who have baseball as their top priority I wonder whom he is talking about?

This is where Cox is not keeping up with the times. This isn’t the 90s. These guys don’t come in here as professionals. Cox just can’t believe they are going to do the right things without somebody being on their a**. Today’s players need to have direction and discipline. Guys like McCann, Hanson and Prado are the exception not the rule these days.

Cox’s ways are outdated. So, he either needs to adapt to the times or it is time to find somebody who will! And, I think it is quite interesting that somebody pointed out that this team hasn’t won since Mazzone. That is no coincidence. Mazzone was well known for being a jerk but maybe that is what is needed-a jerk. Somebody who will counterbalance Cox’s “its all good” attitude. It is apparent that McDowell and TP won’t do it. So, either they get replaced with somebody who will stand up to Cox or Cox gets replaced. It is that simple. This team’s attitude is way to laid back and way to non-chalant.

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Wayne in Utah-

Not sure what you mean by that…
(i’m a little slow today- blame the cold meds )

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What happened to Armando Galarraga…sheesh…can we say sophomore slump.

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Which present players have played in past futures games?

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Even though you are a day late and 10dollars short that was in response to a numerous post on KJ and why Prado wasn’t playing. I you are going to be a joke teller, then at least be funny, if you ar going to be a smartass then find some child to try to be-little. And if you are gonig to be wrong then at least take the time to research the previous post b4 you get you feeling hurt.

Sir, yes sir!

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OK people! The deadline isn’t today, its in a month, are they going to be healthy in a month? Yes! and it wasn’t a serious post.

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Wayne:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/futures_game.jsp

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Anders

I agree even tho I wasn’t born til 75 and grew up on the til end of the Charlie’s Angels run on television. Kinda ironic that all three original Angels battled breast cancer…(Farrah, Jaclyn Smith, and Kate Jackson)

IMO, she was iconic as Princess Diana.

I knew she was sick with the cancer…but it’s still kind of a shock. She’s in a much better place now. Her and Ryan O’Neal’s relationship is like Cher and Sonny Bono’s relationship. O’Neal’s love for her probably will never die as did Cher’s love for Sonny after he died.

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Wayne-

Like I said…a bit slow today

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Steve and bravos2249

That wasn’t really a question, but a play on past/present/future…..

But thanks for the quick response…

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ncscoots, I agree inexperienced players lead to mistakes. You’ll get no argument from me there, but exactly how many rookies or second year guys are on this team? Very few.

Frenchy & McCann are in their 5th season, 4th full season. KJ missed a year, but he’s not exactly a rookie either. This team may be young overall, but these guys have plenty of experience playing the game at a high level.

The funny thing is a lot of the young players show up to the Braves & they have a better approach at the plate & base running skills than they do after being on the team for 2-3 years.

Regardless, as a baseball player climbing the ranks from high school, college or the minors you should have a very good grasp on how to play basic fundamental baseball when you show up in the majors.

My opinion is a lot of these guy regress in their ability to do the little things that win games. Why is that? Isn’t that not the job of the coaches to insure these players know how to do the little things to win games, especially when the team isn’t blessed offensively like this one?

I played high school & junior college ball, I’m far from an expert, but my coaches pounded fundamentals into us constantly & it paid off because none of us had a heck of a lot of natural skill to get by on.

The Braves are not the most gifted offensive team so why not pound basic fundamentals into these guys on a daily basis? It would pay off, it does for other teams. It would result in a lot more victories instead of sitting around hoping KJ & Frenchy get “hot”. That’s not a strategy or managing, just hoping & we all know how far hope goes these days.

I’d rather see Cox be proactive & try some new things. This team needs a different managing style than the teams of the 90’s did & it’s not happening.

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just because francouer aint throwing up pujols numbers everybody thinks he sucks. take a close look folks second on the team in hits, 32 rbis same and chipper and right up there with the rest of the team in hrs. dont give me, “well he gots more abs than everybody else”, well at least he gets his tail in the line up everyday and dont cry about his thumb hurtin or his toe. the man comes to play everyday and i appreciate that.

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Wayne in Utah – Not meant to make sense, but to take a jab at dumb posts.

Shouldn’t do that. Without the dumb post the blog might actually be readable and what’s the fun in that.

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Question??? Why Did Cox put in Bennett with the bases loaded, Bennett should be outta here so Cox isnt tempted to do something dumb like put him in the game, he gets ahead of ARod 0-2, & instead of throwing him something to chase, he throws him one right down the middle for a two run single!!! That should be his tix to Gwinnett, why didnt Cox bring in Moylan to get a ground out??? Donkey moves like this is typical Bobby Cox, even if we had Mariano R. to close he would still find a way to screw it up. Anyone notice on the radio, Don Sutton cannot pronounce anything with an S on the end of it, he was doing this before he went to Washington, we should have let him stay there, love Sutton but its very annoying to hear him say Chipper Jone on deck, or call the team the Brave!

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fleming

If you want to see dumb posts, just make sure you’re here during the middle of a game where we are blowing out the other team.

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McLouth can play a decent center field until Schafer is ready to come back up…did you see him go get that ball last night? wow he covered some ground. He will be better suited in one of the corners positions. I have a feeling that once schafer gets back from his injury and has some time to work on his swing. he will be back up in the bigs which will force the braves to do something with Frenchy if they havent by then. with that being said maybe the Braves can make do with the outfield they have now. it may be more of a need to get a solid second baseman to replace kelly and keep Prado and Infante as utility men. with Prado’s sore groin, Frenchy batting better of late, Kelly STRUGGLING BIG TIME, and the hopes of Schafer getting back on track getting a second basemen might be the direction for the Braves to go for this upcoming trade deadline

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where we are NOT blowing out other teams

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It’s amazing to me all the Victor Martinez that has persisted. Let’s be real, real clear:

1) The Braves don’t have the pieces to get him without ruining their playoff chances, unless they want to move Freeman, Heyward, or Hanson. And they do not.

2) The Braves are happy with first base. After Kotchman, they have Freeman penciled in there. It’s not a concern.

3) The Indians have no apparent interest in dealing V-Mart.

The Braves ARE NOT GETTING V-MART. Stop talking about. It’s even worse than a fantasy baseball trade.

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