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© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,550 comments Add your comment
Anders
August 20th, 2009
2:50 pm
lexbrave- It’s a game of chicky. First hurdle is does a team want him by the 31st so he’s playoff eligible? If he doesn’t go by then the prices drop and more negoatiations ensue. At that point it depends on where the teams are in the race and what their needs are.
BTW- I doubt seriously Sheffield will clear waivers. To cheap for a team to not even claim as a block.
Louisville brave
August 20th, 2009
2:50 pm
Lew
Mets made it to more than 1 playoff in 20 years: they played us in the 99 NLCS (Andruw Jones walk-off walk what what), went to the WS vs. Yanks in 2000, and lost to the Cards in the 06 NLCS(Former brave prospect freezing Beltran for a trip to WS)…get your sh!t straight before you start spouting off, son
"You all are Cox apologists"
August 20th, 2009
2:50 pm
YOU GUYS HAVE IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL WRONG!!!!!!!!!
The Braves success should be contributed directly to Leo Mazzone. Say it with me people, LEO MAZZONE. LEO MAZZONE. LEO MAZZONE.
Since he departed in 2005, we haven’t made the playoffs and thats not some strange coincidence. Leo Mazzone worked magic with guys like Jorge Sosa, Russ Ortiz, and Jaret Wright just to name a few. Why did all these guys never have the success they had in Atlanta after they left the Braves?
Leo Mazzone for manager next year?? Anyone????
lexbrave
August 20th, 2009
2:51 pm
thanks jon, wasn’t aware of the rule for a 2nd waiver on a player..but there still is no deadline as far as i know that keeps a team from pulling back a claimed player.
Heath
August 20th, 2009
2:54 pm
fleming
August 20th, 2009
2:50 pm
lexbrave
Someone like the Braves trying to get to the post season could use Wagner to get there, then with their rotation do damage without him. We are one of the better teams in the NL right now but still trying to overcome that bad first half.
I never understood why people place more importance on games during the second half of a baseball season… each game is 1/162nd of the season and getting into the post-season is based completely on an objective measure of your performance, not subjectivity like college sports…
lexbrave
August 20th, 2009
2:54 pm
anders, according to buster olney sheffield was already claimed and pulled back off waivers once. that being the case, i would think if they were going to trade him they would have done so then.
faninva
August 20th, 2009
2:55 pm
Y.A.A.C.A -
Ya, Leo won a bunch of titles after leaving the braves to go to baltimore.
flange1
August 20th, 2009
2:55 pm
Anders,
The Mets are smart at putting Wagner on waivers before he pitches. No one will claim him and they will be free to trade him to the highest bidder. ANd there will be bidders!
In terms of Sheffield, didn’t he get put on waivers once, claimed by at least one team and get pulled back? So if he gets put on waivers again,and claimed, the Mets lose him for nothing? Isn’t that correct?
RHR
August 20th, 2009
2:55 pm
lol cabraves…I don’t know, I just can’t eat stuff like that knowing what I know about health and nutrition.
fleming – they are huge, although the to-go ones are a good bit smaller than the ones you get when you sit down. I don’t eat the bread that comes with them and I get it without the fried onions, I can eat a whole one for dinner but definitely not at lunch, especially when most days I only have like cheese and pickles or something light like that for lunch.
"You all are Cox apologists"
August 20th, 2009
2:55 pm
LEO LEO LEO LEO LEO!!!!
42 games left, it may take 30-12 to get it done. The Braves are talented enough to go on a run like this, however, can Cox stay out of the way long enough for them to sustain a winning streak? Also, the Braves MUST beat the Mets tonight, SWEEP SD and possibly FLA also. At worst, they can only lose one more time in their next seven to stay in it.
Escobar for Supreme Court
August 20th, 2009
2:55 pm
Funny how Leo hasn’t worked in MLB since his buddy in Baltmore got fired, who by the way is coaching somewhere in the majors. Nobody on the pitching staff including Smoltz & Maddox shed any tears upon his departure either.
Anders
August 20th, 2009
2:56 pm
lexbrave – I didn’t know that about Sheffield. Did he say when he was claimed? It was probably done as a block. Makes sense. I mean – bat boys will cost a team more than him at this point.
RHR
August 20th, 2009
2:57 pm
The Braves success should be contributed directly to Leo Mazzone. Say it with me people, LEO MAZZONE. LEO MAZZONE. LEO MAZZONE.
Since he departed in 2005, we haven’t made the playoffs and thats not some strange coincidence. Leo Mazzone worked magic with guys like Jorge Sosa, Russ Ortiz, and Jaret Wright just to name a few. Why did all these guys never have the success they had in Atlanta after they left the Braves?
Leo Mazzone for manager next year?? Anyone????
Crack is whack!!!
Anyone?????????
Anders
August 20th, 2009
2:58 pm
Flange 1 -I agree on your Wagner thoughts. I didn’t know about the Sheffield thing. Lexbrave just pointed that out to. Couldn’t have been long ago as I’m sure they were talking about the possibility of trading him during one of the more recent games. Might have been last night?
Jeff R
August 20th, 2009
2:58 pm
Leo’s in semi-retirement, spends his days gardening and is still a close friend of Bobby Cox.
Hey, the Bravos won last night. Could take the series tonight if Kawakami rises to the occassion. Need to take it one game at a time, one series at a time. The Bravos are still in the hunt.
fleming
August 20th, 2009
2:58 pm
Heath
Not placing more importance on the second half than on the first. The first half this year is what it is and now history. Was speaking about the remaining games and whether the Braves could use Wagner even after 8-31 when he couldn’t pitch in the playoffs.
Shaun
August 20th, 2009
2:58 pm
Wishing Smoltz the best, but did the Cardinals really think this was best option for a starter? Opponents going to stack their lineups with lefty hitters.
Lefty hitters are 40-for-90 (.444) against him with nine doubles, a triple, six homers, a .490 OBP and .767 slugging percentage.
If Cardinal fans are looking for a silver lining, Smoltz faced some pretty good lefty hitters. Most of the lefty hitters who gave him trouble are much better than most NL hitters he’s going to face.
Here are the top left hitters against Smoltz: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/p-pvb.cgi?n1=smoltjo01#choice=&bats=L&minPA2=0&year_game=2009&opp_id=&orderby=OPS&orderbyb=PA&minPA=0&orderbydir=DESC&orderbydirb=ASC&n1=smoltjo01&as=pitcher
Original Jon
August 20th, 2009
2:59 pm
lexbrave, i think the deadline for a player back is the 31st of August, but I could be wrong
Heath
August 20th, 2009
2:59 pm
Crack is whack!!!
Anyone?????????
Yeah, damn those plumbers for not wearing a belt!!!
Vinings Jim
August 20th, 2009
3:00 pm
RHR – I have a friend you need to talk to – ate chocolate cake for dinner last night
Heath
August 20th, 2009
3:01 pm
fleming -
Ooops… sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you were placing more importance. I was just adding to your post. The Braves are vastly improved team compared to April and May…but they do have to the trouble of over-coming their poor early season play. I was just making that comment because I hear people say silly stuff about it just being a game in Apr, May, etc… Drives me crazy.
Daslied
August 20th, 2009
3:02 pm
Lexbrave – it makes sense for the Mets to dump him for nothing if he’s not in their plans for 2010. Look at it like they’d be dumping him for $3-4MM (buyout + 2009 remaining salary).
fleming
August 20th, 2009
3:02 pm
Maybe pulled Sheffield back because they couldn’t trade him. He’s stated publically that if traded to a team he didn’t like, then he would go home and refuse to play. He claims he only looks out for himself.
cabravesfan
August 20th, 2009
3:02 pm
RHR-
Nutrition is overrated
VJ-
who eats chocolate cake for dinner??? what is wrong with them?
"You all are Cox apologists"
August 20th, 2009
3:03 pm
No one has answered the question. Of course a Cox apologist would just say, “what did Leo do in Baltimore”? Hell, what has anybody done in Baltimore? He inherited a pithcing staff that was BAD. I think there is a direct correlation between Leo leaving and the Braves not making the playoffs since. I question anyone’s logic who believes otherwise. By the way, wasn’t his departure over money? Time Warner cheapskates!! (Liberty Media bought the team in 2006)
Louisville brave
August 20th, 2009
3:03 pm
statistical oddity from last nights game…our guy in the trade had 3 hits including 2 doubles in a game that featured an 8 run inning the night after their guy in the trade had 3 hits including 2 doubles in a game that featured an 8 run inning
things that make you go hmmmm
Shaun
August 20th, 2009
3:04 pm
Here is a nice piece that helps explain what the Cardinals were probably thinking:
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-4-189/Cardinals-add-Hall-of-Famer.html
An excerpt:
Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan have been famously successful with veteran starters, and they don’t come much more veteran than a 42-year-old right-hander who’s on his way to Cooperstown. And as Pinto points out, it’s not just La Russa and Duncan who Smoltz will have on his side; he’s moving to the weaker (and DH-less) league and his new home ballpark has been exceptionally tough on power hitters this season.
Of course, Smoltz’s biggest problem with the Red Sox was giving up eight homers in 40 innings. Well, that and giving up a .386 batting average on balls in play, which is almost comically absurd.
The question isn’t if Smoltz can pitch like he used to pitch, or if he can pitch better than he pitched for the Red Sox. The question is if he can pitch better than Wellemeyer and Boggs. And considering his still-impressive stuff and the advantages he’s about to enjoy, I believe that he can.
flange1
August 20th, 2009
3:05 pm
Anders,
I think Shef was put on waivers and pulled back a few days or maybe weeks ago. I have read that Sheffield thinks he will be traded (even after the waiver deal)
Check out Jayson Stark’s Rumblings about teams that need relief help. LOTS on contenders need help.!
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=rumblings090820
I think he can be put back on waivers, but if he is claimed he is gone. Lots of folks should be interested in a good RH hitter with a minimum contract….
Louisville brave
August 20th, 2009
3:05 pm
would a trade straight up Javy Vasquez for Adam Dunn be kosher with the blog denizens?
Daslied
August 20th, 2009
3:06 pm
To All Cox Apologists –
Hey, how about Jon Sciambi for manager? Once, during a game he said “The Braves need a run here.” And do you know what? They got one! Smart fella. He even knows all of the players’ names.
ccrider
August 20th, 2009
3:07 pm
Wayne in Utah and other bloggers: I had a thought (Dangerous I Know) last night.
We are all trying to figure out what pitcher to trade and how to construct our roster next season. I wonder if to get to the next level, something more drastic needs to be done.
Kris Medlen has been lights out for awhile now and if people remember he was the best starting pitcher(era wise) on the Gwinnett roster before he was called up. I still believe he would be an exceptional 4th starter or better.
What I’m purposing is,what if, the Braves were able to move Lowe and his contract in the off season and Vazquez.
Before I here the yelling from my 50 miles outside of the ATL let me explain.
Lowe and Vazquez salaries $26.5 mill next year. We would get some good prospects for Lowe and better for Vazquez. We combine those propects along with McLouth and other considerations for Carl Crawford $10 mill. Sign Matt Holiday $16 Mil for 5 years.
Lineup: Crawford, Prado, Chipper, Holiday, McCann, Escobar, Heyward(When Ever he arrives), Laroache($5 Mill) Total Lineup: $51.5 Mil
Rotation: Hudson(This is predicated on Tim showing he is back to normal) Jurrjens, Hanson, Kawakami, Medlen Total Rotation: $20.5
It would leave us $25 Mil to assemble a bench and bullpen.
The lineup would match up with the Phillies, Dodgers and better than any other in the NL.
The Rotation would match any in the NL
The risk, of course, is could we resign Crawford? He has stated somewhere that he had followed the Braves growing up, so we have a shot and a year to get it done. If, he leaves we still have Jordan Schafer.
I am just tired of this team staying on the edge of competing again and I think this would be worth the risk.
I’m just
Still talking about Smoltz, really?
August 20th, 2009
3:07 pm
Regarding John Smoltz:
Wake me for his HOF speech. It’s not like he is playing for ATL or in the eastern division. Sheesh.
Bay Area Steve
August 20th, 2009
3:09 pm
RHR,
I think implying that dude uses crack is an insult to crackheads.
I’ve met crackheads, I know a crackhead, and you, sir, are no crackhead.
Shaun
August 20th, 2009
3:10 pm
No one has answered the question. Of course a Cox apologist would just say, “what did Leo do in Baltimore”? Hell, what has anybody done in Baltimore? He inherited a pithcing staff that was BAD. I think there is a direct correlation between Leo leaving and the Braves not making the playoffs since.
The Braves pitching wasn’t particularly good in 2003 and it was merely okay in 2005, so they didn’t make the playoffs because of pitching those years. Correlation and causation are different things.
dogsbrekky
August 20th, 2009
3:11 pm
bravesgrl – anytime
have a great night all, gotta go get in the jalopy and head to the big smoke now
go Braves and god bless y’all
Roman Gal
August 20th, 2009
3:12 pm
The food talk on here makes me hungrier than watching a Paula Deen marathon on the food network. RHR
I know, man…I always start craving BBQ, Pie, and Shrimp Sammiches when I read the blog.
flange1
August 20th, 2009
3:12 pm
Anders,
Here is an ESPN story from August 12 that shows Shef and Feliciano were put on waivers, claimed and pulled back!
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4395072
OklahomaBrave
August 20th, 2009
3:13 pm
You are a pair of clown shoes for thinking Leo should manage this team and any other for that matter.
David O'Brien
August 20th, 2009
3:14 pm
NEW BLOGGAGE
faninva
August 20th, 2009
3:14 pm
good grief -
you make the point of Leo working magic with run of the mill (in some cases – bad) braves pitchers as to why the Braves where so successful, then you turn around and say, well, he couldn’t do anything with the orioles because the pitchers were bad…ya, that’s logical
Escobar for Supreme Court
August 20th, 2009
3:14 pm
You all are Cox apologist,
You’re making a funny, right?
Bay Area Steve
August 20th, 2009
3:16 pm
blog observer,
nice post on the lineup, and appreciate my inclusion. I feel compelled to say that Brantley was never a member of that club; Randy Myers was the third member of the Nasty Boys. Jeff Brantley, at least in his Giants days, was Kolbesque.
And, while I’m right-handed, thanks for not making me Dibble. Being regularly force-fed the non-Braves feed on Extra Innings, I’ve found Rob Dibble to be a Lentz-like fool.
ncscoots
August 20th, 2009
3:19 pm
This blog has turned in to Twitter…ya’ll are like a bunch of gals out for lunch gabbing about squirrels, burritos and chocolate
Yeah, we wouldn’t want to interrupt that seamless display of cretinism that passes for baseball knowledge around here, would we? Heavens no. I think I could do with another four or five hundred posts on how Kawakami fits into the labor theory of value, couldn’t you?
Meanwhile, Paula Deen for sub blogmeister. Bring the food on, y’all.
amicusterrae
August 20th, 2009
3:21 pm
“You all are Cox apologists”
Dude, that’s just crazy.
To make the Leo magic argument, you picked bad examples:
Jaret Wright went 15-8 in 2004 with 186 innings pitched. Not bad for sure, but for one of the few times in his career, he was healthy.
Jorge Sosa looked good starting when he won 13 games with a respectable ERA (also had a quality start in the playoffs against Houston). But Damien Moss was great at first, too. As were so many other callups who won a lot of games quick, then failed to make counter adjustments once the hitters figured them out. You really believe Mazzone could coach Sosa to a 15 win season today?
As for Russ Ortiz, yes he won 21 and 15 games in 2003 and 2004, but he did that with poor control. The guy was pitching in and out of trouble a lot. ERA was just under and over 4 both years. Russ, IMO, benefited more the Braves offense than he did Leo Mazzone. We hit 235 homers in 2003!
"You all are Cox apologists"
August 20th, 2009
3:24 pm
amicusteraae,
Thanks, you just made my argument for me. What?????
RHR
August 20th, 2009
3:28 pm
Last!
Ballgame!
Mid Town Joe
August 20th, 2009
3:31 pm
So, if your the long man in the Cardinals bullpen, and John Smoltz starts the game, what inning do you start warming up?
Sit amongst yourselves and discuss. I’m feeling a bit vermklepht.
keylargo
August 20th, 2009
3:33 pm
would a trade straight up Javy Vasquez for Adam Dunn be kosher with the blog denizens?
Absolutely NO>
vermont 39
August 21st, 2009
7:43 am
There have been 6 games where the Braves were in total control and then…totally collapsed….Chipper is not Chipper…welcome back Omar…come back soon Prado…we can rest Chipper when Omar and Prado are healthy. The six man rotation with a HEALTHY Hudson will be the best in Baseball. KK is $$$
This team is good…what would be awesome is getting to the playoffs and everyone firing on all 8 for 11 games!!!
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