Hudson’s in small group of Cy Young favorites

Padres lose again, and now look who’s tied for the best record in the NL – Braves and Reds.

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Something to consider with Frenchy. He was just traded to the team (and hitting coach) that he visited a few years back, while he was with the Braves, that pissed TP off. Just sayin’

Rudy Jamarillo is no longer the Batting Coach for the Rangers. He has the same position with the Cubs.

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Last night was a great night for the Braves. Most importantly, obviously, they won. The Padres lost, giving the Braves, for now, home field advantage throughout the playoffs. (They own the tiebreaker with Cincinnati due to head-to-head record.) The Phillies winning was not really such a bad thing. I want the Phillies to win the wild card so that the Braves can get the Padres or Reds in the first round, both of which are favorable matchups. Let the Phillies go on the road in the first round and see if they can make it out. I don’t want to see the Giants or Cardinals in the first round. Of course, the Cardinals look dead in the water.

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rico43: Yea THEIR media!!!!!!

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Brian from SC The Padres lost, giving the Braves, for now, home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Oh, HECK yeah!

I was thinking about it last night, and was like, “Wow…the Braves get to the World Series, and they’ve really got a chance, I mean they’ve REALLY got a chance!” Just sorta hit me…

That was great feeling!

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bravofan, we wouldn’t play Philly in the first round if they win the wild card. If the Giants win the wild card we play them, assuming we finish with the best record. I would rather play the Reds or Padres than the Giants. That’s assuming we finish with a better record and get them at home, of course.

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Brian I would rather play the Reds or Padres than the Giants.

Ditto!

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Giants have a pretty difficult schedule this month, I just don’t see them getting wildcard as the East should have two teams playing. Unless the Cards sweep the Braves next week(don’t think so) put a fork in them.

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Yes, we own the tiebreaker with the Reds and the Padres if we are tied with either of them. Having home field advantage would make the Braves favorites to win the NL pennant IMO.

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DAP: Amen!!!!!!

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The reason Turner field is not sold out all the time is the fan base.

(1) We have fans all over the country

(2) Too many transplants in Atlanta. People move here from everywhere.
They were born and grew up..Met fans, Boston fans,NY Yankee fans etc.

(3) Stadium is located in poor, dangerous, unsafe area.

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Braves played .620 ball(18-11) in August and the Phils were 18-10 and only gained a half game in the standings. Give credit to both teams as they are not buckling at all.

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i don’t think it matters who the braves meet in the playoffs. i don’t think it really matters. as long as the braves get home field throughout, because with this team..well that most certainly matters and could make the difference between a championship and and early exit.

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Didn’t McLouth hit in the .220s at AAA. If so, what is he doing back up. Of course, he could give some options and be of some benefit as a late inning defensive replacement or a pinch runner. Whoops, I forgot, Booby is still the Manager – and who knows how much he could use him.

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10Paul The way the team is playing at home this season… home field advantage should shoot them all the way to the WS title.

I agree!!

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Interesting overnight back and forth.

Do people seriously believe that even though we might have some better attendance than we do that the Braves would even be on any kind of a list for relocation? Y’all are seriously delusional.

Now as to the Home Field Advantage – yeah, it would be nice, especially considering our Home Record, but I think people are looking at the recent sweep by the Rockies on the road and freaking out. We’re not a great road team by any means, but if you take out April with the losing streak and those losses in St. Louis now that we’re no longer that team, it might just surprise you to realize that the Braves are 8-8-1 in Road Series – dead even and not as bad as we think. They were 1-3 in road series in April and that makes it look much worse.

And where has this offense come from? Looks like DLee may be heating up and Heyward’s thumb is feeling better. And isn’t that two year extension for Ross looking more genius with each start the Dude makes?

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I’m not much of a McLouth fan, although I am a fan of as many options as possible. That being said, he contributed positively last night by working the count full and getting on base during a big inning. (He can’t get credit for getting hit by pitch, but that would have been ball four, and he’s on base).

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Lew – Looks like DLee may be heating up and Heyward’s thumb is feeling better.

This is very very very exciting

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Lew@9:33 – All good points. It looks like Bobby’s patience may be paying off a la D. Lee. If he is heating up, it will be a BIG plus. His defense is already paying off. All the “fantacy teamers” who immediately called for Lee’s dismissal, and derided and abused Wren, may be eating their words (once again).

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LEW:

With you on the ROSS extension. Time for a deal with INFANTE? And maybe DIAZ too?

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Only games left outside division are at Pittsburg, and Cards at home. We should win 4-5 of those games. Last 2 sreies of the year are at home vs. Florida and Phillies. I like our chances, and don’t even care what the Phillies’ schedule looks like.

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raleigh…even though you don’t care I’ve been looking at it and Braves/Phillies are about even from a schedule perspective. The Padres have a tough road home.

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I really feel this team will play even more at a higher level as the playoffs near. They have held serve with all the distractions(Chipper out, Glaus struggles, Medlin injury, struggles with Lowe, JJ and Tommy). D Lee hit over .300 after the break before he came over so the panic obviously was a little premature. He will play a big role in what happens. I like what Joe S mentioned on TV yesterday regarding teams have to be aware of his bat and his presence. What he has done in the past helps in how pitchers will approach him. Martin and B Mac will benefit from Lee being in the lineup.

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richbrave – I agree. Ross was great move. Infante should be tied up for at least 3 years.

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I think the Diaz extension is easier than an Infante extension. I think the Braves and Diaz are on the same page regarding his role and value to the team. I’ve said it before, but I see a 2 year extension in the neighborhood of $5M.

As for Infante, this is the type of scenario in which there could be a big gap between what the player and agent think is warranted and what the team thinks. How do you assess Infante’s market value? As an every day player? if yes, which position? That’s a bit of a messy one.

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GlenW-Infante’s already signed with a club extension in 211 at $2.5 mil. Unless he has another season at the levels he’s now hitting, no one is going to give him more than $5 mil a year, IMO. I bet they could get him to bite on a 3 year, $12.5 – 15 mil deal without much problem.

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A 2-year deal for 3 million next year and 5 million the following year would probably get Matt interested.

I have a hard time seeing the Braves having payroll room for Diaz and Cabrera both on the team next year. I know most here will probably say they like Diaz better, and I can see why, but Cabrera plays all three outfield positions, switch hits, and is younger. It would be hard to keep Diaz if it’s a choice between the two.

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Brian SC, re: Diaz, I agree he would get more via arbitration. But he is a classic non-tender candidate, just like Melky. Teams don’t typically take guys they don’t see playing full time to a 2nd or 3rd arbitration, if they have played enough in the past to move their value up.

I think the Braves and Diaz will avoid the non-tender scenario by agreeing on a two-year deal. If Diaz does not want to do that, I guess he can go see if another team would pay him more, but I don’t think that will happen.

I just looked and Diaz is making $2.55M this year. The Braves would not suggest a cut in salary, so I’ll predcit 2 years and somewhere between $5.75-6.0M.

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tiger297 – I did look at Phillies schedule. Only out of division is on current road trip, with 1 more at LA one make-up Thursday at Colorado, and weekend at Milwakee. They do have a lot of games in a row with the CO game on on “off” day, and a double header make-up at Florida coming up. If we keep winning, it doesn’t matter who we play.

Wild card is never home team.

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Lew,

Would your proposed 3-year deal for Infante begin in 2011, or 2012 (meaning, are you overriding the option with the deal, or extending behind the option)?

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Lee seems to be starting to hit — But most of it, so far, seems to be in wide margin games. Let’s hope he continues hitting – and in the close games and agaisnt good pitching.

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at least the phillies have a day game today. i like knowing whether or not they win or lose before i watch the braves play.

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Lew, I know that the Braves have an option on Infante for next year. And they will certainly exercise it. I was just responding to someone’s earlier post. If Infante has a season next year like this one, he’ll be in a position to go look for a deal in the neighborhood of 3 years or so at $6-8M per.

I don’t know if he’ll get that from anyone, but I think that’s what he would go looking for.

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Maybe this has been discussed already, but did you see Frank Wren’s comments about Nate being on the post season roster?

Frank said Nate brings speed, defense, and some other things that would be helpful.

Huh? The same defense that was criticized (by Chipper) when Nate was sent down?

With Ankiel being in CF, are they thinking about substituting Nate in LF for Diaz or Melky (for speed and defense)?

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Scout – I’m not disagreeing with you, but if strike-outs are so important, why isn’t Nolan Ryan more highly reguarded? I think 7 no-nos and 19 1-hitters is monumental.

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Some thoughts on the discussion from yesterday afternoon. I can understand where everyone is coming from. My fandom wants me to say that Hudson is performing well enough to win a Cy Young award. I would love to think that Hudson is doing something remarkable and it is all his skills that is keeping his BABiP allowed in the .240’s. Hudson has always been one of my favorite pitchers since his days in Oakland.

The problem is that what I want to believe as a fan doesn’t match up with reality. When a pitcher’s BABiP is that low, it’s extremely unlikely that it’s all because of skill. Yes, Hudson is having a great season, he’s performed as well or better than any pitcher on the Braves staff, a good staff on maybe the best team in the NL. I just think he is probably very good or great instead of elite or Cy Young worthy. I think he is getting a lot of breaks on batted balls this season that have little to do with what he’s doing as a pitcher. I’m not trying to take away from what he’s done. He is definitely getting groundballs, keeping hitters off-balance and getting weak contact. There is no denying that. But even the best groundball pitchers (and Hudson certainly is among them) don’t sustain a BABiP in the .240’s, so there is something else going on besides an ability to get groundballs.

For what it’s worth, as a fan I could care less. All I care about is Hudson and the Braves getting defensive outs. I’m thrilled that his BABiP is .240, for whatever reason. It’s just for the purposes of Cy Young voting, I think a .240 BABiP indicates he has not quite pitched as well as some other candidates. Again, that’s not a knock on Hudson. If I say the Braves’ best hitter isn’t hitting as well as Pujols or Votto, that’s not a knock on the Braves’ best hitter. It’s just what I believe to be true and not what I wish were true.

Now, to get brash, when some of you are ready to put your fandom aside and talk big-boy analysis then we can have an intelligent discussion of BABiP, defense, luck and pitching.

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Mr. O’Brien, you have stated that “Calling up McLouth gives Manager Bobby Cox a lefthanded bat off the bench”. Are you kidding, who would want to use a player as a pinch hitter who has hit in the .160s for you as a regular?
And even worse, with Bobby Cox managing, who knows if he will try to start back to using McLouth as a regular? (Remember the first part of the season when he Cox lost who knows how many games for the Braves by using McLouth on and on and on every day with him producing almost nothing — And that was with a player named Infante sitting on the bench for most of that time. Could that “Infante” be related to the player who was later named to the All Star Team and could possibly lead the League in hitting?)

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Shaun, just because I don’t think the lower than normal BABIP is explained by luck does not mean that I am blinded by my fandom.

Is seems like the premise of your argument is that any stat that is not sustainable is explained by luck. There is a big difference between sustainability and luck.

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25 man post season? Prado Omar A-Gon D-Lee Diory Troy Brooksy

McCann Ross

JHey Melky Diaz Ankiel McClouth Ski

Hudson Hanson JJ

DLowe?

Wagner Saito Venters OFlaherty Moylan Martinez

Who should be cut and if so, for whom? I love Minor, but I really think next year is going to be his year. I love Freddie Freeman, but he hasn’t proven himself yet. I will admit straight up…I think my 25 man needs one more reliever…but who?

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I wonder if Freeman gets the start tonight? Bobby usually likes to get the rooks a start as soon as they get here. With a righty on the mound I’d say the odds are fairly good of seeing him in there.

I wonder how long before the national media figures out Infante could spoil a potential triple crown. If the Braves offense continues to be hot the’s going to get the plate apps needed to qualify. He could could even sit a game or two & still get what he needs. He’s been averaging right at 5 appearances a game for about the last 10 games.

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fastasballs, I bet Hinske starts at 1B tonight. Ankiel in CF, Cabrera in LF.

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RC-2012 and beyond, IF he approaches a .300 or better BA next year playing full time.

I really love the way Omar has stepped in and performed so far above expectations as to be unreal. However…….this IS unexplored territory here. He’s never hit this high and he’s never played this many games -each and every day. To this point, it IS a career year.

Can he continue in this vein? Maybe. I fully expect that he’ll maintain a .300 BA, but nowhere near .340. And peformance aside, he still has a godly portion of his value tied up in the fact he IS so versatile and can play all those positions, making it almost impossible to replace him as a bench player.

Now yes, he’s earned his chance to go full time and I sure as hell hope that he or Martin can spoil the Triple Crown race and yes, he SHOULD start in 2011, but let’s be realistic , too. There’s not really any track record on which to base his abilities as a full time producer at the top of the lineup and until they see that this is more certain to continue, they won’t renegotiate His 20111 contract, nor should they.

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Gil,

I agree. I know Moylan has struggled of late but I don’t understand why he gets rip on this board so much. I think he will help us out. Guy didn’t get enough of credit coming in and inducing doubleplays earlier to fan out big rally’s.

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Shaun-YOUR Fandom?

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.Don, I know that you are not a real person so I will not address you in the future.beep..beep…beep….bobby cox is at fault for everything…beep…beep…beep

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don-You haven’t come close to hitting .160 on the blog, but we haven’t run you out yet.

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If we end with best overall record, it may mean Phillies miss playoffs. Don’t know who I fear most, Phillies or Giants. I feel we are good enough to beat anyone, but in a 5 or 7 game series anything can happen. I would hope for the best match-up for our team, and take our chances. I do want home field advantage, if possible.

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Brian-This is nothing. We’ve seen Shaun go on for several days at a time without coming up for air. he just wants us to KNOW. He’s told us before.

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raleighbraves-I don’t fear either one of them.

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OK, Hudson’s now thrown more than 184 innings this season. At what point do we have enough size to throw out luck as an explanation?

I find it ridiculous to think that a player’s luck is what drives a level of performance across an entire season.

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