The Braves aren’t in this World Series, but they’ll make it soon
It didn't end well for Michael Bourn's team, but there's next year. (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
A World Series is set to begin Wednesday without the Atlanta Braves, which has been the case with every World Series this millennium. And I know some among you were so disgusted by the Braves’ collapse that you can’t see this team reaching the Fall Classic for the next thousand years, but that’s just disappointment talking. In truth, the Braves aren’t far away.
Last October, the Braves were one out from taking a 2-1 Division Series lead over San Francisco, which would win the World Series. This fall the Braves were two outs from forcing a play-in game against St. Louis, which just won the National League pennant. I know most of you wouldn’t have given a farthing for the Braves’ chances in such a game, but consider: The Cardinals would have started Kyle Lohse in Game No. 163, and in his two postseason appearances he’s 0-2 with a 7.45 ERA.
That said, the two seasons were different. In 2010, it was a wonder the diminished Braves steadied enough to slip into the playoffs. In 2011, the wonder was that they didn’t steady. The chief reason — well, that and the 8 1/2-game lead — that the Braves’ flop was so stunning was the composition of the club itself. From April through August, this looked every bit a playoff team.
Come February, it will look like one again. Relative to the other NL contenders, the Braves enter the offseason without much to do. The Cardinals have to re-sign Albert Pujols, and the Brewers need to keep Prince Fielder, neither of which might be possible. And the Phillies, who have won five division titles in succession, but who were gone in Round 1 this October, face the impending loss of Raul Ibanez and perhaps Jimmy Rollins and the injury rehab of Ryan Howard, who tore his Achilles on the final play of the final game.
The Braves? They need to secure a shortstop — Alex Gonzalez is a free agent and the prospect Tyler Pastornicky isn’t quite ready — but that’s about it. The bulk of this team’s decisions have to do with projection: Will Chipper Jones be healthy enough to play 100 games? Will Tommy Hanson’s shoulder be OK? Will Martin Prado remember how to hit? Will Jason Heyward remember he’s Jason Heyward?
The Braves didn’t really challenge Philly this season — they finished 13 games back — but that day is coming. Among the Phillies’ everyday eight, only Hunter Pence is under 30, and the touted outfield prospect Domonic Brown hasn’t done much. (If he had, the Phils wouldn’t have needed Pence.) The great rotation likewise has some age on it: Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt 34; Cliff Lee is 32. The Phillies weren’t built to win in 2015; they were built to win in it all in 2011, and they failed.
The Braves’ failure wasn’t one of composition — on paper, they had enough good players — as of follow-through. Some excellent hitters stopped hitting for bewildering stretches. The team has moved to help correct that by firing Larry Parrish, whose season as hitting coach was a bad idea that turned out worse, and next year we should get at least a partial answer to that great imponderable: Does a hitting coach really matter?
There wouldn’t seem to be a Braves’ buying spree coming this winter. Kenshin Kawakami is finally off the payroll, but Derek Lowe remains — for one year more at $15 million. The Braves might have enough money to re-sign Gonzalez for a short term at a modest price, but they surely can’t afford the big-name shortstops (Rollins or Jose Reyes) who’ll become free agents. Even so, will keeping Gonzalez and hoping for better elsewhere be enough to turn this team, which has won 180 games the past two seasons, into a bigger winner?
Yes, because they have a phalanx of young pitchers who are big-league ready. That’s the greatest currency there is, and Wren was right to hoard it at the trading deadline. But there will come a time when one or two of these pitchers will need to be moved — can’t really have a seven-man rotation — as simple asset management.
The Braves, believe it or not, are very close to a World Series. They’ll need to get beyond the memory of this season’s fold, but that’s why there’s an offseason. They had enough talent to win 89 games in a season when they didn’t hit a lick, and they have enough to offer in trade that they can go buy whatever they lack. If even a few of those hitters return to form, they won’t lack much. Why, they even have a leadoff man now. Can world domination be far behind?
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
383 comments Add your comment
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
2:38 pm
Mitchell: did you see that our MIDDLE INFIELDERS combined for almost 300 strikeouts this year! That makes the baseball purist in me just want to sit down somewhere and cry…
Ghost of Ted Turner
October 20th, 2011
2:41 pm
These Braves…? Yeah, when Liberty Media is out and the Braves have new ownership that is not afraid to spend money, yes they will win.
STRETCH
October 20th, 2011
2:44 pm
Bleacher Report,
Atlanta will be dumping a lot of salaries this offseason. $1.2 million from George Sherrill, $7 million from Kenshin Kawakami, $2 million from Scott Linebrink, $2 million from Peter Moylan, $2.5 million from Alex Gonzalez and $6.5 million from Nate McClouth. All totaling about $22 million (assuming they don’t re-sign any of these players).
dog squeeze alert!
October 20th, 2011
2:50 pm
Mitchell, you are the man. Right on all counts, and well put.
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
3:07 pm
yeah I just now read it, I missed it when the page went to a new one, definitely the best post on this blog so far! Go Mitchell!
afan
October 20th, 2011
3:21 pm
agree 80, about Chipper next year and hitting 5 are 6 in order. should have happen this year.
If you pitched for another team and was playing the Braves..once you got by two are three players in line up you had it made. Thats not the way it is with Cards, Phillies, Texas Yankees etc…Braves want to win..they need everyone in line up to hit..we need player that can hit and damn good hitting coach. Not a in house guy for hitting coach.
steve
October 20th, 2011
3:24 pm
Alex Gonzalez is one of if not the best fielding shortstops in baseball, if he could just stay balanced hitting he could hit 30 hr; we need a power hitting outfielder in leftfield and we have J.J. to trade which should get you someone very good as so many teams lack decent starting pitching, Prado could play some 3rd, 1st, 2nd and even left and give each of our position players 1 day off a week , Conrad needs to go as he is one dimensional and not that great a hitter, also be nice to have an owner that would increase payroll to 105 million , the braves only need to make a few moves and find a good hitting coach and they can challenge for a World Series title .
bobbymahlon
October 20th, 2011
3:25 pm
You know why Uggla’s defense has improved this year, the answer in two words is “Freddi Freeman”. I’ll bet FF has saved each one of the three infielders 10 errors apiece by digging out all those low throws.
fred
October 20th, 2011
3:29 pm
Great post Michell…You called out Mark and Jeff but forgot DOB..he is all Braves too.
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
3:32 pm
afan: completely agree with you man
bobbymahlon: so true, so true
steve: look up A Gon’s stats defensively, he’s good but not great, never won a gold glove in a pretty lengthy career and if he were “one of the best” as you put it, he’d have at least one sitting on his shelf by now, politics of the award these days notwithstanding, the issue with A Gon is not so much how good he is defensively but how terrible he is offensively, terrible might not be strong enough a word though, invisible might be better…
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
3:38 pm
besides that, we don’t need a 30 homer guy at SS! what is it with that? If I HAVE TO LISTEN TO CHIP FREAKING CARREY SAY ONE MORE TIME, “GONZALEZ REALLY PUT ON A SHOW IN BP TODAY,” I HONESTLY THINK I’LL PUKE! We need a SS who plays avg. defense and GETS ON BASE! Oh and if I have to hear Chip say, ” JUUUUUUST OUT OF THE REACH OF DAN UGGLA!” one more time, I’m gonna throw a baseball through my tv screen!
Around The Horn
October 20th, 2011
3:43 pm
THE FREDI FACTOR
It was the Fredi factor that most contributed to the Braves demise this season.
Factor Fredi out of the mix next season — and the Braves chances improve dramatically.
Make this necessary change Frank!
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
3:44 pm
This just in: AJC’s Mark Bradley reports that Alex Gonzalez has found termites in his stock of bats and that’s the reason his swing has so many holes in it!
JT Grace
October 20th, 2011
3:53 pm
Good article. I agree that the Braves aren’t too far away from being a World Series contender. For most of the 2011 season they were one of the best teams in baseball. It took significant injuries to derail their playoff hopes in the final month of the season.
I think the primary need is to upgrade the shortstop position. I would try to get Clint Barmes, who is just as good or better than Gonzalez defensively and is also an upgrade offensively. The bench really needs a couple of solid upgrades. Conrad should be replaced with someone who can actually field a position as well as hit for average (someone like Jamey Carroll). With Diaz and Hinske available there is no need for Conrad. There is a big need for a 4th outfielder to replace the mess that was Constanza/McLouth. Someone like Angel Pagan would be perfect (if he is non-tendered by the Mets). That would ensure that there is a replacement for either Martin or Jason if they struggle again next year AND be a solid right handed bat off of the bench. He also can play CF to give Bourn needed off days. If the Mets keep Pagan then there may be a need to trade one of the young pitchers for a young outfielder.
Other than those 2-3 minor additions the team seems solid. The bullpen will be even better next year with the addition of Medlen to back-end. Also, there will be no Linkbrink/Proctor mess to lose a bunch of games. Kimbrel will have a year of experience on his resume’. And Fredi learned his lesson about overusing the young relievers. The starting rotation is about 7 pitchers deep, even though there is
no sure-fire ace of the staff. The offense should be better next season if Uggla and McCann can each have solid seasons without big slumps. This is likely since neither player has a history of 2 – 3 month slides like they both had last year. Prado will hopefully hit for average next season, even if he doesn’t have a lot of power. Chipper, while not the superstar he was ten years ago, is still a solid major league player. Bourn will be on the team all season long next year, giving the team it’s first true lead-off hitter in years. Hopefully Freeman will avoid the sophomore slump that Heyward had this season. As for Heyward, I think he bounces back in a big way next year. Too many Braves fans have given up on this kid.
The Braves have the starting pitching, relief pitching, power and speed on their team next year. All they need is a boost to the bench and they very well could go to the WS. Best of all, they are a very young team who should be around for awhile.
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
4:28 pm
JT Grace you have a much more Pollyanna view of this team than I do…
Braves20
October 20th, 2011
4:31 pm
Job one – upgrade shortstop at least short term. If Ted were still here, Reyes would be in play. Give Constanza a long look – the sudden benching probably had more to do with his tailspin than anything else. Be prepared to move on a corner outfielder early if we find that 2010 and not 2011 was the aberration in RF.
Strongly disagree with MB’s thesis that Wren was clever in withholding one or two of our still unproven young arms from Houston for, as MB himself points out, a corner outfielder under 30 that we would have controlled for at least a couple years. That alone would have put us in the post season this year.
BravesFanSince80's
October 20th, 2011
4:36 pm
please, please, PLEASE stop calling for Jose Reyes! He’s corrosive in every sense of the word!
Fredi's Cox
October 20th, 2011
8:10 pm
Hey everyone. I have been reading your comments and will try to implement may of the changes you suggest. Your responses are for the most part intelligent and for that I “Tip My Cap” to you. Love ya, Fredi PS–Really I think most things will stay the same for next year–Bobby doesn’t want to make waves!!
freddy
October 20th, 2011
8:11 pm
Know its not easy to make a trade but Braves need to work something out with Rays.
Braves trade ??? to Rays from SS Alcides Escobar who swipe 26 bases hit 254 4 hrs 46 rbi’s and 250,000 salary. The main one Lorenzo Cain to play outfield..about the same salary. I don’t know had Rays would want but those two would be a big plus..Cheap and can play.
Mitchell
October 20th, 2011
8:17 pm
From April through August, this looked every bit a playoff team.
To reiterate: No they didn’t.
Losing record in April, losing record against the two World Series teams, 6-12 against the Phillies, losing record to the Padres, Angels and Dodgers. .500 record against the Mets and Nationals.
Most runs scored in a game, 11.
Longest losing streak, 5. Final five games of 2011.
The only time you could arguably say they looked like a playoff team was about late June to early July, right up until they decided to hang it up early on the final Sunday of the first half in Philadelphia where they managed one run while giving up 14.
Mitchell
October 20th, 2011
8:25 pm
The fact is, YES… the Braves should be or are capable of being a World Series contender but they just are not.
I don’t know where anyone could draw any kind of optimism from what took place last month with this hopeless bunch of losers.
Should the media take it upon itself to run the manager and GM out of town?
No.
Will they regret it for eternity in Boston? Yeah probably.
But this?
The Braves will be in the World Series “soon”?
WTF. That’s just sad.
tim
October 20th, 2011
8:34 pm
I’ve been a Braves since the day they came south. Yes we did a belly flop this year but there was a time when the Braves were out of it by Memorial Day every year,so I’ll accept this and still cheer for my team. As for wholesale changes every year you need some tweaking. Lowe I believe has one more year in him, if Chipper can play at least 100 and bat 260-275 with 15-20 hr and 60-80 rbi’s I’ll take that all day. I fully believe that this was a perfect storm this year with the number of players having subpar years, not to mention the injuries to the pitching staff which resulted in an over taxed bullpen. As for Heyward he just needs to grow up and get serious about this it’s to early to pull the trigger on him. Just need a addition or two by subtraction. Go Braves
wait till ???
October 20th, 2011
8:45 pm
Yes. Tim everything in the world is good..everyone happy.. all got jobs, food, new car, gas, good wife etc..Braves will be good and players will all make millions and fans will lose again with a sub-par team.. High tickets, high food, high parking, in high crime zone….Yes the world is great just ask Tim and the big “O”.
NL East Notes: Reyes, Johnson, Phillies, Sandberg | Forex News
October 20th, 2011
8:54 pm
[...] the Braves‘ collapse in September, Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution thinks the club is close to a World [...]
Eric C.
October 20th, 2011
10:20 pm
This is depressing
Mark's for the Braves
October 20th, 2011
10:35 pm
Optimism is nice I guess, but I wish I could be that optimistic.
We need a SS, RF and may be a LF. And probably a thirdbaseman for a lot of the year. Then, we got to hope JJ and Hanson aren’t really hurt.
Yeah, we don’t have any problems….
Rob In Fayetteville
October 20th, 2011
11:18 pm
“The Braves aren’t in this World Series, but they’ll make it soon.”
Don’t they say that every year about the Cubs?
scott simmons
October 20th, 2011
11:34 pm
FREDI SHOULD BE FIRED !
There are no excuses for a collapse this disastrous!
Doc
October 20th, 2011
11:47 pm
seems like the nationals, marlins and even lowly mets were putting it to us at the end of yhe season mark. we also seem to have an outfield to put together beyond hopibg things work out. need plan b which would start with prado being understudy to chipper and getting a real live left fielder.
B-Fan
October 20th, 2011
11:48 pm
Mark:
I think you make some valid points, and the Braves are closer to being in a World Series than many realize. I somewhat disagree about being able to afford Rollins, who I’d like to see as our shortstop for the next 3 or so years. With KK and McClouth off the books, and with Chipper and Lowe freeing up almost $30 million per year after 2012, I think we could afford Rollins for between $10 million and $12 million per year. He is not the same player he was a few years ago, but he is still one of the better shortstops offensively and defensively, he’s a switch-hitter, and he’ll steal between 20 and 30 bases a year.
petepuma
October 21st, 2011
12:15 am
the texas rangers should send John Schuerholz a thank you letter. thanks idiot
rc35
October 21st, 2011
12:28 am
OK–let’s take roll here. Outfielders? One. Infielders? Two. Catcher? One-half. I don’t see how three and a half players are a step away from the World Series. We have good pitching, but until the Braves find some guys who can hit the ball, we’re going to be a run behind and looking up for most of the season…AGAIN!
wait till ???
October 21st, 2011
12:38 am
right you are rc35…looking up alot lately.
Bob Wickman's Navel Lint
October 21st, 2011
2:27 am
burp, Where Kolb at? I want another beer.
randy_bottoms
October 21st, 2011
3:53 am
these comments are… just silly. the only thing that i think fredi did wrong was using his bullpen so much and especially in sept. 5 innings a start isn’t enough. give him another year… who knows? maybe francona will still be available next year. wren has been fine, and protecting his young pitchers was very smart. we will have a lot of leverage to make trades (i love jj, but i think he’ll be gone by next year.) cox leaving the braves? not going to happen. if it does, expect leo mazzone type results. both of those guys were built for and thrived in the braves system.
randy_bottoms
October 21st, 2011
4:02 am
b-fan, rollins isn’t going to sign for 3 years. we have pastornicky anyway. keep our great fielding ss at a low price…he saves a lot more runs than any of you realize. heyward will pick it up next season. uggla won’t be as hot as he was for 1 1/2 months last season, but he’ll be more consistent. .265 at least i bet. just find a utility outfielder that could maybe play infield some (has willingham done that?) the people that rag our team aren’t fans. i look at our team and i see a lot of great things in store for us. we will be fine. trust me.
TeheranTime
October 21st, 2011
7:14 am
Optimism and outright blindness are two different things.
8dogman
October 21st, 2011
7:21 am
I told agree with you petepuma. I hope the brass was watching Andrus putting on the fielding clinic he put on last night not to mention his baserunning in the 9th inning. He is one of the best shortstops I have even seen play and the braves just gave him to Texas for nothing along with the starting pitcher on Saturday night and a top notch closer and a catcher they could have used this season with McCann struggling. I hope JS watched the game last night. I think the braves deserve a world series share. The TEX disaster has to go down as one of the worse trades ever made for the braves.
8dogman
October 21st, 2011
7:26 am
I hope the braves brass was watching the fielding clinic that Elvis Andrus was putting on last night not to mention his baserunning in the 9th inning. He is one of the best shortstops I have ever seen play. Ozzie Smith use to make some plays like he does but he is certainly one of the best and the stupid braves just gave him away for NOTHING. They also gave away a top notch closer and the starting pitcher Saturday night and a good catcher that they could have used this season with McCann struggles. The braves deserve a world series share. That dumb trade has to go down as the most lopsided trade in braves history. I agree with you petepuma, they should get a thank you card.
Klaus
October 21st, 2011
7:56 am
Wow who got to you in he Braves FO. They are too cheap and too Pollyanna about certain player prospects to invest in a team that can do anything but flop in September.
Put in a new SS, LF and 3B then you can actually believe what you are shoveling in this article.
Harsh, heck yes. Until this team invests don’t encourage them to tweak this team to a victory.
LaRussa is 5000x the manager Fredi will ever be and the Rangers have 10x the talent/heart as examples. They are not close in terms of strategic strength or player depth outside of pitching which is made of glass apart from Hudson. Glass in injuries or cannot pitch past the 5-6th inning.
The Braves need a new FO, manager and three key new position players. That is not close to anything but the starting line.
BravesFanSince80's
October 21st, 2011
9:04 am
MB:I’ve been keeping tabs on the posting on this one to see where it goes, it seems an overwhelming number of Braves fans disagree with you…
TOmahawk Squawk
October 21st, 2011
9:26 am
Talk in all the NY papers of late here….Jose Reyes signs with Floriday, plays with his best buddy Hanley Ramirez who moves to 2nd base. If thats true, go get Infante back. Jeff Lurie doesnt appreciate any talents there anywayz
JT Grace
October 21st, 2011
9:44 am
The Braves missed making the playoffs by a grand total of ONE game. People here are acting like the Braves were one of the worst teams in baseball last year. 2/5 of the starting rotation was gone by September, Martin Prado missed a month with a staph infection and Brian McCann never really regained his strength after his oblique strain. Three rookies had key roles with the team – all three were exhausted by the end of their first full MLB season. With all of that wrong, the team still came close to the playoffs. There is no reason to believe that with a couple of small additions this team could be one of the best in baseball AGAIN next year.
BravesFanSince80's
October 21st, 2011
10:31 am
the record makes a pretty strong case for you there JT, but I think that was more symptomatic of a TON of underrachieving ballclubs in the NL this year…Cincinati, Colorado, LA, San Francisco, etc. all had disappointing seasons and if they’d played up to potential, we woulda finished way out of the race…It will be tough to win the WC next season in the NL east…I look for the WC to come out of the west next year…
David
October 21st, 2011
10:34 am
I love how every jerk sitting at home eating Cheetos is a baseball expert, and they all feel more than comfortable to tell management how to do things, as if the GM et al are just randomly selected by Publishers Clearinghouse for a job in baseball. It’s crazy.
BravesFanSince80's
October 21st, 2011
10:35 am
tough to get in the playoffs not even getting over the 90 win hump…
BravesFanSince80's
October 21st, 2011
10:36 am
David: so I take it by that statement you consider yourself to be smarter than everyone who’s ever posted on an AJC blog, you won’t make many friends on here with that kind of talk man…
BravesFanSince80's
October 21st, 2011
10:41 am
David is you last name Wren?
Ekim
October 21st, 2011
11:13 am
I laugh and laugh and laugh when the Phillies fail to make the World Series — because for all of their arrogant fans on AJC blogs talking smack and deriding the Braves, Braves fans and the City of Atlanta, for that matter — they too are learning that it’s not as easy as it looks. And the better team is not always going to win a 5-game series. Or even 7.
WrenFlewTheCoop
October 21st, 2011
11:25 am
Add in one of baseball’s worst contracts and then he gets hurt plus the aging rotation that they are spending a fortune on and so the demise of Philadelphia begins. Their “Dream Team” hasn’t worked out so well either.