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The Braves Are Toast
Written by Colin on June 19, 2009 – 8:49 amI said it. I admitted it.
As much as I want the Braves to add another bat, step it up offensively and back up their pitchers, it’s just not likely going to happen. And that’s another season down the drain.
Here’s the thing: The Braves have tried to pretend like they’re impervious to this rebuilding year thing. Sure, we’ve got young pitching – finally – but we tried to bring in the young stars gradually and just let them pick up the slack left by players like Edgar Renteria and Johnny Estrada. And ya know what? As good as Brian McCann is, Yunel Escobar, Jeff Francoeur, and Kelly Johnson have been just as disappointing. Yunel’s playing sloppily again. Francoeur is in his slump (is it a slump if it’s two years in a row, or the new par-for-the-course?). Kelly has had some good streaks… but he’s very streaky. Jo-Jo Reyes is frustratingly binary. Jordan Schafer was a bust this season.
Sure. We’ve got McLouth. We’ve got Chipper and BMac. We’ve got Kotchman returning from this hit-by-pitch-on-the-ankle thing. But we need more than that. Pitching may win postseason games – and we’ll have the pitching staff everyone wishes they had for the postseason – but we need an offense to get there. And we not only don’t have it, we won’t get it in time. So it’s down the drain with this season.
What do we need to do to put ourselves in position to compete next year? Or am I giving up too early?
Posted in General | 14 Comments »
By Jon on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
You're probably right, but I'd rather the Braves not make any rash trades that involve any of our top prospects (Freeman, Heyward, etc.). McClouth was a great pickup and somewhere along the way we're going to have to try and find someone to replace the irreplaceable Chipper, but otherwise we've got a lot of players that we'll be able to keep for a while, including our pitching staff. I'm ok with not making the playoffs as long as we can keep the team intact long enough to add enough homegrown offense to be a contender again.
By josh on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
Come on football season.
By Kent on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
Colin, respectfully, I disagree. There's no denying that, yesterday's W notwithstanding, the Braves have played poorly of late. 3 of the Braves' 4 best hitters were slumping at the same time, and they actually had some rare pitching over the last week. So what we've seen has been a perfect storm of things not going the Braves' way. But just in looking at this roster, I'm convinced that they're much better than they've shown.
The Braves have strong, deep pitching that is only going to get better as Hanson grows in his big league comfort level, and when Hudson returns in about 6 weeks.
Offensively, the Braves have 3 all-star hitters, 1 developing all-star, and another quality bat in the person of C.Kotchman. Most of the pieces are there, and fortunately for the Braves, the teams ahead of them are every bit as – or more – flawed at this point. So if they can stay alive in the standings long enough to get get another bat, they most definitely have a chance this year.
By Kent on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
Jon, I wouldn't worry about any trades involving Freeman or especially Heyward. One Yankees scout recently said he'd trade anyone from their 25-man roster for Heyward. He's that good… and he's untouchable. And Freeman's not far behind Heyward in his standing with within the organization. If the Braves didn't give up any core prospects to get a young, inexpensive all-star with 3 more years under contract… they're sure not gong to give up core prospects for a guy like Dye or a rental like Holliday.
By Mark on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
Im not giving up yet. For as bad as we've played lately, were only 5.5 out. We all know the mets and phillies would love to give away the division. I mean, were only 2 back from NY. If we can play well meaning win each series against Boston and the Yankees i think that will boost some major confidence in the locker room we can possibly catch the phillies by the all star break. what does everyone think of the boston/NY scenario?
By Jonathan on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
I think the next 12 games pretty much definte how the season is going to end up for us.
By skymuse on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
As I said in another post, when we have to struggle into extra innings to beat the Pirates, lose the series to the Orioles (and now Reds), we are NOT making anyone think there's a dominant team here.
Who cares if Phillies/Mets can't close the deal? The NL East is uniformly mediocre, so it really doesn't matter who gets to play in October — it'll be 1-series-and-out for whoever is least bad.
There's no fire, no life, no leadership, and a LOT of sloppy fundamentals right now (Chipper! — 2 errors in 5 games, 0-21? From our team's arguably best player?). Putting the horrible upcoming 12-game stretch aside, I will have to see a few series sweeps, a 5+ win streak, maybe take 8 out of 10….y'know, the kind of things that winning teams do……
By dave on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
I am as pessimistic as some of you are, but deep down I still believe in our guys. I think pitch selection is our problem. Jeff , Kelly, Anderson and the rest that are struggling should only swing at the first pitch, only if it is where they like it. Just be a little more patient it does pay off.Our Pitching is good enough to dominate any team any day. I agree with Jonathan the next 12 will define our season. Come on guys get it together. GO BRAVES!!!!!!
By skymuse on Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
As I said in another post, when we have to struggle into extra innings to beat the Pirates, lose the series to the Orioles (and now Reds), we are NOT making anyone think there's a dominant team here.
Who cares if Phillies/Mets can't close the deal? The NL East is uniformly mediocre, so it really doesn't matter who gets to play in October — it'll be 1-series-and-out for whoever is least bad.
There's no fire, no life, no leadership, and a LOT of sloppy fundamentals right now (Chipper! — 2 errors in 5 games, 0-21? From our team's arguably best player?). Putting the horrible upcoming 12-game stretch aside, to get excited about postseason I will have to see a few series sweeps, a 5 win streak, maybe take 8 out of 10….y'know, the kind of things that winning teams do…… here's a thought — maybe take a few pitches before hacking away, and scramble a little more on base — it might lead to more runs, whaddayaknow….
Enjoy the season as best you can; the countdown to football will grow louder as our losses mount.
By Brady on Jun 20, 2009 | Reply
This is a very large overreaction. The Braves are now only 4.5 games out of first place in the east and 4 out of the Wild Card. A great week of play puts them right in the mix at the forefront of the division. And, yes, the offense has struggled for much of the season, but it is underperforming. When everyone starts hitting like their career numbers indicate (ex. Johnson) the offense is mediocre or slightly better, not as bad as it has been. If we do add a right handed power bat the offense immediately goes from mediocre to good because our first five would be as good as any team in the bigs. I won't give up on the season until the trade deadline passes without the Braves getting another substantial bat.
By Keith on Jun 20, 2009 | Reply
If we were in the NL west ot AL east then I would agree with you. But we are not and the Phillies are have issues all around and are playing poorly. Starting pitching is bad, Brad Lidge is hurt, Raul is hurt, Jimmy is Rollins is a shadow of his old self. The Mets, are you kidding me? If we slightly improve our hitting then we can at the very least be in the hunt all the way. The next two weeks are very, very important. If we can at least play slightly above .500 against the Sox, Yanks and Philles then anything can happen.
By tfolk on Jun 20, 2009 | Reply
I think the wildcard race is wide open, but you hit the nail on the head with your assessment of our team. We have plenty of good starting pitching, but our hitting is often atrocious. With Tim Hudson eventually coming back and Medlen wasting away in the bullpen, it seems to me that we have a starter to sell. I think we should (quietly) shop Vazquez and see if we can get anything more than a rental bat for him. He's been dominant this year and is under a relatively reasonable contract next year. Getting an outfielder with a little pop, I think, could go a long way towards a push for the wild card.
By Kent on Jun 20, 2009 | Reply
Agreed Keith. The division we play in is our saving grace. I think Colin makes some very good points, and when he wrote this, we were 6.5 games out and playing poorly. But the last 2 days, we've won 2 games and gained 2 in the standings. That just shows how quickly things can turn when you play in such a flawed division. The Mets and Philliies are going to give us every opportunity to come back until/unless they significantly upgrade their teams at the deadline. Though… we're just as likely to further improve our team as they are.
By Fanning on Jun 21, 2009 | Reply
tfolk, you got it on the money. trading vazquez would free up enough salary to take on a big time player. it would definitely cost some prospects, but id trade the prospects for a carlos lee. wouldnt you? i believe hes signed through 2011. and thats the middle of the order pop we need. granted, i still would like a legitmate leader hitter with the capability of swiping bases. and drop mcclouth to the two hole, he doesnt have the average to bat leadoff and yunel grounds into too many double plays. but maybe theres a bargain out there. with manny coming back soon that will push juan pierre to the bench. wouldnt you love him hitting leadoff for the atl?