Bullpen Stabilized Thanks To Starters

June 18, 2008 – 1:15 pm

After some strong starting pitching from the young guys (last night notwithstanding, although Hudson has always had problems pitching in Texas), the bullpen has finally found some kind of stability. Also, with the addition of Mike Gonzalez, the guys in the bullpen should be able to return to their regular roles. That is, if Gonzalez has returned to closer form, which we may not see until he adjusts to the hitters at this level for the first time in a year.

How are the other guys doing? Well, we’ll start with everyone’s favorite goat, Manny Acosta.

Acosta gave up four runs in his season debut against Pittsburgh, but was extremely stingy after that. In April, Acosta pitched 13 innings in 11 appearances with a 1-1 record, 1.38 ERA, 2 saves, 8 Ks and 10 BBs. Not a good K to walk ratio, but he got the job done. In May, arguably the best month of his career, he went 15 innings in 15 appearances with a 3-1 mark, 1.80 ERA, 1 save, 12 Ks and 1 (yes, just 1) BB. He was even nominated for the Pepsi Rookie of the Month trophy on MLB.com. Of course, with so many appearances, we almost knew and expected a young pitcher like him to start showing some wear…and he did. So far in June, Acosta has allowed 8 ER in 12 innings, good for a 12.0 ERA. The surprising part? Just one strikeout to five walks for the month. Acosta has not been pitching as often as he was in May and that’s a good thing. He has great stuff and is a very valuable late innings guy when he gets the rest he needs.

Blaine Boyer has shown similar trends as well. After a May that saw the young pitcher go 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 15.0 innings with 11 strikeouts and four walks, Boyer has hardly pitched that well in June. While not pitching as low a level as Acosta has, Boyer has allowed four earned in 7.2 innings (seven runs total allowed for the month.

The only guy that has been dependable and consistent all year? Will Ohman, the godsend from the Cubs in the offseason. How the front office was able to pull off the trade for a solid lefty reliever in his prime AND a utility guy that can play solid defense and swing the bat pretty well for a double-AA starter? I’ll never know, so far, I love the trade and can easily say it was as good as the Renteria trade from our standpoint. Ohman is one of two pitchers that aren’t shuttling back and forth between the bigs and triple A to have not allowed an earned run all month (Ohman did allow a run, just not earned against the Angels). Ohman is 3-0 with one save in 29.2 innings pitched. He has 27 strikeouts to just 13 walks in his innings.

The other regular that has yet to allow a run all month is Royce Ring, who after a horrible start, has slowly gotten his ERA back to a solid 3.77 for the season. Ring is 1-1 with 12 strikeouts and just two walks in his 14.1 IP. He’s also gotten a hold of his control better. After allowing seven hits in 5.2 innings in May and four hits in four innings in April, Ring has allowed only two hits in 4.2 appearances that span eight games for June.

So, after last week’s starting pitching miracle, we’ll see if the team can continue it. We are still 11th in the NL in starter’s innings pitched and a good 38.1 innings behind the league leading Phils in that category.

Tags: Bullpen
Posted in General | 5 Comments »

Smoltz Plans To Pitch From Pen

May 1, 2008 – 5:45 am

The AJC is reporting that John Smoltz said in a text message Wednesday that he doesn’t think he can handle starting for the Braves and plans to return as a reliever.

Here’s the quote:

“I am planning on coming back as a reliever first, and more than likely for the rest of this year.”

Can the Braves’ rotation handle Smoltz being in the ‘pen?  Sure, it’ll stabilize things out there, but what becomes of starting pitching?  Do we have to just cross our fingers and hope Jo-Jo Reyes can hold it together at a big league level?  Who picks up the slack?

Can we take it?  What do you think?

Tags: Bullpen, John Smoltz
Posted in Injuries | 7 Comments »

Braves’ Decision: Left Field

February 26, 2008 – 9:05 am

I answered this question from PhilliesFlow.com in our perspective trade a couple days ago, and I wanted to take a moment to elaborate on some decisions the Braves have to make. From the article:

What do you see as the biggest decisions the Braves will make between now and the start of the season?

The fourth and fifth rotation spots are crucial. Having a solid back end of the rotation to compliment the Smoltz/Hudson/Glavine trio is something we need to know can hold their own. Be honest, a Smoltz/Hudson/Glavine/Heatlhy Hampton/Jurrjens or James rotation is about as mean as any out there. If everyone is healthy, it’s not a one-two punch. It’s a one-two-three-four punch. Now, it’ll only work for a year or so, but it could be nasty.

I think the other crucial decision is who will fill out the bullpen. We have more pitchers overall than we did last year and I think the bullpen will be stronger than it was, but we need to get our guys picked out and they need to embrace the roles they’re given. The only other key question to be answered is who will fill out the left field platoon with Matt Diaz. I think we’ll likely see Brandon Jones out there, but Josh Anderson also wants a piece of the platoon. That’ll be interesting to watch.

With Kotsay playing Center, we’re going to see some interesting competition for the left-field slots. Matt Diaz has the inside track on one half of the platoon, but we are going to see Brandon Jones (bats from the left side of the plate) try and take Willie Harris’ slot as the other half of the platoon. Of course, speedster Josh Anderson is a very talented outfielder also ready for the big time.  If we throw Jones in the platoon with Diaz, we’re sending a very talented center fielder back to AAA ball.  Something has got to give - we have too many outfielders given the positions we need to fill.  No matter whether we end up with Anderson or Jones in the outfield, they’ll be a good compliment to Diaz.

What do you think will happen with our outfield situation?  Who makes the big league team out of spring training?  Will we trade some of them for bullpen help or will we keep them all on hand?

Tags: Atlanta Braves, Brandon Jones, Bullpen, Josh Anderson, Left Field, Mark Kotsay, Matt Diaz
Posted in General, Roster Moves | 2 Comments »