Where Will Chipper Bat?

It’s no secret that Chipper Jones likes to hit third in the batting order. But in 2009, if the Braves don’t sign a power bat for the outfield, where will he hit?

Chipper likes hitting third. He’s actually a bit better batting third in his career than he is batting fourth. Keep in mind he’s had something on the order of 6600 plate appearances in the three hole, and 2000 plate appearances in the four hole. When batting third, Chipper bats .316, OBP .411, SLG % .557. When he’s batted fourth, Chipper puts up a .297 average, .400 OBP, and .528 SLG %. Nothing THAT drastically different – Chipper has had more good years while batting third exclusively – but he’s more comfortable batting third and it shows, even if just a little bit. About the only area where his stats are that noticably unproportional is the IBB column – Chipper gets far more intentional walks batting fourth.

Chipper 3rd, McCann 4th

McCann has been exceptional in his first three full years with the Braves. He’s just not a true cleanup hitter – he hits 20+ish home runs, not 40. He fits in so well in the middle of the order – fifth or sixth – and I just don’t think we’re going to see him sprout 10-15 more home runs just by placing him right behind Chipper. Sure, McCann could do it – I think he’s the most qualified to do it other than Chipper – but I don’t think it’s the best fit.

Chipper 3rd, Francoeur 4th, McCann 5th

This puts a lot of weigh on Francoeur’s shoulders. He could theoretically step into it – I think he’s going to have a better year this year than last year for sure and I hope to see some power out of him as he develops. That said, I don’t think that this year is the year to put extra pressure on him by throwing him in the cleanup spot. He’s going to come around with time – we just need to be patient and wait for it.

Chipper 4th, McCann 5th

You could argue for 30+ comments about who to bat third (and please do! Register an account and use the thumbs up buttons to vote the comments you like to the top), but Chipper is the old pro, the most stable player on the team, and hits for the most power. He’s also a lot older and wiser than he was the last time he had to hit fourth primarily. He hits the most home runs. He’s developed more as a player. I think that this makes the most sense and is something I’d be most comfortable with. Chipper also is generally a selfless player – he puts it all on the line for the team – and if this is the need, I’m sure he’s more than willing to step into the role.

All I’m saying is that IF the Braves don’t acquire a power bat for the outfield, Chipper makes the most sense in the four hole, despite him having a preference for batting third. Either way, it’s going to be fun to watch.

Keeping Chipper In Atlanta

Chipper Jones is entering the final year of his contract with the Atlanta Braves and has made it clear over the past few days that he, without a doubt, wants to spend the entirety of his career with the club. He was selected by the Braves as the first overall pick in the first-year player draft back in 1990.  This is the only club that Chipper has ever played for and has repeatedly made it known that he has no desire to go elsewhere.

I think there was little question to any fans that there would be any problems with that happening until a couple of weeks ago with the departure of John Smoltz to the Boston Red Sox.  At that point in time, Chipper shared many of the same frustrations as the fans.  It’s taken a little bit of time for the emotions to calm down, but with the help of a few pitching signings, everyone is slowly getting back to the business that is baseball and trying to move on with the offseason.

Though approaching his 37th birthday, Jones is the reigning National League batting champion, batting .364 and slugging .574 in the 2008 season.  Over the past 3 seasons, he has also led all of Major League Baseball with a .342 batting average.  The downside to Chipper’s aging body is his tendency to come down with injuries throughout the season.  In the past season, he has played in an average of 124 games and made a collective five trips to the disabled list.  Despite this, he remains confident that he will remain productive on the field at the age of 40, and as far as I’m concerned, has done nothing to prove otherwise through the past couple of seasons.

Staying in Atlanta has always been the number one priority for Chipper.  In 2006, he agreed to alter his contract and sacrifice up to $15 million in potential earnings for the guarantee that he would be staying in Atlanta at least through the end of the 2008 season.  With his production last season, Chipper’s $11 million option for the 2009 season has vested.  It has never been completely about the money, but rather the chance to remain and play for the fans that have been with him for his entire career.

Though Frank Wren told Chipper last September that he hoped to work out a contract extension as soon as possible, it’s understandable that the focus of the club has been elsewhere this offseason.  With trying to sign new pitching and the potential of adding some power to the lineup, Jones understands that Wren’s primary objectives have been outside of a contract extension.  With the season rapidly approaching though, Chipper’s outlook on the process remains the same.  He has repeatedly said that he would not negotiate a contract mid-season again due to the amount of distraction that it provides from trying to play baseball.  Hopefully the front office and Chipper can get something worked out soon and the focus can shift to the season at hand.

I realize that the Braves may be hesitant to offer Jones an overly extended contract, but Chipper is only looking for a fair-priced, three-year contract from the Braves.  I can’t forsee any reason why he has not earned that respect in the eyes of the front office of the club.  He is truly a face of the Atlanta Braves and it would be the biggest shame to see him part ways and play for another team.  Without a doubt, if the Braves don’t extend and re-sign Chipper’s contract, he would pull huge interest from many other teams who know just how productive he can be despite his age.  Losing Smoltz and Chipper in back-to-back seasons is just not an option for Braves fans.

Remaining Roster Needs

The Braves went into the offseason with several needs:

Two Starting Pitchers

We’ve acquired three. Ace-to-be Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami signed as free agents. The third, Javier Vazquez, was acquired via trade from the White Sox. The three pitchers will augment the Braves’ Jair Jurrjens as the four regular starters (all can eat innings), and we’ll likely see Jorge Campillo, Charlie Morton, and perhaps Tommy Hanson fight for the fifth rotation spot. Now that we’ve got a stable rotation, look for the Braves not to rush Hanson to the big leagues, though he’ll be ready in a year or two to start regularly. When Tim Hudson comes back from Tommy John surgery late in the season, he’ll provide the Braves with one of the best rotations late in the season, if he’s true to form. The Braves’ rotation won’t be something to sneeze at, even though it’s not going to be the best rotation in the history of baseball.

An Outfield Bat

I’d imagine the Braves are still looking to fill this need. Even though we’ve got Jeff Francoeur, Matt Diaz, Josh Anderson, Gregor Blanco, Brandon Jones, and Jordan Schafer as options, we need a bat to help replace the hole left by Teixeira’s departure and to protect Chipper in the lineup. If the Braves do sign someone, it will only be for a year or two, because in addition to the players I already listed, Gorkeys Hernandez and Jason Heyward are outfield prospects in the minor league system, just two-three years away. Maybe Heyward switches to first, but there’s still a glut of good prospects waiting to play outfield for the Braves. I don’t know if we fill this or go with young talent, but if we want to compete in the NL East, we probably need another bat somewhere in the lineup. Left field is a logical position for that bat to play. If I were Wren, I’d look at Bobby Abreu for this role.

Extending Chipper’s Contract

Please, Braves, do this now. Smoltz didn’t retire here, but Chipper needs to. We’re starting to get a reputation for getting the best years out of our players, making this their home, and sending them elsewhere to die. See Aaron, Murphy, Justice, Maddux, Glavine (though he left of his own free will), and now Smoltz. Don’t let it happen to Chipper.

A Backup Catcher

Done. It flew under the radar, but the Braves signed Dave Ross to a two-year deal to back up Brian McCann early in December. He’ll make ~$1.5M each year he’s here. The Braves have been resting McCann once a week or so to try and save his knees, so we’ll see some time out of Ross. Ross hit .225 with 3 HRs and 13 RBI last year for Cincinnati and Boston in 142 at-bats in 60 games.

Summary

The Braves will now turn to signing a bat for the outfield, extending Chipper’s contract, and re-signing Will Ohman. Once that’s done, I’d say we’re set for this offseason. I don’t think we’ll see the Braves sign any more starting pitchers. Setup arms in the ‘pen will come via Campillo and our farm system. Think I missed anything? Made bad assumptions? Make a comment and we’ll have some discussion about it.

Ignoring The Bad

By the way, I’m ignoring everything that didn’t go right. Rather not talk about it – no reason to dwell on it!

Braves, Lowe Get Serious

The Braves are in the thick of the race for Derek Lowe – SI reports today that the Braves have offered something akin to $60M over four years. This beats the Mets offering, which is around $36M for three years. Lowe, if you didn’t know, was 14-11 with a 3.24 ERA last season with the Dodgers.

If you think the Braves are done this offseason, it looks like they’re finally ready to play ball with the biggest pitcher left on the market and have a pretty decent rotation by the time September rolls around. Imagine Lowe, Jurrjens, Kawakami, Vazquez, and Hudson. We’d have Morton and Hanson, in the wings. I’d think that maybe Campillo goes back to the ‘pen this year as our long reliever. The Braves still need to add a bat to replace the hole left by Mark Teixeira. I pray to heaven it doesn’t involve Andruw Jones, as some suggest. If we can muster enough offense to make it to the postseason, we’ll have a mean rotation IF we land Lowe.

The Braves also signed Omar Infante to a two-year deal, with a team option for a third year. Omar was pretty good for us as a utility player last year. He hit .293 with 24 doubles and 40 RBIs.

Remaining shopping list:

• Big bat
• Sign Will Ohman
• Extend Chipper’s Contract

C’mon Braves, sign Lowe so we can be somewhat optimistic about the upcoming season. Mets fans, you can go sit on a tack.

Braves Atop Peavy Heap

The New York Post is reporting that the Braves are atop the Peavy pile and that currently many expect we’ll have Peavy pitching for us next season.

“The Jake Peavy sweepstakes will proceed concurrently with the World Series, and the expectation of major league executives polled over the past two days is that the Braves are going to end up with the Padre right-hander… The Braves…have the base from which to make a deal and a history of packaging youngsters to get veterans they crave such as Mark Teixeira and Tim Hudson. They also are willing to move quickly, as exhibited by the Oct. 29 deal made last year in which they obtained Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez from Detroit for Edgar Renteria, the first major trade of the past offseason. And the Braves appear more motivated than the Cardinals, Cubs or Dodgers to jump out for Peavy.”

That’s what I like to hear. Only question now is how many prospects we have to get rid of to land Peavy for four years.  Yunel Escobar or Kelly Johnson (or both) will likely have to go.  Other names mentioned include Jo-Jo Reyes, Charlie Morton, possibly Tommy Hanson, and even Jordan Schafer.  Who knows what the Braves will be willing to part with, but there are hints they are going to try and keep the carnage as insignificant as possible.  The bottom line with any of the pitching prospects is that we hope they turn into someone like Peavy, and getting Peavy for four years is a pretty good return on a prospect that may not be that good for that long.

Chipper Jones has described Peavy as the “perfect fit” according to the AJC, and also would love to see the Braves go after A.J. Burnet, who will be a free agent.

How you like us now, NL East?

Braves Updates

Well we’ve seen a bunch of Braves news lately, so we’ll hit it real fast for ya:

• Morton pitched well yesterday – one hit through seven innings, but he gave up a home run to Prince Fielder, and the Braves fell 4-2.
• C.C. Sabathia showed us yesterday why we need to sign him in the offseason.  8 1/3 innings of four-hit ball.  He’s insane.
• Tim Hudson is going ahead with Tommy John surgery – Dr. James Andrews (the recognized expert in this area) will perform the surgery.  Hudson will have a 12 month rehab time before he is expected back with the team.
• Chipper is expecting to be back in the lineup Friday, the first day he’s eligible off the DL.  He says that “everything feels great” and he’s no longer having trouble with either his hamstring or his quad.
• Brian McCann should be expected back in the starting lineup Monday – he’s nearly done recovering from his concussion.  He may pinch hit today.
• Casey Kotchman is off to a slow start in the NL – only 2 for 16 – with 1 RBI.  Yes, it’s only been four games, but he’s not on fire.
• Royce Ring has been designated for assignment after a really ugly stretch where his ERA jumped 5 runs.  That’s not big league ball stuff.  Vladimir Nunez is expected to replace him.  Ring, according to the AJC, has the “distinction of the worst statistical season of any reliever in the history of the franchise since the 1870s, among those who appeared in as many games as he did.”  That didn’t work out well – he’s a specialist and shouldn’t be pitching as much as he did.

Well there ya have it – maybe we’ll see you at the Stadium today.  Ben Sheets is going against Jorge Campillo.  Go Braves!

Discussing The All-Star Break

Back to the regular sized blog post.

So, we haven’t posted in a while, but this would be a good time to discuss the break and such. Chipper, McCann and trainer Jeff Porter are in New York as I write this enjoying the sites, including Yankee stadium, as well as enjoying their four days off. Chipper and McCann have been THE most consistent presences in this line-up, everyone knows that. While they do deserve these four days off, I doubt either would trade in a trip to Yankee stadium to play the final All-Star game their for those days off.

The Braves played San Diego and the Dodgers last week, coming away with their first .500 road trip of any length since WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY back last season when they went 1-2 against the Mets and 2-1 against the Nats from September 10-16, seriously. But going into the break with a road trip like that, even if it is against the worst team in the league in San Diego, is still something to build on.

Looking more into those six games, the Braves pitched out of their mind amazing, they gave up eight runs to LA in three games and eight runs to the Padres in three games. Against San Diego, only seven of those runs were earned and against LA only seven of those runs were earned as well, bringing the team ERA for those six games down to a ridiculous 2.33, yet we only went 3-3, sad.

The two teams we played, from before the season even started, were supposed to be slightly offensively challenged, yet the Braves looked like the team that needed a bat or three or four. In the first five games in the series, the Braves went 1-54 (0.019) in the first four innings, THEY HAD ONE HIT IN FIVE GAMES IN THE FIRST FOUR INNINGS! Throwing in the final game doesn’t make it that much better either, the Braves had three hits in the first four innings Sunday, bringing the grand total up to 4-67 (0.059). That’s just pathetic offensively.

With the Mets heating up and Florida not going away any time soon (they just got Josh Johnson back for the homestretch), this won’t be easy. Philly’s ball park isn’t miraculously going to get bigger and allow them to hit less home runs, and the Mets and Marlins aren’t going to stop hitting either. This team needs some sort of a wake up call and they need it fast, whether it is waving the white flag to trade guys away and tell them, “we’re not invincible,” or get a new guy in the clubhouse and infuse new energy. Heck Mike Hampton pitching might put enough energy into this team to give them some new life. Who knows?

Looking ahead to past the break, the Braves have a sweepable series against the Nats. The pitching matchups have already been set. Aces duel in the first game when Tim Hudson (9-7) takes on Tim Redding (7-3), Jair Jurrjens (9-4) gets the ball in game two against John Lannan (5-9) and Jojo Reyes (3-8) will face off against Odalis Perez (2-7) in the final game of the series.

Btw, was it just me or was taking Reyes out of his Friday start against the Padres after four innings because we had guys in scoring position a serious desparation move by the Braves? Buddy Carlyle came in and did a good job finishing it up, but seriously. For whatever reason, Reyes always seems to have a shorter leash than any of the other guys out there.

- Akshay

Morton’s Chipper, Taking On Phillies

Charlie Morton takes the mound tonight against the Phillies – hoping the Braves offense can back him this time out.  And, unexpectedly, Chipper Jones may be in the lineup doing his part. That’ll help Morton feel happier – or even Chipper – if you will, about this game.

Chipper ran some sprints today and noticed significant improvement in his right quad.  He told Bobby Cox about an hour ago he was ready to be in the lineup for the game tonight.  The final decision will be made after batting practice, but Chipper, who was expected to go on the DL today, normally knows his body pretty well.  I’d expect to see him doing his part.  Hopefully he’s kept up his hot swing while he’s been unable to run, because I can’t wait to see him in front of Mark Teixeira, who has been absolutely on fire recently.  Oh, and we get Mark Kotsay back from the DL tonight.  And if that’s not good enough, we’ll get Yunel Escobar back in the lineup tomorrow.  We’ll see an improvement in offense with those three.

Morton needs a win.  He’s had three starts and is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA, but he’s pitched very well in all of those starts – not giving up more than 3 earned runs.  He’s due tonight and if the guys can deliver offensively, we should see another W for the Bravos.

Time to make a run to the top of the division, gentlemen.  Go get ‘em!

- Colin

Chipper Likely to DL

Chipper’s not getting better fast enough.  Bobby said yesterday “I don’t think Chipper’s close to playing.”

So he’s likely headed to the DL, at the very least when they bring Kotsay back tomorrow as he completes his rehab assignment.  That lingering quad injury will keep Chipper out of the crucial series this week against the Phillies.  If it continues to bother him, you can be sure he won’t risk hurting it in the All-Star game.

Chipper said in the AJC today “Make no bones about it, I would love to play in [the All-Star game], but if my body doesn’t allow me, that’s just a tough break.”

Chipper also admitted that he should likely have been on the DL before now.  “We probably should have DL’d me right when it happened. I knew it was worse than the previous time it happened. But the competitive side of me wanted to keep playing. I’ve always been a quick healer, and I thought I’d be able to play in five or six days.”

When you can’t run it doesn’t matter how well you can hit.  We’ll pray Chipper heals quickly and that Tex can carry the team while he’s out.  Get well soon, Chip.

Braves Beat Rox, Mets Fire Willie

The Braves came out strong behind Jair Jurrjens and 7 2/3rds innings of one-run ball to beat the Rockies last night 7-1.  Chipper went 2-4 and started the scoring in the fifth with two RBIs.   Jurrjens’ extra five days of rest due to his sprained ankle seem to be paying immediate dividends – “I got my changeup back,” Jurrjens said.  The extra rest helped a blister heal.

Up in Queens, the Queens have fired longtime sucky manager Willie Randolph.  I don’t mean that in he was their manager for long, but that he has sucked for most of his time as Mets manager.

Jerry Manuel will replace him as interim head coach.  The Mets also cleaned out some of their other manager positions.  For more info, check out our buddy Andrew’s site over at TheRopolitans.

The Braves are finally up to 10 road wins, taking three out of the last four on the road.  Do you think they’ve turned a corner?  With the starting pitching looking great its last time around, will they continue their improvement?

And as Mike Hampton heads down to the Gulf Coast League for a couple rehab starts, will he ever pitch in Atlanta this season?

Chipper To Miss A Few Games

Chipper Jones will miss at least his next three starts with a slight tear in his right quadriceps muscle.  The strain occurred in the 7th inning while Chipper was trying to beat out a ground ball to first base.  He bent over in pain after the run, but decided to stay in the game.

This is a little worrisome to me to say the least.  Our team doesn’t do well without Chipper in the lineup this season and our struggles to produce runs lately cause even more concern.  We’ll see how the team can compete today, but the real key is to get Chipper healthy as quickly as possible.  I guarantee we will really be missing him in the lineup for the next few days.

400 HRs for Chipper

It was a great night for Chipper Jones tonight.  4-5, HR, RBI, SB.  What’s there to complain about there?  He raised his average back up to .418 at the end of the evening as well.  Chipper’s 6th inning blast to deep right field was the 400th of his career.  Congrats on a great accomplishment, Chipper!

Oh yeah, and the Braves won 7-5.