AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2006 > July
July 2006
Boston-Andruw talks go nowhere, for now
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So the non-waiver deadline passed with little movement from the Braves, other dumping the remaining $800,000 owed to Jorge Sosa on the Cardinals.
By the way, that basically covers the Braves’ part of the $1.6 million remaining on Danys Baez’s $4 mill salary. The Dodgers are paying the other part of what he’s owed.
And before I forget, I can clear up the Baez contract matter: While he will have only five-plus years of service time after this season, Baez will indeed be a free agent. It was written into the contract he signed with Tampa Bay, the deal that he’s fininishing this season (he’s making $4 mill this year in option year, then will be a free agent).
Anyway, the only interesting part of the non-waiver deadline day, from a Braves-watcher’s perspective, was the rumor about Andruw Jones to the Red Sox.
But it took only one phone call to find out the “negotiations” had been quick and gone nowhere, that the Braves listened when Theo Epstein called, but made it clear the Sox would have to give up a ton to get Jones.
Prepare for more such rumors regarding Jones this winter and, if he’s back next year, then the rumor mill will grind all season, unless the Braves sign him to an extension before then.
Several people asked what I thought of the Braves’ proposal to the Sox: A package of 22-year-old left-handed starter Jon Lester (an absolute stud), plus outfielder Coco Crisp and 22-year-old rookie reliever Craig Hansen.
While I’d have to think long and hard before trading a 29-year-old who led the majors in homers with 51 last season, on the way to his ninth consecutive Gold Glove, etc., I’d probably pull the trigger on that one if the Sox had agreed to it, and if I didn’t think I’d be able to re-sign Jones after the 2007 season.
With the way Andruw is starting to creak and ache, you just never know when the back or whatever else might start to go, and go quickly. So if you can get a lefty to build around for years (Lester), plus a 26-year-old center fielder who can “go get it” better than most and who hit .300 with 31 homers, 66 doubles and 140 RBIs the past two seasons with Clevland, plus a good young reliever….
I know Crisp has struggled some in his first season with Boston, but injuries and the first year at Fenway will do that.
I really believe that’s the hardest place for most players to get accustomed to, unless they hover in an alternate universe like Manny, or become fan favorites like Big Papi or Kevin Millar or Nomar, etc. Some players thrive in that incredible spotlight, but others take an adjustment period (see: Edgar).
Anyway, the deal didn’t happen. But it’s worth filing away mentally, the Boston interest and the Braves’ targeted players.
I know a lot of people wanted the Braves to snap their fingers and fix the rotation today, but it just isn’t that easy. I mean, how many quality starting pitchers were traded today?
And did you see what the Dodgers gave up for Maddux? Cesar Izturis. Yikes. That’s quite a price to pay for a 40-year-old with a sub-.500 record, even if he’s one of the greatest two pitchers of our generation and a fantastic guy. Perhaps the Dodgers believe they can re-sign him. I don’t know.
A few things, now that the month is over and the Braves’ postseason chances are in peril. The division title is obviously out of reach now; let’s accept that, if you hadn’t already. The Mets are a far better team, and not going to collapse.
The wild card is still within reach for only one reason: None of the teams has played well for a month, and even if eight or nine are ahead of the Braves, they’re all catchable. But the Reds did make some strong trade moves and shored up their bullpen. They could take off.
Do I think it’s likely for the Braves to win the wild card? No. But I’m also not one of those who believes you say, “We surrender,” and aim towards next year.
This isn’t the type of team, the way it’s constructed, that you could clearly make better for next season by dealing a bunch of veterans now. If Giles was having a great season, or his typical season, you could deal him and get plenty in return, but he’s not. So you have to wait until this winter and hope he finishes strong.
Hudson? I think right now he’s all but untradeable, he’s been so underwhelming for so long (much of last season, most of this one). Again, you need him to finish strong, and hope someone like the Yankees would bit on his remaining $32 mill he’ll be owed in 2007-09, including $6 mill next year before it goes to $13 mill each of the final two seasons.
But I really haven’t heard anything to lead me to believe the Braves want to trade him, either from people in their organization or other teams that might have been contacted. Nothing. Not saying that won’t change. It certainly could.
Chipper? Probably close to untradeable because of age and injuries, even though he just hit .500 with seven homers and 20 RBIs in July. But you know what? Braves don’t want to trade him anyway, and teams like the Red Sox haven’t been calling to ask about him like they have Andruw.
Smoltz? No way. $8 mill is a great deal for next season, and he’s the only starter on this team with an ERA under 4.50. He’s still an elite pitcher, the guy who heads up your rotation next year, the closest thing you have to a certainty in next year’s rotation, unless you get someone else before then.
Besides, while you or I may think Braves’ postseason chances are dim, they still are trying to win the wild card.
They aren’t going to quit yet, as much as some seem to want them to (I don’t get that losers’ mentality. It’s almost like some people would feel better if the Braves said, ‘Damn the 14 straight titles, we have very little chance of even making the postseason, we stink. We admit it. Who wants our players?’ If the Braves want to try to make a run for it, who are we to tell them, don’t bother? Did you see 103,000 paying customers at Turner Field this weekend? They didn’t buy tickets in advance to see a team aiming for next year. They didn’t buy them to see the Braves stink it up all weekend, either, but that’s beside the point).
Couple of quick statistical things from a crazy season and crazier July:
_ The Braves had a National League-worst 5.31 ERA in July, and a league-best (by 21 points) batting average of .311. They led the majors with 171 runs and 50 homers, and no one else in the NL had as many as 160 runs or 40 homers before Monday, the last day of the month (Braves were off Monday).
_ After hitting .382 with 77 runs and an absurd 24 homers during their seven-game winning streak July 8-18, the Braves hit .240 with 14 homers in their past 10 games (3-7).
_ After hitting at least one homer in 23 consecutive games, they’ve gone homerless in four of the past six and three in a row.
_ Braves pitchers have allowed a league-worst .294 average by left-handed batters this season, and their 62 homers allowed by lefty batters is five more than any other team.
_ Lefty batters are 9-for-21 with two homers against Jason Shiell, which isn’t too shocking, and 14-for-36 (.389) with two homers against lefty Chuck James, which sort of is.
_ Chipper hit .500 with 7 HRs, 20 RBIs in just 16 July games. He was 31-for-62 with four strikeouts, 11 walks, a .575 OBP and .984 slugging percentage in July. And one trip to the DL.
_ Three Braves struck out at least 20 times in July, including Andruw, who had a very strange hitting line for the month: He hit .250 with 24 strikeouts in just 80 at-bats, but still had seven homers and team-high 26 RBIs in 20 games.
Adam Laroche hit .341 (29-for-85) with seven doubles, seven homers, 19 RBIs, six walks and 22 strikeouts in July.
Wilson Betemit struck out 22 times in 60 at-bats in July, but still hit .317 with four homers and 13 RBIs before he was traded.
_ Talk about odd, check out this extreme dichotomy. Adam LaRoche’s day/night and home/road splits:
He has struck out 25 times in 88 at-bats (!) while batting .193 in day games, with four homers, nine RBIs and a .301 OBP and .398 slugging in 29 games.
In 69 night games, Laroche has hit .296-16-50 with 56 strikeouts in 233 at-bats, with a .584 slugging percentage (second on the team to Chipper’s .596).
Between the early-season error and his hitting stats at Turner Field, it’s understandable that some Atlanta fans might be less impressed than those who see him on the road. Check out this head-scratcher: LaRoche has hit 15 of his 20 homers on road, and hit .287 with a .366 OBP and .647 slugging on the road.
He’s hit .247-5-15 in 47 home games, with a .302 OBP and .409 slugging.
_ But he’s not the only Brave who plays better on the road. The team as a whole certainly does. The Braves are 22-28 at home, 26-28 on the road, and the disparity has been greater lately: They are 10-22 with a 5.44 ERA and 34 homers in their past 32 home games, and 20-15 with a 4.75 ERA and 63 homers in their past 35 road games.
_ Finally, read this one and shed a tear over the decline of Braves pitching from the Big 3 rotation days: 10 pitchers have made at least one start for the Braves this season, and only two have ERAs under 4.50: Travis Smith (4.15 ERA in one start) and John Smoltz (3.55).
To me, that’s remarkable. What a huge disappointment the rotation has been.
OK, let’s eat pie!
Curtain comes down on disappointing Sosa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The curtain came down today to bring a merciful end to the Jorge Sosa era.
Designated for assignment to clear a spot for new setup man Danys Baez, which came as no surprise to anyone paying attention. It was either Sosa or Jason Shiell who had to go, and the Braves need Shiell to start a game next weekend.
So, Sosa is done as a Brave. We hardly knew you, Jorge.
No, really, we hardly knew him.
Though he spoke English well enough to carry on one-on-one conversations and express himself in interviews, Sosa used the language barrier as an excuse to routinely decline to speak after games.
Sometimes he declined to speak when a translator was available. Of course, this was after games this season.
Sosa had no problem being interviewed after his starts last season, when he went 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA, a fall-from-the-sky success story and a big reason the Braves won their 14th consecutive division title.
This year? He was a $2.2 million disaster. He leaves with a 3-10 record and 5.46 ERA and 3-for-6 saves in 26 games, including 13 starts. He allowed a .298 opponents’ average and .355 OBP, and a whopping 20 homers.
He lost his starting job in June, lost the closer job a few weeks ago, lost his entire job Sunday.
Appropriately enough, Sosa waved off a couple of us writers when we approached him this morning in the clubhouse, after the announcement was made. He didn’t want to talk. He mentioned “later,” which might or might not have meant he’d talk later.
Yeah, whatever.
The Braves will put him on waivers and either trade or release him.
Meanwhile ….
The other new guy, Willy Aybar, is in the lineup hitting leadoff today and playing third base, where he’ll probably be for the next two weeks until Chipper Jones returns from the DL. He’s a smallish guy, looks fast, but you’d never suspect he has the power numbers that he’s had in the minors.
Aybar was hitting .250 with a .356 OBP, 12 doubles, three homers and 22 RBIs in 128 at-bats for the Dodgers, and only .219 with a .328 OBP and five errors in his past 33 games.
The scouting reports on him from Baseball America and other services in recent years had him projected as a future starter for the Dodgers when he was a prospect in their organization before last season, but his defense hasn’t yet lived up to his skill level. He plays third and second, but not shortstop.
Schuerholz told me this morning that Braves scouts gave glowing reports on the kid, so we’ll see. He hit 315 with 10 homers and 41 RBIs at Class AAA Las Vegas to start the season, but hit there almost exclusively during his successful callup last year.
In 83 at-bats as leadoff man in 2005 for L.A., he hit .337 with eight doubles, a homer, 17 walks and a .455 on-base percentage.
I think it’s worth noting, he’s 23. Wilson Betemit is 26.
As good as Betemit has been these past two seasons with the Braves, I’m reminded of what we were saying about him entering spring training 2005.
Remember? He was out of options and the question was whether the Braves could even afford to carry him because he looked like he’d be a wasted roster spot if they did, and no team wanted to trade for him. The Braves tussled with it.
Remember that? Then he had a good spring, earned a spot and hit .305 as a 25-year-old rookie.
When Betemit was 23, he was in the middle of his second of his three seasons at Triple-A Richmond in 2003. He .262 with 13 triples, eight homers, 65 RBIs, 115 strikeouts in 478 at-bats that season. Oh, and he made 28 errors. TWENTY-EIGHT.
He got thicker, stronger, slower, and the next season hit .278 at Richmond with two triples, 13 homers, 59 RBIs and 99 strikeouts in 356 at-bats before his first callup with the Braves. He hit .170 (8-for-47) with no extra-base hits in 22 games for the Braves that season, when he was 24.
I just bring this up to remind folks that Betemit was shaping up to be a bust at 23, having lost his top-prospect status. And in the past two years, he turned into a pretty good player.
OK, that’s it. Time to watch the Braves try to salvage a series that threatens to erase all the momentum they gained during their recent 15-6 surge and seven-game winning streak, if that momentum isn’t already gone.
Later.
Oh, wait, almost forgot to throw in a quick review of the Van Hunt performance at Smith’s Olde Bar last night. Now, I’m gonna assume most of you’ve never heard of this guy (correct me if I’m wrong).
I’m telling you, this guy is the real deal, a fantastic performer who’s like this live-wire hybrid of Prince, Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield, with healthy doses of little Hendrix, James Brown and Rick James.
He’s the closest thing to early Prince that I’ve heard (I saw the Prince Purple Rain tour in ‘83 or ‘84, and that’s what it reminded me of), but on certain other slower numbers it’s like he’s channeling Mayfield. Then he’ll play straight-forward rock/funk, or punk/funk, as the great Rick James called it.
Anyway, you should’ve been there. Really, really good stuff, and from what I understand he lives in Atlanta. He’s got two major-label CDs and they’re both outstanding, the latest being “On the Jungle Floor.” Get it, and or download it and let me know what you think.
Ryan Adams tonight. Anybody go last night? Am I in for a good show? And does anybody have a Tom Waits ticket they want to sell me? Otherwise, your correspondent is going to be trying to scalp one outside the Tabernacle on Tuesday night.
Betemit for Linebrink sounds about right
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The more I look at it, and the more people I talk to about it, the more my gut tells me this deal will happen before Monday’s trade deadline: Wilson Betemit to the Padres for reliever Scott Linebrink.
Frankly, he’s the only one of the available relievers that the Braves should accept in return for Betemit. Nothing else out there, as far as available bullpen help, is worth giving up Betemit for.
And since it does make so much sense for both teams, I think it will happen, regardless of the Padres’ posturing about not giving up Linebrink, etc.
I talked to John Schuerholz after yesterday’s game and he assured me that he’s “absolutely” continuing to try to fill needs — the bullpen, but also any other “piece” that would help the team. That’s another bat, if the Braves can get one, perhaps a Conine-type veteran with versatility, but definitely another utility infielder if they’re going to move Betemit.
Here’s why Linebrink makes so much sense for the Braves: Not only does he lead the NL with 21 “holds” — and if you don’t know what that is, Google it or trust me, it’s an important stat for setup men — but he’s one of those right-handers who’s actually far tougher against left-handed hitters than against right-handed ones.
This would add an experienced, proven reliever to the Braves’ bullpen, the best arm available, and would also fill their need to get another reliever besides McBride to face extremely tough left-handed hitters.
Check this out: Linebrink’s .232 opponents’ average this season includes an exceptional .188 (19-for-101) with nine walks and 23 K by lefty hitters. Ladies and dudes, that’s really, really strong. Right-handers are hitting .288 against him.
By comparison, Rockies lefty “specialist” Ray King has allowed an alarming .320 opponents’ average this season, including .244 by lefty hitters and .371 by righties. He’s done, or close to it, and the Braves would be insane to trade anything more than Jorge Sosa to get him. If they’ll take Sosa, good riddance.
Over the previous three seasons, Linebrink allowed a .218 average by lefties, .244 by righties, entered this season with a 3.00 ERA and 260 strikeouts in career 296-2/3 innings.
He’s the real deal, and, still only 29 (30 next month) without too much wear and tear. This year he’s 6-2 with a 3.72 ERA (the 1-for-7 saves isn’t too pertinent; he’s a setup man), and until he allowed six runs in his past two outings, his ERA was 2.70.
While those two outings earlier this week are a concern, it should be noted he had worked a lot of late. Those were his 11th and 12th appearances of the month, which included an innings apiece in BOTH ENDS of a July 1 doubleheader (why managers pitch a guy twice in a doubleheader in this day and age, when they’re not used to that, amazes me. These guys are not exactly Big Train Johnson).
Anyway, he allowed one run in nine innings over his previous nine appearances before those two games Sunday and Monday, and the Padres haven’t pitched him since (this being written before Friday games). They’re either protecting him because they’re ready to deal him, or because they’re concerned about his arm.
The Braves have been scouting Padres games, and they won’t make the trade unless they’re sure he’s healthy. If he is, I think they’ll do the deal, because I think the Padres want Betemit bad enough, and the Braves want an experienced setup guy bad enough.
It’s also worth noting, Padres manager Bruce Bochy, who likes Linbrink an awful lot, lobbied that a two-out double off right fielder Terrmel Sledge’s glove should have been an error in Monday’s game, and all three runs against Linebrink in that game should’ve been unearned.
As for a couple of other relievers out there, here’s why Braves shouldn’t or won’t do those deals:
— Scott Proctor: The Yankees have said he isn’t going to moved. So be it.
— The Cubs’ Bobby Howry: In 21 games since June 15, he’s allowed 23 hits and 12 earned runs in 17-2/3 innings, a 6.11 ERA and .333 opponents’ average. Yikes.
— And in retrospect, it’s easy to see why they didn’t bite on the Cubs’ Scott Williamson, who was traded to San Diego: Williamson, in his past 13 games, has allowed 19 hits (two homers) and 11 earned runs in 9-2/3 innings, a 9.28 ERA and .396 opponents’ average.
Much as we want to point out the flaws in the Braves’ bullpen, it’s time to point out that Chad Paronto and Tyler Yates have done quite well the past couple of months, better than most of the relievers being offered by other teams.
— Paronto’s 25 appearances since June 1: 2.53 ERA, 21-1/3 innings, 16 hits, 6 earned runs, .216 opponents’ average.
— Yates since June 3: 23 appearances, 2.14 ERA, 21 innings, 15 hits, 5 earned runs, .205 opponents’ average.
One last thing before I prepare for the big tilt tonight against the Mets and Pedro: Marcus Giles. People, the Braves second baseman has played for a while now just like the team had hoped he would all season. Quite well.
Giles has hit .270 with a .360 OBP in his past 61 games, with 10 doubles, six homers, 42 runs and six stolen bases. This after hitting .205 with a .306 OBP, one homer and six RBIs in his first 29 games.
It’s time for everyone to recognize that for more than two months, he’s been doing pretty much what the Braves wanted him to do entering the season, though they figured he’d hitter closer to his usual .300 or higher.
Still, .270 and .360 isn’t bad. And in his past 30 games, despite a thumb injury that slowed him a while, Giles has hit .279 with a .377 on-base percentage. He made a spectacular play ranging behind first base and throwing a guy out yesterday, before a throwing error later in the game that was his first error since June 5. To repeat: First error since June 5.
It’s no longer a dire necessity to get another leadoff hitter this season, unless they trade Giles, which they almost certainly won’t because his value isn’t as high now as it might be with another couple of strong months to prove he’s healthy and back to his old self. They can move him this winter.
I understand so many people’s desire to trade Giles instead of Betemit. But people, other teams like the Padres want the guy who can play several positions and who will make under $500,000 next season, rather than Giles, whose overall numbers this season are still way down, and who will make more than $5 mill next season. That’s just the way it is.
As I’ve said before, the other 29 teams don’t exist in order to help the Braves’ playoff chances. So they’re not going to make a trade unless they believe it helps their team get better, now or for the future, and in the case of the Padres and other teams besides the Yankees, get better while staying within their budget limits for the future.
Finally, with Tom Waits coming to our fair city for a highly anticipated show Tuesday at the Tabernacle ($60-65 tickets sold out instantly and are being scalped for more than $400 online), we offer the lyrics from his “San Diego Serenade” from the brilliant 1974 album “The Heart of Saturday Night”:
San Diego Serenade, by Tom Waits
I never saw the sunshine ‘til you turned out the light/I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long/I never heard the melody, until I needed a song.
I never saw the white line, ‘til I was leaving you behind/ I never knew I needed you ‘til I was caught up in a bind/ I never spoke ‘I love you’ ‘til I cursed you in vain/I never felt my heartstrings until I nearly went insane.
I never saw the east coast ‘til I moved to the west/I never saw the moonlight until it shone off your breast/ I never saw your heart ‘til someone tried to steal, tried to steal it away/ I never saw your tears until they rolled down your face
I never saw the sunshine ‘til you turned out the light/I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long/I never heard the melody, until I needed a song.
Intrigue over Chipper’s absence? Not really
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chipper was out of the lineup today because he’s being traded to the Brewers for Carlos Lee.
Hello! Just wanted to make a splash there.
We kid. Chipper not being traded, just kept out of lineup for precautionary reasons because the strained left oblique (or side, as I like to say) hurts a bit more batting right-handed than left. And lefty Scott Olsen’s pitching for the Marlins (quite well, I might add, with only two hits allowed so far in three scoreless innings).
Chipper said he expects to play all three games against the Mets this weekend, including Sunday vs. the ‘ol lefty Tom Glavine, as long as his side continues to improve as it has the past couple of days.
Since everybody’s wondering: No, nothing new yet today on the Betemit/Proctor trade front. I can understand, certainly, why so many of you wouldn’t trade Betemit for him. You like Betemit, and he’s played very well this year, and seems invaluable given the recurrent injuries with Chipper and Marcus.
But you’ve got to give up something good to get something. And you can’t just trade Giles and his big salary because he’s not having a good year. See, other teams don’t exist to help the Braves win the division title. They’re also trying to do same (my one condescending line of the blog).
I said yesterday, the Braves won’t do the Betemit trade, probably not at least, unless they know they can finalize another trade soon for another “super utility” type of infielder. And no, I don’t know who that would be. They’re talking to teams on that front, is all I know.
You shouldn’t make too much of Proctor’s bad outing last night, other than to note that Torre isn’t using him as if he’s about to be traded. By that I mean, he pitched him for the third consecutive night, after using Proctor for two innings the night before.
The Yankees won’t be able to trade him if his arm falls off. But Torre has always been known to do that with his best relievers. He finds a guy he can rely on, then pitches him until he runs out of gas or gets hurt. He’s not the only manager known to do that.
Proctor had pitched nine scoreless innings (three hits, no walks, 12 strikeouts) in seven games over 11 days since the All-Star break before giving up four hits and a run last night. That’s a hell of a workload for a reliever, folks.
Speaking of bad outings, how ‘bout Wickman’s results since his horrible game at Cincinnati on June 29?
The big man _ and yes, Wick does look like he could move right into long-haul trucking when the baseball’s over _ gave up three runs, five hits, two walks and his only homer of the season during two-thirds of an inning at Cincinnati’s absurdly small park on June 30.
Since then? He’s given up a total of four hits and one walk in seven scoreless innings over seven appearances, converting six-of-six save opportunities. Oh, mercy, is this guy the salve the Braves needed for their bullpen, or what?
OK, gotta get back to covering the game, making calls, working on stories for tomorrow’s paper, etc. I apologize for the slowness of the blogosphere today, but it’s getting up near 600 posts, last I checked.
And I’m not used to these early wakeup calls after a night game. Usually takes me a couple hours and pot of coffee before I’m in writing mode. Didn’t have time to write a blog before I got here and had to get down to the clubhouse and then crunching numbers for scouting box for Mets series.
Anyway, you don’t want to hear my itinerary or moaning. Me and LaRoche don’t care what you think, anyway. KIDDING, folks, kidding. And I was pleased to see there weren’t many petty boos for LaRoche today when he came to bat, after his comments to me that ran in today’s paper.
If I was a fan, he’d be a guy I’d pull for, because honesty and real-ness is refreshing, and you shouldn’t just like a guy because he says what you want to hear. Look what that’s done for A-Rod, being perceived as a phony who always wants to say the right things. It’s backfired on him in a huge way.
LaRoche just doesn’t have a filter, and that’s good, in my book.
I swear, if all of you could have a beer and shoot the crap with every Brave, LaRoche would be near the top of most of your lists of guys you’d like to hang with. Seriously. There’s a bunch of them, especially younger ones, who are as normal and down-to-earth as your neighbor, and he’s one of them.
OK, I’m off my soapbox and back to work.
Anybody going to Ryan Adams this weekend at Tabernacle? I’ll be there for the Sunday show. If anyone’s going to Rascal Flatts (not me, thanks), keep an eye out for Braves. I know the head man (Bobby) is going with his wife, and I heard several players talking about going, including Hampton and some of the country-loving young players.
Cox asked me if I was going, and I said, not unless George Jones is opening. He liked that. He digs the Possum, like a lot of us do. His wife’s dragging him to this show _ I say dragging, because Bobby would prefer to stay on the farm in Adairsville and cook a steak after a day game, rather than head to Philips Arena.
That’s it. Now I am going to work.
Braves and Yanks discussing Betemit trade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wilson Betemit’s power surge couldn’t have come at a better time for the Braves, who might further bolster their bullpen by trading him before Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline.
Someone very familiar with the discussions confirmed to me today that the Braves and Yankees are discussing a deal that would bring reliever Scott Proctor to Atlanta for Betemit, first reported this morning by the New York Post.
While my first reaction was — who will play third base if Chipper is hurt? — the more I looked at this potential deal, the more I liked it. First off, let me tell you that Martin Prado would probably be brought up to back Chipper unless and until the Braves acquire another who can fill the role, which they’re also pursuing right now.
Proctor is 29, throws hard, and would go a long way toward solidifying the bridge between the starters and newly acquired closer Bob Wickman, who threw two perfect innings in his first two games since arriving from Cleveland.
Proctor is 3-2 with a 3.94 ERA in 50 appearances this season, with 60 strikeouts, 23 walks and a .226 opponents’ average. He’s 0-for-5 in saves, but that’s not really pertinent because he’s a setup guy and hasn’t been used in traditional save opportunities.
What’s most attractive is the shut-down stuff he’s had lately. He’s been devastating on hitters since the All-Star break, allowing just three hits and no walks with 12 strikeouts in nine scoreless innings over seven games. Opponents have hit .103 against him since the break.
The Yankees are looking for someone to fill in and provide some power at second base while Robinson Cano continues to recover from a pulled hamstring, which already kept him out a month and will probably sideline him another two weeks.
Three others who’ve played second base for the Yankees have produced just one homer and 19 RBIs in 110 at-bats this season.
Betemit, who turns 26 on Friday, has hit .284 with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 197 at-bats this season, including .310 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 10 games since the break. He’s split time between second base, third base and shortstop this season, and the former top-rated prospect has handled himself well at each position.
They wouldn’t just give up Betemit for anyone, but for an experienced reliever to add to a ‘pen that desperately needs one more, they probably would. But the move probably hinges on the Braves landing another third baseman, either before the deadline or in a waiver deal after the deadline.
But in the interim, they believe they can get by at third base, even if Chipper misses a few more days with his strained oblique. The Braves have two very good prospects — Prado at Richmond and Yunel Escobar at Mississippi — who’ve played some third base this season, and this is a big reason why they have.
Prado seems the more likely choice, since he’s already gotten his feet wet in the majors this season and impressed Bobby Cox and the Braves during his brief time with them. He’s hit .304 with eight doubles, no homers and 13 RBIs in 33 games at Richmond, after batting .278 with nine extra-base hits (one homer) and 15 RBIs in 43 games at Mississippi.
Prado has played 50 games at second base and 26 at third base this season.
Betemit, who turns 26 on Friday, is having a strong season, but is blocked behind Jones at third base and Giles at second, at least for this season. Giles’ recent thumb injury and subpar production this season kept trade interest in the veteran second baseman to a minimum.
The Braves don’t see Betemit as a natural fit at second base — he’s a bit oversized for the position — especially when they have Prado at the ready. The powerful Escobar is a shortstop or third baseman, not a second baseman.
In Proctor, the Braves would get a reliever who appears to be a late bloomer just now coming into his own, at 29. The former Florida State standout is only in his second full season in the majors and wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2007 season, which makes him that much more attractive to a Braves organization that has never liked lavishing too much money on its ‘pen.
He was a fifth-round draft pick from the Dodgers in 1998 and spent six seasons in the minors with the Dodgers and Yankees, who got him in a 2003 trade along with outfield Bubba Crosby in exchange for Robin Ventura.
Proctor’s recent surge followed a rough stretch in the month before the break, when he allowed 23 hits, 14 runs, five homers and seven walks in 18-2/3 innings over 17 appearances.
A few days’ rest at the break apparently rejuvenated the right-hander, who has been a key part of the Yankeees’ bullpen, rated fifth in the AL.
Proctor has good numbers in areas the Braves need them, including a .194 opponents’ average by first batters (18-for-93), a .224 average with runners in scoring position, and a .210 mark (22-for-105) in late-and-close situations.
If the Braves get him, their bullpen will have been transformed in one week from one of the worst in the NL to potentially one of the best five or so for the stretch drive.
Surging Braves bring act home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the midst of the Braves’ 3-20 skid about a month ago, I spewed forth a cavalcade of negative statistics to underscore just how far they had fallen and how dire their situation appeared at the time.
Well, they’re 17-8 since the 10-game losing streak that ended that 3-20 run, and have ridden an offensive eruption to an NL-best 13-5 record in July, while passing more than half the teams that were ahead of them in the wild-card standings.
They still have several concerns with the pitching staff, including the perplexing mediocrity of Tim Hudson, who’s pitching like a No. 4 or No. 5 starter and not a No. 1 or No. 2, and the continued inconsistency of the bullpen.
The ‘pen still could use a veteran lefty _ Ray King? _ to complement Macay McBride and possibly another setup man _ Scott Linebrink’s possible, but I wouldn’t give up Betemit for the Padres veteran, who has blown leads in the past two games _ to assure a strong bridge to new closer Bob Wickman.
The Braves have been winning despite the pitching staff, for the most part, rather than because of it. Their 5.02 ERA in July is 11th in the NL.
That said, they are winning. And no one is hitting like the Braves. No one.
They just finished a 7-2 trip that included series wins at San Diego, St. Louis and Philly, following a 7-3 homestand leading up to the break. Now the Braves are home for six games against a Florida team that’s 10-11 in its past 21 games, but is coming in with a couple of awfully good young starting pitchers _ Anibal Sanchez and Josh Johnson _ in the first two games, and the Mets. Oh, the Mets.
Every time the Mets show any sign of cracking and slipping a bit, they gather themselves and produce a couple of overwhelming wins that remind everyone how small the chances are of them folding and the Braves winning a 15th consecutive division title. To me, there’s still almost no chance of that happening.
But as I’ve said, the wild card might be the best option for the Braves anyway, because for once they will be pushed all the way to the wire and go into the postseason _ if they make it _ playing their best ball, not on cruise control for most of September as they’ve been in recent years.
They were never out of the wild-card race, as much as many local and national pundits might have insisted they were. So much for all that talk from some about how many wins it would take to get to 90 (as if there were some minimum-wins requirement for the wild card) and how the Braves simply couldn’t play to the level required to pass all those teams ahead of them.
It was paralysis-by-analysis, or would’ve been, if the Braves had listened and believed it. But they didn’t. They just went about trying to win each series.
A month later, they’ve won seven of eight series since losing seven series in a row. And they are 4-1/2 games behind wild-card leader Cincinnati, with San Francisco and Arizona between them and the Reds.
Even if there were only a month to play, the Braves would stand a decent chance of catching and passing those teams. But there are more than two months left. Ample time if they keep playing good ball _ and I don’t mean the absurdly high level the offense is performing at since the break.
Just good baseball. They need better pitching, and hitting somewhere between what they were getting before and what they’ve gotten lately, though probably more toward the latter.
Anyway, in the interest of equal time, we offer some of the more impressive stats this Braves team and its individuals have put up recently:
_ The Braves have hit three or more homers in nine of their past 17 games, after hitting one homer or fewer in each of the previous 15 games.
_ They’ve hit .326 with an absurd 45 homers during their past 17 games (13-4), have scored 100 runs during their current 9-2 run, and amassed 33 homers in their past 10 games.
_ In the NL, only the Reds (141) have hit more homers in the NL this season than the Braves (138), and the Reds play in a bandbox derisively referred to as Great American Small Park.
_ The Braves lead the majors with 46 homers in July, 15 more than next-most in the NL (Cardinals) and 10 ahead of AL leader Chicago.
_ The Braves lead the majors in average (.328), OBP (.388) and slugging (.607) in July. Arizona (.300) is next among NL teams in average, and Cleveland (.508) is the only other team in the majors slugging higher than .490.
_ The Braves have three of the NL’s top six RBI men in July, including Andruw Jones (league-best 23) and Chipper Jones and Brian McCann (20 apiece).
_ They have four of the NL’s top 12 home run hitters in July _ Chipper Jones (7, despite missing past two games with strained oblique), and Andruw Jones, Adam LaRoche and Brian McCann (6 apiece).
_ Chipper Jones leads the majors with a .526 July average and has hit .512 (42-for-82) with eight homers, 24 RBIs and a gaudy 1.509 OPS during his current 20-game hitting streak.
_ Adam LaRoche has shrugged off early criticism and hit .352 (31-for-88) with eight homers and 19 RBIs in 22 games since June 24. The first baseman ranks third in the NL in road RBIs (44) behind the Mets’ Carlos Beltran (55) and Andruw Jones (54), and LaRoche is tied for sixth in road homers with 15, behind only Carlos Lee (18), Beltran (17), Albert Pujols (16), Andruw Jones (16) and Aramis Ramirez (16).
_ Versatile Wilson Betemit has hit .358 with four homers and 13 RBIs in 53 at-bats over his past 16 games, including 13-for-37 (.351) with three homers and 11 RBIs while starting the last eight games of the just-completed trip. Trade interest has risen sharply in Betemit, but he might be too valuable for the Braves to deal, given recent health issues of Chipper Jones and Marcus Giles.
(On the other hand, if the Braves could make a deal for Giles, Betemit has proven he can handle the leadoff role and second base the rest of the season, or Martin Prado could be brought up to play second and Betemit could continue moving between spots, long as he keeps getting regular playing time).
Giles, by the way, is 2-for-12 with eight strikeouts in three games since injuring his thumb, including the extra-innings game in which he injured it in the first inning at San Diego and kept playing, and his first games back Sunday-Monday at Philly (1-for-7, five Ks).
_ Jeff Francoeur has quietly (if that’s possible for Delta commercial star) hit a solid .315 with five homers and 22 RBIs in his past 29 games.
_ Edgar Renteria has hit .395 with a .465 OBP in July, three homers, 24 runs and 12 RBIs in 18 games.
_ All-Star Brian McCann keeps doing what he does, batting .368 with a .420 OBP in 58 games since April 21, and for tons more power since his knee improved over the All-Star break. He has six homers and 20 RBIs in July, including a stunning five-homer, 13-RBI five-game stretch during the trip.
_ Rookie Scott Thorman has hit .358 (13-for-83) with four doubles, four homers and nine RBIs in July, after batting .111 (3-for-27) with one double and one RBIs in June, his first month in the majors.
There are others, too. But I’m running out of time and this blog has gotten way too long for some of your tastes, I’d imagine.
Keep in mind, the pitching staff still is a concern, and we realize the hitting can’t continue like this (it’s already cooled a bit in the past week, though the power still was in abundance at Philly’s small park).
All that said, it’s been a rather remarkable one-month turnaround.
Showing vital signs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday night’s game in Philadelphia was just what the Braves needed. They were able to win even without the Jones boys and Bob Wickman pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the 5-1 victory.
Not normally a strikeout pitcher, Wickman fanned his first batter. Then he got two easy groundouts. How nice was that?
Wickman wasn’t eligible for a save after Jeff Francoeur’s three-run homer capped a four-run top of the ninth inning for the Braves. But he showed that the Braves now have someone who isn’t intimidated by the task of finishing games.
Although the Braves had just five hits, two were home runs and the other three were doubles.
Still, the Braves need Chipper and Andruw Jones back in the lineup as soon as possible. Chipper won’t play in Monday night’s series finale at Philadelphia, but Andruw was scheduled to be in the starting lineup.
Chipper Jones has shown during his power-laden 20-game hitting streak that he can still be one of the best hitters in the National League. But the third baseman has to stay healthy and he hasn’t been able to the past few seasons.
Now it’s an oblique strain in his left side. Chipper turned 34 this year, but his body is acting older.
From surge to holding pattern … ugh
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is it just me, or does it feel like the four-homers-a-day, seven-game winning streak was a long time ago, or at least more than a few days ago?
Man, the off day Thursday and rainout Saturday reminded me how preferable the every-day pace of baseball is to some of us over other sports….
Anyway, I’ll keep it brief, folks, but I noticed the blog was bogged down again with nearly 500 responses. And with no new one due to be filed until Monday, at which point this thing would be slower than Vinny Castilla’s bat this season, I decided I’d post a quick one here for you good people to continue your banter at a more workable pace.
Just checked with Stats Inc and noticed that, even though the Braves have played only one game in three days, they still had more than twice as many homers (40) this month as the NL average (19) and 11 more than the second-most in the league (Cardinals, 29) before today.
Braves had 135 runs in July, while the Mets (112) were the only other NL team with as many as 100 before today. Just underscores what a remarkable hitting surge that was. Braves just have to hope they didn’t leave it all west of the Mississip, and, more importantly, hope the Jones boys are back quickly.
Without them both continuing to fuel the offense, Braves’ playoff chances obviously would be diminished. It doesn’t sound as if either is a serious concern, but Chipper’s side strain sends up at least a small red flag in that those things can be nagging, annoying problems that linger. And with him on his best hitting surge since 1999, it’d be a shame , for his and the Braves’ sakes, to see it disrupted by another health issue.
For the months, Braves still had three of NL’s top 10 home run hitters before today, with Chipper (seven), Andruw and McCann (six apiece). I just watched Soriano hit his seventh of the month, and am left shaking my head over how hot he is. I think that’s four doubles, a triple and a homer in TWO DAYS.
Andruw still led majors with 23 RBIs for the month before today, just ahead of Big Papi, who had 22 for the BoSox. San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez (21) was the only other NL player with more RBIs this month than Andruw (20) and McCann (20) _ yes, three of four RBI leaders were Braves before today.
But it won’t matter if the bullpen can’t hold leads, now, will it?
Hey, my old colleague Mike Berardino of the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale pointed out today that Baseball Prospectus’ computer projections still give the Braves a 21 percent chance of making the playoffs, including a 2.2 percent chance of winning their 15th consecutive division title.
But if they don’t sweep the Mets next weekend at Turner Field, or at least win the series, I’d imagine that 2.2 percent goes to about .2 percent. Realistically, I think we all know the wild card is probably the only way the Braves are going to get into the postseason tournament. And that’s good enough. Just get there, and it starts anew. But “just” getting there isn’t going to be easy. Couple of wild-card leaders are starting to show a little bit of life now.
Wins the next two nights in Philly _ provided they play, of course _ would certainly stoke the embers of last week’s hitting surge and winning streak.
OK, I’ll go now. Have at it. Again, just wanted to give you guys a proper platform to discourse at a reasonable downloading speed.
Oh, I got the new Golden Smog CD _ excellent. Any of you who don’t know, it’s guys from Wilco, Jayhawks, etc. First studio album they’ve put out in eight years, I think. Also saw the Leonard Cohen documentary at Midtown Cinemas. Anyone who’s a fan of his must see it. It’s outstanding.
That’s it. I said I’d keep it short, and I did (relatively speaking). The Dude abides (watched The Big Lebowski at 2 a.m. last night, and was reminded of just how freakin’ cool The Dude was, is).
Phillies close to firesale
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Braves are very much back in wild-card contention. In fact, they may be the wild-card favorite in the National League right now.
The Phillies, though, are fading and fading fast. There is even talk that a series victory by the Braves in the four-game set beginning Friday night will touch off a firesale in Philadelphia.
Bobby Abreu is already on the market. Numerous players may follow.
If the Phillies give up on the season, the real trade prize may not be Abreu, but rather closer Tom Gordon. There are no closers left on the market after the Braves plucked Bob Wickman from Cleveland. That would make Gordon a prized commodity if the Phillies were to decide to deal him.
Gordon is a lot safer bet than Wickman, but Braves general manager John Schuerholz made a good move to get the Indians closer now. And he did it very cheaply, meaning he has flexibility to make more moves.
Max Ramirez was a marginal prospect who has a strained rotator cuff. That’s not good news for a catcher.
The Braves still need bullpen help. But adding Wickman makes the postseason seem a lot more likely.
Meanwhile, the Phillies have about run out of time on a turnaround. Let the trading begin.
A trade that Luke the Drifter (or Hank) would approve
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here it is, unprecedented special edition 8 p.m. (or so) blog for the loyal contributors to this space.
As I’ve obviously been a bit busy since 6 a.m. wakeup call in St. Louis until filing rewrite of trade story a while ago, I’ve not had time for discourse, or any course (I mean meals, etc.)
Felt bad when I tried to reply to Robert’s absurd Crawford-for-Jurries proposal on other blog just now, and the damn thing took about 3 minutes to download it was so bogged down. A bogged-down blog is not good for anyone, so I figured I’d post another to provide a proper forum following today’s big trade.
See, I care, people. I care.
And make no mistake, it was big. The trade, that is. To get Bob Wickman, arguably the best available bullpen arm, for an A-ball catching prospect who still needs a lot of work defensively and who never would have caught in Atlanta with McCann ahead of him … well, it’s really as much as could be asked.
At least for today.
I’m of the opinion, same as a few of you, that Braves need to make one more move, and I also believe they will. John S. (Schuerholz, not Smoltz) was non-commital when I asked him if he thought he’d make another deal, but I know he’s trying. Scott Willamson or one of the old lefties like Ray King, would be another big addition.
Why stop now? If you don’t have to mortgage the future to any great degree, and you’ve got about $4 mill to spend, which the Braves do, then go get another arm. They need another arm more than a bat, as the past few weeks have reminded us.
Sure, they could use a leadoff guy, but what are the chances you’re going to get a good one on the market right now, affordable and all? Not likely.
So add to the ‘pen with another legit contributor, then you’d have Wickman, fill-in-the-blank, Ray, Paronto, Yates, McBride and perhaps Thomson after Davies gets back and moves into the rotation. Potentially solid.
Today was big. Around baseball, folks are wondering how the Braves got Wickman for merely the 20th-rated prospect in their organization, and a still-raw defensive catcher at that. Max Ramirez won’t be in the majors for at least two years, maybe longer.
So tip the cap to the dapper old G.M., who simply does not get fleeced in trades. Sure, you wish he’d done it earlier, but Cleveland wasn’t ready to deal Wickman earlier, and wanted to try to drive up the price before they moved him.
This isn’t simply a salary dump. He’s still a solid closer. Not Mariano Rivera, but seriously, I’m not so sure I wouldn’t prefer Wickman to, say, Lidge right now. In fact, I know I’d prefer him.
Wickman’s ERA is over 4.00, but that’s from a few bad outings. And every time he has a bad one, he bounces back, shrugs it off, like a real closer’s supposed to. He ain’t Smoltz, but he’ll do. He’s certainly a huge upgrade over what we’ve seen the past two years, other than Reitsma’s great month and Farnsworth pre-playoff immolation.
Wickman pitched in 29 games this season, and allowed no earned runs in 23 of them. Five of his 13 earned runs (and his only homer) allowed this season came in one ugly appearance at Cincy’s Great American Small Park on June 30, and in four scoreless appearances since then he’s allowed two hits and one walk in four innings, including a save Wednesday on the road against the surging Angels.
During crunch time, and should the Braves make the playoffs, I know damn well I’d rather have him than Lidge or or any of the other guys who seem to come unglued when the temperature hits boil.
And besides, Wickman’s only given up one homer all year. One. After watching Sosa and Reitsma, et al, that’s gotta be a welcome relief for Braves players and coaches and Bobby.
I like the deal so much, I’m gonna bring back the ode to excellent hitting for one day, and make it an ode to the G.M., who stands his ground and doesn’t let us impatient media folks _ or you guys _ sway his personnel moves.
So to the stubborn, supremely confident, some-might-even-say arrogant, but really, really good G.M., we present another admittedly random ode to general excellence in the form of exemplary songwriting:
LOST HIGHWAY, by Leon Payne (cover version sung by Hank Williams)
I’m a rolling stone, all alone and lost,
For a life of sin, I have paid the cost.
When I pass by, all the people say
“Just another guy on the lost highway.”
Just a deck of cards and a jug of wine
And a woman’s lies make a life like mine.
Oh, the day we met, I went astray,
I started rollin’ down that lost highway.
I was just a lad, nearly twenty-two,
Neither good nor bad, just a kid like you,
And now I’m lost, too late to pray,
Lord, I’ve paid the cost on the lost highway.
Now, boys, don’t start your ramblin’ round,
On this road of sin or you’re sorrow bound.
Take my advice or you’ll curse the day
You started rollin’ down that lost highway
Enjoy the record ride, Dylan’s work
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It can’t go on forever, but this must be one hell of a ride for all you Braves fans, huh? I mean, come on, it doesn’t get much better than this, not in July.
No team ever will hit anything remotely like this in, say, mid-October, when they face quality pitching every night. But to discount what the Braves have done in the past week, and the past two-three weeks, seems pointless.
I mean, if it were this easy to hit a mixed bag of good, mediocre and just plain lousy pitching, then why haven’t other teams done it for any stretch like this? Why hasn’t a single team since the 1930 Yankees of Ruth and Gehrig scored 10 or more runs in five consecutive games until the Braves did it on this road trip — and against two division-leading teams, to boot.
Now, we’ll reiterate, so a couple of you contrarians or just plain bitter folks who wrote off the Braves a while back and now seem upset that they haven’t died, just so you folks won’t fire off a missive about how this won’t last: We know.
The Braves absolutely will not hit .355 for the rest of July. They won’t hit three or four homers a night and score 10-15 runs. We know, we know, we know.
But the mere fact that they’ve put together this ridiculously strong hitting surge has done something big in the clubhouse. It’s jacked up everyone’s confidence, and this game is so much about confidence and belief, etc.
The Braves still have plenty of concerns, beginning with the back end of the rotation (and the front end, at least the part of the front end that is Tim Hudson). The bullpen is still suspect, the closer situation still totally unresolved.
But they’re winning anyway. Seven in a row, 11 of 13, and 15 of 21 since their 3-20 skid and 10-game losing streak. They’re winning and they’re hitting as if this were the Blake Street Bombers of the pre-humidor era at Coors Field. Remember that time, seems so long ago… where have you gone, Dante Bichette?
Only this time, there’s no thin air or dry baseballs to explain it. There really is no explanation for having this many guys hot at one time, although, as I’ve said, facing some suspect pitching does contribute (Jason Marquis may have 11 wins, but he’s not that good).
Fact of the matter is, the Braves have a lot of weapons in their lineup, as Tony La Russa put it after last night’s game. They have a lot of talented hitters, from the Joneses to McCann and Renteria and early season whipping boy Adam LaRoche, who didn’t let the boos and mountains of criticism affect him.
LaRoche, by the way? He’s hitting .309 with 12 homers and 37 RBIs in his past 57 games, and .370 with six homers and 14 RBIs in his past 18 games, and if you’re still holding onto anger over the boneheaded play he made in May, well, his teammates and others have long since gotten past it.
But he’s not even their hottest hitter, just one of a bunch that’s sizzling. It’s absurd how many they’ve got killing the ball at once. The Braves have FIVE of the top seven National League RBI men over the past 10 days: Andruw with 15, McCann with 14, the ascendant Wilson Betemit with 10, and Chipper and LaRoche with nine.
The Braves have FOUR of the top five NL home-run hitters over the past 10 days: Andruw with five, McCann, LaRoche and Chipper with four apiece.
They’re hitting .355 with 36 homers, 127 runs, a .418 OBP and .635 slugging percentage in 14 July games, leading the majors by wide gulfs in each of those categories (at 11-3, they also have the best record in the league).
It won’t last, but it’s something to behold while it’s happening.
Oh, by the way, the wild-card lead is down to four games. No way the Braves can win it, right?
As promised, today’s installment of excellence in songwriting, an admittedly random ode to Braves hitting that will continue as long as they keep scoring 10 or more runs a game (if they can get 7-8 tonight against Carpenter and the Cards bullpen, that’ll be good enough for me to keep this thing going; we make exceptions for recent Cy Young winners):
POSITIVELY 4th STREET, by Bob Dylan
You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning
You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that’s winning
You say I let you down
You know it’s not like that
If you’re so hurt
Why then don’t you show it
You say you lost your faith
But that’s not where it’s at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it
I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You’re in with
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I’d make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don’t know to begin with
You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, “How are you?” “Good luck”
But you don’t mean it
When you know as well as me
You’d rather see me paralyzed
Why don’t you just come out once
And scream it
No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I’d rob them
And now I know you’re dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don’t you understand
It’s not my problem
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you
Scorching Braves show that it’s not over
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On July 1, the Braves were 10 games behind in the wild-card standings, with nine teams ahead of them.
Today they are five games behind in the wild-card standings, with seven teams ahead of them, six of those teams within 2-1/2 games of the Braves and none playing as well as Atlanta has for the past two weeks.
So tell me again how it’s virtually impossible for the Braves to win the wild card, and it makes sense for them to trade John Smoltz and/or Andruw Jones and rebuild for the future.
With all due respect, that notion is ridiculous. When you have a chance to win now, you win now. Anyone can get hit by a bus walking across the street tomorrow _ or shot driving down the highway, if you play for the Dallas Cowboys — and to sacrifice the here-and-now for an unsure future, especially when the here-and-now is still this good, is foolish thinking. And it’s not Schuerholz or Cox thinking, I can assure you.
The Braves are the hottest team in the National League, with a season-high six-game winning streak and a league-best 10-3 record in July.
Wild-card leader Cincinnati (49-44 including 5-5 in its past 10 games) is the only team more than 2-1/2 games ahead of the Braves entering Tuesday’s games.
The others in front of Atlanta in the wild-card standings include Arizona (6-4 in its last 10), Los Angeles (five straight losses), San Francisco (three straight losses), Milwaukee (5-5 in its last 10), Houston (4-6 in its last 10) and Colorado (eight straight losses).
In other words, this ain’t like trailing the White Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Twins in the AL wild card race. It’s imminently winnable, this NL wild card.
And if the Braves would make a trade — which I still think they will, and should; they owe it to themselves to do everything they can possibly do to win, given this team’s resurgence — to acquire some bullpen help, and they can get Tim Hudson going between now and season’s end, the Braves might even have a decent chance in a postseason series.
After all, any team that gets three good starting pitching performances to begin a playoff series can win that series, especially if that team’s got a lineup that’s clicking.
Oh, and the Braves’ lineup is clicking, if you haven’t noticed. More than clicking. It’s absolutely roaring.
Now, no one in their right mind expects them to keep hitting like this. It’s impossible. The Braves are hitting an absurd .350 with 31 homers, 113 runs (in 13 games!), a .414 OBP and .619 slugging percentage in July.
To repeat, they’re hitting .350 with a .619 slugging percentage! No other NL team is hitting as high as .310 or slugging .500.
The surging Angels, whose seven-game winning streak is the only one in the majors longer than the Braves’ current streak, lead the AL with a .322 average and .532 slugging percentage in July, and they’ve won nine of 10 games.
The Braves have scored 27 more runs than the next-most prolific scoring team in the majors this month.
Seriously, this is nuts. And again, we reiterate that we know it won’t continue, can’t continue, not at anything like this clip.
But, wow, has it been stunning and impressive, and a stark reminder of how much talent these young Braves have in their lineup, from 22-year-olds Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur to 34-year-old Chipper Jones and plenty in-between.
And if Marcus Giles doesn’t look out, he might just get Wally Pipped by Wilson Betemit, whose eight-hit, eight-RBI production in three games while Giles has been out of the lineup could make it a lot easier for the Braves to pull the trigger on a deal for Giles if they could get bullpen help in return.
That, or pull the trigger on a Betemit deal, though he’s showing he might just be too valuable to trade since he’s making relatively peanuts and still will be very affordable next year.
The Padres have to be considering strongly now their reluctance to deal reliever Linebrink for Betemit, unless it was a smoke screen all along and they wanted to try to squeeze more out of the Braves, which they won’t be able to, not for Linebrink.
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how long this can go on. The Braves face old pal Jason Marquis tonight, and Chipper is 2-for-3 with two homers against him, Andruw 3-for-6 with three homers against him. Tee it up, boys.
The Braves have hit .311 with 138 runs during their current 14-6 run, and .349 with an obscene 30 homers in their 10-2 run since July 2. They’ve hit .390 _ .390! _ with 18 homers in their past five games.
Un-be-lievable.
Even if their surge of four consecutive games of double-digit scoring continues tonight, it’ll be a shocker if they can do it again Wednesday with Chris Carpenter going for the Cards. He just doesn’t get blown up like that.
But until it does stop, I will offer my own form of daily appreciation for the Braves’ absurdly good offensive performance. In the form of similarly remarkable song lyrics.
First up, we offer this from Lucinda Williams’s beautiful “Drunken Angel,” which I’ve had in my head since last night’s discourse with a few tasteful bloggers.
(And if you don’t own the CD — it’s from, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” — I implore you, beg you, highly recommend to you to download, buy it, steal it, do whatever it takes to procure it. Today. Now.)
DRUNKEN ANGEL, by LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Some kind of savior singing the blues
A derelict in your duct tape shoes
Your orphan clothes and your long dark hair
Looking like you didn’t care
Drunken Angel
Blood spilled out from the hole in your heart
Over the strings of your guitar
The worn down places in the wood
That once made you feel so good
Druken angel, drunken Angel
You’re on the other side
Drunken angel
You’re on the other side
Sun came up it was another day
And the sun went down you were blown away
Why’d you let go of your guitar
Why’d you ever let it go that far
Drunken Angel, drunken angel
Hot teams, temps in St. Louis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Maybe it’s appropriate that the two hottest teams in the National League will clash in blast-furnace conditions the next three days. Appropriate or not, however, I’d much prefer getting on a plane and taking the Braves and Cardinals back out to San Diego to do this thing. But I don’t think that’s going to be possible. So we’ll endure.
From paradise to this — welcome to St. Louis, where it’s supposed to reach 100 degrees for the next three days, with the heat index an ungodly 110-115. If we don’t collapse, it should be a great series.
The Braves and Cardinals have the longest two active winning streaks in the NL — Braves five in a row, Cards seven in a row — and also have the best 10-game records. Each is 8-2 in the past 10.
Not only that, it’s also a clash of the hottest-hitting team in the majors and the team that’s pitching the best of late. Something’s gotta, give, as they say.
Braves hitters are as hot in July as, well, July. (Hey, I’m exhausted, so cut me some slack. Haven’t slept in a bed since Saturday night, after taking red-eye flight from San Diego through Atlanta to St. Louis).
They can’t keep this up, obviously. But enjoy it while it lasts, because Chipper and the boys are putting on a show. The Braves lead the majors in every major offensive category this month, including average (.341), homers (27), runs (98), OBP (.498) and slugging (.598). In a word, overwhelming.
They’re 9-3 this month, the league’s best record, despite a 5.03 ERA that’s right in the middle of the NL rankings for the month. They’ve already totaled more runs and homers this month than they did in all of June. The hitting can’t continue at this torrid pace all month (can it?) but the pitching can certainly improve.
The Cardinals have been getting huge offense from Albert Pujols, but mostly they’ve been getting lights-out pitching — a 2.34 ERA during their seven-game winning streak, and a 1.29 ERA (yes, 1.29) during their four-game sweep of the Dodgers that ended Sunday. They just destroyed L.A., outscoring Los Dodgers 21-6 in four games in sweltering conditions at Busch.
It’s supposed to be even hotter this week. If John Thomson were pitching, he might melt. But he’s not. Horacio and Hudson in the first two games against Angels reject Jeff Weaver (makes his first start tonight since traded to Cards) and ex-Brave Jason Marquis. Then either Schiell(or however it’s spelled; I’m too tired to look it up) or Cormier for the Braves against Cards ace Chris Carpenter.
Considering the matchups, the Braves need to win the first two to take this series. But any combination of four wins in this series and the four-gamer to follow at Philly would give the Braves a 7-3 trip after their sweep of the West-leading Padres. A 7-3 trip after a 7-3 homestand … trend?
Given what Weaver did with Angels (3-10, 6.29) and what Marquis has done against Braves (0-1, 10.80 in two starts against his old team), you might like the Braves chances in these first two games.
And as for Chipper’s extra-base hit streak … well, if he can get the record tonight with an extra-base hit for his 15th consecutive game, there’s a good chance he’ll extend it to 16 tomorrow: He’s 2-for-3 with two homers against Marquis, and Andruw Jones is 3-for-6 with three homers against him.
OK, gotta file this and get over to new, sweaty Busch…. Uh, to new Busch Stadium.
No reason for Braves to look past this season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anyone still suggesting the Braves should wave a figurative white flag on this season and instead aim for the future must not be paying attention to the rampant parity in the NL wild-card race. Either that, or they don’t believe in this recent Braves resurgence.
And if that’s you on either point, then frankly, I have a difficult time understanding your reasoning.
It’s a day game and I’ve got to get out to the ballpark here in San Diego, so I’m going to keep this brief. But after noticing how bogged down the blog has gotten from the rash of posts during last night’s rout, I figured the least I could do is get a fresh post up here so you folks can get some quicker downloads and not operate at dial-up speed on DSL or whatever.
Anyway, the Braves have won eight of 10 games and four in a row, the last two against the NL West-leading Padres, who won their last five games before the All-Star break and had the NL’s lowest team ERA before the Braves came to town.
Atlanta has pounded nine homers and scored 26 runs in the first two games of a series that ends this (Sunday) afternoon. They beat up Chris Young in the opener Friday, after Young had been 5-1 with a 1.75 ERA in his previous eight starts. They beat up Chan Ho Park on Saturday, after Park had gone 4-1 in his previous seven starts.
The Braves are 5-1/2 games behind wild-card leader Cincinnati, a team they won a series against right before the All-Star break. They have reduced the wild-card almost in half since July 1, from 10 games to 5-1/2.
The Braves have the best record in the NL (8-3) in July and lead the majors in every major offensive category this month before Sunday’s games. They led in average (.340), runs (88), homers (25), OBP (.406) and slugging (.603), among others.
Of course, this isn’t going to last. Not this torrid hitting. They’re not going to hit like that as a unit for the rest of the season. No team could.
But the Braves are going to hit somewhere between that and their awful June work, and a midpoint between the two should be good enough if the Braves get a little better pitching (they’re winning despite modest starts from those other than Smoltz in July) and, especially, if they make at least one trade to help the bullpen a bit for the stretch.
The trade is still essential, in the view of many including Smoltz, who said as much after Saturday’s game, when he pleaded that Braves brass make a deal to bolster the cause if the Braves keep playing like they have and keep themselves in the thick of the playoff picture.
The Braves need to bring in a veteran to help stabilize a ‘pen that’s simply relying too much on journeyman and youth, and the cracks will show if you lean heavily on pitchers of that ilk during the tension-filled moments of a playoff race. Trust me, they will. Weaknesses are exposed in those moments.
But these Braves are otherwise pretty solid, especially if they can get Tim Hudson back on the kind of run he enjoyed before his ongoing and latest skid.
Kyle Davies is progressing in his rehab and should rejoin the rotation in late August. Smoltz is pitching very steadily and doing the smart thing by not trying to pitch complete games in mid-summer the way he did a year ago. Horacio Ramirez, three times out of four, pitches a gem. Chuck James has been brilliant at times and at least solid at others.
And the lineup … folks, it’s very tough from Nos. 2-7, as we’ve been reminded in recent weeks.
With Chipper Jones as hot as he is now _ and he is blazing, looking like the Chipper of years past (and not the past two years) _ and Andruw Jones hitting moon shots to the upper decks, and Renteria reeling off hitting streaks left and right, and LaRoche and Francoeur capable of going deep at any time, and McCann playing like a 28-year-old veteran instead of a 22-year-old….
Even Marcus Giles has come around in recent weeks, and X-rays on his swollen thumb yesterday were negative. The Braves think he’ll be back in there very soon, but in the meantime, Wilson Betemit merely got on base four times and hit a home run last night as Giles’ replacement.
Again, we know the Braves aren’t going to hit like this the rest of the season. But we should also know they’re not going to play like they did in June again. That 6-21 month was not representative of the talent on this team, and everyone knew it.
The NL wild card is a wide-open race, and if you ask teams like the Padres and Reds and others the Braves have won series from recently, they’d tell you that Atlanta absolutely should not be counted out. Orel Hershiser picked the Braves to win the wild card a few nights ago on Baseball Tonight, and right now the bespectacled former Dodgers pitcher is looking rather intelligent.
Orel history and the Giles brothers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Idle thoughts while wondering if there’s any significance to the thinking-man’s analyst, Orel Hershiser, who made his name pitching for the Dodgers in the NL West, going out on a limb Thursday night to pick the Braves to win the NL Wild Card.
Hey, just telling you what I heard. Sorry to disappoint those of you who believe all the ESPN talking heads have it out for the Braves. And just curious, whose opinion you going to put more stock in, Hershiser’s or Steve Phillips’?
Before I forget, got a encouraging update on Peter Gammons today. He’s walking around, was transferred to a rehab facility near his home on Cape Cod. He’s eager to get back to work. Say a prayer for the man if you’re a baseball fan, even if you hate the Red Sox.
OK, I was crunching numbers awhile ago before tonight’s Braves-Padres series opener, and something struck me: This has not been a good year to be one of the baseball-playing Giles Bros. At least not on the field, it hasn’t been.
Braves 2B Marcus Giles is batting .248 with seven homers, 33 RBIs, a .343 OBP and .368 slugging percentage, and it’s taken a recent surge to get him to those levels.
But as bad as the first half was for Marcus, he actually has more homers and nearly the same slugging percentage than his brother. Startling, considering San Diego OF Brian Giles, not long ago, was widely regarded as one of the best five all-around hitters in the NL. This season, Brian is batting .269 with six homers, 46 RBIs, a .384 OBP and .372 slugging percentage in 331 at-bats.
Remember, this is the Brian Giles who hit 35 or more homers four years in a row (1999-2002) for Pittsburgh, averaging 109 RBIs in that stretch. The Giles who had OBPs of .418, .432, .450, .427 and .423 in five of the past seven seasons.
As for Marcus, consider his .248-.343-.368 so far this season in comparison to his three-year averages in 2003-05: .305-.377-.480.
Even more dramatic, consider Brian’s .269-.384-.372 this season compared to his career averages before this season: .299-.413-.542.
Granted, he is 35 (Brian, I’m talking about; Marcus is only 28). But the age has nothing to do with another huge factor that’s affected Brian Giles: He can’t hit at Petco Park, at least not anything like he does at most places. The three-year-old park isn’t quite as spacious now after they moved the fences in a bit, but Brian Giles still is batting just .243 with two homers and a .308 slugging percentage there in 47 home games. That’s hard to believe, truly, for a hitter of his pedigree.
Anyway … here’s another interesting set of numbers. While Brian Giles has always killed Braves pitching, the same can hardly be said for little brother against the Padres.
Brian Giles has a .364 career average and whopping 1.091 OPS in 47 games against the Braves, with 60 hits, seven homers and 40 walks. In 24 games at Turner Field, he’s hit .354 with a .475 OBP and .531 slugging percentage.
Meanwhile, Marcus Giles has hit .265 with only one homer and 10 RBIs in 31 games against the Padres, including .211 with one extra-base hit (double) in nine games at Petco Park.
OK, sorry for the Giles family information overload.
Wait, just one last Giles thing: Marcus showed no ill effects of his Sunday cortisone shot in the left wrist when he took batting practice at Thursday’s off-day workout in his hometown (yes, the Giles brothers are from San Diego, but you probably knew that). The Braves need desperately for him to continue his recent resurgence, because his production at the top of the lineup seems to change everything and stoke the entire offense. They got going as a lineup recently at the same time that he began hitting better than he had all season.
Marcus has hit .287 with four homers, 13 RBIs, 19 runs, a solid .388 OBP, and almost as many walks (13) as strikeouts (14) in his past 24 games. And he’s got a 12-game hitting streak going in which he’s hit .333 with three homers, nine RBIs and a robust .481 OBP, reflective of 10 walks (with only six strikeouts) in that span.
Giles is viewed as one of the Braves’ most-tradeable commodities, and moving him wouldn’t be as potentially devastating to the team’s chances this season as moving Andruw or Smoltz would be. But unless the Braves got back a leadoff hitter in any deal for Giles, they’ll have to turn to an even less-suited hitter for leadoff duties, either that or move one of the game’s best No. 2 hitters, Edgar Renteria, to the leadoff spot. So while the Braves could get by with Betemit or Prado (or Pena) at second base, the leadoff thing could be a major problem the rest of the way if they moved Giles.
Besides, I haven’t heard any rumors at all recently regarding Marcus, so it looks like he’s staying the rest of the season. At least it looks like that for now.
Betemit’s name keeps appearing in San Diego’s paper, regarding the Padres’ interest in him. But unless the Padres give up reliever Linebrink, I don’t see it happening. And all indications are that they won’t move Linebrink because of the hole it would put in their ‘pen.
So we’ll see. Should be an interesting series on the field. Perhaps it’ll also be interesting off the field, in terms of rumors and gossip over possible trades.
Ray Davies was in concert in downtown San Diego last night, but the show was sold out and I had something else going on anyway.
I ate some killer lobster risotto. The weather today is picture-perfect San Diego, lower humidity than yesterday (real low, in fact) and about 77 degrees with a breeze. Wish you were here (well, some of you).
Big trip starts in paradise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Random thoughts and a few facts while waiting to board 8:25 a.m. flight to San Diego, which is not a bad place to be in the middle of July (sunny, high upper-70s, low humidity … OK, I’ll stop).
Braves are leaving today at about noon from Atlanta and plan to work out at Petco Park for a couple hours or less this afternoon about 3 p.m. Pacific time. Just in case anybody cares about that kind of stuff.
Oh, before I forget: Anybody catch that WNBA All-Star Game last night? Wow, was that unbelievable, or what? (kidding, folks)
How big is this road trip for the Braves? Well, it’s about as big as a road trip in mid-July can be, that’s for sure. I say that because the Braves really must continue to build upon the momentum they established before the break and at least maintain the status quo in the wild-card race, if not gain more ground.
The chart I ran with the last blog illustrated how all eight teams ahead of the Braves in the wild card standings had a losing record over the past two weeks to a month. A few of you pointed out that coincided with interleague play, more or less, and that the AL teams thumped the NL teams for the most part.
While that’s true and does explain some of the losses for most of the team, the the Giants, Astros, Phillies, Diamondbacks all had .500 or below records against NL teams in those spans I cited for each club; the Brewers lost two of three to the lowly Royals and three in a row to the Cubs right before the break; the Reds lost six of seven against the Brewers and Braves just before the break, and the Rockies lost three in a row against the Diamondbacks to close the first half and were swept by the Cardinals right before interleague play began.
So don’t try to minimize my stats, people. I’m telling you, don’t do it.
Of the teams ahead of the Braves, the greatest challenge will come from the Dodgers. The Braves will really have a hard time chasing them down, I think, because the Dodgers have done well despite injuries and could really put together a good run as they compete with the Padres down the stretch.
The rest of that mediocre bunch, I really think the Braves can catch. And don’t start with the Giants. They’re creaky and Barry is, as I predicted before the season, a shell of the player he once was and diminishing by the day. Nevermind the legal issues that are slowly, steadily coming down around him.
Schedule-makers did the Braves no favors, sending them to the West Coast both to start the season and to start the second half. They can only hope this goes a little better than that injury-riddled first trip to California went, but it’s already better in one big aspect — weather.
Gorgeous this time, sunny and highs near 80 each day. So no excuses from pitchers and others about weather conditions.
They’re facing a tough San Diego team that seized control of a tight NL West race with a 9-4 run before the break, finishing with a five-game winning streak at Philadelphia and Washington, during which the Padres hit .326.
And the Braves will face the Padres’ aces right out of the box, countering with their own: RHP Tim Hudson goes against RHP Chris Young (8-4, 3.12) Friday, and Young’s as hot as any pitcher in the NL, though a bit under the radar.
Young was 5-1 with a 1.75 ERA and .169 opponents’ average in his last eight starts before the break, allowing two earned runs or fewer seven times in that stretch, with 58 strikeouts and 16 walks in 51-1/3 innings.
Coincidentally, that streak began after he gave up eight hits and six runs in three innings at Atlanta on May 24, his worst start of the season in every way.
Saturday, Smoltz faces RHP Jake Peavy (4-8, 4.46) in a rematch of perhaps the best pitcher’s duel the Braves have been in all year. Peavy has struggled since that strikeout-a-thon he pitched against Atlanta the last time they were here, when Smoltz won while the kid piled up the K’s.
Alright, that’s it. Gotta catch this flight. For my listening pleasure on this long flight, I’ve got the new Gram Parsons three-CD set with Grievous Angel, GP and with the unreleased outtakes from both CDs, plus some Lucinda Williams, the latest Van Hunt (that dude is totally old-school soul) and the Wilco live CD.
So it should be a pleasant flight, whether I get upgraded or not.
Later.
Wild-card race: the Lost Episode
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few thoughts about the Braves’ postseason chances, while pondering how many hours of life I’ve recently wasted watching nil-nil soccer games and the Century 21 (trademark) Home Run Derby. Hours and hours … back, back, back … gone.
Oh, and throw in another half-hour watching the severely disappointing first “Lost Episode” of the Dave Chappelle Show — please, if they’re all this mediocre, lose them again. Burn them. I’ll rewatch DVDs of the first two always-sensational seasons. The between-skits banter from Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings in place of Chappelle is painfully uncomfortable to watch.
OK, the Braves. This information is provided not only as comfort for those who hope and/or believe the Braves can still make the playoffs, but also for those stubborn cynics who refuse to acknowledge 1. The progress made in the past 2-1/2 weeks by the Braves; or 2. The rampant mediocrity and/or parity of all those eight teams — yes, eight — ahead of Atlanta in the wild-card race.
I’m simply a humble information provider, not suggesting the Braves will or won’t make the playoffs (although I have to say, I’m starting to get this little itch that tells me we’re in for a stirring race-to-the-wire the likes of which we haven’t seen around Atlanta for a lot of Septembers….)
The Braves, without even a three-game game winning streak, trimmed 3-1/2 off the wild-card lead last week, from 10 games to 6-1/2. After a 10-game losing skid, they finished the half going 10-6, including 7-3 in their final homestand.
That much, most of you know.
So I went back and checked how all the teams ahead of the Braves in the wild-card standings have done recently, curious to see how on earth not one of those teams had been able to separate itself from the pack, or at least how one of them hadn’t been able to move more than 6-1/2 games ahead of Atlanta.
Here’s what I found, and I’ll list the teams in order of current standing in the wild-card race. In the case of each team, I admittedly went back only as far as I needed to for the purposes of making my point, which is the prerogative of this scribe and the folks paying for the Stats, Inc. service.
You want to make another point, do your own research:
1. Los Angeles (46-42): Dodgers are 10-12 with a 4.85 ERA and only 11 home runs in 22 games since June 16, and have won just one of their past four series.
2. Colorado (44-43): Rockies are 10-11 with a .258 batting average since June 16, including three straight home losses to Arizona to close the “first half.”
3. Cincinnati (45-44): Reds went 1-8 with a 6.69 ERA to finish half. ‘Nuff said.
4. San Francisco (45-44): Giants are 11-12 with a .252 average and 4.52 ERA since June 16, and with one series win in five before the break.
5. Milwaukee (44-46): Brewers are 9-11 with .244 average and 5.01 ERA since June 19, and lost three in a row to the lowly Cubs to close the first half.
6. Arizona (43-45): D-backs are 9-23 with a 6.13 ERA since June 5. Six-one-three.
7. Houston (43-46): Astros are 7-13 with a .242 average and shaky bullpen since June 18, and lost three in a row to Central rival St. Louis before the break.
8. Philadelphia (40-47): Phillies are 7-18 with 5.72 ERA since June 11, and are expected to start selling off parts (Burrell, Gordon, etc.) any day now.
9. Atlanta (40-49): Braves are 10-6 with .292 average and 3.73 ERA since June 23, and lead the majors with .339 average and .564 slugging percentage in July.
10. Florida (38-48): Marlins’ youth is showing; 3-7 with a 6.93 ERA in July.
11. Washington (38-52): Nationals are 8-18 with a 6.51 ERA since June 12, and are expected to shed some big salaries before the July 31 trade deadline.
See, it doesn’t look so impossible for the Braves any more, does it?
OK, that’s it. I’m done.
You folks should see “The Devil Wears Prada” if you haven’t already. Don’t let anyone dismiss it as a “chick flick.” It’s hilarious.
And if you missed it a few months back, buy George Jones’ “Hits I missed … and One I Didn’t.” Or just buy it and give it to someone who thinks Tim McGraw or Garth Brooks is country music. Because it ain’t. The Possum (George Jones), now that’s country.
Bad time for a break?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just when the Braves get rolling again, it’s time for the All-Star break.
The three Braves on the NL team — Brian McCann, Edgar Renteria and Andruw Jones — were among the few consistent offensive cogs for the Braves for the first half of the season, until their teammates’ bats caught up in the past couple of weeks.
Obviously, the Braves would have liked to have kept playing without this four-day break Do you think they’ll be able to pick up where they left off when they resume play in San Diego Friday?
Can Bob Wickman relight the bullpen?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I got an e-mail about the Eddie Guardado-for-Travis Chick trade yesterday, I only wished I had been working so I could write this:
It’s been a rapid career decline for Eddie Guardado, the former All-Star closer who lost his job to a Putz and was traded for a Chick.
(Ba-da-bum. Thank you. You’re too kind.)
I searched today on the Internet and was shocked not to find that anyone else had already used that line. Surely someone did. Too bad a New York team wasn’t involved, because it could have made for a great back-page headline in the tabloids.
Anyway … yes, Guardado was traded by the Mariners to Cincinnati for minor league pitcher Travis Chick, after losing his closer job earlier this season to J.J. Putz. Couldn’t make that transaction up if I tried.
Didn’t the bullpen-needy Braves have a putz … er, a minor league pitcher they could have traded for Guardado? Well, I’m sure they did. But can’t say that I blame the Braves for not wanting to pay the remainder of Guardado’s $6.25 mil salary this season, seeing how he has a 5.48 ERA, blew three of eight saves before Putz took his job in May, and has a .309 opponents’ average that includes a .311 mark and four homers allowed in 61 at-bats in close-and-late situations.
No, the Braves already have a couple of high-paid guys who can do that kind of work, thankyouverymuch. There’s the amiable Canadian who had the horrendous and injury-ended season, and there’s Jorge Sosa, who gave up his NL-leading 20th homer during a frightening ninth-inning meltdown Thursday. For those keeping score, Sosa has allowed 40 hits and 10 homers in 30 innings over his past 11 games (four starts, seven funhouse relief appearances). Sosa has a 6.60 ERA in that span, jacking his season figure to 5.47 (but only 5.00 as a reliever!)
I repeat, he LEADS THE NL with 20 homers allowed despite pitching just 79 innings. He has a .359 opponents’ average with runners in scoring position and league-worst .383 average with runners on base anywhere. With all due respect, if Sosa is the answer, then I can no longer recall the horrifying question.
Only one Brave has a higher opponents’ average with runners in scoring position this season than Sosa. Yes, that’d be Chris Reitsma, the fallen closer who’s done for the season and headed for elbow surgery. He allowed a .438 (14-for-32) average with eight extra-base hits and an unfathomable 1.419 opponents’ OPS with runners in scoring position. No, seriously. He did.
OK, anyway … folks, sorry to be the latest to bring this up, but there’s apparently just not much out there in the way of available bullpen arms, no Kyle Farnsworths this time around. The Braves got him, the best available bullpen arm, at least year” deadline. This year, they might have to settle for Bob Wickman or someone of that ilk.
Braves have been scouting Cleveland games lately, and Wickman is a guy they also pursued this winter. The chunky vet isn’t the sexy 100-mph power arm that Farnsworth was, but Wickman also isn’t as flaky, introverted and prone to weeping after giving up big homers, either.
Wickman has converted a respectable 13-of-16 saves this season with an unexceptional 4.50 ERA, and he’s allowed just one homer in in 26 innings. Right-handers have hit just .213 against him with a .288 OBP, lefties .333/.411. So if Macay McBride can get out crucial lefties, it might work — at least better than what the Braves have now.
Or are we of the belief that Sosa needs more time to show what he can do in the closer role? Personally, I don’t know if there’s enough antacid in Atlanta for an extended Sosa run in the closer role.
Some combination of Paronto, Ken Ray, McBride, Kevin Barry, Oscar Villarreal and Tyler Yates (yes, I know, two rookies and three journeymen) with Wickman added to mix, or a similar veteran, just might be serviceable. Then you drop John Thomson to the bullpen if Davies is ready in late July or August (or if Barry is moved to the rotation?) and Thomson hasn’t been traded by then (don’t know what you’d get for him, honestly). Sosa? Hey, whatever.
Personally the remaining $1 mill or so on his $2.2 mill contract … OK, I’m not going to advocate releasing anyone, especially not someone with a good arm on a pitching-thin staff. But, well, I wouldn’t howl in protest if it happened? Would you?
OK, running out of time. Gotta eat, shower, dress and get to the park.
Wanted to share something hilarious with you guys that appeared in the Onion, which, if you’re not familiar, is an hysterically funny satire/humor mock newspaper that’s based in Wisconsin, I believe, and can be purchased at plenty of bookstores and picked up free at stands throughout Chicago, Milwaukee and that area. Anyway, my ex-wife e-mailed me this from today’s Onion (do you know, by the way, the only thing bad about having a gorgeous ex-wife with a great sense of humor? Having a gorgeous ex-wife with a great sense of humor).
Disabled List Offers Mark Prior Two-Year, $8 Million Extension June 29, 2006 | Onion Sports CHICAGO — Mark Prior, the right-handed pitcher who has spent the first few years of his career on the disabled list, is now considering accepting a recent two-year, $8 million offer from the DL that would keep him not playing through the 2008 season. “I couldn’t even imagine the DL without Mark Prior — over the years, he has become the face, stiff right elbow, strained subscapularis muscle, and inflamed Achilles tendon of our organization,” said Kirk Gibson, manager and longtime former member of the DL, which is currently rebuilding by claiming young arms such as Kerry Wood, Ben Sheets, and Mike Maroth. “We firmly believe that Mark’s best injuries are still ahead of him.” While Prior”s agent says the pitcher is exploring his options, experts predict that it is “inevitable” that Prior will return to the DL and, with the loyalty he’s shown in the past, likely finish his career there.
There’s still hope
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Although the Braves have stopped their fall, they remain 13 1/2 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East.
Another division title appears out of reach. The wild-card may not be.
The Braves open a four-game home series with Cincinnati tonight and it is an opportunity to show that they are still a playoff threat.
The Braves are just 7 1/2 games out of the wild-card, although there are a lot of teams to pass. One is Cincinnati, which has lost five straight and fallen out of the wild-card lead.
The Braves have won seven of their past 12 games and three of the four series.
John Smoltz said that the Braves needed to go 8-2 on this homestand leading up to the All-Star break. A sweep of the Reds would do it.
The Braves dug themselves a big hole with their June swoon. But they may yet be able to get out of it.
Having Chipper Jones able to play despite his sore foot is a big lift to the offense, and the pitching is getting better. Hope may not be lost after all.
Giles finally coming around
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It took far longer than the Braves imagined or hoped it would, but Marcus Giles is finally starting to hit the way they hoped he would in the leadoff spot. In other words, just the way he hit in the No. 2 spot and elsewhere in the lineup before this season.
That’s all they wanted from Giles; for him to be the guy he’d been the past 3-4 years for the Braves, not try to alter his game in order to fill the shoes of Rafael Furcal.
For whatever reason, be it self-induced pressure, missing so much of spring training because of injuries and family matters, or nagging injuries in the early season, Giles hit just .229 with one homer, 20 runs and seven RBIs in 35 games through May 16.
He slowly began turning it around at that point, and lately he’s really started to look like his old self.
Since May 17, Giles has hit .259 with a .347 on-base percentage, 28 runs, six homers and 23 RBIs in 44 games.
Since June 14, he’s hit .284 with a .372 OBP, 13 runs, four homers and 10 RBIs in 19 games, with no errors in the field.
And during the past seven games, he’s gone 8-for-22 (.364) with six walks, a .517 OBP, seven runs, and six RBIs. He’s got three homers in the past six games.
Where was this through mid-May? Like I said, I don’t know. But the Braves are certainly thankful it’s finally happening, because it’s not like they have a lot of other viable leadoff options (believe me, if they’d had a single other attractive option, they would have dropped Giles down in the order at the depths of his slump and tried something else).
If Giles had hit like this all season, would the Braves have been a lot closer to the Mets and first place? Sure. But the same can be said for the bullpen, and for Chipper for most of the season. And for LaRoche much of the season, and Andruw for almost an entire month, and Langerhans. Not to mention the skids of Hudson and Thomson in the rotation. I know I’m probably leaving someone out, but I’m in a hurry.
Point is, it’s taken a team effort to have such a disappointing first half. Giles wasn’t alone by any stretch.
And now, just as he’s coming around, the bullpen is making progress and Horacio and Chuck James have provided a shot in the arm for the rotation.
If it’s too late, somebody forgot to tell the Braves. They think they can win the wild card, at least. And with wild-card leader Cincinnati having lost four in a row before today, and coming to town for a four-game series starting tomorrow, and the parity in the NL West among teams that figure to keep beating each other up, there is legitimate reason to believe the Braves can be in the thick of the wild-card race in another month.
But it’ll take continued spark from the top of the order, be it from Giles or, if the Braves were floored by a trade offer for the second baseman, then from someone they might get in return for Giles in a trade. I don’t think they’d trade Giles without getting back a legit leadoff man as part of the deal. No way. Because they just don’t have another legit leadoff man on the roster right now, not with Langerhans struggling until recently. Diaz doesn’t walk enough to be a leadoff man, and I’m not even sold on him an an every-day player anyway. He’s good in his current role.
Giles, to me, is probably the Braves’ most attractive trade piece, along with Hudson. At least in terms of contending teams, the ones most likely to make a deal at the deadline for a veteran.
I think the Braves are/will listen to offers for both, but particularly Giles, since he’s going to make $5 million or more in arbitration next season and the Braves have middle-infield depth in their system. He’s expendable, as much as a guy who’s been one of the best 2-3 overall second baseman in the NL over the past few years can be expendable. A damn good player when he’s on top of his game, but the Braves have to shed payroll somewhere to fill other needs next season, and middle-infield is an area where they can bring up talented youngsters at minimum salary.
And again, while Betemit isn’t an every-day second baseman, he could get them through the rest of the season at the position, long as they got a quality leadoff man back in a trade for Giles. If they don’t, then I don’t see how they could make a serious playoff push with an out-of-position guy hitting in the leadoff spot and everyone crossing their fingers and hoping he could get it done.
OK, that’s it. Gotta get the new Johnny Cash CD that came out yesterday. If anybody’s got it, let me know how good it is (I know it’s gotta be great, so just confirm for me).
Is Mets’ huge lead safe?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First of all, this is coming from me, your always-friendly correspondent, David O’Brien. Just wanted to say that in case I screwed up the byline trying to post this myself on the blog page today.
Usually someone else posts these things for us with format, etc, but it’s holiday and I’m doing it myself, cutting out the middleman, as it were.
So please direct all missives and threats toward me and me only. Thanks.
OK, on to matters of Braves import:
Now, I’m not saying the Braves are going to catch the Mets. I still think the deficit is too great and too many other teams with a say in the matter in the NL East.
But I am saying the flaw that so many of us saw in the Mets before the season began — lack of depth in the starting rotation — is finally rearing its ugly head, and the Mets are hardly the winning machine some of their more ardent supports would’ve had you believe a month ago.
There’s apparently also some dysfunction there that we weren’t aware of, between key team officials.
Their pitching staff is limping toward the All-Star break, and with Pedro and his ailing hip (the man apparently needs grip tape on his bathroom floor) and Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph not communicating well on key personnel matters (see NY papers today for details of that mess), it’ll be fun for Met fans to watch them down the stretch — fun like a harrowing ride on a ginormous rollercoaster.
The Braves? Yeah, they just had a stinkin’ June for the record books, a June that effectively cleared the bandwagon of all but their most optimistic fans. But take a look at the group of wild-card teams ahead of them and tell me you honestly believe any of them are clearly better than Atlanta. I’m waiting… . Cincinnati? Come on, clearly better? I think not.
Granted, Braves have flaws, significant flaws. But so do the others.
They’ll have to play at least as well as they have for the past week for the entire remaining half of the season, and none of the others in front of them can have a real good second half if the Braves hope to win the wild card, obviously.
But I’m just saying, I understand why those in the front office and seemingly all the players (and Bobby Cox, it goes without saying) believe they still are in this race. Which is why you’re not going to see any fire sale, as we said a few weeks ago. Because they’re not going to fall far enough out of it to take that radical step and wave a white flag for the first time since the run began.
So do they make significant additions? I think they’ll make additions, but don’t know how significant.
The Cubs are the first free-falling, out-of-it team to indicate they’ll move a lot of players who don’t figure in their plans beyond this season, and the Braves could use a couple of them, including reliever Scott Williamson. I know they’ve had interest in him earlier this season, so that wouldn’t surprise me to hear them heavy in those talks.
Phil Nevin? Probably not. Having a bad season, even though he’s still got pop.
Todd Walker? Not unless Marcus Giles is traded, in which case it would make sense as a stopgap guy to get Braves through this season. Walker has played first base, too, but LaRoche hits lefties at least as well as Walker has this season.
Still not buying the Smoltz-to-Detroit rumors, believe they’re total speculation based on 2-and-2 theory — Smoltz is from Detroit, blah blah blah. Tigers are just doing too well to alter chemistry of their team by trading the pieces the Braves would demand in return. Detroit’s doing quite nicely without Smoltz, thankyouverymuch.
By the way, who on early would’ve predicted Zach Miner to be the impact guy in the trade that sent Roman Colon and Miner to Tigers last July for Kyle Farnsworth. Miner is 5-1 with a 2.68 ERA in six starts for Detroit. Holy Farnsworth gopher balls… .
Andruw to whomever? Still don’t see it, not this year. Trading him would send terrible signal to Braves fans, because the Braves are simply not going to get in return what they’d lose for rest of this season. If you must trade him, do it in offseason or next summer. But I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that he’ll be traded.
I say that because look at the very select group of teams with the $15-18 mill or more a year on a 4-5 year contract, what it’ll probably take to sign Andruw away from Braves. Yankees? No, not with Matsui and especially Johnny Damon signed to huge contracts. You gonna move Damon and his girl arm to right field?
Boston, Anaheim and maybe the White Sox are about the only teams I can see with the funds they’d be willing to commit long-term to Andruw. Even the Cubs wouldn’t have that kind of money, I don’t think, not for a 4-5 year deal. AL makes more sense anyway, because if Andruw’s shoulders get so banged up he can’t play outfield in 3-4 years, he could always DH.
Is it likely Braves will re-sign him? I wouldn’t say likely. But I think they have a shot, especially since he loves living and playing in Atlanta. If Andruw believes Bobby will be around a few more years, that’ll be huge in his decision, too, trust me. Don’t ever, ever underestimate how big Cox is for the likes of Andruw and Smoltz in decisions regarding their futures.
OK, gotta figure out how to post this blog without assistance, since I don’t think anyone’s on the desk that can do it on the holiday. Send me stipends for me going out of the way to post something on the holiday, will you folks?
Because we don’t post blogs on holidays, but I figured you good people could use a platform for discourse.
Oh, couple of music recs: The new solo CD by Tim O’Reagan of the Jayhawks is excellent. And so is Nine Black Alps’ CD, which absolutely rocks. I recommended that highly a few weeks ago, hope some of you ventured to try it.
But the CD I’ve purchased recently that might be the most entertaining is this group Art Brut, with lead singer who has the best Brit accent since Joe Strummer. Awesome debut CD “Bang, Bang, Rock & Roll” (I think it’s their debut).
Later. Off to sweat profusely at the ballyard.
Hudson’s hiccups hurt Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What’s wrong with Tim Hudson? That’s one of the most perplexing questions in a perplexing season for the Braves.
Hudson insists that he is not hurt. But his recent results have been painful.
The right-hander (6-8) has a 7.89 ERA for his past four starts - all losses. He lasted just 2 2/3 innings Saturday against Baltimore.
Hudson dominated in the American League, going 92-39 with Oakland. But his record in 1 1/2 seasons with the Braves is 20-17.
That’s not the kind of results the Braves were counting on when they acquired Hudson from the Athletics and gave him a rich long-term contract.
Hudson is supposed to be an ace, but he isn’t pitching like it. His ball isn’t sinking like it used to and pitches are either missing the strike zone or arriving in the wrong spots.
Horacio Ramirez is pitching very well and Chuck James has shown promise. But the Braves need Hudson and John Smoltz to anchor the rotation.
Hudson remains a mystery and things are just getting weirder.
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