AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 04
Saturday, November 4, 2006
Salty shuts ‘er down, Escobar goes en fuego
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If the Braves are looking to trade Yunel Escobar, the offers could increase with the Cuban shortstop prospect’s sensational performance in the Arizona Fall League, where he leads the league with a .444 average, including seven hits and a grand slam in two games Thursday and Friday. Yowza.
Catching prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia dominated the AFL with three homers and 12 RBIs in his first six games, but he was shut down and sent home to Florida after straining a groin muscle and then injuring a hamstring before he could get back in the Peoria Javelinas lineup.
The Braves say they’re just being cautious in resting “Salty� the remainder of the fall to get him ready for spring training. Since we’re not there in Arizona and reports out of there are so sketchy, we’ll take their word for it.
Salty hit .565 (13-for-23) with three bombs, 12 steaks (that’s RBIs; I want to use a lot of annoying baseball lingo this winter to spice things up), five walks, only two strikeouts and a 1.655 OPS in his six games before injury, a complete reversal of the switch-hitter’s disappointing season at Double-A Mississippi (.230, 9 HRs, 39 RBIs, .733 OPS, 71 Ks in 313 at-bats, ugh).
But before he left Arizona, he apparently handed off the AFL star baton to Escobar, who has grabbed it and run with it, to say the least.
If the Braves really are actively shopping him _ I don’t know if they are, or are just listening to potential offers; probably the latter _ they might take a step back and reconsider before letting go of this dynamic talent.
After a down year at Double-A (what was it about Jeff Blauser’s ol’ Miss team this year that sucked the stats out of two of Atlanta’s top prospects?), the chattering, swaggering Escobar is rebuilding his top-prospect status out west.
Escobar went 4-for-4 with three RBIs Friday in a Peoria Javelinas win vs. the crosstown rival Peoria Saguaros (when these two clubs get together, you can toss out the records) after going 3-for-5 with a grand slam on his 24th birthday Thursday in a win vs. Mesa.
Escobar is 28-for-63 with only five strikeouts and a 1.049 OPS. Now, it’s not uncommon to put up big numbers in the Fall League, what with the weather, stadiums and sometimes suspect pitching (it’s a league of mainly A-ball and Double-A prospects), but what Escobar is doing must be recognized.
Scouts say he’s “centering� everything he hits, just raking out there. After seeing him last spring training, I can’t say I’m surprised by anything he’s done except by how much he struggled this year at Mississippi (.264, 2 HRs, 7 SBs in 16 attempts, 20 GIDPs, etc), though he did have a solid .361 OBP there.
Anyway, seeing the kid (if we can call a 24-year-old a kid), you can’t help but be impressed. He’s already developed physically, looks capable of hitting a ton of line drives and possibly more homers. He’s full of confidence, as evident by the loud chattering he does almost constantly in the field (he’s cut back on this slightly since he was hitting .313 and entertaining the home fans two summers ago at Rome, partly because the Braves let him know he might want to tone it down as he rose higher in the organization, since opposing teams would take offense, which a few teams did in Double A).
While not as naturally smooth defensively as younger SS prospect Elvis Andrus, Escobar is much closer to being ready for the majors and is a better, maybe far better, offensive force than the smaller, light-hitting Andrus.
Where might Escobar fit? Well, if they don’t trade him, the Braves could groom him for shortstop after Renteria leaves. They could trade Edgar a year from now and insert Escobar, perhaps. Or they could play him some more at 2B and see if he’s got the goods for that position, though he has played only limited amounts at 2B and 3B and doesn’t appear to have the power potential to play the hot corner (more annoying lingo) after Chipper’s done.
Or, they could throw him into a trade and all our talk about him will have been rendered moot, much as it was with Wilson Betemit….
OK, on to couple other matters: Not surprisingly, it really does look like Glavine is going to stay with the Mets, for two years and more than $20 mill. Braves wouldn’t even consider competing with that; as we’ve said all along, Glavine would have to take a large discount if he really wanted to pitch at home for the Braves and win his 300th with a tomahawk across his chest….
Nothing new to report yet on Andruw, other than he’s hitting homers in Japan and winning awards in the U.S. and will need a Brinks Truck instead of a home safe after his next contract.
Read this quote that Bruce Bochy, who’s managing the major league team in Japan, gave to MLB.com’s Ian Browne about Andruw, and tell me if you can’t see San Francisco in a bidding war with the Angels and others for Andruw:
“He just has a lot of fun playing the game,” Bochy said. “You get to see what Bobby Cox gets to see on a daily basis. We’re talking about the best center fielder in the game. They are remarkable plays he can make and he did tonight. He saved us. Plus, you’re looking at a guy who does a lot of damage with the bat. He’s one of the best players in the game. For him to make this trip, it’s an honor for me to have him on my club and manage him.â€?
The Brinks truck won’t fit in Andruw’s massive garage that’s already filled with European sports cars, but I’m sure he can add on….
Oh, speaking of Arizona Fall League and Braves youngsters, a couple of their pitchers haven’t fare so well out west: Joey Devine 3 games, 4 innings, 3 runs, 5 walks (yikes), 2 strikeouts. And Anthony Lerew, 0-2 with 5.40 ERA in seven relief appearances, with 13 hits, 6 runs, 6 walks, 5 K in 10 innings (to me, something just seems to be missing there, with Lerew. Too erratic.)…
And one more thing about Gold Glove outfielders, welcome back, New York Mets. Carlos Beltran won a Gold Glove, the first Mets OF to win one since Tommy Agee in … 1970!…
My last thoughts and lasting impressions from covering the NLCS and World Series:
The impossibly orange-blonde spectacle that is Donald Trump’s hair, made even more conspicuous by the black overcoat he wore over his dark suit (always a suit) at the NLCS games at Shea. And the impossibly stunning young blonde on his arm. Oh, and “I’m superior� look he gave the merely wealthy who tapped him on the shoulder to shake his hand in his seats behind home plate….
At one of the NLCS games at Shea, when the crowd sang en masse to to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” before the Mets batted in bottom of third inning, after Juan Encarnacion had grounded into a broken-bat double play to end the top of the third with two on….
Again, at Shea, when the crowd, 56,000-strong, went right into the “Jo-say …. Jo-say, Jo-say, Jo-say� soccer-style sing-along as he led off an inning….
The white-towel waving crowd in Detroit. Impressive crowd respone in freezing drizzle….
Oh, and the girl behind the counter cranking Rick James’ “Mary Jane” on the store speakers at the Motown Records souvenir store in the Detroit airport … at 5 a.m.! I loved it _ the song, the store, the girl … so much so that I bought a Motown records T-shirt from her….
The receipt I just put in my expense report from Starbucks in St. Louis airport, with the time stamp: 4:59 a.m. I was first in line when they opened, and asked if they’d hook me up to a espresso IV. They couldn’t do it….
The price of a one-way ticket from St. louis to Atlanta when purchased two days before _ check it yourselves. That’s what happens when the AL team can’t even extend the series to six games and get it back to Detroit….
Speaking of Detroit, the Detroit Cobras are playing at Smith’s Olde Bar tonight, and they’re well worth the price of admission. Great band that combines garage-rock with R&B for a unique, greasy-good sound. I’m there…
As great as the My Morning Jacket live double-CD is, the Sadies’ live double-CD is probably even better. The guest performers include Neko Case, Kelly Hogan (those two again … ahh), Jon Spencer, Steve Albini, Garth Hudson, Blue Rodeo, etc….
And finally, I just had to include this story from the Onion, which is certainly funnier than anything I could write about the Series:
CARDINALS APOLOGIZE FOR WINNING WORLD SERIES
ST. LOUIS — Calling Friday night’s victory on baseball’s grandest stage “a terrible mistake,” members of the St. Louis Cardinals issued a formal apology for making the playoffs, winning the World Series, and depriving baseball fans everywhere of a season featuring the kind of heartwarming, storybook ending to which they have grown accustomed in recent years.
“I’m still struggling to understand how this could have happened,” said a sober Tony La Russa during a press conference following Game 5. “It seemed all but certain coming into this series that we were going to be a part of something truly special, that we would easily put the finishing touches on a magical season that inspired millions of fans around the country, but instead we somehow ended up winning.”
“It’s disappointing, to say the least,” La Russa added. “We were rooting for the Detroit Tigers just like everyone else.”
According to Cardinals players, they “tried absolutely everything” in their pursuit to earn the Tigers their first world championship since 1984, including eliminating the far more dangerous New York Mets in the NLCS, entering the series completely unrested after a grueling seven-game series, starting a rookie pitcher with five career wins in Game 1 in Detroit, and postponing Game 4 due to rain in the hopes that an off day would swing the momentum back in the Tigers’ favor.
“I don’t know what we could’ve done differently,” second-baseman Ronnie Belliard said. “We gave the Tigers every opportunity to win ballgames, but when their pitchers keep making errors on simple ground balls, what are we supposed to do, pretend we forgot the rules and start running to third base?”
Desperate for a Tigers win in Game 2, the Cardinals chose to overlook the fact that starter Kenny Rogers was pitching with the aid of a foreign substance on his left hand.
“Of course we all knew it was pine tar, but it seemed like they were finally finding their rhythm… We certainly didn’t want to shake their confidence, so we decided to just let it go,” La Russa said. “Frankly, if the umpires didn’t bring it up, we probably would’ve let him pitch with it the whole game.”
After the final out of the World Series was recorded, the stunned Cardinals retreated to their dugout and watched with disappointed, glazed-over expressions as the Detroit Tigers—the feel-good team of the season whom everyone expected to win it all—packed up their equipment in the dugout across the diamond.
According to Albert Pujols, some teammates took the World Series victory harder than others.
“For a lot of young guys like [Anthony] Reyes and [Yadier] Molina, this was their first chance to see an exciting, inspirational, and truly deserving team win a championship,” Pujols said. “Even though the outcome of this series has definitely left a bad taste in my mouth, I can handle it, because I was there in 2004 when we were able to see Red Sox beat us in the World Series. Man, what an incredible feeling that was… Just watching those guys celebrate, I really felt like I was seeing history unfold before my eyes. It was definitely my greatest baseball moment.”
“I hope we have the chance to see something like that again next year,” Pujols added.
Reporters and sportswriters around the nation were critical of many of La Russa’s successful managerial decisions, second-guessing such effective moves as leaving staff ace Chris Carpenter in for more than five innings in Game 3, and failing to bench third-baseman Scott Rolen, who batted a team-high .421 in the series. La Russa, however, said that things would be different next year.
“I think I speak for my players, the front office, the coaching staff, and every fan in St. Louis when I say that all season long, we had just one goal: bringing a championship to the great city of Detroit,” La Russa said. “And even though we failed this time around, we will be committed to achieving similar goals next season.”
In the somber clubhouse following the victory, Cardinals centerfielder Jim Edmonds admitted that “the wrong team won,” but said that the outcome of the 2006 World Series is “just something we’re unfortunately going to have to live with.”
“Nobody thought we could do this, nobody thought we could stop this powerhouse team that beat the odds to go from worst to first and rolled through the playoffs looking like they were invincible,” Edmonds said. “And we thought we had taken every possible step to prove them right.”
“We shocked the world,” Edmonds added. “We’re sorry.â€?
