AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 15
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Everyone but Frenchy to face the Yanks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
EVIL EMPIRE, Fla. — Coming to you from the spring home of the other Empire, the Yankees’ Legends Field, where I just walked in the door and was immediately asked by a N.Y. scribe whether the Braves would be bringing out-of-options infielder Tony Pena Jr. on the trip.
I think it had more to do with his dad being a Yankees first-base coach than possible trade interest from the Yankees, who are pretty well locked in with Miguel Cairo, for better or worse.
While I’m thinking about it, Braves brought almost everyone over, the entire lineup except Jeff Francoeur. Craig Wilson is hitting fifth as DH and T.J. Bohn is playing right and batting seventh.
Neither of the still-hurting utility men, Chris Woodward and Willy Aybar, is on the travel roster for the Braves, whose bus hasn’t arrived yet (traffic pretty brutal entering Tampa). Barring a late change, we can assume yet another day of no at-bats for those two.
Both are going to need to start playing very soon to get ready, but as Bobby Cox pointed out yesterday, the minor league spring games are about to start, and either or both of them can go over and hit in every inning of a game or two on that side to build at-bats quickly.
Aybar’s hand/wrist thing, however, could be one of those nagging injuries that is only going to linger if he dives in with a ton of work 0-to-60 in nothing flat. Keep in mind, as we get nearer to opening day, Aybar is out of options, so he’ll either have to be on the roster or on the DL.
Speaking of the Aybar trade — damn the transitions, the blog’s late as it is — those of you who might be of the opinion that Wilson Betemit-for-Aybar and Danys Baez was a bad trade for the Braves, not so fast.
I was just talking to someone in L.A. and they’re so concerned about Betemit’s spotty hitting late last season and this spring, they’ve seriously discussed moving Nomar Garciaparra to third base. Betemit was 5-for-26 (.231) with one extra-base hit (double), one RBI, a team-high seven strikeouts and a .250 on-base percentage and .481 OPS before today.
Andy LaRoche (Adam’s kid brother) has a chance to win the job, but he’s not hitting much better and had a staggering six errors in 10 games (Betemit had two in one game vs. the Braves, but I don’t think he’s had any others).
In a related note, a report out of Cleveland says the Indians are concerned about former Braves third-base prospect Andy Marte, who hit .226 in 164 at-bats in the second half last season.
He was hitting .240 with one homer and no walks in 24 at-bats this spring before today, and had played only six games at third base this spring, because the Indians are taking a look at several others at third including Casey Blake, who had been expected to platoon with Trot Nixon in right field.
The scouting report on Marte is the same as it was when he was traded from the Braves: Feed him breaking balls away, he can’t hit them.
How can this be? The Braves have Bob Wickman, Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano in their bullpen, and the Red Sox have as a closer — Mike Timlin, who is 41 and injured and might not be ready for the season opener. If he can’t go, they might have to turn to never-a-dull-moment Julian Tavarez.
Of course, the Sox can always move Jonathan Papelbon back from the rotation to the closer role, where he was the best in the majors for much of last season.
As for the Braves, I think we’ve already seen the importance of having all three of those guys. What looked like overkill to some — including me — when the Braves were making the moves now looks a bit more shrewd. Not that spring performances are overly important for veterans, but so far Wickman has been more hittable than we saw after he was traded to the Braves in July, and Gonzalez has been erratic with his command as he tries to recapture his form and arm strength after missing the final month of the 2006 season with elbow tendinitis.
Meanwhile, the one of the three that so many folks here seemed to have doubts about, Soriano, is the guy who looks practically unhittable and very intimidating this spring.
Marcus to leadoff again? Saw in Buster’s always-informative blog today that the Padres are apparently leaning toward having Marcus Giles bat leadoff instead of Termel Sledge.
Either Marcus’ attitude about the position must have changed dramatically or the Padres have told him they absolutely don’t want him to change his aggressive approach and try to work counts and take pitches if they bat him leadoff.
That, or the Padres didn’t pay attention to the Marcus leadoff project in 2006.
Lu was amazing, as always: I’ve seen Lucinda Williams five times, and I think she might be the most consistently great live performer that I’ve seen multiple times with the possible exceptions of U2, Prince, and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
Last night’s show before a full house at Hard Rock Live in Orlando was yet another night of soulful, bluesy brilliance from an amazing artist. She plucked gems from her vast catalog spanning the past 25 or so years, including Ventura (she opened with it), Joy, Change The Locks, Pineola, Lake Charles, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Come On, Drunken Angel, Righteously, Where Is My Love, Get Right With God, Crescent City, Too Cool To Be Forgotten — and on and on.
But unless my memory’s failing, no Metal Firecracker, Right In Time, Six Blocks Away or Learning How to Live (my second-favorite song off the new album West, after “Are You Alright?” which belongs among her greatest work and is the best song I’ve heard this year that’s not on the new Arcade Fire album).
