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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Mac, Tex struggling — but so what?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — Let’s determine the appropriate levels of concern for Braves fans — and these individual players themselves — when it comes to Grapefruit circuit struggles of Brian McCann (.167), Mark Teixiera (.182), Javy Lopez (.176), Scott Thorman (.190) and Brandon Jones (.150).
Those were their averages before Wednesday night’s game. So here we go:
First, let’s exclude McCann and Teixeira from the group, because there’s no reason for anyone to be concerned, long as they’re healthy, which they are.
I’d say their cases are more comparable to Ichiro than to B. Jones. Or haven’t you heard? Ichiro, the Mariners superstar and iconic Japanese hitting extraordinaire, is 0-for-21 this spring. Zero hits in 21 at-bats for a guy who has the major league record for hits in a season (262), the only dude in history to begin his major league career with seven consecutive 200-hit seasons.
Ichiro has hit .321 or higher in seven previous spring trainings, including .429 or higher in three springs. But you know what he told the Seattle Times’ Larry Stone after going 0-for-4 Tuesday?
Ichiro said (through a translator) of his hitless spring and the buzz it’s created among the posse of media who chronicle his every movement: “I don’t understand what I need to be worried about.” He added: “I’m very thankful that people, when I’m not hitting, care so much about this. It’s something that makes me very grateful.”
Perfect answer from a man who handles being a superstar better than anyone in baseball, at least anyone west of Derek Jeter.
As I’ve said before, he’s the player I’d pay to see on a regular basis. Love watching that dude play in the few chances I’ve had, when the Braves went out to Seattle for a series several years ago and at All-Star Games, and of course on Sportscenter highlights.
Ichiro also put into perspective what spring training stats mean for accomplished veterans: Not much. They’re here to “get their work in” and get their timing down and hone deliveries and swings.
(We’re all here getting our work in. Your Crusading Everyman scores early Grapefruit League games with a rollerball pen on the single-sheet generic scorecards they provide in the pressboxes, and only scoring the first few innings when the starting pitcher’s are in, and doing it all with a vodka on the rocks next to my laptop at all times. OK, kidding about that last part. But soon I’ll move to the regulation pencil, then start scoring most innings. But not until we take this thing north will I break out the actual scorebook and begin scoring carefully, every at-bat and every substitution.)
(In fact, the only similarities between covering games now and during the season, for me, is my consumption of huge amounts of coffee and the very funny putdowns exchanged between Mike Hampton and Mark Bowman, almost always about Hampton’s height and Bowman’s weight.)
(Oh, wait. Before we move on, did I ever tell you guys about Hampton’s all-time comeback line, when someone — maybe another player, maybe Bowman, I’m not sure — kidded Hampton about not being able to reach something in the shelf at the top of his locker stall? Hampton replied, “That’s alright, I’ll just stand on my wallet.” I was on the floor. Folks, if you know Hampton and his dry sense of humor and perfect timing, you’d know how funny this was. And you gotta keep in mind the context in which he was saying it, just in case some of you might think he was being arrogant or smug. He really wasn’t. The dude is flat-out funny. Now if he could just reinforce all soft tissue….)
Anyway, back to Ichiro and the Braves’ “slumping” spring hitters.
McCann is no Ichiro, obviously. For one thing, he’s a tad slower. But he is a very good hitting catcher with a smooth stroke and a .296 career average in 1,126 major league at-bats. He’ll be fine. He’s 3-for-18. Big deal. If he goes 2-for-3 tonight and again tomorrow he’ll be hitting .292. That’s how fast averages can rise and fall when it’s such a small number of at-bats you’re talking about.
And Teixeira? I don’t anyone out there is at all concerned about Tex. But if you are, don’t be.
He’s 4-for-22 with five strikeouts and one homer. So what? This is a guy with a .286 career average and 170 homers in five seasons, and more extra-base hits (365) than all but five other big leaguers in that stretch, and more RBI (555) than all but seven others.
Pencil him in for a .300 average, 40-45 homers and 130 or more RBI this season. Just don’t ask me where to pencil him in for next season.
Now, the other cases: Lopez, Thorman and Brandon Jones. Entirely different situations than McCann and Teixeira, obviously, because none of them came to camp with a job won.
Actually, change that. It’s possible Thorman has a job assured unless he’s traded, but I don’t really get that sense (that he had a job won, or that he’ll be traded; I get neither sense. So in this, I guess I’m senseless). I do believe the Braves are trying to upgrade their bench with a more proven big bat, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
They’re not going to replace him with some schlub who’s bounced for years or been in major decline, because there’s still a chance, perhaps a good chance, that Thorman could be a 20-25 homer guy if he gets 400-500 at-bats (which he won’t get with the Braves while Teixeira is here and upright. But you get my point, which is that Thorman might still become a quality major league player. He’s still got unbelievable raw power, but his defense is barely serviceable at first base and I can’t see any team being interested in him as more than a project or bench player, so trading him and getting anything back is tough, and he could very well be snatched off waivers if the Braves try to send him down, unless they’re able to do that around opening day when other teams have their rosters set. Problem is, Braves don’t have another backup 1B they’d trust to play the role for a couple weeks if Tex got hurt. Now I’m rambling, repreating a topic from the other day, so I’ll stop….)
What about Javy Lopez? Hit his second homer couple days ago, which is big. Braves need him to show he’s still got a power bat that would give them a big weapon in pinch-hitting situations, because they’re not going to keep him for his defense, that’s for sure. Yes, it’s better, but he’s still not a good defensive player, merely adequate. And his throwing arm is not good.
But if he gives the Braves a ton more offensive potential than catch-and-throw guy Clint Sammons or journeyman Corky Miller or Brayan Pena (also no defensive standout), well, then Lopez will most likely have the backup job.
Javy is 3-for-17 with two homers. Verdict’s still out, but both Tom Glavine and Bobby Cox had good things to say about him yesterday.
Cox said before last night’s game, when asked about the 37-year-old Lopez’s performance so far: “He looks good behind the plate, and leads the team in home runs.” And asked whether the backup job is still a wide-open competition, he said, “I think so.”
Lopez caught Glavine last night, when the 41-year-old once-and-again Braves lefty allowed one unearned run and two hits in four innings vs. Washington. I asked Glavine about Javy catching him.
“I never had a problem with him,” Glavine said, then smiled and added, “He always hit when he caught me, so I didn’t care about anything else. I liked his bat in the lineup.”
Then Glavine got serious and said Lopez has improved behind the plate and is trying to be a complete catcher now, focusing on defense and working with the pitcher more than he did when the two were teammates before with the Braves.
“He’s matured back there,” Glavine said. “He’s got a better idea what’s going on back there. We probably had more conversations out there tonight than we did during all the years we played together before.”
As for Brandon Jones, well, the outlook has really changed since the end of last season, when it seemed certain he’d be used in a platoon with Matt Diaz in left field in 2007. The Braves’ situation change with the addition of recently injury-plagued Mark Kotsay in center, since they now need a fourth outfielder who can easily slip into center for a significant period, if necessary.
Jones doesn’t do that. He’s only played center in winter ball, and the Braves don’t want him in center field for any significant period.
While Jones hasn’t done much in camp, Josh Anderson has impressed everyone from the first day he arrived. The former Astros prospect can play all three OF positions and has outstanding speed to cover some mistakes he’ll make in the fielde (not to mention give the Braves a legit base-stealing threat — he stole 78 in one season in the minors).
His arm is good enough to play out there, and he’s proven he can hit at every level so far, including a .358 average in 67 at-bats in his late-season callup with Houston.
On top of all this, there’s the Diaz situation. The Braves have discussed it at length, and seem in agreement that it’s time to give Diaz the chance to play every day, or at least most days. I’d be very surprised if he’s in a straight platoon like he was the past two years.
He’s hit .330 with 59 extra-base hits (19 homers) and 77 RBIs in 655 at-bats for the Braves over the past two seasons. It’s time for Matty boy to get a crack at being a lineup regular.
Whew. That was a long-winded analysis. I’ll save the other stuff I was gonna blog about for later tonight or tomorrow’s blog. Got to get to writing this Josh Anderson story for tomorrow’s paper.
Anyone see the Drive-By Truckers last night on by brother Conan’s show? I was hoping they’d crank it up and rock, but I gues they wanted to go the unplugged route. Hey, artists’ choice. Still a solid performance.
”POCAHONTAS” by Neil Young
Aurora borealis
The icy sky at night
Paddles cut the water
In a long and hurried flight
From the white man
to the fields of green
And the homeland
we’ve never seen.
They killed us in our tepee
And they cut our women down
They might have left some babies
Cryin’ on the ground
But the firesticks
and the wagons come
And the night falls
on the setting sun.
They massacred the buffalo
Kitty corner from the bank
The taxis run across my feet
And my eyes have turned to blanks
In my little box
at the top of the stairs
With my Indian rug
and a pipe to share.
I wish a was a trapper
I would give a thousand pelts
To sleep with Pocahontas
And find out how she felt
In the mornin’
on the fields of green
In the homeland
we’ve never seen.
And maybe Marlon Brando
Will be there by the fire
We’ll sit and talk of Hollywood
And the good things there for hire
And the Astrodome
and the first tepee
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Marlon Brando, Pocahontas and me
Pocahontas.
