AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > June > 05
Thursday, June 5, 2008
How long will Chipper be a Brave?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After finding out that John Smoltz would have season-ending shoulder surgery, and right away thinking to myself that this could be the end of the Bearded Icon’s illustrious career, I decided to go talk to Chipper Jones before Smoltz’s press conference yesterday morning.
Since one of the four greatest Atlanta Braves of all time (Smoltz) had possibly thrown the last pitch of his career, I was curious about how much longer another one of the four greatest Atlanta Braves of all time (Jones) planned to play.
(For the record, let me just say in my opinion, the four greatest Atlanta Braves of all time are, in no particular order, Dale Murphy, Hank Aaron, Chipper and Smoltz. And I realize that Hank’s greatest years came while the team was in Milwaukee; doesn’t matter to me, because enough of his sheer greatness spilled over into the Atlanta years and left such an indelible mark on the franchise, he goes in the elite foursome.)
(Oh, and Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Phil Niekro are just a tick below those four, in my estimation, Maddux not at the top only because he spent so much of his career with other teams. I could certainly understand some of you arguing that Knucksie and/or Glavine belong with those four I put at the top. Let us know what you think are the top of the top, limiting it to three or four, or fewer if you’d like. Too easy just to put six or seven guys in the same group.)
Anyway, back to Chipper and how long the 36-year-old major league batting leader thinks he’ll don the uniform. Seeing how he’s hitting a ridiculous .409 with 13 homers and 38 RBI, looks like he might be able to do this a while longer, huh?
“I don’t think there’s any reason I can’t play through 40,” he said, “long as I don’t let my body go — which is not going to happen. I’m too active year-round to let my body go.
“”My desire to stick around and play four, five, six more years is strong. I want to accomplish some things here, put up some numbers here as long as the Braves want me. I can’t see going someplace else just to accumulate numbers.”
Chipper needs one homer to give him 400 and make him the fourth active player with at least a .300 career average, 400 homers and 1,300 RBI. Hoss would join A-Rod, Manny and Big Hurt in that elite club.
He leads the majors in batting average, OBP (.492), hits (85) and multi-hit games (28). Stunning totals, particularly given that so many of us thought he was beginning the downhill slope toward retirement a few years ago.
When Chipper restructured his contract before the 2006 season, reducing his $17 million salary to $11 million in 2006 and turning two $15 million vesting options in 2007 and ’08 into $11 mill guaranteed-salary seasons, it was a deal that helped both sides.
It freed up a lot of money for the Braves to try to re-sign Rafael Furcal (that didn’t work out so well) and it gave Chipper some security at a time when his health issues, particularly his feet, made it less than a certainty he was going to remain a productive, reliable 100-RBI man.
As it turned out, the deal has been favorable for the Braves. Jones’ $12.3 average annual salary over these past three seasons (including prorated portions of the $4 million bonus when he restructured the deal) makes him only the sixth-highest paid third baseman (about 45 percent of the average annual value of Alex Rodriguez’s latest contract and nearly $7 million per season below Miguel Cabrera’s).
There are at least 17 major league players with average annual salaries of $17 million or more in their current deals.
Chipper will make about $11 million next season in a vesting-option year to complete his reworked contract.
Given the career resurgence that began in 2006 and only seems to be picking up steam, Jones could certainly expect to command far more as a free agent after next season if he stays relatively healthy and takes his services on the open market.
I mean, this is a guy who has hit, since late June 2006 — are you ready for this? — .364 with a 1.101 OPS in 240 games, with 69 doubles, 6 triples, 61 homers, 191 RBI and 195 runs.
The Braves have a 134-106 record in games he’s played during that stretch, and a 29-41 record in games he has not. They are 31-24 this season when he plays, 0-5 when he does not.
Chipper was out of the lineup yesterday, and for once was able to smile about it. Because he was merely getting a day to rest, nothing health-related, finally.
He’s on pace to play 148 or 149 games this season, after entering the season with a stated goal of 150. The most he’s played in the past four seasons was 137 in 2004. He played 109 games in ‘05, 110 in ‘06 and 134 last season.
So what about that potential one last, big free-agent contract that some team might try to entice Jones with? Perhaps the Rangers, since he already has the ranch in Texas? Or the Rays, not far from his Central Florida roots?
Forget it. Unless the Braves absolutely low-ball him, which seems highly unlikely, Chipper made it clear to me that he plans to, and certainly wants to, play his entire career with one team, with a tomahawk on his chest.
“Sharon [his wife] poses that question quite often,” Jones said of the possibility they would have to move someday. “I say, ‘Hold on, let’s cross that bridge when we get there.’”
As for that relatively modest $11 million salary he’s drawing for the third straight year, Hoss has never, ever complained, or even dropped off-the-record hints that he’s underpaid and that the Braves should make it up to him.
“I’m never going to turn my nose up at $11 million,” he said. “I understand that I’ve had the luxury of playing in the same place for a long time, for the same manager. I have my money. I made my money.”
True. Dude’s made nearly $120 million in his major league career, and that doesn’t include whatever the folks at Mizuno pay him to wear their gear.
Still, the man’s hitting over .400 and about to hit his 400th homer, with 500 homers no longer seeming like the pipe dream that it appeared to be when he was hobbled by foot problems a few years ago.
“I want to get fair market value,” Jones said, “and I’m sure we’ll talk about that in the next year or so.”
By that, he meant something fair for him and the Braves. Because fair-market value for Chipper Jones, right now, the way he’s played the past couple of years, would probably be closer to $20 mill than $10 mill per season.
And he’s not looking for that.
“I don’t play baseball for the first and 15th of each month,” he said, and he was the rare player who actually sounded like he meant it when he said that.
Oh, by the way: Chipper is 3-for-3 with two homers against tonight’s Marlins starter, Ricky Nolasco.
Reckless speculation: Heard a radio host today calling out Rafael Soriano for saying he couldn’t pitch yesterday, for essentially blaming him after Manny Acosta gave up four runs in the ninth to blow the game.
Huh? Soriano was out nearly two months with elbow problems and only came back a week ago. He had pitched three times in the past four games, including back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday.
On Tuesday Soriano finally looked like the Soriano of old, throwing 94-96 mph fastballs and wicket breaking balls.
And so, on the day that Smoltz announces he’s having season-ending elbow surgery, this host would have Soriano out there throwing for a third consecutive day, a week after returning from the DL, in a day game after that impressive performance the night before?
Seems to me that would not have been a wise move. The Braves need a healthy closer, not a guy trying to be a hero throwing three consecutive days so soon after missing nearly two months with an elbow injury.
Oh, and one other very big point: It wasn’t Soriano’s call to make. It was Bobby Cox’s. And he wisely didn’t ask Soriano if he could throw again Wednesday.
Can you imagine the outcry if Soriano had pitched yesterday, with a two-run lead, and hurt that elbow again? How many people would be laying into Cox for overworking him?
Speaking of overworked… Will Ohman’s got a rubber arm and all, but geez, the lefty has now pitched in 19 of 32 Braves games since May 3, and leads the majors with 33 appearances. That’s 33 in 60 games. He’s on pace for a franchise-record 89 appearances.
Acosta slips out quietly: The Braves can live with relievers have an occasional bad day, like Acosta did yesterday when he gave up two two-run bombs in the ninth.
But the young kid better learn quickly that when you blow a game, you don’t slip out of the clubhouse and leave others to answer questions about the loss. Not a wise move. That’s what Acosta did yesterday, leaving before the media entered the clubhouse.
The last guy I could remember doing that was Eli Marrero. He lasted one season with the Braves before he was traded away.
By the way, Acosta has allowed more runs (five) in 1-2/3 innings over his last three appearances than he allowed in his previous 25 appearances.
He gave up four runs in his first game this season, then posted a 1.30 ERA and .198 opponents’ average with only one homer and four runs allowed in 27-2/3 innings over 25 appearances before giving up a homer at Cincinnati on Saturday and blowing saves Monday and Wednesday against the Marlins (his blown save Monday was overshadowed by Smoltz’s blown save later in the same game).
Acosta could be going through a dead-arm period or just a bit tired, after all the good work that he and Ohman and Blaine Boyer have done. Of course, we’ll have to guess with Acosta, since he didn’t stick around to discuss it.
Which is why…. The Braves are both welcoming the return of lefty reliever Mike Gonzalez, which should be in about a week, and why they’ve also had their antennae up for potential starters who might become available.
But I talked to GM Frank Wren last night, and he made it clear the Braves would not sell the farm to acquire a starting pitcher who wasn’t a clear upgrade over the starters the Braves have.
And so far, that’s the kind of price that teams with available starters are asking. Teams know the Braves have several prospects who are ready, or close to ready, to play or pitch in the majors, and those teams want one or two of them.
The Braves really like their bullpen, especially after the encouraging Soriano performance his last time out and with Gonzalez coming back soon.
But there is concern about the starters still not getting deep into games most nights. And that also makes you wonder about the Greg Maddux thing.
Yes, everyone is talking about it, because it’s such an interesting and potential feel-good story, reuniting Mad Dog with Glavine and the soon-to-be arm-in-a-sling Smoltzy for one last run at the playoffs.
Then maybe all three of them could retire after the season and go into the Hall of Fame together.
But folks, is Maddux really the answer for this team? I’d sure love having the guy here. Easily one of my favorite guys to cover in 14 years of doing this, a fascinating, funny guy and best pitcher of our generation.
But do the Braves need another five-inning starter, even if those five innings are quality innings? Yes, in another few weeks he might look like a better option than, say, Campillo, if Campillo returns to earth and we find out he’s not all that.
But so far, Campillo has done better work in his four starts than Mad Dog has done most of the season. And Jo-Jo Reyes has shown signs of developing into a solid starter, and you don’t want to pull the rug out from under him unless he regresses.
And keep in mind, Charlie Morton is seriously knocking at the door. I mean, that 13-strikeout, one-hit, eight-inning performance this week … whew. He’s really putting it all together at Richmond.
Also, Joe Blanton. I keep reading his name here and elsewhere. Do people who want him so badly actually pay attention to how he’s been pitching?
Blanton is 3-7 with a 4.27 ERA and .282 opponents’ average in 13 starts this season, with just 41 strikeouts and 21 walks in 86-1/3 innings. He’s pitched fewer than seven innings in seven of those 13 starts, including four of his past five. And that’s a big upgrade worth giving up prospects for?
Maddux, by the way, is 3-4 with a 3.48 ERA in 13 starts, but he should have a far better record if he’d gotten any run support (he’s received a putrid 3.2 support runs per nine innings pitched).
Actually, Mad Dog has given up two earned runs or fewer in each of his past four starts, and lasted six and seven innings in his past two after working fewer than six innings in four of his previous five starts.
So maybe Mad Dog is just getting tuned up for a playoff run with a contender. Hey, if Charlie Morton ain’t ready and Campillo can’t keep his blisters in check, then there are certainly a lot worse moves one could make than adding the greatest pitcher of our generation to the staff down the stretch (I like to keep saying greatest pitcher of our generation, given recent scandals in the sport).
One more thing: What’s the deal with that tornado footage from Iowa or wherever it was, showing the roof of that house getting torn off. They said it was taken from a bank ATM. Does this farmer have an ATM in his front yard? I mean, there’s no street, no other buildings in sight. Just a camera focused directly on what appears to be a house in the middle of the countryside. And they kept saying, footage taken from an ATM camera….
Oh, and this Aleve commercial. The one where the middle-aged woman asks how she keeps up her Motown moves and says it’s by taking Aleve and blah blah blah. Then she starts dancing, quite whitely, and keeps dancing … and dancing … and dancing … I swear, I’m waiting for the woman to start break-dancing, doing the robot, the cabbage patch. I mean, she just goes on, and on, and on.
Almost as annoying as the guy in the UPS ads (smile).
OK, a tune: They’re showing Scorcese’s Rolling Stones documentary tonight at the Fabulous Fox Theatre here in Atlanta. So let’s tip a cap (and lift a glass) to the Glimmer Twins.
”YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT” by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
No, you can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need
I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need
Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh…
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration
If we don’t we’re gonna blow a 50-amp fuse”
Sing it to me now…
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was “dead”
I said to him
You can’t always get what you want, no!
You can’t always get what you want (tell ya baby)
You can’t always get what you want (no)
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
Oh yes! Woo!
You get what you need — yeah, oh baby!
Oh yeah!
I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
You can’t always get what you want (no, no baby)
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yes….
