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Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Jake could make for J-heavy rotation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few things while pondering how a rotation with Jake, Jair and Jorge would be in J-overload if Jo-Jo were also to join (realizing, of course, his name actually has nothing to do with why Jo-Jo Reyes could be left out of said rotation).
Oh, by the way, folks: Nice job crashing the previous blog with comment clog, for the second time in a week. You guys do realize it’s the offseason, right? (We kid. Participation and passion are always welcome.)
We’ll keep this entry brief (we always say that, seldom follow through) and let you folks have at it. Because if you’re going to make predictions on the World Series we’ve got to have them in quickly, since making a prediction after one team falls behind, say, 5-0 in the first two innings of Game 1 will not carry much weight.
I’m going with Cole Hamels to win the battle of stellar young lefties tonight against Scott Kazmir, and Hamels’ Phillies taking the World Series in seven games. Yes, goin’ the distance.
I’ll be up in Philly for Games 3, 4 and, provided its necessary, Game 5. We’ll have a good chunk of the AJC sportswriting staff in Philly this weekend, with a few across the street from Citizens Bank Park at the Falcons-Eagles game.
But for the first two games, I’ll be watching on TV, just like you all. Then watching Sons of Anarchy on DVR tonight after Game 1.
We’ll stay on top of any developments in the Peavy saga and report them as soon as we get anything, obviously. I say this because sometimes I get e-mails from people asking me what’s happening, what do I know, etc, as if I’m keeping the best stuff to myself, out of the paper and off the blog.
Speaking of pitching, or lack thereof, I forgot to mention this the other day when I found this while pillaging through team-by-team pitching totals: Do you realize the Braves were the only NL team without at least two starters who pitched 150 innings this season?
Jair Jurrjens had 188-1/3, and Hudson was next at 142. Jorge Campillo pitched 158-2/3 innings, but only 137 came as a starter.
That’s amazing. And for a team that for so long led the league with three and sometimes four starters who pitched 200 innings, many of them topping 220 back in the day, which really wasn’t long ago.
One other unrelated note: Because I’m going to the GM meetings in two weeks, I had to do the absentee voting thing today. Folks, I stood in line for two hours. Two hours! That’s what happens when Dekalb County has just one place to do absentee voting before next week.
I love that so many people are doing their civic duty and all, but two hours was absolutely excruciating for someone with no patience (that’d be me).
By the way, I’ll break with blog rules and share with you how I voted: Yes, on both measures involving the Homestead Exemption.
This just in: McCann is good. Got an e-mail today from someone connected with the 2009 Bill James Handbook, which just ranked Brian McCann in its Top 25 players under age 30.
The Braves’ 24-year-old catcher is 22nd, one spot behind Stephen Drew, and just ahead of Miguel Cabrera. Not bad company, I’d say.
James ranked the Braves ninth for overall young talent on the major league roster, up from 16th a year ago. They were ranked just ahead of the Boston Red Sox.
The top 10 teams: 1. Minnesota, 2. Arizona, 3. Tampa Bay, 4. Florida, 5. Kansas City, 6. Milwaukee, 7. Cleveland, 8. Colorado, 9. Atlanta, 10. Boston.
Here’s a couple things from the press release: “…. The Braves ranked 16th in our survey last year, but shot up the list due to a solid year by McCann and the emergence of Jurrjens, Yunel Escobar, and others (Gregor Blanco, Jorge Campillo, Martin Prado, Jo-Jo Reyes, Josh Anderson.) Francoeur and Kelly Johnson are still young players. They just need for some of these guys to pump up the volume.”
And from an explanation of the rankings: “To achieve his inventory, James first eliminates from the list all players who were 30 years old or older in 2008. He employs two widely used statistics — “Runs Created” for position players and “Runs Allowed” for pitchers-as the basis for comparison. He makes several adjustments, including for injuries suffered during the year and the differences in predictability between pitchers and position players, and then takes into account the number of years the player should be at his peak performance.
(Blogmaster note: If you notice, everybody on this list is 26 or younger, so it appears that age was also taken into account, with the younger players given credit for their youth, more or less. If Josh Hamilton were on the list, he’d be the oldest, at 27.)
James’ Top 10 young players (and their ages): 1. Prince Fielder (24), 2. Hanley Ramirez (24), 3. Tim Lincecum (24), 4. David Wright (25), 5. Ryan Braun (24), 6. Dustin Pedroia (24), 7. Matt Kemp (23), 8. Francisco Rodriguez (26), 9. Jose Reyes (25), and 10. Nick Markakis (24).
The next 15: 11. Joakim Sorian (24), 12. Ryan Zimmerman (23), 13. Cole Hamels (24), 14. Troy Tulowitzki (23), 15. Felix Hernandez (22), 16. Jon Lester (24), 17. Evan Longoria (22), 18. John Danks (23), 19. Adrian Gonzalez (26), 20. James Loney (24), 21. Drew (25), 22. McCann, 23. Cabrera (25), 24. Grady Sizemore (25), 25. Joey Votto (24).
The 3B is excited about moves: I’ve talked to several Braves players who’ve closely followed the reports of potential offseason moves the team could make, including Chipper Jones. It’s the offseason, and you might have heard the old dude keeps an eye on the blog and other sources of info.
I quoted him in a story about Peavy earlier this week (you can find it on our Braves page at AJC.com), but here’s another quote from Chipper that didn’t make it in the story.
I asked him about the rumors of what the Braves might do, and Frank Wren stating they’re going after two proven starting pitchers and a power-hitting outfielder:
“It’s nice that there’s at least smoke, and we’re gonna make some hay,” Jones said, seamlessly blending two figures of speech into one. “Whether it’s free agent market or via trade, nice that we’re gonna be active.
“That’s good. It’s an exciting time,” he said, then again revealed his fondness for Braves/MIB denizens. “It keeps our fans reading the papers, reading the blogs to see what might be on the horizon. The Braves have said they want to make a splash.
“We need pitching, no doubt about that. There’s some good ones out there, some marquee names that are out there. Don’t know if we’ll be able to afford the really big names, but there’s enough out there that getting a couple of them can make us a contender next year.”
He went on to talk about Peavy and about A.J. Burnett, and that stuff’s in the story I wrote. Here it is again, in case you missed it:
“I don’t think the organization can survive too many more Teixeira trades,” Jones said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to get a guy like Tex and have him produce the way he did. But what you give up for such a short-term fix can set your minor league organization back quite a bit. And it did. We don’t have a lot of prospects at the higher levels. We have a ton at the lower levels.
“You want to be very careful you don’t stunt the growth of your minor league system by trading away all the good ones for a short-term fix. Now this Peavy thing, it’s not a short-term fix. Getting a guy in his prime for four or five years, at or velow market value…
“There’s no doubt [the Braves need an ace]. If he was in the last year of his contract coming up, this would be the same scenario [as Teixeira]. But this is a lot different. You’re looking at a guy who’d be your opening-day starter for the next year four years.
“He’s one of those guys you don’t particularly like facing. And he’s a good guy, he’d fit right in with the guys [on the Braves]. He’s a golfer, a hunter, from the country, just like us. I think Atlanta would be a perfect fit for him.”
He went on to say this about Peavy and Burnett:
“There’s some names out there that are very appealing to me,” Jones said. “I like a guy like A.J. Burnett. I’ve always dreaded facing that guy, with the Marlins and whatnot. A.J. is a bulldog. Peavy’s a bulldog.
“Those guys, they take the mound, they want to stick it to you, and they’re competitors, not afraid to show emotions, stuff like that. I think that’s great. They’re not showing anybody up, they just want to win.
“I think that, at times, is something we’ve been missing, that guy who’s going to walk out on the mound, and when he walks on the mound he’s looking to throw a complete-game shutout. That kind of competitive spirit would be good for this clubhouse and this team.
“And they’re both strikeout pitchers. We all know that’s what wins in the postseason. You get two power arms like that, you’ve got a formula for not just being built for 162 games, but for a short series.”
Speaking of Chipper…. He’s hosting his annual Chiper Jones Invitational Golf Tournament Nov. 3 at Bear’s Best Atlanta Golf Course, with proceeds to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
You can help raise funds by participating in the raffle at www.netRaffle.org. A grand prize winner will be invited to play with three of his or her friends in the tournament and receive four tickets to the banquet/acution on Nov. 2.
Raffle tickets are $2 each and there’s a minimum five-ticket purchase. The raffle closes on Monday (Oct. 28) at 9 a.m.
No kidding: They just showed the national anthem being performed … by the Backstreet Boys. Really, Tampa Bay? The Backstreet Boys?
Oh, well. Enjoy the game, folks.
“TUESDAY’S GONE” by Allen Collins & Ronnie Van Zant
Train, roll on, on down the line.
Won’t you, please, take me far away.
Now I feel the wind blow outside my door.
Means I’m, I’m leaving my woman at home.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
Oh, my baby’s gone with the wind.
And I just don’t know, oh, where I’m going.
I just want to be left alone.
Well, when this train ends I’ll try again
Oh, but I’m leaving my woman at home.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
My baby’s gone with the wind.
Train, roll on, Tuesday’s gone.
Train, roll on many miles from my home.
See I’m, I’m riding my blues away, yeh.
Tuesday, you see, she had to be free.
Lord, but somehow I’ve got to carry on.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
Tuesday’s gone with the wind.
My baby’s gone with the wind.
Train, roll on ‘cause my baby’s gone…
I’m riding my blues away, baby
turn around my blues
ride on, train, ride on, train
ridin’ my blues, babe
come back to me, babe
come back to me
oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooh train….
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