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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > December > 03
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Adding Vazquez, losing Hampton both good for Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, this is a nice beginning for the Braves. I’m referring to the addition of Javier Vazquez and the subtraction of Mike Hampton regarding their starting pitching rotation for next season.
As for the subtraction, they don’t come any friendlier in baseball than Hampton, a popular veteran with his teammates and everybody else around the franchise, but enough is enough. He always was another pull, sprain, twist, ache, strain or tear waiting to happen. He spent nearly three seasons between starts before taking the mound last season for his ever-patient bosses with the Braves, and after getting hurt a couple of times again before summer, he did OK.
If you consider that the Braves have missed the playoffs for three years and that they suffered from a creaky rotation filled with injuries last season, they needed better than OK from Hampton next season. They would have gotten worse than that from Hampton with his 36-year-old arm and his wretched medical past. So, when he decided to bolt the Braves as a free agent this week to take less money with the Houston Astros, that wasn’t a bad thing.
Neither was this: The Braves essentially trading splendid catching prospect Tyler Flowers to the Chicago White Sox for Vazquez. Others also were involved in the deal (including infielder Brent Lillibridge from the Braves and lefty reliever Boone Logan from the White Sox). Even so, Flowers and Vazquez were the primary folks on both sides.
Let’s start with Flowers, a rising star in the Braves farm system. He grew up in the Atlanta area, too. He spent his time in the Arizona Fall League this year pounding pitchers for a .387 batting average, 12 home runs and 23 RBIs in 20 games. He’s also just 22, but two things here: The Braves already have a perennial All-Star catcher named Brian McCann, and he’s just 24. Plus, teams have great prospects in their organization either to keep them around if those teams don’t have a McCann in front of them or to trade them for something that those teams need such as a Vazquez.
That’s one new starter down and one more to go in the Braves’ restoration plan by general manager Frank Wren. Although Wren said the Jake Peavy deal is dead, don’t stop believing they’ll get the former Cy Young winner from the San Diego Padres until you see the corpse. And, with baseball’s winter meetings next week, the Braves could grab another starter of significance, or they could win the free-agent sweepstakes for A.J. Burnett.
Whatever happens, they’ll still have Vazquez, and you should ignore his shaky numbers from last year (12-16 record and 4.67 ERA). He also had losing seasons after four of his previous nine years in the majors, stretching from the Montreal Expos to the New York Yankees to the Arizona Diamondbacks to the White Sox.
Vazquez’s thing is inning pitched. He has lots of them. He has thrown more than 200 innings every season but one, and after that one, he had 198 innings.
Innings pitched is among the most undervalued statistics in sports. The more your starter throws, the more your bullpen rests — and the more your team plays in games tight enough to win.
The Braves once had 200-inning machines every season in Cy Maddux, Cy Glavine and Cy Smoltz. The Braves had zero such pitchers last season. Worse, with injuries and age tugging either at their shoulder, elbow or both, Glavine threw 63 innings last year to Smoltz’s 28.
Hampton threw 78.
Get the picture?
Permalink | Comments (64) | Categories: Braves/MLB
Leave Willie Martinez alone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Leave Willie Martinez alone. The same goes for the rest of those on the Georgia football coaching staff.
That’s exactly what head guy Mark Richt said he will do this offseason, and that’s exactly what he should do.
In other words, it’s not the fault of Richt, Martinez or any other Georgia coach for the Bulldogs’ drop from national championship expectations to a 9-3 record this season. As football sage Bill Parcells likes to say, you often are what your record says you are, and the Bulldogs are 9-3. They always were nothing more than that.
Such was true, even before this season, despite all of Georgia’s No. 1 rankings and talk in the Bulldog Nation of going undefeated — or losing maybe once.
In case you’re wondering, my preseason pick for Georgia was … 9-3. You can look it up. It was based on the Bulldogs’ monstrous schedule that not even superlative coaching and great talent was going to overcome.
Here’s another thing: Richt is one of just seven coaches in college football history to win more than 80 games (81) during his first eight seasons. His Bulldogs are 30-4 in opponent’s stadiums. Not only that, with a win in Georgia’s upcoming bowl game, he will finish with a 10-victory season for the sixth time.
I mention this, because Richt obviously has a formula for success. It begins and ends with stability in his coaching staff. The only major departures during the Richt era at Georgia have been offensive coordinator Neil Callaway and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. They’ve had capable successors in Mike Bobo and Martinez, respectively.
Yes, Martinez.
No question, the Bulldogs have gifted players on defense. So that means Martinez didn’t adjust well enough at times, especially with Georgia relinquishing a slew of points during the second half of this season. There also was that brutal gashing of the Bulldogs on the ground last Saturday by Georgia Tech.
It’s just that Martinez’s track record is solid. His unit led the SEC in overall defense last season and finished eight nationally in sacks and 14th nationally in total defense. The year before that, Martinez’s unit finished eighth nationally in total defense, and the year before that, Martinez’s unit was eighth nationally in scoring defense.
So it’s not the coaching. It’s the team, and it’s only good, not great.
Permalink | Comments (197) | Categories: UGA/SEC
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