The Braves continued their trip in San Diego on Tuesday, having lost five consecutive, seven of nine and 11 of 15. Coincidentally, the “Look! They’re better under Brian Snitker!” contingent has gone mute.
It’s the pieces, not the direction from the dugout. But while makeover artists John Coppolella and John Hart miscalculated, or were in outright denial, about the quality of the Braves’ roster in the spring, they can’t be blamed for what’s out of their control.
That is: how good players are playing.
The Braves’ three best hitters, measured by batting average, slugging percentage and OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), are all three guys who were released by their previous teams: Chase D’Arnaud (batting .333), Jeff Francouer (.286) and Gordon Beckham (.284).
Unexpected performances like that can be nice bonuses for a team. Like three nice chairs in a junkyard. But they don’t fix a team. There are a number of reasons why the Braves were on pace for a franchise-record 117 losses entering Tuesday, but the five most under-performing position players on their roster is a good place to start:
1. Freddie Freeman: He's 4-for-30 with 13 strikeouts in the past nine games, dropping his average to .242 (40 points below his career average). Players with eight-year, $135 million contracts are supposed to be difference makers in good times and provide a bright spot in bad ones. But Freeman is just making a bad team worse. He's hitting .122 with runners in scoring position (6-for-49 with 19 strikeouts). Most expected he would be hurt by the lack of protection in this lineup, but there is no justification for those numbers. The Braves have long hoped Freeman would develop into more of a fiery leader, but that hasn't happened. Coppolella has said he won't trade the team's most identifiable player. That's fine. But right now Freeman is easily identified for all the wrong reasons.
2. Ender Inciarte: He was expected to be one of the gems in the Shelby Miller trade after hitting .292 with 72 stolen bases over two seasons in Arizona. But he missed a month with a hamstring injury and is still struggling a month after his return, hitting only .212 with an on-base percentage of .290. If we're comparing potential leadoff hitters and center fielders on the team, rookie Mallex Smith has been at least as good, if not better.
3. Nick Markakis: Why Hart signed Markakis in free agency at a time when they were clearly set on stripping down the roster remains a mystery, especially since he's a quiet guy and not a clubhouse-leader type who can help in these situations. The expectation was that Markakis would draw interest from contenders before the trade deadline, but he's hitting only .243 (his career average: .289), and he carries a $10.5 million salary through 2018, so good luck with that.
4. Hector Olivera: He was supposed to be a run-producer, not someone with a prison mugshot before the second week of the season. I almost didn't put Olivera on this list because the "high expectations" created for him generally come with a player who has a resume. Olivera didn't have that, at least not this side of Cuba. Hart and Coppolella believed otherwise and were willing to trade the Los Angeles Dodgers two assets and commit to $34.5 million in salary through 2020. With Olivera hitting .245 in limited major league action (.211 this season) and his reputation dented by domestic-violence charges and an 82-game suspension that ends Aug. 1, his future is in doubt. In the best-case scenario, it will take Olivera time to get his timing back when he's eligible to return. It's conceivable the Braves will choose not to deal with the public-relations backlash of bringing him back this season. And he has zero trade value.
5. Erick Aybar: Part of me feels sorry for Aybar because he wasn't the one who traded Gold Glove shortstop Andrelton Simmons (for Aybar and two pitching prospects) and claimed the Braves would be better off this season because of Aybar's hitting and almost-as-good defense. But Aybar was a pretty consistent hitter in his 10 years with the Los Angeles Angels (.276) and he's now hitting .182, even less than the light-hitting Simmons (.219 before being disabled with a thumb injury).
If Freeman, Inciarte, Markakis, Olivera and Aybar perform as expected, the Braves would have a better lineup, presumably a better record and maybe even the same manager they started the season with. Would they be a good team? No. But those five have taken the team from bad to unwatchable.
