Braves fWAR Rankings by Position

[nsacpi]

Nearing the half-way mark:

Catcher 6th in the majors
First 1st
Second 2nd
Short 19th
Third 9th
Left 14th
Center 3rd
Right 26th

Starting pitching 13th

Relief pitching 27th

I understand why AA identified starting pitching (Keuchel) as a higher priority than relief pitching (Kimbrel). Those guys pitch more innings. There are questions about how well Fried and Soroka will hold up under a bigger workload, plus injury/health concerns about Folty and Gausman. However, relief pitching is a pretty clear need.

Digging a little deeper into the pen, it has a wOBA against LHH of .322, 13th in the majors, and a wOBA against RHH of .317, 20th in the majors. So no compelling case for a lefty or righty reliever. More a compelling case for an upgrade or two no matter what the side.

As for the position players, right field is a weakness. Most of us know this. I don't think we are going to make a trade to upgrade there. But we can improve internally by using Camargo against lefties. We also have Duvall as an option for a similar role. Finally, if Ender comes back healthy we might benefit from occasionally using an outfield alignment of Riley, Acuna and Inciarte.

[zbhargrove]

Scott Coleman on Twitter tweeted a stat that Rosenthal tweeted that surprised me. Since May 15th, the Braves bullpen leads all of MLB with a 3.43 era.

[weso1]

Wouldn't mind rolling with the same catcher combo next season.

[Braves1976]

Scott Coleman on Twitter tweeted a stat that Rosenthal tweeted that surprised me. Since May 15th, the Braves bullpen leads all of MLB with a 3.43 era.

Swarzak and Newcomb have led the way in that regard, 0.66 ERA and 0.95 ERA out of the pen. Dayton has 6 scoreless innings with us so far. While Webb has a 1.46 ERA. Touki's ERA out of the pen is still just 2.97 despite his recent bumps in the road. Blevins has been strong vs lefties and Jackson had two games where he gave up runs but it didn't effect his ERA (due to an error, etc).

[zbhargrove]

Swarzak and Newcomb have led the way in that regard, 0.66 ERA and 0.95 ERA out of the pen. Dayton has 6 scoreless innings with us so far. While Webb has a 1.46 ERA. Touki's ERA out of the pen is still just 2.97 despite his recent bumps in the road. Blevins has also been strong vs lefties and Jackson had two games where he gave up runs but it didn't effect his ERA (due to an error, etc).

I understand.... just didn't realize it was the best the MLB. And very interesting that the average uninformed fan is still whining about how awful our pen still is.

[Slippyjms]

Dansby’s only the 19th best SS?

[Braves1976]

I understand.... just didn't realize it was the best the MLB. And very interesting that the average uninformed fan is still whining about how awful our pen still is.

Just imagine how good this pen could be if we added a closer like Smith to it.

[bravesfanMatt]

Dansby’s only the 19th best SS?

That surprised me too

[msstate7]

Dansby’s only the 19th best SS?

His defense is killing him. I think his defense is coming back around though... if he keeps hitting, I think his WAR is about to really climb

[JxnMissFan]

Nearing the half-way mark:

Catcher 6th in the majors
First 1st
Second 2nd
Short 19th
Third 9th
Left 14th
Center 3rd
Right 26th

Starting pitching 13th

Relief pitching 27th

I understand why AA identified starting pitching (Keuchel) as a higher priority than relief pitching (Kimbrel). Those guys pitch more innings. There are questions about how well Fried and Soroka will hold up under a bigger workload, plus injury/health concerns about Folty and Gausman. However, relief pitching is a pretty clear need.

Digging a little deeper into the pen, it has a wOBA against LHH of .322, 13th in the majors, and a wOBA against RHH of .317, 20th in the majors. So no compelling case for a lefty or righty reliever. More a compelling case for an upgrade or two no matter what the side.

As for the position players, right field is a weakness. Most of us know this. I don't think we are going to make a trade to upgrade there. But we can improve internally by using Camargo against lefties. We also have Duvall as an option for a similar role. Finally, if Ender comes back healthy we might benefit from occasionally using an outfield alignment of Riley, Acuna and Inciarte.

Is Freddie the most underrated star in the MLB? He is consistently in the top 3 players at first year after year but her never seems to get national attention.

[nsacpi]

Scott Coleman on Twitter tweeted a stat that Rosenthal tweeted that surprised me. Since May 15th, the Braves bullpen leads all of MLB with a 3.43 era.

last 30 days

ERA 3.17
FIP 4.31
xFIP 4.33

I leave it to you to explain this to Scott

[msstate7]

last 30 days

ERA 3.17
FIP 4.31
xFIP 4.33

I leave it to you to explain this to Scott

Where does the FIP rank in mlb during that time?

[thewupk]

I understand.... just didn't realize it was the best the MLB. And very interesting that the average uninformed fan is still whining about how awful our pen still is.

In that time frame the Braves pen has had a 4.41 FIP which is 12th in baseball. So not awful by any means but that ERA is misleading.

[cajunrevenge]

I dont doubt the pen can get us through the regular season. Its the playoffs I am really worried about. Anyone want Luke Jackson coming into close a 1 run playof game? I have seen that movie too many times.

[thewupk]

Is Freddie the most underrated star in the MLB? He is consistently in the top 3 players at first year after year but her never seems to get national attention.

Because the Braves have sucked most of the time he's been great. It's a shame Yelich and Bellinger are having all-time great seasons or he'd be in MVP talks.

[bravesfanMatt]

I dont doubt the pen can get us through the regular season. Its the playoffs I am really worried about. Anyone want Luke Jackson coming into close a 1 run playof game? I have seen that movie too many times.

Our pen will be different by then. We are auditioning guys internally and scoping guys externally. I wouldn’t sweat the playoffs yet.

[thewupk]

His defense is killing him. I think his defense is coming back around though... if he keeps hitting, I think his WAR is about to really climb

Yup.

He's 18th in DRS and 22nd in UZR.

[zbhargrove]

In that time frame the Braves pen has had a 4.41 FIP which is 12th in baseball. So not awful by any means but that ERA is misleading.

No doubt!

[msstate7]

Yup.

He's 18th in DRS and 22nd in UZR.

If you don't mind, will you see how it's been since June 1? My eye test thinks it's gotten better. I may need new contacts though

[nsacpi]

Where does the FIP rank in mlb during that time?

11 in the majors

[Carp]

Is SS play up across the league? 1.2 fWAR still seems pretty good at this time of the year. I certainly wouldn't think there would be 18 SS with at least 1.2 fWAR before the end of June.

[nsacpi]

The pen has not been as bad in the past month or so. But a good deal of that "improvement" is luck. I'm confident the front office will understand there is still a need for an upgrade or two.

[msstate7]

11 in the majors

That's pretty good to me

[thewupk]

Is SS play up across the league? 1.2 fWAR still seems pretty good at this time of the year. I certainly wouldn't think there would be 18 SS with at least 1.2 fWAR before the end of June.

The short answer is yes. But Swanson actually ranks 16th among all SS. The 18 ranking is for the Braves as a whole at the position.

[nsacpi]

Teams getting more fWAR than us at SS in descending order: Twins, Padres, Red Sox, Cardinals, A's, Cubs, Rockies, Royals, Rangers, Dodgers, Yankees, Astros, White Sox, Phillies, Tigers, Dbacks, Angels.

[thewupk]

If you don't mind, will you see how it's been since June 1? My eye test thinks it's gotten better. I may need new contacts though

Can't get actual numbers but he's 20th in defense rating among SS since the 1st.

[nsacpi]

The short answer is yes. But Swanson actually ranks 16th among all SS. The 18 ranking is for the Braves as a whole at the position.

It is almost entirely Dansby.

[thewupk]

It is almost entirely Dansby.

Right. But that's not the case for other teams. Not that it really matters.

[Enscheff]

Scott Coleman on Twitter tweeted a stat that Rosenthal tweeted that surprised me. Since May 15th, the Braves bullpen leads all of MLB with a 3.43 era.

Who knew moving Newk and Touki to the BP would help that unit tremendously?

Oh wait...

[msstate7]

Can't get actual numbers but he's 20th in defense rating among SS since the 1st.

Dang