I remember someone on here saying something along the lines of “there’s no way Jesse makes the roster with this depth in the bullpen” when he was signed, and I just laughed because we all knew he was going to make the team and do well. Dude was truly meant to be a Brave.
I love these takes. Let me see if I understand. The Braves have lost Strider for the season, Fried has been awful, Murphy is out, Acuna has lost his power, Riley and Harris have no plate discipline, the defense sucks, the manager is a complete buffoon...
Yet, as we sit here right now, the Braves are playing .667 ball and are tied for the best record in the NL.
Do I have that right?
I think you do. Not sure what one night of baseball has to do with a season as a whole though. The first inning was pretty ragged... hats off to the braves for getting through it and winning it going away. Usually calling someone out is more effective when you don't have the luxury of hindsight imo.
This was me. He continues to amaze me.
Last night it was the messiest 34 pitch scoreless inning you could imagine and I believe he only had one swinging strike (88 mph cutter middle middle to the corpse of Jose Abreu). It takes a true veteran to navigate an inning like that. I’m glad he’s on the team.
Mrs. Meta (04-16-2024)
None of the bad things are mutually exclusive to the Braves being good. Twit is a baffoon... He was a middling coach who hung around for a 100 years and lucked into being handed the keys to a speed boat that gets to race pontoons. good for him.. Acuna is not Acuna like, he is still good, but him not being right doesn't mean the team is going to fail.. Fried blowing and Stridder going down hurts this team but it can still easily win 90+ games.. Vines being goodish last night was great, but he was inches away from not getting out of the first (his 58% hard hit rate agrees with me).. his stuff doesn't suggest he will have long term success, but guys can surprise.. that is the beauty of baseball. So fans will fan the way fans want to fan.. I don't think there is a right way or wrong way to be a fan.
Coppy
there is a special voodoo magic he has with an A on his cap. I figured he would make opening day roster, but I wasn't sure he was a good fit.. but with Stridder down he is now a perfect fit. Braves need long guys like Lee and Chavez to help navigate that 5th start.. it will be interesting to see what happens if/when Giles comes around.. Will lefty killer Bummer go, will corpse of Matzek go, will they take a risk and send Lee down.. should be interesting.
Coppy
If they got options left they will go down regardless if they are better. They will want to keep the roster flexibility.
"Donald Trump will serve a second term as president of the United States.
It’s over."
Little Thethe Nov 19, 2020.
Think I’ll let slippy get the next game thread. Don’t want to hog all the fun.
3-1
I find it funny that people actually think Fried is bad now because of two starts.
Fried's Babip against is .385. All the other other batted ball stats are right in line with his career. Basically, sh*t happens.
Anyone who actually has watched his starts would see Fried got mad and found something in his second bad start. He was then great in his next start. 8.74 ERA with a xFIP of 3.80... I think he will be fine. Dude even has a positive fWAR with a 8.74 ERA.
Fried got mad when the ump blew the clear strike 3 call but that didn't help. No one thinks Fried is bad.. but to say his performance hasn't been shaky thus far is watching the game through homer colored glasses. My biggest issue with any pitcher is velocity, which seems to be fine with Fried, and control, which has been bad so far.. like 2x his norm. And it wasn't like he blazed through Spring and is just off to a shaky start. He barely pitched and when he did, it wasn't great.
So I definitely feel there is a remote possibility that there is something bothering him that no one is disclosing right now because it isn't news worthy.... yet. I hope he isn't and it is just getting himself right.. I would even say that is most likely the case.. but to not have some concern is just silly.
Coppy