He is much better than Prado.Originally Posted by Enscheff
He is much better than Prado.
Please no Kinsler. He's to the infield popout what Uggla is to the strikeout. He would end up being Uggla Part Deux.
At least we'd have two middle infielders who could pop up all the time?
I have confidence in Wren that he will find some good solutions. How everything goes beyond that is a different matter.
You hardly ever get what you want in sports, but I would loved to have seen this team, without injuries, and without two of them being black holes in the lineup, go to work
Mac
Freeman
Uggla
Simmons
CJ
Justin
BJ
Heyward
Laird
Gattis
Pena
Schafer
Reed
Pastornicky
Huddy
Medlen
Minor
Julio
Kimbrel
EOF
Venters
Walden
Carpenter
Avilan
Wood
Without BJ and Uggla being full of suck, that team would still be alive today.
JohnAdcox (10-10-2013)
Monster contract too
You have made a very powerful case for what I think is our best option. Standing pat (which for me would include brining back McCann and Hudson). This team is a juggernaut in the making. The main risk this off-season is impatience and overreaction.
JohnAdcox (10-11-2013)
You definitely don't want to completely blow up a young and talented 96-win team, but some tweaks are in order. My only reservation with bringing back Mac is that he's aging and the last three years he just hasn't been very good late in the year. We'd be in much better shape as an AL team where he and Gattis could split the time.
If we do bring back virtually the same lineup with BJ and Uggla in there, there has to be a fundamental change in how this lineup approaches hitting. The whole "Strikeouts don't matter as long as you hit home runs and score" isn't going to mean jack **** if you're facing Kershaw/Wainwright in the postseason. We hit one home run this entire NLDS in a completely meaningless situation, but struck out or popped up trying to jack one in key spots a whole bunch of damn times. So whether the new approach calls for new hitting coaches, IDK. But simply having the status quo won't work.
Oh there will be some tweaking. But I think we need to see if some of the adjustments you mention take first.
I think the problem is, you have to consider the profile of the players in the lineup. That's who they are. They're going to strike out, that's not something you can teach them not to do at this point.
why not la stella? two months ago that's the only name we heard about.
i say save where you can (like i did before that bj upton signing), so you can keep the guys you really want to keep when the time comes. keeping your studs is what's really going to make you what you want to be down the line, imo.
same with catcher. you have gattis who should be an adequate option at worst and that kid in the minors we've been hearing about for years. surely he's getting close, no?
the biggest issue is outfield. the entire thing needs to be revamped if possible. i'd trade any and all of the three if somebody would make it worth it. it wouldn't be terrible to somehow pick up a nice veteran starting pitcher to throw in the mix as well.
don't forget about justin, who as many predicted completely disappeared when it mattered the most. he should be a decently valued trading chip, something i'd strongly consider. how about a .300 hitting on base guy to replace him? didn't we learn from chris johnson in this last series that having guys that don't strike out every other at bat is a good thing to have in a playoff series against a strong pitching staff?
No really. .263/.354/.435 vs. .293/.343/.432
Yeah, but if we can get Uggla to produce numbers similar to what we got out of him in the first half of 2013 (it wasn't that long ago!) I would be satisfied.
He has way more potential and is consistently better in almost every way. The only thing Prado has him on is average. He is much better. And cheaper.
LaStella, LaStella, and oh, LaStella again.
Teheran_49 (10-11-2013), thethe (10-11-2013)
I understand where you are coming from, but this is exactly the kind of overreaction the braves need to avoid. Justin is young and highly talented. Unless you get blown away by an offer, you keep him and add some of the high OBP guys you are talking about around him. Uggla gets traded, Justin doesn't in my book.
But...Uggla didn't play and BJ only had 3 AB's. We did seem to have a better approach in the playoffs, saw more pitches and appeared to have cut back on the HR swings. But having almost half your AB's vs Kershaw will scuttle just about anyone's offense.
Think we lost primarily because our pitching (Teheren, Carpenter and Medlen) let us down and, seconarily, the defense wasn't poor. Our hitting was less of a reason.
Umm..no. JUstin maybe. BJ is untradeable (have you heard about his 75 mill contract?) Its hard to imagine a trade involving Heyward that would make us better long term.
Not seeing the purpose of this hypothetical roster. Just a guess, but average roster turnover is probably greater than 15%. Hell, it changes dramatically even during the season. So, it's quite naive to think that there won't be any changes, other than letting Maholm leave as a FA. If McCann wants to go multi-year, that lessens any chance of him re-signing. That's why the option to DH & play 1B for him in the American League would be a more attractive option. It's not set in stone that Hudson will return either. Great guy, dedicated to the team and all, but if they can bring in somebody younger and more of an ace, then he won't be back.
Sentimental reasons can't dictate personnel moves. Example: Sid Bream was extremely important at helping to bring the Braves back to respectability, helped fortify the defense and was responsible for the most exciting play in Atlanta history. Would they have been able to overcome the Giants in '93 without having acquired the Crime Dog though? Hell, no. A few years later, it was recognized that Steve Avery was losing effectiveness, so Denny Neagle was brought in to fortify the rotation.
That roster I listed there was illustrating what could have been had we not had 21 players go on the DL and have two offensive pieces we were counting on, tank. That wasn't my prediction or advocating of what the roster should or will be next year.
We did lose because of pitching in defense, mainly having someone who isn't an OF in left field that led to a couple of big innings. But we struck out in some key spots too, including three times in the ninth in game 4. Not one of them could put the ball in play. Maybe Heyward didn't strike out, I can't remember now because I was seeing red over not bringing Kimbrel in. It might work over a few weeks during the regular season, but you gotta have guys at the top of the lineup who can put the ball in play consistently.
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