This team is FINNISH
This team is FINNISH
Forever Fredi
I guess.Originally Posted by bravesnumberone
2021/2022
FWAR: 5.1/2.6
Wrc+: 147/118
Xwoba: .378/.345
WOBA: .379/.344
K rate: 16.8/23.1
Bb rate: 13.1/11.0
He's been disappointing, but he can change all that with a hot month here. Do it, Olson
Defensive metrics show that Olson is a very good fielding first baseman, but he just looks so clumsy out there. There's been a couple of times this season where his stretch has been out of whack and it's given the opposition a baserunner on what should have been a routine out. Those are isolated instances and the season doesn't turn on them, but it kind of reinforces my impression of him that he's a pretty good baseball player who is not blessed with top drawer athletic skills (and he's not alone in that category).
As a hitter, Olson has been up and down his entire career. Subpar season followed by a monster season. Fairly high K-rate, but a solid BB-rate and he is one of the better power hitters in the game. My worry is that he's not going to age well and the last few years of that contract aren't going to be pretty. I wanted Freeman back, but it is what it is and the trade of Olson looks like it will work out on our end from a value perspective. I just couldn't understand Anthopoulos dishing out the 8-year deal for Olson so quickly.
buck75 (09-13-2022)
Still like Olson but there is no question that we would be the best team in baseball if Freeman was still here. We still may be but its up for debate.
Natural Immunity Croc
The boys are just in a rut and it’s really started with Riley and Oly, who’ve been putrid for a month and ruined rally and rally. Riley’s DP with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth was a horrendously low baseball IQ swing.
Barnes (09-13-2022)
They’ll be fine. This happens to every team. I still give Olson a pass this year bc of all the Freeman stuff that was going on and the pressure he was under.
Strider’s velo was down and he was throwing far more sliders. Reason for concern?
Probably dealing with a little arm fatigue. Wrights going through the same thing. If the division wasn’t so close we could get them a few extra days.
An entire year of sub par (for him) performance is not pressure. Olson is having a bad year and she e all really really hope this is not what we just bought 8 years of. He might of had a career year last year and the Braves bought the hype.
Coppy
I won't go as far as you in your assessment of Olson because he was extremely good in 2019 as well as last year. That said, I don't buy the pressure because of the Freeman situation as an excuse for inconsistent performance. Much is made of guys "coming home" to play for the team you grew up cheering for, but that can be a mixed bag and it's an adjustment. I'm not ready to dump on Olson. Power is his calling card and as long as he's doing that, he'll be a key contributor (hopefully). But I still question the 8-year deal.
I still think he’ll be fine. He’s a good defender, will hit 30+ homers a year and will have 100 RBI’s a year. With the shift going away his numbers will only go up.
I am not really dumping on him. He has had 2 amazing full years before this and then 2 Meh years. Maybe he is just an every other year kind of guy.. There is probably something in the numbers that would explain his highs and lows I am sure... Luck, facing lefties more, facing more elite pitching... who knows. But it is hard for Brave fans to go from Freeman to Olson.. And the money we just laid out to him is not far from what could have gotten FF.. The whole FF didn't want to be here is BS.. He just wanted to get paid what he deserved. So he is now a Dodger. And I have not said this before, I don't buy into this narative that he will decline so much that will hamstring that contract in a few years. FF is a generational hitter who will decline some but not enough to make that contract not worth it.
I was and still excited to have Olson, but it is waivering a bit with his performance this year. I will give any player 2 years to 'prove' it, but man he is testing that limit for me.
Coppy
The Braves avoided giving a long term deal to a bat-only guy, and then gave a long term deal to a bat only guy...
As foreshadowing, I used the same "and the $X rate is palatable" comment for the Ozuna deal. Not loving that deal now obviously.
I was hoping the plan was to let Olson play out his Arb years and then fill 1B with a short term deal again, but AA obviously had other plans.
50PoundHead (09-13-2022)
people also have down years. Lindor and Diaz struggled coming to NY and recovered.
It is also a year where a lot of guys were moved off of their routine with the lock out.
Olson's track record says he's likely to be worth the deal. I argued NOT to trade for him b/c I didn't like putting that much resource (money or prospects) into a 1B. But that is moot at this point and is a philosophical point.
Knowing the ways things work around here if we wouldn't have dealt for him MHII is probably still in the minors and Pache is out there batting 9th hitting his weight.
As is the case about 90% of the time, we are in total agreement.
One of my big concerns with Olson is that in an interview early in the season, he bascially admitted his weakness is the four-seam fastball, which is pretty much the pitch du jour nowadays. I haven't dissected every one of his ABs and I haven't looked at Statcast on him, but he strikes me as a guy who devours low-90s stuff but his performance really tails off above that. That's probably the same for most major league hitters, but the effects seem (note the word "seem") to be more extreme for Olson in both directions. Just my amateur observation (that could be completely off-base).
Last edited by 50PoundHead; 09-13-2022 at 11:12 AM.
It’s his long ass swing that makes him susceptible to hard stuff.
That should get better with age...
Shoot me
I wish Olson would bring down his hands. Freaking ridiculous the way he sets up.
Is correct. He's a big boy, and that's a big boy swing, but it ain't like it was for the older guys swinging telephone poles. He needs to be shorter and quicker to the ball, even if it means he hits 35 dingers instead of 40. One extra hit a week, he hits .300. Crash Davis said.
Are there any first basemen who are not bat only guys? Seems like both these guys are pretty good - different, but pretty good - as first basemen go.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote