I can almost accept that, I guess. But the most they ever paid a guy from the group you listed was Diaz, at $2.5MM, and that was in 2010 - coming off of a season where he had nearly 400 ABs. None of the others crack $1.5MM. Just seems like a waste of resources bestowed upon a guy whose contributions from his 'quadrant' of value are fairly negligible (and never truly tested in a bench role before).Originally Posted by nsacpi
The bench really needs to be looked at. I know you cant expect great players on the bench, but you gotta have some guys that bring value to the club. You have to have guys that you have some confidence in getting a hit or playing good defense, or something.
Laird
Doumit
Pastor
Pena
Schafer
Anyone want any of these guys at the plate at any point? What if Simmons misses 3 weeks? Freeman? J-Up?
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
Out of that group, the only two that could probably stand in as adequate replacements are Pena and Schafer.
Pastornicky deserves out of this organization.
So who would you like as our new bench players. Let's have some suggestions.
My guess is Terdoslavich would be called up and play a lot if any of Freeman, Justin or Heyward were out. Simmons is harder to replace, but it would probably be a platoon of Pena and Pastornicky.
And Pena is a career .244/.283/.329 hitter while Schafer is .226/.310/.311
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
Pena doesn't even have 500 career ABs. Schafer has a little over 1K.
I think in the cases of players like that, they would step in as part of a platoon if a starter went down. Pena is .270/.314/.386 against righties and Schafer is .239/323/.328. Not great, but at least in the case of Pena I could live with that.
In terms of hitting, for me a bench player is acceptable if they can give you a .700 OPS against opposite handed pitching and they play a premium position (C, SS, CF). If they play a non-premium position I'd like them to give me a .750 OPS against opposite handed pitching. It is hard to find anything better because anything better tends not to be a bench player.
Last edited by nsacpi; 04-30-2014 at 11:35 AM.
Probably should have been more addressed in the offseason.
Players that could possibly have been had:
Lobaton
Mark Reynolds
Jeff Baker
Schumaker
Mcgehee
Reed Johnson
Overbay
I know you aren't going to have great bats on the bench, but you need to have at least a couple that have some type of threat to get a hit. THe Braves historically cheap out or are forced to cheap out on the bench and construct it with fringe prospects and old vets. Or they end up searching for a bat in July.
I really dislike the way the bench is set up currently, but I do agree with the concept of having a 3rd catcher to allow for the backup catcher to hit. (would have worked good with Ross as our backup), but the backup is Laird. Pena isn't good, Pastor is probably a AAA player. Schafer is a good pinch runner I guess. Doumit was a bad move.
Pena is likely the only one that really makes sense as a bench player and can at least contribute.
Last edited by gilesfan; 04-30-2014 at 11:40 AM.
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
Probably a good reason for that.
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
Schafer is terrible. He can steal a base and play a little defense. That's it.
That's some foolproof logic, for sure.
You forgot Paul Janish.
And makes some incredible magic brownies*.
*(that Fredi likes to eat before making out the lineup)
Dalyn (04-30-2014)
Interesting list. I think Baker, Overbay and Reynolds went into situations where they anticipated playing as platoon players not bench players. Don't know if we could have competed offering them a spot on the bench. Reed Johnson is a nice player, but the team wanted Doumit instead for the power and ability to play catcher.
In the off-season I wanted Eric Chavez, but he expressed a strong preference to stay near his house in AZ.
So you think there numbers are going to change if they ever reach a number of at bats that is acceptable for you?
"Yes, I did think Aldrich was good UNTIL I SAW HIM PLAY. "- thethe
Nonsense, Pastornicky deserves is a real shot to play regularly at second. He has the bat and speed to be a good second baseman if given the shot, IMO. He also isn't a bad defender at second like he is at short. He is pretty terrible at short as he doesn't have the arm for it, etc. But he is better at second defensively than Uggla (and La Stella too from what I've seen).
That said, I liked the Doumit pick-up initially but now I am thinking it might not work for us. He is so bad defensively and seems to be like Joey T in that he needs to start regularly to hit much. But hopefully he'll come around and improve his hitting. If not he is terrible because he hurts us so much defensively.
We agree on this, but it seems unlikely that he is offered the chance ... particularly given the way the organization has utilized him (or rather, hasn't) the past two seasons. Kid needs a change of scenery.
Schafer is the worst player on our bench, IMO. He has the speed and can play some defense as you note but that is about it. I wanted the Braves to sign Bonficacio who ended up signing with the Cubs. He'd been a great replacement for Schafer IMO. He could also lead off some and play third with CJ struggling too.
Last edited by Braves1976; 04-30-2014 at 11:51 AM.
Doumit has helped some indirectly via the Gattis pinch hits. It is part of the equation when it comes to bench construction. I like Terdoslavich better as a hitter and outfielder, but if Joey T is on the bench instead of Doumit maybe Gattis does not get used as a pinch hitter. There are all sorts of subtle tradeoffs when you put a bench together. And you have to look at a slightly bigger picture and consider what is available in the upper levels of the farm system.
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