GDT #25, 2/29/'14: Braves (Wood) vs. Marlins (Fernandez)

[nsacpi]

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.

He's on the team because he is out of options, unlike Constanza and Cunningham who could fill in as well as the 4th outfielder.

[Dalyn]

He's on the team because he is out of options, unlike Constanza and Cunningham who could fill in as well as the 4th outfielder.

He isn't worth the money. We should've traded/released him.

[Braves1976]

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.

That's fair to say, I agree he is unlikely to get much of a shot here. If anything he'll probably be a stop-gap for La Stella and/or Peraza. And that's only if they pull the plug on Uggla soon enough for him to do so.

[Braves1976]

BTW, I don't get the dislike for Pena. He is a good back-up for short. If Simmons is hurt for long we are in trouble no matter who's our back-up at short. So I don't even want to consider that happening. But I must say Pena backing up short sure beats Janish and others who couldn't hit a lick.

[Hawk]

And you have to look at a slightly bigger picture and consider what is available in the upper levels of the farm system.

It's interesting ... historically, the Braves actually seem to employ the minor league system rather minimally when it comes to constructing the core of their bench (Laird, R. Johnson, Janish, Francisco, Diaz, Hinske, Overbay, Wilson, Ross, Mather, Lugo, Conrad, etc.)

[Heyward]

I agree the bench sucks, should probably have JoeyT up sometime, at least he can hit somewhat.

[UNCBlue012]

BTW, I don't get the dislike for Pena. He is a good back-up for short. If Simmons is hurt for long we are in trouble no matter who's our back-up at short. So I don't even want to consider that happening. But I must say Pena backing up short sure beats Janish and others who couldn't hit a lick.

I love Pena! He's one of my favorites actually. I think we need to bring up Cunningham and JoeyT or LaStella in my opinion. I don't hate Schafer at all, he's just not that good of a hitter.

[nsacpi]

It's interesting ... historically, the Braves actually seem to employ the minor league system rather minimally when it comes to constructing the core of their bench (Laird, R. Johnson, Janish, Francisco, Diaz, Hinske, Overbay, Wilson, Ross, Mather, Lugo, Conrad, etc.)

That's a good point. Although Conrad was in our system for several years. And our best bench player in recent memory--Martin Prado--was homegrown. Of course he eventually became a regular. But I think the Braves have an institutional preference for veteran bench players, to the point that it occasionally comes back to bite us in the form of a young player being traded or let go and then achieving success elsewhere. An example would be Gregor Blanco. Betemit is another example of a player was better than a lot of the older players who rode the bench for us. Of course we got something in return for trading those players, but I think we sold them short. We have an interesting group of potentially good bench players right now who have come up through our system--Pastornicky, Terdoslavich, Cunningham, Bethancourt, Salcedo, Reyes. Not all of them are ready right now. But if we can use them as bench players we can save a bit of money rather than getting someone like Hinske or Doumit.