Spring Training 2015

[Braves1976]

New Bowman article on the roster competition for position players. I agree that KJ is looking like the odd man out in the IF.

The option to carry both Gosselin and Callaspo has become more attractive as Kelly Johnson has displayed a slow bat in the process of recording just two hits in the 19 at-bats he's compiled this month. Johnson had been regarded as a versatile utility player who could play across the infield and left field if necessary.
"If you go out and say we've got open spots and you've got competition, then you've got to be able to produce a little bit," Gonzalez said. "If a guy wins a spot hitting .055 while the other guy is hitting .360, then you come out looking like a fool."

http://m.braves.mlb.com/news/article...ts-with-braves

Bowman starts that piece with "Eric Young Jr. has proved that he can play center field" and doesn't mention Eury Perez till the end as one of the last names among "primary backup outfielder's role" candidates.

[clvclv]

Huh. I was as big a CJ fan as they come … I liked the idea of a contact/get on base guy in the line up (and yes, I freely admit I was looking at the box score through homer-tinted glasses). But even I was mystified by that extension. I never bought the tradable contract argument. If he was worth it, why would you want to trade? If he’s not, what makes you think you’d be able to?

::sigh::

Not sure I've ever "defended" the extension, but have always admitted I at least saw some logic in it. I think everyone understood he wasn't the guy that contended for a batting title, but he had enough of a track record that it wasn't so far-fetched to believe that even though you thought he'd regress some that close to league-average production wasn't unattainable. If you were getting that from your 7-hole hitter, who cares? The bigger problem was that 2 guys you ALWAYS expected to hit higher in the order were so bad they'd have been released if they weren't owed so much money (and one eventually was). If that ultimately turns out to be what you got from him over the life of the contract, what other available free-agent 3B could you have replaced him with over the last 2 years? The Braves will quite likely exercise the buyout following 2017, meaning they will have paid him $7.833 million AAV for the three years. Prado's extension was $10 million AAV. Has he been 22% better than Johnson? (I ask seriously since I'm not the best stathead we've ever met.) Headley's deal is at least $13 million AAV if he doesn't reach any of his bonuses. Will he wind up being 40% better? Who knows? The other options that wouldn't have cost even more money would have been Mike Aviles, Gordon Beckham, Callaspo, KJ, and Mark Reynolds - pretty slim pickings IMO.

Again, I'm not trying to defend him further than to point out that the other available options that would've been substantial upgrades would've cost MUCH MORE money, and it took losing Medlen and Beachy in a 3 day span to convince Liberty to spend money on Santana last year - my guess is getting them to part with that kind of money to replace a healthy Johnson would've been like pulling teeth.

That extension perfectly points out how desperately we needed to rebuild the system - we didn't even have options in the minors that would've been able to replace Johnson of all people.

[sturg33]

Not sure I've ever "defended" the extension, but have always admitted I at least saw some logic in it. I think everyone understood he wasn't the guy that contended for a batting title, but he had enough of a track record that it wasn't so far-fetched to believe that even though you thought he'd regress some that close to league-average production wasn't unattainable. If you were getting that from your 7-hole hitter, who cares? The bigger problem was that 2 guys you ALWAYS expected to hit higher in the order were so bad they'd have been released if they weren't owed so much money (and one eventually was). If that ultimately turns out to be what you got from him over the life of the contract, what other available free-agent 3B could you have replaced him with over the last 2 years? The Braves will quite likely exercise the buyout following 2017, meaning they will have paid him $7.833 million AAV for the three years. Prado's extension was $10 million AAV. Has he been 22% better than Johnson? (I ask seriously since I'm not the best stathead we've ever met.) Headley's deal is at least $13 million AAV if he doesn't reach any of his bonuses. Will he wind up being 40% better? Who knows? The other options that wouldn't have cost even more money would have been Mike Aviles, Gordon Beckham, Callaspo, KJ, and Mark Reynolds - pretty slim pickings IMO.

Again, I'm not trying to defend him further than to point out that the other available options that would've been substantial upgrades would've cost MUCH MORE money, and it took losing Medlen and Beachy in a 3 day span to convince Liberty to spend money on Santana last year - my guess is getting them to part with that kind of money to replace a healthy Johnson would've been like pulling teeth.

That extension perfectly points out how desperately we needed to rebuild the system - we didn't even have options in the minors that would've been able to replace Johnson of all people.

The extension was completely unnecessary because we had him under contractual control through arbitration no matter what. We just killed our flexability by guaranteeing him the money.

IMO, this was the most illogical of all of Wren's moves.

[clvclv]

The extension was completely unnecessary because we had him under contractual control through arbitration no matter what. We just killed our flexability by guaranteeing him the money.

IMO, this was the most illogical of all of Wren's moves.

I only say that the reasoning behind the move was sound though - all those extensions were negotiated with the goal of gaining cost-certainty because they needed to know how much money would be available to try to retain Heyward and/or Upton since their plan was to keep the entire core together. The danger in going year-to-year with Johnson was that he put up another season or two like that one and got Prado or Headley money in arbitration and kept you from being able to keep one of the more important players.

[50PoundHead]

The extension was completely unnecessary because we had him under contractual control through arbitration no matter what. We just killed our flexability by guaranteeing him the money.

IMO, this was the most illogical of all of Wren's moves.

Without question. Even at his best, Chris Johnson is a replaceable player.

[dak]

Today's game starts in spectacular fashion with an EY Jr strikeout followed by a Jace ground rule 2B.

[Julio3000]

Gomes Ks, but doubles machine Christian Bethancourt plates Peterson with another 2-base hit. Simmons singles in Bet.

2-0 Braves

...and Chris Johnson strikes out swinging. Because Chris Johnson.

[thethe]

Gomes Ks, but doubles machine Christian Bethancourt plates Peterson with another 2-base hit. Simmons singles in Bet.

2-0 Braves

...and Chris Johnson strikes out swinging. Because Chris Johnson.

When is a thing a thing?

[thethe]

Jace Peterson has to be the opening day second baseman...HAS TO BE!

[thethe]

CB nails Sandoval trying to steal second. Do they know that CB has a decent arm?

[VirginiaBrave]

Had Betts at 2nd!!! Wake up Miller!!!

[sturg33]

When is a thing a thing?

Long, LONG, after spring training

[thethe]

Long, LONG, after spring training

Agreed, but there is more reason for optimism after what we saw last year. Wouldn't you agree?

[Julio3000]

When is a thing a thing?

Christian 2Bethancourt

[VirginiaBrave]

We just might come out on upper end of Heyward deal yet. Miller looks good!!!

[sturg33]

Agreed, but there is more reason for optimism after what we saw last year. Wouldn't you agree?

Not really. Spring stats are as meaningless as they come.

[thethe]

We just might come out on upper end of Heyward deal yet. Miller looks good!!!

Heyward is an awesome player as well as Upton but I really do believe the deals are going to end up being really good ones for the Braves.

[zbhargrove]

Not really. Spring stats are as meaningless as they come.

You are consistently a beaming ray of sunshine.

[thethe]

Not really. Spring stats are as meaningless as they come.

You are like the anti-me with the Braves now. I'm not surprised we are taking away different things from CB's performance thus far.

[sturg33]

You are consistently a beaming ray of sunshine.

Do you actually put credence in spring performance?