The Uggla Solution

[Enscheff]

At this point you dance with the one that brought ya'. You are crazy if you think it's wise to ditch Uggla and go into the postseason with Pastor, EJ, or a guy from AA at 2B.

The bright side to Uggla is that there is a small chance he hits 2 HRs and singlehandedly wins a playoff game. That one event would make it worth putting up with his whole season of suck, and is something nobody else on the roster capable of playing 2B has a chance to provide.

The only starter with any real chance of being benched in October is BJ, and that's only if Gattis or Schafer are hot at the end of the year. BJ will be given every possible chance to show a pulse this season because he is another guy that can potentially win a playoff game all by himself.

[nsacpi]

Freddi going with Elliot Johnson at second for the second consecutive game. Small miracle.

[Julio3000]

Yo, I know that Uggla is just awful.

But Elliot Johnson? For reals?

Over 677 MLB PAs, he's been significantly worse than Uggla has been this year.

[nsacpi]

Yo, I know that Uggla is just awful.

But Elliot Johnson? For reals?

Over 677 MLB PAs, he's been significantly worse than Uggla has been this year.

But not worse than the Uggla of August and September. That's really the issue. The Uggla of the first half of this year would do just fine.

Uggla OPS in the first half: .738
Uggla OPS so far in the second half: .533

See the problem?

[Julio3000]

I get that. But thinking that Uggla's suckage may not be permanent and irreversible is no more foolish than thinking that Elliot Johnson is a productive MLB player, right?

[nsacpi]

I get that. But thinking that Uggla's suckage may not be permanent and irreversible is no more foolish than thinking that Elliot Johnson is a productive MLB player, right?

My view is over a period of months or the next year or so, Uggla is very likely to out-produce Elliot Johnson. But as we head into the playoffs, I'm not so sure he would be the right guy. You have to look at things differently and manage differently in a five or seven game series. You have to put more weight on who's hot and who's not and less weight on things like pedigree and career track record. Look at how Bochy was willing to take Lincecum out of his starting rotation last year. That's what you have to do in a short series. You have to approach things differently.

Right now Johnson is playing over his head a bit, and Uggla is in a terrible slump. Maybe that changes over the next three weeks, maybe not.

[Julio3000]

Johnson playing over his head = has gotten a handful of hits.

[The Chosen One]

Johnson playing over his head = has gotten a handful of hits.

Sad part is, even as someone who's sticking with Uggla, that's an upgrade over Dan.

[tvsportscaster]

This should not be a surprise. If you think back to last year, when Uggla struggled you saw Fredi bench him for a few games down the stretch.

[Dalyn]

Funny how Fredi feels the need to justify himself for playing Dan:

"I wrote down both lines and asked my coaches, 'Who's the other guy?' I even said it was another second baseman in the [National League] East.

"They finally got it."

Right? I didn't want to pile on by mentioning that part, but I am glad someone did. It is SILLY AS HELL that he plays games with the coaches to justify favoritism.

[Braves1976]

My view is over a period of months or the next year or so, Uggla is very likely to out-produce Elliot Johnson. But as we head into the playoffs, I'm not so sure he would be the right guy. You have to look at things differently and manage differently in a five or seven game series. You have to put more weight on who's hot and who's not and less weight on things like pedigree and career track record. Look at how Bochy was willing to take Lincecum out of his starting rotation last year. That's what you have to do in a short series. You have to approach things differently.

Right now Johnson is playing over his head a bit, and Uggla is in a terrible slump. Maybe that changes over the next three weeks, maybe not.

We should consider the defensive decline too. Uggla continues to cost us runs on defense, he was at -14 DRS a week ago. Now he's at -17 DRS which gives him the second worst DRS in all of MLB. The only player that's worse currently is Michael Young (mostly at third base). Uggla of course is the worst in DRS already among second baseman. While Elliot Johnson's best position defensively is second base, EJ currently has a 10 DRS at second in less than 400 innings at the position.

To sum it up, if neither are hitting much I'll go with the big upgrade EJ gives us defensively at second. Though I'll be the first to admit neither are long-term answers. I'm not real happy about either short-term either to be honest. But Uggla has been so bad you have to look elsewhere, IMO.

[Teheran_49]

We have the components for a productive platoon combination at second:

La Stella in AA had an OPS of .946 against righties and .754 against lefties.

Pastornicky in AAA was more neutral with an OPS of .743 against righties and .758 against lefties

There is no need to platoon La Stella. While his power may not be as great against lefties which is only a small sample size of 75 AB's you fail to mention the guy hit .338 with a .388 OBP. It just amazes me how many people on this board want to sell La Stella short yet I can't remember a prospect who hit for this high of average and walk as much if not more than he strikes out. Please, feel free to name me a guy who put these types of numbers up? I really could care less what the HR total says I look at the XBH and the guy hits plenty of doubles and averages around 1 XBH per 10 AB's.

[nsacpi]

There is no need to platoon La Stella. While his power may not be as great against lefties which is only a small sample size of 75 AB's you fail to mention the guy hit .338 with a .388 OBP. It just amazes me how many people on this board want to sell La Stella short yet I can't remember a prospect who hit for this high of average and walk as much if not more than he strikes out. Please, feel free to name me a guy who put these types of numbers up? I really could care less what the HR total says I look at the XBH and the guy hits plenty of doubles and averages around 1 XBH per 10 AB's.

Lemke hit for more power then La Stella in the minors and also had more walks than strikeouts while generally playing at a younger age at each level. The same could be said of another former Braves second baseman, Jeff Treadway. La Stella is a decent prospect, but what he did this past season is not that exceptional. Lots of "generic" major league second basemen put up better numbers in the minors or similar numbers at a younger age.

I'll mention that there was another second base prospect in the Southern League this season who walked more than he struck out. He was also drafted out of college, but after his junior year rather than senior year with La Stella. He put up very similar offensive numbers to La Stella, OPS of .903 versus .896 for La Stella. But he is a significantly better defender and baserunner than La Stella. He is also almost two years younger. This other player is not an uber prospect. I don't think he'll be on anyone's Top 100 list of prospects. Yet he is a significantly better prospect than La Stella. Similar bat, but younger, faster, stronger, more athletic, better and more versatile defender. This sort of comparison really shows you how tough it is to win a job as a major league regular. Neither La Stella nor this other player are by any means assured of becoming major league regulars. But I would say the other guy has a better chance.

Here's another comp. Daniel Murphy of the Mets. Not a star, but certainly a useful player. Like La Stella, drafted out of college. Put up similar numbers in AA in 2008. But did so a year younger than La Stella. I'd be very happy if La Stella became Daniel Murphy, who has put up OPS of .700-.750 the past couple years.

[jdunn]

IMO, Uggla has hit a wall in his career in a very similar fashion as Andruw Jones did. Both went from the pinnacle of their career to a sharp drop off. I believe the lasik surgery was an effort that Uggla hoped would turn things around. I'm not sure that he actually needed it, due to the fact that he has hit 21 HR's (why anyone would pitch him something in that in just might be able to pull, I don't know) this season. The other similarity between he and AJ is that they became so pull happy that they forgot about the other 65% of the field, I'm afraid BJ is following suit.

Regardless, barring a major showing in Spring Training 2014 and getting off to a hot start, I just don't see Uggla sticking around much longer.

[Julio3000]

To be fair to Fredi,, "Uggla" and "Utley" are both 5-letter names that start with "U."