Since, bless his heart, Adam Duvall has descended into the abyss of Epic Fail since his acquisition, I got bored and curious enough to see how he stacked up with some of the historically bad choices the Braves have made along the way. To be fair, I've also begun working on a list to see what some of the best pickups were.
First, our DUVALL ALL-STARS:
Len Barker (August 25th, 1983) traded by Cleveland Indians to Atlanta for 3 players to be named and $150 K. Rick Behenna sent Sept. 2, Brett Butler sent Oct. 21; Brook Jacoby Oct. 21. He won exactly one game in six starts down the stretch as the Braves failed to defend their division title by four games.
Bench 2012: Braves actually made moves to come up with the worst bench in baseball in 2012. Bookend fails .. Lyle Overbay (free agent Aug. 20), Jeff Baker (trade on Aug. 31 for AA pitcher). Braves lost division by 4 games, Overbay was 2/20, Baker 2/19 with a combined one double and one RBI and neither came off the bench in the WC loss to the Cardinals.
Mark Davis (july 21, 1992), 3 years after winning Cy Young, Braves acquired Davis, sending 37-year-old Juan Berenguer to the Royals. Davis as a Brave had no saves and a 7.02 ERA in just 14 games. But his fail led to one of the BEST stretch pickups (see accompanying post).
Todd Hollandsworth (Aug. 29, 2005): Only 32, Hollandsworth should have still been in him prime, and was hitting a respectable .254 when acquired from the Cubs for a minor leaguer. There was scarcely a pulse, as he drove in only one run in 35 at-bats (.171, 6 for 35) and was not used for the division series in which the Braves lost three of four to end their season.
Adam Duvall (July 30, 2018): You seldom see a player fall off the cliff, talent-wise, at age 29, but does anyone expect Duvall to right this ship after hitting below .200 all season? His ratio was 100 strikeouts to 68 hits with the Reds, but at least he made his hits count for 61 RBIs. At this writing, he has been worse than dismal as a Brave, 4-for-43 (.093) with no extra base hits, no RBIs and 13 strikeouts.
------------
There are others. Your input is welcome. There were several who were close but no cigar in my mind, but you easily make an argument against others. But these two do not go onto the list:
There is an ongoing perception that the pickups of Dan Uggla and Derek Lowe were major fails, but history reminds us differently. Uggla, picked up before the 2011 season with one year left on his existing deal, hit 36 home runs and drove in 82 despite a .233 average -- overall making it a very worthwhile trade. BUT that season seduced the Braves to offer the 32-year-Uggla a four-year deal worth over $50 million -- THAT was the fatal mistake. As late as June 6, coming off a two-homer, five RBI game, he was hitting a productive .272 and was named an All-Star. But the bottom fell out ... he was homerless for the month after June 9th and his average was down to .235. He hit .160 for June, .115 for July (9 for 78) and .207 for August. And 2013 was even worse. He was released midway through the 2014 season with a $13 million payday for 2015 still on the books.
Lowe was merely a free agent signee, and gave them solid seasons of 15-10 and 16-12 (albeit with a high ERA) before leading the league in defeats in 2011. Even then, he led the NL by making 34 starts.
Reply With Quote