CrimsonCowboy
Moderator
Starting with the Braves
Starting Pitching: Kind of difficult to grade with the injuries to Sale, Schwellenbach, Lopez, and AJSS. Holmes has been a pleasant surprise and Strider, while not all the way back, has done fairly well. Elder has been inconsistent. Going to give a bit of a high grade with the injury issues. Give some credit to Kranitz. B-
Bullpen: A ton of moving parts. Iggy after a rough start has righted the ship. Lee and Montero have had good with a bit of rough mixed in. Again, hard to grade with the injuries and moving parts, but as a whole, not bad. B-
Catchers: Murphy has been good since coming back from the injuries. Don’t think anyone thought we’d see the contributions from Baldwin. Don’t think we can complain too much. A
1st Base: Matt Olson deserves the All Star bid. Good power and defense has been solid. Main thing is consistency. He tends to be really hot or quite cold. B
2nd Base: There’s no getting around it. Ozzie Albies has not been good with the bat. Defense has been fine, but his lack of offense is going to make a decision about his future kind of tough. D
Shortstop: It started with Orlando Arcia, but now he’s in Colorado. Nick Allen is great with the glove. He’s not terrible with the bat, but not much power with it. Luke Williams, well he has speed. C-
3rd Base: Austin Riley is another guy who has been hot and cold, much like Olson. Hopefully he’s able to recover quickly from his IL stint. Can’t really have Alvarez affect the grade much since it’s only two games, but he has an opportunity. C-
Left Field: Yeesh. Jurickson Profar’s suspension really hurt this team. He’s been rather good since coming back. More than what we can for the combo of White and Verdugo. Profar’s production since returning salvages this grade somewhat. D+
Center Field: The good for Michael Harris is defense is still good. Offense, there’s no way to spin. It’s been bad. He more than anyone needs a voice other than Tim Hyers. D-
Right Field: Ronald Acuna’s return has certainly been welcome. He hasn’t been trying to steal bases, but that may not be a bad thing. If fact, it’s probably not. He’s cooled off some, but he’s still a bigger threat than White or anyone else. The injury history has probably changed the way he’ll play from now on. His recent slump will bring down the grade some, but we know what he’s capable of. B-
Designated Hitter: Marcel Ozuna got off to a great start, but injuries has started to affect him. Needed some more games off. Having Murphy and Baldwin serve as a DH is something that should have been done earlier. B-
Manager/Coaches: I believe this is the final season for Brian Snitker. I have believed that since last season ended. I hate to say it, but there have been several times it looked like he’s checked out. His handling of pitching decisions and lineup construction leaves a lot to be desired. And some of his answers to the media have been head scratching. Leaving media members to criticize like many of us have never seen before. Tim Hyers has been awful. This offense has taken a huge step back as a whole. It’s apparent to everyone that firing Seitzer was a bad call. And to boot, Fredi Gonzalez brought back to coach third and he’s goofed up there. Rick Kranitz is the only reason I’m not giving this staff a failing grade. He’s done a good job with a pitching staff being held together by duct tape and rubber bands. D
Overall Team Grade: D
Starting Pitching: Kind of difficult to grade with the injuries to Sale, Schwellenbach, Lopez, and AJSS. Holmes has been a pleasant surprise and Strider, while not all the way back, has done fairly well. Elder has been inconsistent. Going to give a bit of a high grade with the injury issues. Give some credit to Kranitz. B-
Bullpen: A ton of moving parts. Iggy after a rough start has righted the ship. Lee and Montero have had good with a bit of rough mixed in. Again, hard to grade with the injuries and moving parts, but as a whole, not bad. B-
Catchers: Murphy has been good since coming back from the injuries. Don’t think anyone thought we’d see the contributions from Baldwin. Don’t think we can complain too much. A
1st Base: Matt Olson deserves the All Star bid. Good power and defense has been solid. Main thing is consistency. He tends to be really hot or quite cold. B
2nd Base: There’s no getting around it. Ozzie Albies has not been good with the bat. Defense has been fine, but his lack of offense is going to make a decision about his future kind of tough. D
Shortstop: It started with Orlando Arcia, but now he’s in Colorado. Nick Allen is great with the glove. He’s not terrible with the bat, but not much power with it. Luke Williams, well he has speed. C-
3rd Base: Austin Riley is another guy who has been hot and cold, much like Olson. Hopefully he’s able to recover quickly from his IL stint. Can’t really have Alvarez affect the grade much since it’s only two games, but he has an opportunity. C-
Left Field: Yeesh. Jurickson Profar’s suspension really hurt this team. He’s been rather good since coming back. More than what we can for the combo of White and Verdugo. Profar’s production since returning salvages this grade somewhat. D+
Center Field: The good for Michael Harris is defense is still good. Offense, there’s no way to spin. It’s been bad. He more than anyone needs a voice other than Tim Hyers. D-
Right Field: Ronald Acuna’s return has certainly been welcome. He hasn’t been trying to steal bases, but that may not be a bad thing. If fact, it’s probably not. He’s cooled off some, but he’s still a bigger threat than White or anyone else. The injury history has probably changed the way he’ll play from now on. His recent slump will bring down the grade some, but we know what he’s capable of. B-
Designated Hitter: Marcel Ozuna got off to a great start, but injuries has started to affect him. Needed some more games off. Having Murphy and Baldwin serve as a DH is something that should have been done earlier. B-
Manager/Coaches: I believe this is the final season for Brian Snitker. I have believed that since last season ended. I hate to say it, but there have been several times it looked like he’s checked out. His handling of pitching decisions and lineup construction leaves a lot to be desired. And some of his answers to the media have been head scratching. Leaving media members to criticize like many of us have never seen before. Tim Hyers has been awful. This offense has taken a huge step back as a whole. It’s apparent to everyone that firing Seitzer was a bad call. And to boot, Fredi Gonzalez brought back to coach third and he’s goofed up there. Rick Kranitz is the only reason I’m not giving this staff a failing grade. He’s done a good job with a pitching staff being held together by duct tape and rubber bands. D
Overall Team Grade: D
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