Third. At some point, you have to question the structure of the team and evaluate Frank Wren for some of the poor free agent decisions he made. Dan Uggla, BJ Upton, the Chris Johnson extension, giving up a 1st round pick for Ervin Santana. This team owes Dan Uggla $24 million and is getting nothing out of him. Soon, they will be owing BJ Upton a lot of money to only get minimal production out of him. Honestly, the players that are keeping this team afloat right now are Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Evan Gattis, and Julio Teheran.
We have been over the FA stuff to death. In what world is it his fault players don't play up to their career norms ?
So Deck Chairs on the Titanic will be our theme this season. To be used ironically by those like me who think this team is pretty good and just needs some slight tinkering. And to be used with heartfelt sincerity by those who think it is doomed, utterly doomed.
Are we too stubborn to make that tinkering though? Like batting BJ Upton 2nd every day...In hopes of what? He'll turn it around? Everyone with half a brain knows the Braves needed a change at 2b and help at the top of the order. It seems that we may have both in one player but he's always buried batting 7th, arguably the least important spot in the order. Can we entertain the idea of batting Heyward somewhere else besides lead off?
Do I believe we can tinker and improve? Yes...it's possible, but Gonzalez and Wren haven't shown a lot of willingness to do so. Outside of batting the pitcher 8th at least...
The plan was probably to break TLS in by hitting him in a low pressure spot for a while. He now has 70 MLB PAs, and while I'm sure we can all agree he isn't really a .387/.449/.419 hitter, it is beyond obvious he needs to be in the top half of this lineup (either 1, 2, or 5) with BJ dropped down to the bottom half.
Lineup optimizer says the top 5 should be TLS, Justin, Heyward, Gattis, Freeman, and I agree. The order isn't super important, but I would definitely try to use Justin and Gattis to split up the 3 LHers as much as possible.
I would go with:
Jason
La Stella
Justin
Gattis
Freeman
CJ
BJ
Simmons
Move each of the bottom 4 up a spot and bat Laird 8th when Gattis rests.
I think Uggla was an accident waiting to happen. You just don't extend a guy that limited athletically to a contract that long. Tools aren't everything, but they still matter some. My gripe on B.J. Upton is the 5th year and the approximate $1.5 M - $2.0 M he appeared to go over market on him. That said, a CF was needed. But neither of these guys are what I would call a core player. The core guys we have now are Freeman, Heyward, and Upton the Younger (who, in fairness to Wren, was acquired at a bargain rate after he had forked over all that coin to Upton the Elder).
Let's play a mental exercise. Does Wren sign Upton the Elder to the contract he signed him to if he gets Upton the Younger before signing a CF? One problem I have with Wren is that many of his moves look good in isolation, but they don't make sense when viewed as part of the larger task. I think the Chris Johnson extension is going to fit into that category as well as the signing of B.J. Upton. Even if our budget is going to get bigger (and it looks like it will), that doesn't mean you simply spend money. You still have to spend it wisely and I don't think Wren always does.
Why do you guys want our best hitter hitting 5th?
wOBA numbers for 2014:
Gattis .399
Justin .379
Freddie .379
I don't think it matters much in which order these 3 bat, except I would try to avoid having 3 consecutive lefty hitters at the top of our lineup.
Career wOBA
Freeman .360
Gattis .354
Justin .360
Career wOBA
Freeman .360
Gattis .354
Justin .360
wRC+
Freeman 129
Upton 121
Gattis 126
So Freeman best?