Grant McCauley's projected lineup

[yeezus]

But! But! We're modeling ourselves after the Royals!

I think there's legitimacy to the theory that we're going after better contact hitters instead of high-K, high power guys. Honestly that approach kind of failed here. Admit it or not, the last couple of years, even when we won 96, too often guys would strike out when putting the ball in play would have been productive. Yes, I know ground balls lead to DPs. But our offense, even in the good year, was horribly inconsistent. When it was bad, it was really bad. Really, really bad.

So now we have this new approach, which won't be fully reflected in this season's lineup. We all knew that. We know that this year's team is a bridge, and not a particularly pretty one. This is far from the end result of this new approach.

 

[gilesfan]

But! But! We're modeling ourselves after the Royals!

You just wait, we are going to put the ball in play this year!

 

[bravebonebook]

We went from Mac to Gorn to Beth...

No, we went from too much money and years of a contract to one-dimensional, possibly injury prone good guy to who knows...

If this were a video game, we'd still have Mac, Chipper, Heyward, JUp, and the big 3 from their glory days. Due to finances and aging, this is our team now and, personally, I'll cheer for anyone with a tomahawk on their chest!!

 

[bravesnumberone]

You just wait, we are going to put the ball in play this year!

We'll give those shortstops and second basemen some damn fine work circling under pop outs.

 

[VirginiaBrave]

This is gonna be a fun year and a fun team because of no expectations. There's gonna be a lot of crow eaten around here for the 2nd year in a row when these guys are neck deep in the wildcard race in September.

 

[gilesfan]

This is gonna be a fun year and a fun team because of no expectations. There's gonna be a lot of crow eaten around here for the 2nd year in a row when these guys are neck deep in the wildcard race in September.

What kind of crow was eaten last year?

 

[VirginiaBrave]

What kind of crow was eaten last year?

All those that kept saying the 2014 Braves were going to turn it around any day from June 1 to August 1 and start playing like a division winner...

 

[gilesfan]

All those that kept saying the 2014 Braves were going to turn it around any day from June 1 to August 1 and start playing like a division winner...

So the crow eaten last year was from the optimists and the crow eaten this year will be for the pessimists?

 

[thethe]

So the crow eaten last year was from the optimists and the crow eaten this year will be for the pessimists?

I wasn't even an optimist last year after watching the team early in the season.

 

[Braves1976]

It is a bit early to project the line-up but on the bright side that line-up doesn't look too bad vs lefties. Now vs righties it looks quite bad, esp. having Almonte batting clean-up.

 

[gilesfan]

I wasn't even an optimist last year after watching the team early in the season.

cough bull**** cough.

 

[thethe]

cough bull**** cough.

Look at the history. I was fed up with the team halfway through the season. First season in 10+ years that I didn't watch the majority of Brave games.

 

[Braves1976]

cough bull**** cough.

No kidding, thethe must know the old game threads and other threads from last year are still available. I doubt it would be hard to find some quotes from thethe early last year sounding pretty optimistic.

 

[VirginiaBrave]

I wasn't even an optimist last year after watching the team early in the season.

I'm with you thethe. I didn't like what I saw last spring. Its hard to say how bad the year would have been if that hot start had not have happened.

And Giles, you got it...

 

[thethe]

No kidding, thethe must know the old game threads and other threads from last year are still available. I doubt it would be hard to find some quotes from thethe early last year sounding pretty optimistic.

Early in the year I was but I really lost interest last year because of the crappy play for the majority of the season.

 

[Braves1976]

Look at the history. I was fed up with the team halfway through the season. First season in 10+ years that I didn't watch the majority of Brave games.

So how did "early in the season" turn into "halfway through the season"?

 

[thethe]

So how did "early in the season" turn into "halfway through the season"?

Early in the season I was optimistic. As I watched more of the team I realized they weren't going to win anything or a team I wanted to go out of my way to watch. Sounds pretty logical to me.

 

[Braves1976]

Early in the year I was but I really lost interest last year because of the crappy play for the majority of the season.

I am not saying you didn't lose interest at some point. It is just the post we were responding to said "early in the season." That's all.

 

[Braves1976]

Early in the season I was optimistic. As I watched more of the team I realized they weren't going to win anything or a team I wanted to go out of my way to watch. Sounds pretty logical to me.

OK.

As bad as we were offensively, we were still right there with the Pirates for a Wild Card heading into Sept. So even if we do the same this year it means little if we have another bad Sept (which seems likely under Fredi). Further, I'd rather us lose big and get a higher draft pick than tease for a Wild Card only to lose in Sept. again.

 

[NYCBrave]

I'm with you thethe. I didn't like what I saw last spring. Its hard to say how bad the year would have been if that hot start had not have happened.

And Giles, you got it...

The team last year, even early in the season, was extremely frustrating to watch and not a fun team to get behind.

It was so obvious they were a flawed baseball team, and they continued to fail time and time again on the little things.