Bullpen

[Heyward]

Not even sure what they can do about the bullpen.

Just an awful, awful bullpen given what we've had the last 3-4 years or so.

And yes, i know Fredi sucks and should be gone but the bullpen is the worst.

Just ride out the year, and add some arms next winter.

There are some options on the farm with Simmons (if he's ready next year), McKirahan, Viz, Withrom, and some others.

Although Grilli/JJ are probably gone by the deadline.

 

[Millwood1Hitter]

Dan Kolb, Chris Reitsma, Bob Wickman, Roberto Hernandez, and Ray King are all waiting for their phones to ring.

 

[cajunrevenge]

Draft Joey Devine.

 

[NinersSBChamps]

It's not 2017. Once that magical year is here nothing will matter anymore. Hart and his brain trust have the owners believing this **** too.

 

[DirkPiggler]

Dan Kolb, Chris Reitsma, Bob Wickman, Roberto Hernandez, and Ray King are all waiting for their phones to ring.

All except the first two would be improvements over just about everyone in the current bullpen.

 

[nsacpi]

The situation is not entirely grim. Grilli, Johnson and Avilan have by and large been solid. There is a big gap between those three and everyone else. Conclusion: We have to ride those three hard in the 7th, 8th and 9th whenever we are in the lead or tied.

Martin has spit up the bit at some inopportune times but has also put up very impressive walk and strikeout numbers. He has to be next in line for high leverage situations after the Big 3.

Beyond that we have to recognize that the front office's indifference about having a winning team this season means it is unlikely to expend resources to improve the pen unless we are solidly in the wild card hunt come mid-July. Until then we have to rely on what there is internally and the flotsam and jetsam of the waiver wire.

There are some guys in Gwinnett who deserve a look or a longer look: Greg Smith, Kohn, Harper, Kelly, maybe Kurcz. I'd bring up the first two on this list to replace Cunniff and Masset. I'm ok with picking up guys like David Carpenter off the waiver wire, but my preference would be to send them them down to Gwinnett to show us what they have first.

I would be opposed to bringing up Banuelos and Wisler to shore up the pen, for somewhat different reasons. Banuelos is coming off TJ and I think there are risks involved in asking a recent TJ pitcher to switch back and forth between starting and relieving. With Wisler I don't want to waste a chunk of his valuable service time in the pen.

 

[blueagleace1]

What about using CJ to acquire a decent arm or two. Eat more money in the deal to get a better arm(s) in the deal.

 

[Braves1976]

What about using CJ to acquire a decent arm or two. Eat more money in the deal to get a better arm(s) in the deal.

Braves have tried trading CJ since last off-season with no takers, they'll keep trying but even if they ate money I doubt they'd get much of anything back. Plus they still might have to eat a lot of it to find any takers.

 

[50PoundHead]

It really doesn't help that Gonzalez has really uneven use patterns for everyone except Johnson and Grilli.

 

[blueagleace1]

Braves have tried trading CJ since last off-season with no takers, they'll keep trying but even if they ate money I doubt they'd get much of anything back. Plus they still might have to eat a lot of it to find any takers.

Was thinking about something like:

Giants get:
Chris Johnson
CASH ($4-5 million)

Braves get:
Hunter Strickland

 

[Braves1976]

Was thinking about something like:

Giants get:
Chris Johnson
CASH ($4-5 million)

Braves get:
Hunter Strickland

I'd take that deal in a heartbeat, but I don't see the Giants doing so.

 

[dak]

I'd take that deal in a heartbeat, but I don't see the Giants doing so.

Yep, the Chris Johnson situation is bleak at this point. He has a platoon bat, is a consistently poor defender, and a below average baserunner. He's an infield version of Matt Diaz. The Braves may need to eat 50-75% of what he's owed to move him in a salary dump.

 

[Braves1976]

Yep, the Chris Johnson situation is bleak at this point. He has a platoon bat, is a consistently poor defender, and a below average baserunner. He's an infield version of Matt Diaz. The Braves may need to eat 50-75% of what he's owed to move him in a salary dump.

Yea, teams with needs at third have continued to pass on him. I could see teams with needs at third asking about Uribe, but not CJ unless we eat a lot of his deal or package him with a player they want bad enough to take him too.

That said, I am leaning towards hoping they hold on to Uribe if he'll take a one year deal for next year at a fair price. However, I guess if we got a good enough offer we could trade him and still try signing him as a free agent after the season.

 

[nsacpi]

It really doesn't help that Gonzalez has really uneven use patterns for everyone except Johnson and Grilli.

Yes. He needs to settle on Avilan on his 7th inning guy. With some day-to-day flexibility of course. To be fair the lack of a second lefty makes this difficult to do.

 

[blueagleace1]

I'd take that deal in a heartbeat, but I don't see the Giants doing so.

Yep, the Chris Johnson situation is bleak at this point. He has a platoon bat, is a consistently poor defender, and a below average baserunner. He's an infield version of Matt Diaz. The Braves may need to eat 50-75% of what he's owed to move him in a salary dump.

The question is.. Is Chris Johnson an upgrade over Matt Duffy at 3rd base and I think the answer is yes. They can also use CJ at 1st base to spell Belt against tough lefties when Posey is catching. The longer the Giants stay close to the Dodgers the more I think this deal works.

Just my opinion and trust me that means nothing.

 

[nsacpi]

Yep, the Chris Johnson situation is bleak at this point. He has a platoon bat, is a consistently poor defender, and a below average baserunner. He's an infield version of Matt Diaz. The Braves may need to eat 50-75% of what he's owed to move him in a salary dump.

I would love to have a transcript of the conversations between Wren and presumably Hart, Coppy and JS when the topic of a contract for CJ came up.

 

[NinersSBChamps]

I would love to have a transcript of the conversations between Wren and presumably Hart, Coppy and JS when the topic of a contract for CJ came up.

For what?

Pretty sure Wren said what the extension was going to be and that was the end of it.

 

[Braves1976]

I would love to have a transcript of the conversations between Wren and presumably Hart, Coppy and JS when the topic of a contract for CJ came up.

What surprised me and somewhat concerned me was how glowingly Coppy spoke of Chris Johnson and how supportive he sounded of the extension when interviewed shortly after it. I just figured Coppy would be smarter than that but it didn't sound like it in that interview. Hopefully he was just putting out the view of Wren and co. and not really his own.

 

[smootness]

We should be getting Vizcaino and McKirihan back within a month or so, so that will help.

 

[NinersSBChamps]

This is the penalty you pay by being cheap. Putting together a patchwork bullpen with scrubs is never the answer.