Please Put Uggla Out of Our Misery

I would hate to put Frank Wren in charge of setting up a survival shelter if there were an impending crisis. Someone would say, "Frank, we need some beans" and he'd proceed to go out and buy a semi-truck's worth and there wouldn't be room for anything else on the food shelves. We had a need for a RHH with power, so he goes out and gets Uggla, which was a shrewd short-termmove. But then he signs him to an expensive extension. He did the same with Lowe when we needed starting pitching and with B.J. Upton when we needed a CF. In other words, while I decry Wren's long-term vision from time-to-time, I think he's done well with the improvisational short-term moves, but then he screws the pooch by doubling-down.

It's an organizational pattern. I remember the off-season Schuerholz got both Soriano and Gonzalez because we had had some bullpen problems the year before. When we identify a problem we tend to overdo it with the fix.
 
It's an organizational pattern. I remember the off-season Schuerholz got both Soriano and Gonzalez because we had had some bullpen problems the year before. When we identify a problem we tend to overdo it with the fix.

I don't want to harp on the budget situation, but ever since Time/Warner and/or Liberty tightened the purse strings, we've behaved oddly as a franchise. Schuerholz was among the best in the business when he was sitting on Turner's fat wallet. He had a lot of margin for error, but he also knew what he wanted and made appropriate moves. Not every trade was a good one, but there were more good ones than bad ones. Then the "business of baseball stinks" era comes along for him and he gets all shades of unpredictable. Things like offering arbitration when it made no sense and not offering arbitration when it would have made sense. Goofy trades in which we overpaid. Wren has kind of continued down that road. Can't argue with the results for the most part, but we're neither fish nor fowl when it comes to determining the franchise. We act like we're right out of "Moneyball," and then go out and splurge.
 
I think Schuerholz had a period where he struggled to make the adjustment to the tighter purse strings. It is an ongoing process. We are a mid market and mid payroll team that happens to have a scouting and player development system that is the best in the game. Having that system means we cover most of our needs in house. It also means we can afford to splurge at a couple spots where we have some gaps. We just haven't done well when we've chosen to splurge--Lowe, Uggla and now BJ. I'm still hopeful BJ will turn things around. But even if he does, we did misjudge the market for his services some.
 
I think Schuerholz had a period where he struggled to make the adjustment to the tighter purse strings. It is an ongoing process. We are a mid market and mid payroll team that happens to have a scouting and player development system that is the best in the game. Having that system means we cover most of our needs in house. It also means we can afford to splurge at a couple spots where we have some gaps. We just haven't done well when we've chosen to splurge--Lowe, Uggla and now BJ. I'm still hopeful BJ will turn things around. But even if he does, we did misjudge the market for his services some.

This is true,when we finally have some money to spend we spend it too quickly, all on one big deal. But we have so many good, low priced players that we can have a couple of overpaid turkeys and still have a good team.
 
David O'Brien ‏@ajcbraves 3m
Uggla has been placed on the DL (eye surgery) braves announce. Pastornicky recalled

We got our wish. Uggla is gone. I do hope his eye surgery goes well.
 
Mark Bowman ‏@mlbbowman 3m
The #Braves have placed Uggla on the DL to undergo LASIK surgery. The club has wanted him to undergo this procedure since Spring Training.

It's LASIK. If I were Wren, I would be incredibly pissed after all of this. Bowman states they wanted him to do this in Spring Training, and now he's getting it done during the season. What fascinates me is that he has a great talent for taking walks and hitting home runs (on a pace for around 30 this year), but he still needs eye surgery. I'm not saying he doesn't need it, because you can tell he flinches way too much at breaking balls.
 
Just think... if Uggla comes back from Lasik and hits like he did with the Marlins, i.e. actually getting hits occasionally... that would be great.
 
Just think... if Uggla comes back from Lasik and hits like he did with the Marlins, i.e. actually getting hits occasionally... that would be great.

How many times have we heard if Dan would just or Dan got contacts or yada yada yada
 
How many times have we heard if Dan would just or Dan got contacts or yada yada yada

Well he is supposedly going on an all-catfish and carrot diet, and I expect this to help a lot. He'll hit .300 in the playoffs, as long as he sticks with it.
 
We got our wish. Uggla is gone. I do hope his eye surgery goes well.

If Dan Uggla hits .270 with power and decent defense, I LOVE Dan Uggla.

How much you wanna bet the dude hasn't been wearing the contacts the last couple weeks? It's like a schizophrenic who won't take her psych meds because she doesn't like the way they make her feel.
 
If Dan Uggla hits .270 with power and decent defense, I LOVE Dan Uggla.

This makes me think people didn't exactly understand what we were getting with Uggla. He's only hit over .260 twice in his career. I expected a low average, solid OBP, good power and poorish defense. That's just typical Dan Uggla and there's a lot of value in that for a 2B. Unfortunately his low average turned into a really low average but maybe finally getting his eyes fixed can get him back closer to the .250 mark where he'd be fine again.
 
FAs just don't work most of the time. I know he was a trade and sign......but the Braves have to keep putting money into the farm system and signing their own, guys they know.

Uggla can be decent, at least I think so. We just don't need a right handed slugger. When we got him we were desperate.
 
This makes me think people didn't exactly understand what we were getting with Uggla. He's only hit over .260 twice in his career. I expected a low average, solid OBP, good power and poorish defense. That's just typical Dan Uggla and there's a lot of value in that for a 2B. Unfortunately his low average turned into a really low average but maybe finally getting his eyes fixed can get him back closer to the .250 mark where he'd be fine again.

OK, .250. He hit .287 the year before we got him. That's not where his value lies. But he's got to make more contact than he's been making.
 
FAs just don't work most of the time. I know he was a trade and sign......but the Braves have to keep putting money into the farm system and signing their own, guys they know.

Uggla can be decent, at least I think so. We just don't need a right handed slugger. When we got him we were desperate.

And, you know, he'd had five years of metronomic consistency.

Maybe there's a problem with the color of the Braves checks or something.
 
And, you know, he'd had five years of metronomic consistency.

Maybe there's a problem with the color of the Braves checks or something.

Which reminds me of a Rickey Henderson story. He signed with the Yanks and got a $1m signing bonus, which pleased him greatly. But a month later, the check hadn't been cashed, and the accountants got concerned. They told the front office, who got concerned. They called Rickey to inquire. Had he heard anything about the check? "Yeah, y'all don't have nothin' to worry about," said Rickey. "I'm sittin' here in my den lookin' at it. it's in a frame on my wall."
 
Good for Uggla. Something aint right with him. Good eyes helped Mac and Freeman. Lets hope it does the same for Uggla.
 
OK, .250. He hit .287 the year before we got him. That's not where his value lies. But he's got to make more contact than he's been making.

Uggla situation is much like BJ Upton situation IMO. I didnt expect the .287 Uggla, much like I didnt expect the season BJ had last year...but I also didnt expect both being THIS bad.
 
It is remarkable how sensitive the front office is to the desires of the members of these boards.
 
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