Please Put Uggla Out of Our Misery

gilesfan said:
How many times have we heard if Dan would just or Dan got contacts or yada yada yada
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If youve had contacts before, or any sort of vision problem, you would understand the frustration. Its not as easy as oh Dan has contacts now, hes hitting well bc of them and hes not hitting well bc hes not wearing them. Some people just have to get used to them and its obvious Dan didnt like them. What was also obvious was that during that stretch where he seemed to see the ball well, he hit the ball well.

We'll see what happens. Im not writing him off just yet. If the procedure is done successfully and he comes back and is still looking lost out there, then the writing is obviously on the wall.
 
THANK YOU!!!!!! Seems like Wren knew Fredi would never bench him so he had to do something. Very excited to see Pastornicky get an extended look.
 
For a while after getting the contacts, Uggla was actually going fairly well. He was at .205/.321/.438 on July 26, and trending upward (however painfully slowly). That line, out of a sorta-competent second baseman, isn't going to kill you, though it doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy about the contract. So, figure that he hits well enough over the course of the season to end up at, say, .220, then you've got a second baseman hitting .220/.340/.460ish, and hey, that's an .800 OPS. If you squint really, really hard and engage in some wishful thinking, that looks pretty acceptable.

And then...kablooey.

Uggla's basically just a microcosm of what you see from older players all the time: as they age and lose reaction time, they compensate by adding power and walks; the downside is you lose hits and strikeout more. Dan has taken it to extremes, but he's not unique. And that approach can only last for so long before pitchers stop screwing around based on your reputation and start pumping in strikes you can't touch.

50pound made the point earlier, but the big mistake was giving Uggla an extension. Excuse me for my self-aggrandizement, but I was saying at the time that the short-term nature of our commitment to Uggla was a feature, not a bug. There was too much risk involved in a player of Dan's sort to commit yourself to him long-term.
 
Dunit24 said:
If youve had contacts before, or any sort of vision problem, you would understand the frustration. Its not as easy as oh Dan has contacts now, hes hitting well bc of them and hes not hitting well bc hes not wearing them. Some people just have to get used to them and its obvious Dan didnt like them. What was also obvious was that during that stretch where he seemed to see the ball well, he hit the ball well.

We'll see what happens. Im not writing him off just yet. If the procedure is done successfully and he comes back and is still looking lost out there, then the writing is obviously on the wall.
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Ok, Uggla is finally solved. Contacts will cure his bat speed.
 
Why not Gattis at 2B? People on this board seem to think you can plug him anywhere.
 
MadduxFanII said:
Excuse me for my self-aggrandizement, but I was saying at the time that the short-term nature of our commitment to Uggla was a feature, not a bug. There was too much risk involved in a player of Dan's sort to commit yourself to him long-term.
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Just out of curiosity, would you give McCann a four year deal this off-season?
 
nsacpi said:
Just out of curiosity, would you give McCann a four year deal this off-season?
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There are a lot of different factors to that question. How much money we're talking about, whether the difference between McCann and Gattis is worth the extra cost for a team on a fairly tight budget, etc.

But if we stipulate that we're discussing a fairly reasonable AAV (say, $15 million) and we're discussing this purely in an isolated, academic sense...yeah, I probably would, though just barely. McCann's a better defensive player at a more valuable position than Uggla, so he can lose some more value while still contributing to a roster. I tend to think McCann's a more intelligent, adjustable hitter than Uggla moving forward. And, sentimentally, McCann's a fan favorite and a homegrown Brave, not someone we're acquiring from Loria's Flea Market and Half-Price Emporium.

But you sign that contract understanding that the final year, at least, is going to be fairly unpleasant.
 
MadduxFanII said:
There are a lot of different factors to that question. How much money we're talking about, whether the difference between McCann and Gattis is worth the extra cost for a team on a fairly tight budget, etc.

But if we stipulate that we're discussing a fairly reasonable AAV (say, $15 million) and we're discussing this purely in an isolated, academic sense...yeah, I probably would, though just barely. McCann's a better defensive player at a more valuable position than Uggla, so he can lose some more value while still contributing to a roster. I tend to think McCann's a more intelligent, adjustable hitter than Uggla moving forward. And, sentimentally, McCann's a fan favorite and a homegrown Brave, not someone we're acquiring from Loria's Flea Market and Half-Price Emporium.

But you sign that contract understanding that the final year, at least, is going to be fairly unpleasant.
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Yeah. I pretty much agree. Especially the part about Mac being a more adaptable hitter. Uggla is the latest in the line of guys who had some success but would have had a lot more if they could have varied their approach to hitting: Andruw, Francoeur, Ron Gant. By now we should know better with those types of hitters.
 
nsacpi said:
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.
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Well said.
 
This really put me in a good mood......having Uggla out of the lineup for an extended period of time. (As long as there are no complications with the procedure)
 
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