GDT #12, 4/13/'14: Braves (Harang) vs Nats (Gio); No Gattis, CJ, or Uggla

Orphan Black said:
Man...Freeman and Upton's numbers are gaudy right now....don't know how any team pitches to either of them right now.
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Players like those two can carry a team when they are hot. Heyward too as he was doing before he got his jaw broken. When two of them are hot, its just fun to watch. Plus its nice to see the other guys coming around too. Simmons, Gattis, BJ all had good series against the Gnats.
 
BTW, I must admit Harang has proven me wrong so far. Hope it continues, I have never seen him pitch this well before (at least not in a long time). I do believe it is a fluke though and that he'll come back to his old self. But we shouldn't need him starting much longer. So even if that is so Wren and our scouts have already been proven correct to go with him over Garcia.

That said, I remember how dominate Maholm was last April and he ended up having his worst season in years. So we should keep in mind that it is just three games, track record is still what to expect in the long run.
 
Braves1976 said:
BTW, I must admit Harang has proven me wrong so far. Hope it continues, I have never seen him pitch this well before (at least not in a long time). I do believe it is a fluke though and that he'll come back to his old self. But we shouldn't need him starting much longer. So even if that is so Wren and our scouts have already been proven correct to go with him over Garcia.

That said, I remember how dominate Maholm was last April and he ended up having his worst season in years. So we should keep in mind that it is just three games, track record is still what to expect in the long run.
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There's no reason Harang can't be a decent pitcher for us this year. Great defense behind him and a good pen is huge.
Totally agree with your point about Maholm. Definitely something I've kept in mind while watching Harang hang. But Harang had good seasons not all that long ago. He won't be a sub-3 guy obviously, but sub-4 is within reach.
 
In regards to Justin, most every MLB player is streaky. His hot streaks are better than almost anyones, and his colds (at least last year) were among the coldest. My problem is his ABs sometimes, the way he swings through fastballs down the pipe and tries to hit everything out.
 
As long as Harang is striking people out (which he is) and allowing home runs (pitching in Turner will help), he will be an above average pitcher.
 
nsacpi said:
Players like those two can carry a team when they are hot. Heyward too as he was doing before he got his jaw broken. When two of them are hot, its just fun to watch. Plus its nice to see the other guys coming around too. Simmons, Gattis, BJ all had good series against the Gnats.
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For all the nonsense said about Gattis on this forum, he always seems to play his best vs the Nats. Plus he is now hitting .286 on the year while McCann even after finally having a good game is hitting .195. Mac has also started I think four more games, but that is partly because Gattis missed two with the flu (and Mac can DH some of his off days in AL).

I have also noticed that Gattis seems to be a really good game-caller (and reports are he really does his homework). He is a good pitch framer too and looks great compared to Laird and Doumit (Doumit is the worst at it).
 
yeezus said:
There's no reason Harang can't be a decent pitcher for us this year. Great defense behind him and a good pen is huge.
Totally agree with your point about Maholm. Definitely something I've kept in mind while watching Harang hang. But Harang had good seasons not all that long ago. He won't be a sub-3 guy obviously, but sub-4 is within reach.
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It's possible sure, but I would trust Floyd's track record over Harang's in the long run. Plus I believe Floyd can have a better season if he's healthy again.
 
yeezus said:
In regards to Justin, most every MLB player is streaky. His hot streaks are better than almost anyones, and his colds (at least last year) were among the coldest. My problem is his ABs sometimes, the way he swings through fastballs down the pipe and tries to hit everything out.
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True, most every player is streaky in some sense. But as you note, Justin is usually either really hot or really cold.
 
Here is a classic Keith Law response in one of his chats in Spetember of 2010:

Lane (Austin)

What do you see as Freddie Freeman's average peak season? Would you rather have Freeman or Logan Morrison?
Klaw (1:46 PM)

Morrison. Much more OBP ability and slightly more power potential.
 
The issues with Harang have to do with fly balls and homers. He has always had a good strikeout to walk ratio. But he is an extreme fly ball pitcher. I'm happy to see him doing well but don't expect it to continue. He's been helped by some outstanding outfield defense so far.
 
AUTiger7222 said:
Why? What is with this board. You guys all bitch to Sav that I'm too negative (when that wasn't the case) and then he bitches at me about it. So I start posting positive things and you guys bitch at me about that. I can't ****ing win here. I've about had it with this place. I'm tired of getting called out here for posting my opinions.
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You've really lost it.
 
nsacpi said:
The issues with Harang have to do with fly balls and homers. He has always had a good strikeout to walk ratio. But he is an extreme fly ball pitcher. I'm happy to see him doing well but don't expect it to continue.
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Right, he also has a history of giving up homers at bad times (and a lot seem to be 3-run shots rather than solo shots). Gomez as you may recall missed a homer off him by inches. But hey so far so good, whether it is a fluke or not it still counts. I surely hope it continues of course.
 
Huddy with another strong game today, though not as strong as his dominate first two. Still he goes deep in games so much he really saves your bullpen. I cannot help but imagine how strong our staff could be had we kept him. Though I am happy with Hale getting a shot and Harang has been a lot better than I expected so far.

That said, if we had maybe we don't sign Santana and he looked great his first game for us. I would've though after the injuries. I just wouldn't have signed Floyd after keeping Huddy.
 
sturg33 said:
To my knowledge, Law has done a 180 on his Freeman prediction.

I never thought Freeman would be this good.
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It's early and I doubt he keeps going at this pace, but Freeman is really showing something. I liked his hitting fundamentals/mechanics from the get-go, but that's only part of the equation.
 
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