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Losing he and Sly two days apart was a gut punch of sorts (clearly more serious things to worry about in the world). Growing up in the 1960s and hearing what was coming out of the post-surfer Beach Boys and Sly and the Family Stone was such a delight. Wilson was an absolute technician and I...

He's fundamentally sound at SS but all I saw was routine plays. It's always hard to tell with the Braves under the Anthopoulos/Snitker regime what they expect out of their bench. Waddell's not an everyday SS and I've never seen Alvarez at the position so I have no basis of comparison there...

Saw him play one game at SS when Gwinnett was in St. Paul last summer. Hard to tell anything from one game. I will say he is extremely short and he has kind of a compact body. That doesn't scream "Shortstop!" in terms of physical characteristics. He made the routine plays. I was more...

I thought Riley's was the oddest contract extension. No arbitration to buy out and he's signed through age 35 at $22MM AAV. That's a below market AAV, but it will be curious to see how he ages. I will say this about Riley. He made adjustments to his game and really made himself into a very...

I'm not a huge Murphy guy, but I wonder if Ozuna moves on after the season whether Murphy and Baldwin could both be part of a revolving DH situation (along with a couple of other guys, particularly Acuna). If not, there should be a market for him. I like the Sagasse suggestion.

Casey Stengel was probably the first manager to use platoons extensively in the 1950s, but it wasn't practiced with any regularity for a long time after that and certainly not with the statistical angle that is employed today. Cox started using platoons in Toronto (Mulliniks/Iorg was the most...

Totally different era with longer benches and shorter bullpens (Braves had the big advantage of having starting pitchers that could easily get to the 7th inning). When you have a couple of extra position players, you can mix-and-match more effectively. Game has changed dramatically. Pitchers...

I think you're being a bit generous on the Top 5 designations for some of these guys, but that really isn't the point that I drove at. It's the entirety of the extensions that have caused the problems because a portion of the more lucrative out-years of the contract has to be rolled forward...

His 1.884 WHIP will bolster the bullpen.

Olson is one of the slowest runners in all of the major leagues. Riley has very good sprint speed but low baserunning value. Albies' sprint speed is down, but remains a very good baserunner. Allen is below average in both sprint speed and baserunning value. Harris ranks high in both...

A short time ago, I posted that the Braves aren't as good as a lot of fans think they are (of course, every fan thinks their team is better--or should be better--than they actually are). Someone wanted to know the reason for my stance and I never did respond. If I had, this would have been at...

It's traditionally been difficult for a pitcher to be the locker room leader. There are exceptions (I think of a guy like Scherzer), but leadership roles usually land with everyday players. I agree that Sale is one of the only guys on the team that seems to have a sense of urgency about him.

What? I thought Blewett's Baseball Savant page had him headed for this year's Cy Young award.

I didn't hold a seance or anything, but I thought this year was going to be a bit of a slog. I didn't think it would be this bad, but I thought some guys would decline. I haven't totally waved the white flag, but the team has shown no additional buzz with the return of Acuna and Strider and...

Agree. Let Ozuna walk and cycle through guys at DH starting next year. I know Olson is damned determined to play first base every day, but it shouldn't be up to him. Have him DH periodically. Have Acuna DH one-half to three-quarters of the time. Have Baldwin and Murphy (unless he's traded)...

Under this regime, I was thinking about Dylan Lee and Holmes. A couple of others that I can't seem to place at the moment.

Braves have done a pretty good job finding second-tier reclamation guys and getting good innings out of them.

It's funny but not in an amusing sense that when a team is heading in the wrong direction and the manager's seat should be warming up to the medium toast level, often times managers just start pulling out all stops and make it look like they are trying everything to get a win. I sometimes feel...

Crooked numbers on the way!