Braves sign Chase Utley (lite) to a minor league deal

thethe said:
Count me in on those that thought Kelly was going to be a great hitter. Back in those homer days I thiught he would be our next chipper.
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I never even got that insane about Johnson. I thought mid 8s OPS.

BTW for a blast from the past the "Baby Braves" postion players as sorted by career fWAR

Mac 31.5
KJ 16.8
Failcoeur 5.8
Langerhans 3.8
Betemit 2.7
Brayan Pena -0.9
Orr -1.1
Marte -2.3

To be blunt, I think were pretty much nobody who thought KJ would be our 2nd best position player from that group. And even less people who thought Marte would be the worst.
 
I was extremely high on KJ coming up through the system, thinking he would be an above average offensive player that would be a good complimentary piece on a contending team, and would be a high walk-SO guy but would be perfect as a #2 or #6 type hitter that could hit a fair amount of doubles and homers as well in the process, but would be well below average defensively at 2nd and would have to transition to the outfield.

I always saw him being our Brady Anderson (not including his outlier 1996 season in which his power exploded due to PED's). But that's the type of player that I envision him to be.
 
zitothebrave said:
I never even got that insane about Johnson. I thought mid 8s OPS.

BTW for a blast from the past the "Baby Braves" postion players as sorted by career fWAR

Mac 31.5
KJ 16.8
Failcoeur 5.8
Langerhans 3.8
Betemit 2.7
Brayan Pena -0.9
Orr -1.1
Marte -2.3

To be blunt, I think were pretty much nobody who thought KJ would be our 2nd best position player from that group. And even less people who thought Marte would be the worst.
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I was for sure it was going to be Brayan after seeing him behind the plate and trying to throw runners out.
 
zitothebrave said:
I never even got that insane about Johnson. I thought mid 8s OPS.

BTW for a blast from the past the "Baby Braves" postion players as sorted by career fWAR

Mac 31.5
KJ 16.8
Failcoeur 5.8
Langerhans 3.8
Betemit 2.7
Brayan Pena -0.9
Orr -1.1
Marte -2.3

To be blunt, I think were pretty much nobody who thought KJ would be our 2nd best position player from that group. And even less people who thought Marte would be the worst.
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Pete Orr > Andy Marte.
Baseball is odd.
 
Heywood said:
Meh. If you're referring to that hitting streak his average that span was still low, and when he was just hitting homers it was only homers.
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This was always the case, dating back to the Marlins days. He was actually doing what was expected of him during this period.

Heywood said:
Kelly was doing everything right... as a leadoff hitter.
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Not sure where the hype machine started. Talking Chop, maybe? Joke of a blog that it is, but the bottom line is that the lofty expectations failed. It's not like we all should be doing cartwheels because somebody had a 2-month hot streak, 8 years ago. The so-called "statheads" would just sniff "small sample size" in response to a player, who's not a group think favorite.
 
I thought KJ would be better. Not a star, but a solid regular with plus power and OBP. I don't remember anyone projecting him as a perennial all-star.

I liked him, for sure. Any angst I suffered about his leaving was that we gave away a potentially useful piece for nothing. MikeAdams (I think) won a $20 bet with someone over whether or not he'd 20 HR in Arizona.
 
Julio3000 said:
I thought KJ would be better. Not a star, but a solid regular with plus power and OBP. I don't remember anyone projecting him as a perennial all-star.

I liked him, for sure. Any angst I suffered about his leaving was that we gave away a potentially useful piece for nothing. MikeAdams (I think) won a $20 bet with someone over whether or not he'd 20 HR in Arizona.
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Yep, the guy should have been transitioned to the OF, when it was known that Prado was the better answer and fit in the infield, and he should have been our LF in 2010. Revisionist history, I know, but we would have been a much better team in 2010 that way and even though I understand the economics of it, I can't believe Wren traded our best pitcher to fill that OF position with the travesty known as Melky. I know we got Dunn and Vizcaino as well, but looking back at it, along with the Kawakami move, it should have been known at that time that Wren wasn't exactly moving the team forward.
 
KJ has quietly put together a solid career while moving around a lot.

I always liked him. Never believe he was the next Chipper, but thought he would be a really good hitter. He's not far off from that from a 2B perspective (.250/.333/.423). He's a guy that had a good eye at the plate and had some pop. Its interesting he hasn't been able to stick even after putting up a borderline MVP caliber season in Arizona, who then completely gave up on him the following year despite a non absolutely terrible beyond awful partial season (.699 OPS)
 
Knucksie said:
This was always the case, dating back to the Marlins days. He was actually doing what was expected of him during this period.

Not sure where the hype machine started. Talking Chop, maybe? Joke of a blog that it is, but the bottom line is that the lofty expectations failed. It's not like we all should be doing cartwheels because somebody had a 2-month hot streak, 8 years ago. The so-called "statheads" would just sniff "small sample size" in response to a player, who's not a group think favorite.
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I never thought KJ would be a perennial all-star, but the first few months of 2007 when he and Renteria were on fire were amazing. Then they both cooled down, Andruw hit under the mendoza line while hitting like 25 homers, and Chipper was the only thing worth watching.
 
I think it's interesting that after all of has been said and done, it's only KJ and McCann of the Baby Braves that still have Major League careers.
 
CyYoung31 said:
I think it's interesting that after all of has been said and done, it's only KJ and McCann of the Baby Braves that still have Major League careers.
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I thought I read where Blaine Boyer had been signed by someone, but it might have only been a minor league deal.

CORRECTION: He signed a minor league deal with the Twins this off-season.
 
I thought KJ was going to be an above average hitter too. I can't figure out how Boyer hadn't been a good reliever, I was certain he would be. I was never as high on Marte as everyone else, I just don't like prospects that can't hit for a good average in the minors. I think I predicted him to have a similar career as Aramis Ramirez in that he would struggle for his first 3-4 years.
 
cajunrevenge said:
I thought KJ was going to be an above average hitter too. I can't figure out how Boyer hadn't been a good reliever, I was certain he would be. I was never as high on Marte as everyone else, I just don't like prospects that can't hit for a good average in the minors. I think I predicted him to have a similar career as Aramis Ramirez in that he would struggle for his first 3-4 years.
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Aramis Ramirez is a borderline Hall of Famer.
 
CyYoung31 said:
Of the 11 people on that list, Ramirez ranks 3rd in homers, 8th in BA, 3rd in SLG, 4th in RBI, and 9th in runs scored.

What exactly about him being a "borderline Hall of Famer" is so blatantly false?
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Wait and see how many votes he gets. Then get back to me.

To humor you, we could cherry pick:

Jimmy Collins and Pie Traynor are legendary historical names.

Eddie Mathews, Braves All Time Great, re-defined the position in the same way that Cal Ripkin did for SS's decades later.

Brooks Robinson made spectacular defensive plays in full view of the TV audience during post-season, was actually a clutch hitter, and had prior major accomplishments during the 60's.

George Brett and Mike Schmidt ruled during the 80's.

Wade Boggs, one of the finest pure hitters ever.

Look what it took for Ron Santo to get inducted.

We can safely assume that our old pal, Chipper, will be a first ballot HOFer. Then, the question must be asked, when was Aramis Ramirez ever considered the best of the best among 3B? For that matter, what he ever considered a leader on any of his teams? With Brett and Schmidt, nobody has to even ask.

Pushing all that aside, what would enhance his potential candidacy? 3 All Star selections, 1 Silver Slugger, finished 9th in MVP and twice was 10th and he led the NL in sac flies 2 years in a row. Those are his credentials. Hey, even Jamie Moyer had a legitimate shot at 300 wins. That's guaranteed right there, right?

Let me assure you, the majority of voters will be non-plussed.
 
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