GDT: #72 7:10 PM EST (Minor) Braves @ (Strasburg) Nats....Still no JUp

tvsportscaster said:
Fredi just said after the game, he was giving Simmons a couple of days off and that's he wasn't used. He also was hoping not to use Walden, and that's why Varvaro pitched the 8th.
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Varvaro did a nice job, heck he has been nice all season. He has his occasional blow up like every other pitcher on the team, but his seems to be limited.
 
thewupk said:
I do agree somewhat. The Braves have a negative run differential. That's not good. We are lucky we have owned the Nats to this point. Now I like this roster and especially this lineup. They just have to start hitting better and I think they will. But if the status quo stays the same we aren't making the playoffs.
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Offensively we've left a lot to be desired, but we seemingly fixed our biggest hole by replacing Uggla/Pastor/Pena with TLS. I don't think that we're a bad offensive team anymore. Steaky for sure. But not bad. Only guys with a ton of room for improvement are Johnson and Upton and I don't know if they have it in them. Both are very streaky so who knows where they end the season. The problem with our team is our pitching went from overachieving to underachieving. The Braves have many pitchers with a big difference against them in ERA and FIP, Harang, Santana, Kimbrel, Carpenter, Thomas, and a few other relievers. Only ones with a big boost the other way are Julio, Floyd, and Simmons. Only Minor and Wood are really close to their FIP, though Minor has the biggest difference between FIP and xFIP on the team. Basically if his HR/FB was league average Minor woudl have the best peripherals of any of our starters.
 
Heyward said:
I agree partially with VA.

Just because we beat the Nats doesnt mean squat if they get swept by teams like Philly, and others.

If they can go on a 13-2 type run, then maybe, or something to stop going win, win, lose, win, lose, lose, win, win, lose, win, etc, etc.
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That's just baseball dude.
 
I loved the new additions to the pen yesterday. Just one day but its good to have some more guys who throw heat at the end of the pen. Hopefully Jaime sticks.
 
Heyward said:
I agree partially with VA.

Just because we beat the Nats doesnt mean squat if they get swept by teams like Philly, and others.

If they can go on a 13-2 type run, then maybe, or something to stop going win, win, lose, win, lose, lose, win, win, lose, win, etc, etc.
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That's pretty much always been what the Braves do, at least in modern times.

When the Phillies were good and the Nats were crap we would go 12-4 versus the former and 4-12 against the latter. Along the same lines, we do the same thing on a pitcher specific basis, beating guys like Strasburg and Zimmerman regularly only to let guys like Chris Crapuano and Randy Wolf with their 75 mph fastballs shut us out. I've just accepted the inconsistency and playing up or down to the level of competition as part of being a Braves fan.
 
Stop. The Marlins are not better than us. How are they better? I like every part of our team more than theirs (lineup, rotation, bullpen). LOL the Marlins. You know you're a sky-is-falling when you say that. Let the season play out. They're so much better, but behind us, right? OK. Stop whining and let them play. We've had some rough stretches. The Phillies stink and have won 5 in a row. We can easily do that at any time. The whining is so stupid. It's baseball. This is how baseball is.
 
If Jaime say, that was a solid debut yesterday. Buchter would like to point out that it was a solid all around effort from the team minus Kimbrel.
 
Lot of good options in the bullpen going forward.

Kimbrel, Simmons, Walden, Varvaro, Carp, Jaime, Avilan, Butcher, Thomas, even Venters depending how he returns.

Trade Kimbrel (that was a joke), but someone might have to get dealt, you do need depth though.
 
KeithLockhart said:
If Jaime say, that was a solid debut yesterday. Buchter would like to point out that it was a solid all around effort from the team minus Kimbrel.
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Jaime is one big dude, like in Bart Colon territory kind of big dude.

But I love his arm. Dude can bring the heat. I hope he can be a fixture in the pen now and in the future.
 
yeezus said:
Stop. The Marlins are not better than us. How are they better? I like every part of our team more than theirs (lineup, rotation, bullpen). LOL the Marlins. You know you're a sky-is-falling when you say that. Let the season play out. They're so much better, but behind us, right? OK. Stop whining and let them play. We've had some rough stretches. The Phillies stink and have won 5 in a row. We can easily do that at any time. The whining is so stupid. It's baseball. This is how baseball is.
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Marlins arent bad, i could maybe see if if they had Fernandez healthy.

Way it stands now, i dont know.

Braves are pretty inconsistent though.
 
I liked what I saw from Jaime for the most part. Needs to mix his pitches more as he threw what seemed like 15 fastballs in a row at one point.
 
Like I said, it all falls on Minor if he pitches like he did last night we have a shot, if he regresses to Santana and Harang levels ie. we don't know what we are getting start to start, then it's a matter of time before we are passed.
 
thewupk said:
I liked what I saw from Jaime for the most part. Needs to mix his pitches more as he threw what seemed like 15 fastballs in a row at one point.
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He kept the ball down though. You can throw all fastballs if you keep it there.
 
Both of the new guys have walked too many at times. Buchter in particular would have been up long ago if he threw strikes with confidence. But maybe McDowell and Eddie Perez can get them to a consistent release point, in which case, they are two more Frank Wren steals.
 
VirginiaBrave said:
What makes you guys so positive about this group? And please give the they won 96 games a year ago thing a rest because it means nothing in 2014.
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I would say performance over the 2012-2014 period is the best predictor for individual players (from which you can infer a prediction about the team as a whole) for the rest of the year. You could use a smaller sample (say the last month or two) but there is a whole body of research out there showing that the smaller sample is not as good a predictor.
 
There sure are a lot of GoT nerds around here. NERDS!!!

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