UNCBlue012
Well-known member
It's one thing to be frustrated and down on a player and another to completely jump off because he had 15 bad games -- and a some comments show that mindset. I'm interested to see how he does moving forward.
Smyly, Longoria and Wieters
- Thread starter Jay212033
- Start date
Deester11
Well-known member
His slider is the key. It's also puzzling that I saw him in gwinnett making former major league batters look bad. Confidence can be a great detractor....
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
I think Blair still has to be viewed as a wild card. He was really good at AAA before being called up and we have heard that the reason they let Roger go is because he wasn't a good fit with our your pitchers. I am excited to see what the new coaches can get out of him.
GovClintonTyree
<B>Vencer a Los Doyers</B>
Of course there's a chance he turns it around. Please don't seize on an obvious example and point out that it could change. I'm not stupid.
The point is that there was a lot of sentiment that he would/could be a piece of our long term rotation and now that's obviously not as certain. One might even suppose it is unlikely.
On a somewhat related note, I used Blair because I saw him in San Diego when I was sitting right behind home plate, so I felt like I had a very good look at him and felt at least somewhat qualified to make a judgement. He was timid, nibbling, pitching from behind, 3-1 on everyone, generally uninspiring. We all know that was a single game and a single datapoint, but I saw enough to know that absent some serious mental surgery, he's not going to be much.
GovClintonTyree
<B>Vencer a Los Doyers</B>
...and of course he had a nice start to end the season. The book's not written on him. But he's far les of a known quantity than Smyly or (oh please) Archer.
I don't think the veteran signings are an indication that the brass has "given up" on Wisler or Blair in any way - they've stuck with Folty when many people (yours truly included) were screaming that "he's never going to get it and it's trime to see if he can become a Closer". For the overwhelming number of Pitchers, the jump to this level simply takes time. I think it just signals that some moves have worked out as well as could possibly be hoped for (Kemp so far, Markakis has rebounded better than most expected, etc.), and that they're just not in a position to let them take their lumps in the new park because they also owe the fans the best product they can put on the field. There are certainly no guarantees that the offense will continue to click like it did during the second half of 2016, but suddenly there's a ray of hope that definitely didn't exist when camp started last February.
The fact that they were willing to even potentially overpay for Colon and Dickey to get them for one year does serve as an attention-grabber for Matt and Aaron IMO - "we're still counting on you to help, but if you don't force your way into their spots by the end of the season, several arms with much higher ceilings (Newcomb, Sims, and possibly even Fried) will be in the mix when camp opens in 2018 and THEY could be your competition instead of Bartolo/R. A./Collmenter".
The fact that they were willing to even potentially overpay for Colon and Dickey to get them for one year does serve as an attention-grabber for Matt and Aaron IMO - "we're still counting on you to help, but if you don't force your way into their spots by the end of the season, several arms with much higher ceilings (Newcomb, Sims, and possibly even Fried) will be in the mix when camp opens in 2018 and THEY could be your competition instead of Bartolo/R. A./Collmenter".
Southcack77
Well-known member
I think these two signings are exactly the right sort of move for Atlanta. They have no long term risk. They payroll figure in 2017 is mostly irrelevant.
IF they don't work out they can be cut.
If the moves work out and they contend then that's great. If they work out and they don't contend they might be trade assets.
If they work out and young players also force the issue, they can be traded for assets or they could go with a six man rotation.
They keep their draft pick, their prospects and there is a decent chance they upgraded the rotation without committing long term dollars to middling starters who might prevent them from spending money when it matters.
Please note, that I don't think that it really makes them strong contenders for anything, but I also think that Atlanta is not ready for that step. I don't think trying to force it is wise.
IF they don't work out they can be cut.
If the moves work out and they contend then that's great. If they work out and they don't contend they might be trade assets.
If they work out and young players also force the issue, they can be traded for assets or they could go with a six man rotation.
They keep their draft pick, their prospects and there is a decent chance they upgraded the rotation without committing long term dollars to middling starters who might prevent them from spending money when it matters.
Please note, that I don't think that it really makes them strong contenders for anything, but I also think that Atlanta is not ready for that step. I don't think trying to force it is wise.
This is really the biggest point as far as I'm concerned. Coppy didn't exactly go dumpster diving for rotation pieces this winter - these guys have far more upside than Bud Norris and Jhoulys Chacin. Collmenter even has more upside than guys like Roberto Hernandez and Lucas Harrell. They tried to turn the trash into gold last season (and were successful for the most part IMO), and were willing to watch Wisler and Blair struggle as they adjusted at that point because the offense wasn't close to good enough to help win games. That's just not the case this year, and IF some of the big "ifs" happen (Swanson continues to produce/Freeman continues to get better going into his prime/Kemp keeps hitting bombs/Albies gives them a shot in the arm at some point/etc.) there's little reason to punt the season. If you somehow get one last year of ~4 ERAs from Colon and Dickey, this team should at least be in most games. On top of that, I'd think it's certainly reasonable to expect a far better return for them from a contender than having to pick needles out of haystacks like we were lucky enough to do last summer.
GovClintonTyree
<B>Vencer a Los Doyers</B>
Right. We bought time for the young guys to develop. And you gotta like Big Sexy and Big Dickey better than Bud and Jhoulys.